Fear of God (Trials of Strength Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

It did. His back faced me, his clothes
soaked crimson and a knife in his hand dripped with the blood of
its victims. I stared as he turned. I looked into his vacant eyes,
a hollow shell of the person he once was.
    ‘ Mr Williams,’
I whispered, ‘Mr…’
    I couldn’t speak, my
voice was lost. I wished then I hadn’t been so impulsive and
screamed. It never ends well. A second, one blink of an eye, and he
was on me. He hit me hard and we both tumbled back into the
hallway. My head hit the solid tiles with a crack and the world
began pulling in at the edges. He was on top and he screamed with
rage. An anger matched only by my fear.
    He raised the knife, and
brought it down. Instinctively I reacted, my hand flew up to meet
his, and I caught it just before the blade sunk into my neck. I was
lost in agony as my arm creaked, the strength of the being on top
almost overwhelming. Such strength… My screams mixed with his and I
could feel my energy draining. The knife moved closer, the tip
almost touched my skin.
    I don’t want
to die. Please!
    But my thoughts couldn’t
save me. My vision blurred and I knew this was it. This was where
and how I would die.
    Pop. Pop.
Pop.
    The sounds pierced the
air and rang in my skull. The pressure of Mr Williams’ hand
lessened and gave way. The knife clattered to the floor and his
eyes glazed over. I pushed with my remaining strength, and he
keeled onto the ground beside me. A few metres away a shadowy
figure stood, something smoking in his hand.
    A gun. I tried to process
it, but the world was leaving.
    A
gun?
    The man ran over and
grabbed me. He shook violently, and shouted words I couldn’t
acknowledge. But I was fading fast and soon to be gone. I wanted to
be gone, I wanted to wake up in bed and have that whole day be
another nightmare I wouldn’t forget. He yelled something again and
cocked his head in the air, listening. A chorus of screams bounced
off the walls of the corridor and the man’s face fell. I almost
laughed at the transformation, until I realised that that couldn’t
be good.
    But as the thunderous
footsteps clattered from somewhere down the hall, I clocked out,
lost to darkness.

 
    The
Angel
     
    I was never leaving this
place. I would always be restrained, voiceless and
afraid.
    There would always be
whispers in the dark, and cracks of thunder.
    A fire from hell would be
my only fate.
     
    *
     
    Again I woke from that
nightmare, hope for a new day renewed. I kept my eyes closed as I
always did and drew in what I expected to be fresh air. My lungs
filled with something thick and old and full of dampness. There was
a steady dripping sound a few feet away, rhythmic and out of place.
The ground I was sprawled on was not a soft mattress, and the
hushed voices were foreign to my room.
    I shifted and
gave a grunt. My head thumped in time with my heart as I tried to
remember what had happened. Iron bars shut me out from the memory.
I couldn’t remember, no, I didn’t want to remember.
    Someone gasped somewhere
close, and then a scream erupted from the other side of the
room.
    ‘ It’s awake!’
the woman who had screamed shouted.
    It?
    Movement exploded around
me and my heavy eyes flashed open. A woman sat a few feet away,
eyes wide and mouth open, the one who had gasped. Next to her stood
three men, arms extended, angry snarls etched into their
faces.
    ‘ You move, you
die, simple,’ the one in the middle shouted, spit flew in all
directions. ‘You answer our questions, or you die. Got
it?’
    I stared bewildered.
There was something in their hands, something familiar
but…
    Guns.
    I tried to scramble
backwards, away from the menacing barrels of death, the man’s words
forgotten. The woman close by moved in front and shielded me from
the weapons, her hair flying around her head like a fiery
halo.
    ‘ Stop it! Get
those out of his face and give him a second to breath, damn you!’
she said, her voice loud but calm.
    ‘ Anna, get out
of the way. Now!!’ the