Read Affliction Z (Book 3): Descended in Blood for Free Online

rustling through the leaves. People, you know. Not deer or bear or turkey. It was people. I couldn’t tell where they come from, and it’s impossible to make heads or tails of most things in here, so I started moving. Once I saw those eyes, I tucked in behind the tree, waiting for it all to stop.”
    Phil pressed back against the bark. It scratched his exposed arms as he eased around the side. He no longer saw the streaking flashes. The eyes, as Ralph had said.
    “Going for my gun,” he whispered, dropping to his hands and knees in order to make himself small and less noticeable. His pistol disappeared under a layer of leaves with each shuffle forward. The rustling sounded like an eighteen-wheeler. Every time he stopped, the whoosh of his heart was just as deafening. He wondered if those things heard it, too.
    After what felt like a thirty yard crawl, Phil reached his rifle. Sweat dripped from his face. He kept his focus on the shadowy trees in the distance while kneeling. He shoved the pistol back in his pants, then rose to his feet, aiming loosely ahead. The woods were silent. In all his years as an avid outdoorsman, he’d never heard such a void in nature.
    Then he saw them.
    Two eyes.
    Glowing reddish in color.
    A couple hundred yards away, blanketed in a veil of shadows. They didn’t move side to side. They didn’t advance or retreat. They stared right at Phil.
    He was sure of that. He felt it.
    His heart and breath caught in his throat. It felt as though his stomach had twisted then turned. The man had seen a lot in his life. Weapons had been aimed at him. A helicopter crash. He’d witnessed downright horrific scenes of men with machetes, hacking up the captured children of their enemies, while he was restrained with chains and unable to do anything about it. None of that had left him in the state of fear and panic he felt now.
    A low-pitched hum swept past the men like a wave. Phil looked around in an attempt to locate the source of the noise. He couldn’t determine where the persistent buzzing originated.
    He glanced forward again in search of the eyes. The glow that had seemingly burned through his body had extinguished. Shadows remained, wavering.
    “Let’s start heading back,” Ralph said.
    Phil took three steps back, then moved to the side, next to Ralph. The whole time, he kept his eyes and his rifle aimed at the shadows.
    The hum intensified in both pitch and volume.
    The hell? Cicadas? Some other insect?
    It was unlike anything he’d heard before. Not in the rain forests and jungles of South America. Not in Africa. Not in the Middle East.
    And sure as hell not in Virginia.
    The men backtracked twenty yards. The noise intensified. The pitch grew higher. It sounded as though someone was running through the leaves. Toward them. Past them. Always out of sight.
    Phil couldn’t determine how much further they would have to go. His surroundings disoriented him. While everything around him sped up, it felt like every step he took moved him mere centimeters.
    The fear that gripped his core eased with the clearing in sight. Sunlight penetrated the tree line with an almost blinding effect. Through the haze stood the idling ATV. Phil looked back over his shoulder and was unable to see more than twenty yards back, an effect of the sun and shade.
    Derrick broke into an all-out sprint. The young man flew through wispy branches and over land obstacles with ease. Ralph followed at a slower pace. Even Phil picked up his pace, knowing escape was close.
    Near the edge of the clearing, Phil noticed that the buzzing had stopped. Or had he gone far enough that he just couldn’t hear it anymore? He halted at the edge of the clearing and glanced back. A dozen eyes stared at him. Red. Green. Yellow. Glowing slits that radiated anger, evil, and pain.
    The ATV engine roared as Ralph put it in reverse and starting backing up toward Phil.
    “C’mon, Phil,” he called out.
    The fear that gripped him held tight. Every nerve