Stone Predator by Kennedy Harkins (children's ebooks free online .txt) 📕

of here, okay? I’ll see you...” Her shoulder brushed mine on her way past; she didn’t stop to look back.
I locked eyes with Derrek as I proceeded toward the yellow tape, closing off the area. I ducked under it quickly and sucked in a breath as my eyes adjusted to the horror in front of me.
Making a sign against evil on my chest, I took it all in. Two bodies splayed helpless on the ground in front of me. The blood was everywhere, covering everything, like it had been spread around by something. One had a knife wound to the abdomen and the other was holding a steak knife, hard not to do the math.
Mt stomach clenched inside of me. It wasn’t the fact that they’d been turned into human gargoyles that bothered me the most, though that was part of it. It was the smell; to this day, I can’t really describe it. If madness and despair had a scent that would have been it. Bitter, metallic, sandpaper rubbing on my senses.
I flinched away from the hand that landed on my shoulder, then relaxed into it. “You okay?” Derrek’s voice was rough and woke me from my stupor.
I cleared my throat uneasily, “Let’s get them on the truck.”

***

Almost exactly three hours later, you could find me sitting in Tony’s Bar and Grill, staring resentfully into my half-empty beer. A soft shuffling noise that I barely heard above the roar of the bar signaled Derrek’s return. He was the only one brave enough to sit anywhere near me when I was in a mood.
Which I was.
“It’s rude to ignore people. Didn’t your mother ever teach you that?”
“She also taught me not to entertain strange men in shady bars.” I took another generous swig from the bottle. I was planning to get flat wasted and sleep off all the horror and gore. Had Sunday off anyway.
A quick glance at my wristwatch told me it was Sunday. I rubbed the exhaustion from my eyes wearily. What a night.
Across the room, I could hear the tap-tap of cues hitting pool balls. Tipsy women led their desires into the bathroom for a quicky. Men were arguing in slurred voices about whose sperm count was higher. Another typical night at Tony’s.
I’d been coming here since my first shift, everyone at the hospital did. We had the highest percentage of alcoholics in the state. I was right there with them, not wanting to spend any more time than necessary conscious. Life sucks whether you remember it the next morning or not.
Lurching to my feet, I clapped a hand to Derrek’s shoulder. His muscles flexed under my palm and I stifled a grin. Show off. I could feel his warmth through the cotton of his shirt, so deliciously warm. I hesitated for the barest second. The thought of taking him up on all his offers was an appealing one. He’d make me forget far faster than any brand of scotch would. There’d be consequences in morning, always were. But...
Shaking my head slowly, I allowed a smile to cross my face. Two mutated corpses and I was ready to throw my self-respect to the wind? Really said a lot about myself control.
“See you in the morning, Stanton.”
His eyes danced as if he knew what I’d been contemplating. “Sure?”
“Positive.” I patted his cheek a little rougher than needed and walk out of that bar with my dignity intact. At least I could hold my head up tomorrow. No confession for me, thank god.
The cold bit at any skin my jacket and jeans left exposed. By the time I reached the rental truck, my hands felt like someone had stuck little needles in them. Pleasant.
The pick-up was waiting for me, as I knew it would be. I had no idea what Vivi saw in it, the Camaro was far cool. Damn, I missed that car. Flinging open the door, I snuggled myself against the war interior. The engine roared to life beneath me with much of struggle. What a relief.
I pulled out and headed straight home, impressively obeying every single traffic law in the book. I’d risked my skin enough for one night, thank you very much. There was next to no one on the road at that hour. Who’s crazy enough to stay out late in a town like that?
In a minimum of twenty minutes, I was pulling up to the Victorian style two-story house I’d grown to love. The lights were all off, making it seem abandoned and lonely. I wasn’t practically surprised, I hadn’t expected V to tear herself away from her knew ‘happy family’ to spend time with me. Hell, I wouldn’t want to spend time with me. I’d been in a bitch of a mood for weeks.
Locking the doors behind me, I proceeded to the kitchen to grab a snack before settling next to the modest sized TV. The couch was like heaven for my sore muscles and joints. Worrying too much actually does take its toll on your body.
There was a slight debacle over where the remote was located, like there was every night, but eventually I found it tucked securely between the cushions. Switching the channel to late night/ early morning sitcoms, I relaxed and let my mind drift too far away lands where I wasn’t spending another night alone.

***

The loud, electronic beeping rang throughout the empty house, waking me from my sleep. I cursed silently as I narrowly avoided falling from the couch and into a big heap on the floor. I’m so a morning person.
As I scrambled to my feet, still wearing last night’s attire, the alarm blared as annoyingly as ever. I groaned and walked over the hard wood floors towards my bedroom. The door swung open silently, the only silent part about the house at that moment, and I walked over the threshold.
Vivica had told me that my space resembled a hotel room...after the house cleaners had been there. It was true that I had no posters on the wall, no pictures littering the place, no liter of any kind really. A trait passed on from my dad. Everything had a place, and nothing was out of its place. Sterile. Government Issue.
I slammed my hand down onto the clock, the noise stopped immediately. Good thing they made those things tough. I have a right with the potential force of a high-speed collision. Ask anyone. Well, anyone who’s had the misfortune of finding out...So, yeah, ask anyone.
Glancing at the clock, I resisted the urge to swear. I was so going to be late. Moving hastily towards the closet, I wrenched out my Sunday closes, long black slacks, and a crisp white top and grey flats. Professional, detached. Perfect for where I was going.
Five minutes later, I was sprinting out the door after quickly combing my hair and applying an appropriate amount of make-up. The car was right where I left it; I hoped right in and started her up. This time it took a couple tries and a little coaxing, but finally I was on the road again.
The sun was high in the sky that day, shining through my windows and into my eyes, making me wish I’d brought along sunglasses. A few blocks away, I pulled into a small parking lot and rushed to lock the door behind me as I sprinted up the steps. The building had been there for centuries, ever since people from the east settled this area. It'd been rebuilt at least three times in recent history. Recent being about a hundred years or so. As far as I know, It’s only had one purpose; Eastmoor’s only Catholic Church. This was strange considering how big the percentage of religious to nonreligious was at that time.
Slightly breathless, I took my spot at the end of the line of people waiting to be greeted and then waved to their seats. Same old, same old.
“Late again, Ms. Dyer,” I tsk tsk sound came from behind me. Whoops, caught red-handed.
“The Dyer’s are never late, everyone else is simply early.” I responded sheepishly. I turned to meet the eyes of a slightly balding old man with silvery hair and a potbelly.
“Dear girl, you’ve been giving me that excuse for nearly thirty years. I suggest you learn some new tricks.” His tone was admonishing with an undertone of amusement.
“As you wish, Father Keller.” I smiled at the man as we walk side by side into the chapel, his long black robes swaying restlessly. I took my seat as he made his way up the aisle. His speech was as inspiring as ever, he made a special shout out to the families of the victims of the Statue Killer. Apparently, that’s what people were calling him, how poetic.
I tried not to let my mind wonder, I’d been raised to pay attention to the word of the Lord, but as the good priest had said, I’d been listening to him for thirty years. It felt like mere minutes before we were all pilling out, I exchanged a few friendly words with the people I’d known my whole life, and then skedaddled as fast as I could manage. There’s only so much time you can spend with a certain crowd before being driven to insanity. I made sure to give my respects to Father Keller and promise to go help out at Sunday school; they were seriously low on teachers. I can’t imagine why.
I headed towards the truck across the parking lot when I heard the loud crash of metal crashing against metal. Craning my neck toward the alley between the church and the hamburger place, I squinted my eyes. I couldn’t see a damn thing.
Moving closer, I glanced around to make sure no one else had noticed the disturbance. Most of them had cleared out by that time, but no one who remained was looking that way. I stepped a few feet into the dark space, trying to make out anything out of place. A faint shape loomed past the large garbage can. It was kneeling down over something, but it was all too dark to understand what I was beholding. They almost looked...human...
In a blink of the eye, the thing was a little more than a yard away from me. I willed myself not to flinch. The first thing that hit me was the smell, far too complex, like my noise was being overrun with flowers. It made me want to sneeze. He was hunched over in a predator like stance; animalistic for all that, he was human. Definitely a he. In the small amount of light available I could just see his skin, it sent shivers down my spine. It was grey. It was...rock.
In that moment, his blood red irises met mine and for the first time in my life, I let out a shriek of true and utter terror.