Free Beautiful Death (Bella Morté Trilogy Book 1) by L. Dee Walker Page B

bushes, pointing at them. “Look,” he whispered to Candice.
    Turning, she looked where he pointed, peering carefully. “What is it?”
    He pointed again. “There! Did you see it?”
    She studied the area like cramming for a test, looking for the slightest movement. “Where?” Her eyes darted from the left to the right. “Do you see it now? What did it look like?”
    “I don’t know!”
    “You don’t know what it looked like?” She groaned, shaking her head. “Was it big, small, the trees blowing, or something coming to eat us?”
    “I don’t know! I can’t be sure what I’m looking at. The trees are blowing and all those shadows move.”
    “Okay, you’re not making any sense. Did you see something or not?”
    One of the women in the back, Sophia, listened to the two of them and moved closer. She searched the area, looking for something that may or may not be moving. “Do ya see it now?”
    Candice scoffed. “That seems to be the question of the hour.”
    “I heard something in that,” Zach pointed to one section, “direction and thought I saw something too.”
    “Are you sure? I don’t see anything. Everything’s moving because of the wind.” Candice rolled her eyes before looking back at him. “Maybe it was an animal?”
    “An animal?”
    Erica looked over, rolling her eyes. “What else could it be?”
    Shaking her head, Sophia sighed. “Don’t ask ‘at question. I don’t want the answer.”
    Brandon turned, looking out. At this point, everyone in the truck was tuned in and trying to find something moving on the horizon. “I don’t see anythin’.”
    Trevor squinted, ducking down, looking off in all directions. “Yeah, all I see are bushes an’ trees, but it’s dark, so maybe it’s just shadows.”
    Zach shook his head. “Everyone be quiet and listen.”
    “Okay, this is like freaky. Like what’s taking so long?” Rachel whispered frantically.
    Brandon motioned to them with his hands. “Quiet! Let’s see if we can hear anythin’.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Yes, but like he said he saw something move, not that he like heard something.”
    “Everyone look at the bush.”
    “Like what are we looking for?”
    “If anythin’ moves tell us. We’ll shoot it.”
    Turning, she stared at the bush. “Like great plan.”
    The bushes and trees swayed from the cold breeze. Shadows from the moon joined in dancing to a magical beat. Each of them took on a life of their own, moving across the ground, playing hide and seek with the light. It was silent, other than the breeze making the leaves sound like nature’s very own wind chimes. It was hypnotizing. Everyone in the truck stared at the bushes, straining to hear the slightest sound, squinting to see anything out of place.
    It was quiet. Too quiet.
    Justice walked out after they secured the building. Luckily, they didn’t run across any resistance. Walking towards the truck, he furrowed his brows as he watched them. They looked like frozen statues. He looked around curiously if anything was about to attack them. Seeing nothing, he continued walking a little closer, peering at each of them, waiting for any sign of movement. “What,” his voice was loud in the silence and everyone in the truck screamed, “are y’all lookin’ at?”
    Brandon, frightened by the sudden noise behind him, shot at the trees, which ricocheted: making everyone duck, screaming in fear, climbing over each other to get away from the sides.
    Breathing deeply, Trevor turned, calming the group as he shook his head, glaring at Justice. “That’s a good fuckin’ way to get your ass wasted. Jesus!”
    Justice looked around confused. “What? What the hell is wrong with you guys?”
    “You scared the hell outta us!”
    “I came back to tell ya guys the coast is clear. Ya can go in.”
    “Okay, settle down.” Brandon tried calming the frightened campers. “It was just a false alarm. Let’s get inside.”
    “Yeah, we heard. We’re not deaf,” Erica said,