Free BACKWOODS RIPPER: a gripping action suspense thriller by Anna Willett Page A

he screamed.
    “No. No don’t,” he heard himself begging, and almost didn’t recognise his own voice.
    Hal felt himself being lifted off the bed. The bones in his lower leg ground together and the world darkened. He seemed to hang in mid-air for a moment and then his butt hit something, the rest of his body quickly followed. He tried to rock forward and grab his leg, but his shoulders were pressed down. Something slid across his body and he felt pinned in place.
    He looked above him and could see faces. Lizzy’s and the other woman’s floating eerily. He began to understand that he was on a stretcher and a fleeting memory of being in this position before came to him.
    “What are you doing?” He managed to get the words out through clenched teeth.
    Lizzy glanced down and regarded him with emotionless, shark eyes. “That snake bite’s infected. We need to take your leg off or it’ll kill you.”
    The words sliced through the pain. Did she say “take your leg off?” Yellow ceiling sped by; the trolley was moving.
    “You’re not cutting my leg off,” he shrieked and pushed against the restraints that held him on the stretcher.
    A door banged and he was in another room. The powerful smell of bleach stung his nose. A large metal sink loomed on his right. He turned his head and saw a silver trolley laid out with evil looking instruments – in the centre, a hack-saw. It had a solid handle, the blade slightly rusty.
    “No.” It came out as more of a scream than a word.
    Lizzy’s face appeared above him. She leaned so close that for one crazy moment, he thought she meant to kiss him. He could smell her sour breath.
    “Settle down. I’m only taking the lower leg.

Chapter Eight
    Paige pulled on the sides of her denim jacket and grabbed the phone out of her bra so she could check the time: nearly midday. Forty minutes since leaving Mable House. Snatches of pale blue sky were visible above the canopy. A crispness hung in the air that the weak glimpses of sunlight did nothing to warm.
    When she’d snuck out the back door, Lizzy was upstairs and Soona nowhere in sight. Paige worked her way around the house until she made it back to the ute, then grabbed her jacket out of the back and headed to the left side of the house, avoiding the entry road at the front of the building. Her plan had been to duck into the bush and try to walk parallel to the road.
    The uneven terrain and scattered debris from the trees made walking a challenge. She looked back over her shoulder. Behind her, as ahead, only scraggy looking shrubs, twisted trees, and deep native grass flourished. All around her patches of pink, purple, and yellow wildflowers poked their heads up in recognition of the spring sunshine. Paige supposed the setting might be considered pretty, and under different circumstances she’d likely stop and enjoy the wildness of it all. But for the moment, all she could think about was water.
    She didn’t bring any with her, telling herself not to waste time trying to find something to carry it in. What a mistake that had been. Her throat felt dry and her lips cracked. She tried to remind herself that a human being could go for three days without water, but her parched tongue told her otherwise. She thought of the Esky sitting in the back of the Ford: cans of cola and bottles of water inside. All would be warm by now, but even warm they’d taste wonderful to her sandy mouth.
    She heard a crackle and scanned the long grass ahead for signs of movement, but found it impossible to tell if anything slithered beneath the thick foliage. Paige looked to her left and could make out the edge of the road between the trees. If she tried walking closer, she’d be torn to pieces on the thorny branches of the yellow bushes blooming there. Those bushes reminded her of everything else about his place. They looked appealing and harmless, but close up they were surprisingly sharp.
    She sidestepped the area where she’d heard the rustling and