Free Jamie Garrett - Riley Reid 02 - Fire and Lies by Jamie Garrett Page A

was a stamp.

    The bible I found was from Pastor Pritchard’s church. He must’ve stamped them all so people knew where they had come from. Why would a couple of meth addicts have kept the good book? No pages were torn out, so they weren’t using it for rolling papers.

    There was a single window in the room. I went over to it, just to take a quick look. Having not seen the backyard yet, I figured it might be best to get a view of it from above.

    It was dark out back. I couldn’t see much. At least, at first I didn’t see anything. Then some movement caught my eye. I ran over to the room’s light switch and turned it off to make it easier to see outside.

    When I returned to the window I could see a figure standing in the woods at the edge of the backyard. It was a human figure. I felt him looking right back at me. And then he bolted.

The Chase
     
    I knew that whoever had killed the Branches was still nearby. If I didn’t go after him, he’d get away. And I didn’t go through all that I had just to let that happen again. There would not be a repeat of what occurred at Fresh Horizons just twenty-four hours before.

    Never in my life had I moved so fast. I barely even felt it as I zoomed down the hallway and staircase. Sam looked at me confused as I ran by him towards the back of the house.

    “Where are you going?” asked Sam.

    “He’s here!” I yelled despite my sore throat, right before exiting.

    It was dark out and there were no lights. I stumbled a few times and almost twisted my ankle in a hole. Even though I couldn’t see the person, I knew what direction he had ran off in.

    My legs got scratched by bushes and thorns. Leaves and tree limbs slapped me in the face. But I kept going. Nothing was going to stop me from pursuing the suspect. There would be no getting away. Not if I could help it, not this time.

    Getting through the thick woods was hard and it was slow moving. The longer I was away from the lights of the house, the more my night vision improved. Just as I was at the height of my frustration trying to navigate the woodland obstacles, I saw the silhouette of the person I was chasing.  From his height and shape I determined it was a man.

    The man must’ve heard that I was close, and turned around to see. We stood for a few seconds, staring at each other. Then he was on the move again.

    For one second I had the man in my view. It wasn’t a clear view with all the obstructions. But I managed to keep him in my sights. Suddenly I could no longer see him. He just vanished.

    I continued on to the point where the man disappeared without slowing down. It was a mistake. The reason why he seemed to disappear was because there was a hill. And I didn’t have time to stop my momentum.

    I’m proud to say I didn’t immediately fall. I managed to run down the hill in the beginning. My feet moved quickly but without confidence. A panic started to overtake me. Then my right foot hit a rock.

    I went head over heels down the rest of the hill. It wasn’t the biggest slope, but it didn’t have to be. The world around me spun chaotically. This must’ve been what clothes feel like in a dryer.

    When I finally stopped tumbling, I was at the bottom of the hill. My hair was covered in pine needles. Other than some bruises, I managed to get up unscathed. I didn’t even feel those minor injuries at the time. Adrenaline was still raging through my veins.

    The man I was chasing hadn’t fallen down the hill. When I got up, I saw him. He was running down the road at the base of the hill. So I went after him.

    It amazed me that I didn’t get tired. I chased the man down that road for what seemed like five minutes at full speed. That might not be impressive to someone who ran or jogged on a regular basis. Before that night, the last time I actually ran was in high school gym class.

    The man started to slow down. I started gaining on him. He looked back and saw me getting closer. In that moment he must’ve