You Only Die Twice - By Christopher Smith Page 0,22

and gripped it in her left hand.

“You think we’re whores,” they said, and when they said it, in unison, it was so loud, it filled his head to capacity. “But we’re not.”

Were they joking? Of course, they were whores. Every one of them. That’s the reason they were targeted for death. He and Ted had watched each of them before they decided to act. Their choice wasn’t random. It was based on the behavior they witnessed. And now, by challenging him, they seemed to have no clue that they actually were challenging Him. He was incredulous that they’d be so brazen.

But that’s why they’re in hell and not with Him.

“None of you has repented, you haven’t heard the message of the Cross or the Gospel of the Christ, and by the sound of it, you never will, which is why you never will ascend into His arms. All of you are pathetic. You don’t possess a humble Christian spirit. You don’t understand that your souls are broken. Worse, you don’t fear Him. Instead, you sneer in the face of Him. You’re going to burn in hell forever.”

He was finished with them. He sprang forward and started to run past them, sometimes through them, which gave him a chill because he didn’t understand how that was possible because they were, after all, real.

He felt their hands grasp him and tug at his clothing as he shot by them. They were trying to bring him down, trying to do God knows what to him, but he was strong. He shook them off and pressed forward in spite of nearly slipping on the damp earth. He looked into their liquid black eyes as he flew past them and what he saw were deep wells of hatred.

When he finally was beyond them, one of them spoke out in a raised voice: “You shouldn’t have killed us, Kenneth.” It was Maria Fuentes. “We’re here to help her. This won’t be the last time you see us. You’re up for the challenge of your life. May the true God be with you, not the fake God you carry around in your fucked up heart, because you’re going to need the real God if you’re going to survive this time.”

And then, right at his back, as if his relationship with Christ didn’t matter, as if he wasn’t one of God’s Chosen Ones, each of them began to laugh in ways that only made him run harder.

He’d been through this with them once before, and he came out stronger and more focused because of it. He’d show them. If she wasn’t already dead, he’d make Cheryl Dunning’s death an example of why you never, ever crossed Kenneth Berkowitz.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Cheryl Dunning knew that at some point, she needed to stop moving and remain in one place. That was the first thing her father and grandfather told her she should do should she ever become lost in the woods. She should create some kind of shelter for herself, just as they’d shown her how to do, and not move until she was found.

If I’m found.

She no longer was running. Instead, she was walking softly and listening. She saw the direction in which the madman ran―far off to her right. The bull moose had frightened him enough that she watched him dart blindly through the woods, which allowed her to slink low and keep to the left, along the wetlands, which is where she wanted to be because at some point, she knew it was here that she’d find some sort of water source. Not the pools of ground water that were around her―drinking from them would probably kill her. She was hoping to find a brook or a stream. Something that was coming from a fresh source and, more importantly, that was moving.

But even if she found that, she’d be taking a risk if she drank from it. As thirsty as she was―the alcohol she consumed last night didn’t exactly hydrate her―and as disgusting as her mouth tasted because of the blood she’d been unable to rinse out, whatever flowing water source she came upon would still have its share of bacteria, which could cripple her.

Still, she remembered her father’s words. If she had a choice between dehydration and illness, she should drink and pray for the best.

She stopped for a moment, pressed her back against a thick pine, and reached inside her pocket for the phone he left her with. She turned it on, saw that no other texts