by J. L. Drake
HUNTED
A Suspense Collection
Hunted: A Suspense Collection
Copyright © 2020.
All rights reserved.
First Print Edition: June 2020
Limitless Publishing, LLC
Kailua, HI 96734
www.limitlesspublishing.com
Formatting: Book Pages By Design
Cover Design: Deranged Doctor Design
ISBN-13: 978-1-64034-880-6
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Amber Alert By Sara Schoen
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Epilogue
Darkness Lurks by J.L. Drake
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Have You Seen this Girl? by Carissa Ann Lynch
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Epilogue
Not Forgotten By Camille Taylor
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Epilogue
Nurse Blood by Rebecca Besser
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Epilogue
The Ten by Luke Swanson
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Amber Alert
By Sara Schoen
Prologue
A knife lodged into the tree beside me, cutting off a lock of my hair. That could’ve been me, I thought. He was getting close, but all I could see was the thick foliage that surrounded me. His footsteps echoed off the trees and sent me into a sprint yet again. I knew my pursuer—intimately.
I had only seen his face a few times, but I’d never forget it after what he did to me. This was my only opportunity to escape, and I was de
termined to make it. I couldn’t go back to that house, that prison. I wouldn’t survive; if I was going to die, it was going to be here, in these woods. I raced through the trees until I found a dense set of bushes to hide behind. The footsteps drew near, my eyes shut tight and my breath halted, hoping against all odds I wouldn’t be found. After they passed, a sigh escaped my lips, and once I felt it was safe I raced in the opposite direction. The trees started to thin. I hoped that I was close to a road, I needed help, but I wasn’t getting any. As I entered the clearing, he stood waiting for me. I had nowhere else to go, the trees were all I had, and I was going to take my chances. Before I could make another escape, he grabbed me. I glanced into the eyes that haunted me and saw the desire that filled them. He wanted me share his emotions, but all I felt was fear. A scream erupted from my throat, and I smashed my foot down on his, providing me with an escape. I raced into the trees, focused on getting far away from him. He would chase after me—he would never stop, but if I stopped running...it was terrifying to think about. That fear caused me to look over my shoulder, but when I did I tripped on a root. The fall was sudden, and with no time to react I crashed into the ground and rolled down a hill until I came to a stop. A groan escaped my lips, I had to get up and continue running. The pain was unbearable. A hit to my spine, head and ribs made it impossible to get up. A ragged breath reached my lungs just before a hand clasped down over my mouth, muffling the scream. Memories flashed through my head as I kicked to get loose, while he used his body to hold me down.
“Shh, don’t scream.” He attempted to comfort me while his other hand started traveling up my inner thigh. He seemed to enjoy my struggling from the upward turn in his cruel smile. He kissed my neck, his free hand everywhere on my body, eventually stopping wherever he pleased. I struggled against his touch, fighting. I felt my clothes being lifted from my skin. I couldn’t go through this again, not another attack, and I knew one way to stop it. Just before his fingers could get close to what he was after I screamed again, breaking a direct order.
“Fine, have it your way!” The coolness of his knife blade lightly touch my neck. “I’ll find someone new to play with. I always love a new chase,” he laughed while he sliced my neck, his hands still traveling over my body. I screamed at the pain, but only a gurgling sound came to my ears. I just wanted to go back home, and then everything went black.
Chapter 1
The sunshine had penetrated through the breaks in my curtains. I closed my eyes tightly, fighting to go back to sleep, but the light had beaten me once again. I was awake, and I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep until later tonight. I rushed through my daily routine, got dressed in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, pulling my hair into a tight ponytail. I had to pass time until it was time to meet my boyfriend, Andy. He had come back from Germany last night, and I had returned from Florida to start school next week. He was getting over jet lag, so I wasn’t able to see him until after lunch. I decided to take that time and relax instead of waiting impatiently for the time to tick by.
After about an hour of me flipping through channels, I realized that the cartoons had become terrible. It made me feel bad for this generation of kids, they missed all the good cartoons. I could remember when I was ten, my brother and I would get up early to watch Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh.
I needed someone else to be up with, and my brother was the perfect person to fill the need for human interaction. I turned up the volume as high as it would go and waited. I heard my brother’s thundering footsteps, clearly angered that I had woken him with the television. They echoed upstairs until I finally heard Kendall coming toward me.
I was sitting on the couch, a book from the table next to me propped in my hands when Kendall walked in with an angry gleam in his eye and turned down the volume. “Nice try, Anna, but it didn’t work seven years ago and it doesn’t work now. You hate reading, and that’s a dictionary!” he said yanking it from my hands and plopping down on the couch beside me.
Kendall laughed at my stupidity, but I didn’t mind. I had grown up slightly different, and I knew I stood out even if it wasn’t always for a good reason. I had learned to accept it and not let it bother me. Kendall changed the channel as a warning blared through the speakers. A loud, annoying buzzing sound radiated from the speakers before a newscaster started to speak.
“Authorities have activated an Amber Alert for Jennifer Hastings from North Carolina. Jennifer is sixteen years old and was last seen two weeks ago.” The girl’s photo flashed on the screen showing off her long wavy brown hair and tanned skin. “If you have any information please call the number below. It is believed Jennifer Hastings may be the latest victim in a recent string of kidnappings of young women.” Kendall changed the channel quickly to Phineas and Ferb.
He was attempting to shelter me as our parents had done for us. Why they did that, I wasn’t sure. It would be better to see the problems so we could be prepared for them, but instead they hid the real world from us.
“Why did it take so long for them to say that she was taken?” I asked Kendall, making him groan. He never liked these kinds of conversations. I’m not sure anyone did.
“There are certain criteria that it has to fit to issue an Amber Alert,” Kendall said with a sigh, knowing I wouldn’t stop asking until he answered my question. I was persistent especially when it came to curiosities.
“Like what?”
“They have to be under eighteen, they have to be in danger of being harmed, there have to be witnesses to the abduction, and there has to be a description of the car or the person,” he said flipping through channels, attempting to distract himself.
“Why that much?”
“To prevent “crying wolf” calls if the person ran away and will eventually come back.”
“That’s horrible.” The criterion was so strict. Immediate action was needed in order to save that person’s life, not waiting for an eyewitness that may have seen something.
“It’s what it takes to prevent false alarms, otherwise eventually people will ignore it and when it’s real no one will help,” Kendall said. The television stopped on my favorite movie, Remember the Titans. I tried to crack a smile as Sunshine kissed Gerry, but I couldn’t work up my usual excitement.
“Anna, don’t think about it. It will just make you worry unnecessarily and you know you have panic attacks when you worry,” Kendall said jokingly.
“Ok, do you want lunch?” I asked trying to change the topic to something more pleasant. Kendall simply nodded, sending me to get lunch ready for the both of us.
I went upstairs where a note from mom was waiting for me on the refrigerator. She and Dad would be back late from work: remember no cooking and no friends allowed in their absence.
I groaned in annoyance—I was only able to cook when they were home in case another accident happened. My family would never let me forget that I accidentally set the toaster on fire while making a pop tart. I pulled leftovers from the fridge, before putting them in the microwave. A few minutes later, I took the plates downstairs for us. We were still watching Remember the Titans. I noticed that it was 12:30, only thirty minutes until I could see Andy for the first time since his leaving for the summer. There was a sense of excitement bubbling inside me, a butterfly effect that made my stomach do little flips.
I got so anxious that I decided to leave a few minutes early so I could be there on time. I wanted to see him more than anything, and I wasn’t going to waste minutes just waiting for the right time to come around.
“Bye Kendall! I’m going to the playground, see you at five!” I slammed the door before he had time to answer and ran toward the park a few blocks from my house. It was the middle point between our two houses, and we met there for all of our dates for over a year now. It was just another summer day, the sun was shining, kids were laughing and school was coming closer and closer to starting again. When I got to the playground I scanned the field and equipment in hopes to see him. His six foot four frame was hard to miss i
n a crowd of children playing.
Excitement continued to grow more intense as I waited, I missed him so much while we were apart. I wanted to hug him close and hear his heart beat as he set his chin on the top of my head. He was nine inches taller than me, but he always made sure to sit and come to my level as often as possible so I wouldn’t feel upset about my height. He was so thoughtful like that, and he was very protective over me, I felt secure and safe with him around.
I sat on the swings while I waited dragging my feet on the ground as I swung. Children played while a subtle breeze blew some strands of hair out of my ponytail and into my face. I swiped them back to glance around the area. Everyone had come to enjoy the last few days of summer.
I swung a little higher—my feet left the ground. When I came back I felt a hand on the small of my back and automatically went stiff. I turned to see a tall man I’ve never seen before, with black hair that covered his eyes. I got up from the swing, startled by his presence, and took a few steps back as he advanced toward me.
“Hi Kelly,” he said easily.
“I’m sorry, I’m not Kelly.” I continued to step backward, trying to get away from him, but he kept coming closer to me.
“Come on Kelly, it’s time to go home.”
“I’m not Kelly,” I said again as I turned and started to walk away. He lunged forward and grabbed my hair to pull me back and held me in place.
Parents raced, gathering their kids, but no one stepped forward to help me. I screamed as the man grabbed on to my shoulders and started pulling me out into the parking lot. I turned my head to see Andy standing there with his sisters behind his back to protect them. He looked torn as if he couldn’t decide what to do. He wanted to protect me, but his family was everything to him. I screamed for him to stay away, but Andy soon stood in front of my attacker. He was probably hoping to save me, but the second Andy stopped in front of him there was a loud bang that caused everyone to scream. I watched as Andy collapsed and blood pooled on his chest. Tears streaked down my cheeks, and a cry left my lips.
“Andy! Andy!” I screamed, trying to run to his side.
“Come on!” The man pulled me away from my boyfriend, who was convulsing on the ground as he died.
“No! Andy...please!” I was roughly shoved into the back of a black car. The door slammed shut, the front door opened soon after and he got in. There was a click, as he locked the car then he threw it in gear, and took off at an insane speed leaving everyone I knew and cared for behind. I watched in terror as trees whizzed by, leaving the familiar surroundings behind as the road went from pavement to dirt and the buildings were replaced with large trees and fallen branches. I didn’t know where we were going, but I wanted to go home. The locks wouldn’t budge; the child safety lock prevented my escape the moment he had locked me in this god-forsaken car. I had lost my phone in the struggle, and I was stuck in here.