I hadn’t even been expecting to see one. Winston and I had our eye on two playful rabbits…
Wait. Where is he? If he scares off my score I’ll throttle him.
With renewed urgency, I peer through my scope.
Got you.
The winter wind whips again. A cold gust of air makes me lose my breath.
Shit.
As the wind dies down, I take in a small, shallow breath and refocus on my target. Good thing I’m standing down wind or my target would have taken off by now.
It stops about twenty feet from me and looks around. Its eyes dart past me in my camouflage coat and pants. With my winter boots covered in snow and my hair pulled back and covered with my brown wool cap, the only thing the deer might have noticed was the black weapon aimed at her. But when she drops her head to nuzzle into the snow, looking for anything edible underneath, I almost breathe a sigh of relief. But not wanting to give myself away I make sure not to make a sound.
I take aim between her shoulder blades, the way Rocky taught me. My shot will pierce the lungs and heart. I need a quick kill. I can’t have her running through the woods with an arrow sticking out of her. If that happened I might as well get on a bull horn and scream, “We’re over here! Come and get us!”
I don’t need that, so I double check my shot and slip my finger through the trigger.
Steady.
The deer’s head pops up.
Crap.
Gritting my teeth, I realize my shot is lost. She looks from right to left. Something has her startled.
Winston.
With renewed urgency I take aim for the head, focusing on one of her eyes. It’s not the best shot, but I can’t miss my opportunity.
Stomp, stomp, slide.
I freeze, listening.
Stomp, stomp, slide.
I would know that sound anywhere. It’s the sound that wakes me up in a cold sweat at night. It’s the sound that can send me into a panic. It’s the sound that I remember when I think of my dead friend, Shayla.
Winston isn’t spooking the doe.
It’s a damn lizard.
About A.M. Griffin:
A. M. Griffin is a wife who rarely cooks, mother of three, dog owner (and sometimes dog owned), a daughter, sister, aunt and friend. She’s a hard worker whose two favorite outlets are reading and writing. She enjoys reading everything from mystery novels to historical romances and of course fantasy romance. She is a believer in the unbelievable, open to all possibilities from mermaids in our oceans and seas, angels in the skies and intelligent life forms in distant galaxies.
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Against The Darkness (Cimmerian Moon) Page 27
