Narrator

Tessa's face went hard."

that ain't a trail she said that's a she didn't finish because at that moment from the right hand brush right where luke pointed a voice called out soft and familiar luke it was my voice not close but close enough the exact sound of my tone my cadence every hair on my body lifted luke's face went blank with shock noah he whispered even though i was standing two feet from him

The voice called again, closer.

Luke, come on.

Tessa's eyes went wide.

She grabbed Luke's arm.

Don't, she hissed.

That ain't- But Luke took one step toward the sound before his brain caught up.

One step, that was all.

And in that one step, something shifted in the brush behind him.

A shape, low and fast.

A hand?

A body?

A body?

I couldn't see clearly in the rain and dim, but I saw movement that didn't belong to deer.

Luke shouted and stumbled, and then he was yanked backward into the brush like someone had hooked him.

He didn't fall.

He was pulled.

The sound that came out of him wasn't a scream.

It was a grunt of shock, like he'd been sucker punched.