Hustle (Book 1 in The Hunted Hearts) - SYTYCW Winner #action #comedy #romance

Hustle | Chapter 18

She stared up in awe at the natural beauty surrounding her. The cave was like an artistic sculpture with stalactites hanging down from random ledges and an array of glassy stones sparkling in the walls. It was cool and fresh, a welcome relief from the humid jungle air.

She relaxed back against the cavern wall and sighed, closing her eyes and resting her full weight against it.

The wall behind her shifted. She tried to sit up, but too late. It fell away behind her, and she tumbled backwards into another chamber.

Her ass hit the hard floor first, and her body bounced before she flopped onto her back. She groaned and rolled onto her side. "Oww," she muttered.

I think I broke my ass.

She glanced up to see a hole four-feet above her.

At least I can get back out.

The small chamber was dark, but the light through the hole provided a dim glow.

She faced forward, towards the left wall of the chamber, and nearly swallowed her tongue. She stared into the hollow eye sockets of a cracked skull before she yelped and pushed herself backwards to get away from it.

Bile rose in her throat as small insects and worms moved around inside the skull.

Oh, that's just disgusting.

She shivered and brushed cobwebs off her face and arms while sitting beside a rotted skeleton.

Oh great, now I find spiders.

She stood up slowly, keeping her back bent so she didn't bang her head on the low ceiling. She stumbled over to the opening she had fallen through before reaching through it to grab the torch she had left on the level above.

The dead guy was pretty gross, but she wanted to know how he ended up dead inside a cave.

She grabbed the torch and flipped it on, pointing it at the corpse near her feet and studying him.

Judging by the rotten clothes, the skeleton had been a guy once. His khaki jacket was torn and ragged, what was left of it anyway. He was curled up in a fetal position. There were rotted boots on his feet, which were mostly just rubber soles now. For the most part, he was just bare bone with insects moving around inside him.

Who was he?

She frowned and knelt beside him, brushing away dust and slate to search the ground around him. Rusty bloodstains marked the slate, splashing the walls and floor near him.

This must be where he died.

She shivered, unable to think of anything worse than being killed and left down here for the bugs to eat.

Her fingers brushed over something smooth, and she glanced down. There was something white stuck into the ground. She closed her eyes as she dug her fingernails beneath it, trying to pry is out of the earth and stone that it was wedged under.

Please don't be a bit of bone.

It came out with a snap and jumped into her hand. She peered down, opening one eye to peek at it. She'd already convinced herself it was going to be something disgusting. She opened her eyes and frowned when she stared at it. It was a credit card—an old credit card, judging by the date on it.

She brushed dust and dirt off it, trying to make out the name. Her eyes widened in horror when she read the name. MR. DOUGLAS HAWKINS was engraved into the plastic, surrounded by splatters of dried blood.

This is Jacob's father, or at least, it was once.

She gripped the card as shock jolted through her body.

My father was here with him. One died, and one survived.

Her stomach flipped over. Maybe it was the idea that her father might have been a killer or the stench of the death in the air finally reaching her senses, but she turned away from the skeleton and heaved.

Fighting to control the rising bile, she shook her head. She refused to throw up here. The situation was bad enough without that. She closed her eyes, and the smiling man who had looked like Jacob appeared in her mind. His skin rotted away, melting off his face and leaving a skeleton behind. The image was too much for her churning stomach, and she threw up on the far wall, unable to keep it down.

Breathing heavily, she stumbled back, careful not to touch the vomit or the body. She wiped her mouth with her hand and reached up to pull herself out of the cave.

When a large hand gripped her wrist, she screamed, pulling away and falling back into the chamber. She landed beside the skeleton and stared up at the opening in horror.

Jacob peered through the hole. He was staring down at her with a thunderous expression on his face