Excerpt Monday: Gripped by Fear by John M. Wills

Gripped by Fear
by John M. Wills

“Did you bring it?” Billy asked, looking around. He was hoping that his friend Jose had
brought a cigarette that they could share.

“Yeah, I got one from my brother’s pack; he’ll never miss it.”

The two young boys walked down the sidewalk to the vacant house. They were on their way to school,
but every once in a while they liked to sneak a cigarette here in the abandoned
garage. They had seen the high school kids smoking and thought that it made them look cool. They‘d found this place several weeks back, part of a house left vacant months ago, and had made it a custom to stop here a few times a week to indulge in their new found ritual.

“I got matches, Jose.”

“Big deal…I got a lighter, man. It’s a lot better than matches.”

They were proud of themselves as they strutted through the side door of the garage, anticipating the thrill of acting like the big kids. But their normally quiet and secret safe haven held a surprise for them on this morning.

"Holy shit! What’s that?” Jose stopped dead in his tracks as he saw a woman’s body lying on the ground.

Billy, taking baby steps, approached the body. “She’s got no pants on, man; I think she’s dead.”

Both boys moved in closer for a better look.

“Man, somebody beat the crap out of her. Look at all that blood!” Jose was getting curious…and bold. He knelt down and stared at the woman’s private area. With his pupils wide open
to illuminate and process the unbelievable sight in front of him, Jose said,
“Billy, you ever see a woman down there before?”

“Not in person man, but I seen pictures. Hey, what are you doin’?”

Jose slowly reached down and touched the woman, then yanked his hand back quickly as if he had just touched a hot skillet. “I just wanna feel it….”

The woman stirred, one arm reaching toward the boys. “Help me….”

Startled, Jose fell over and landed on his backside; Billy jumped, “Holy shit, she’s alive!”

“Help…hurt me…his eye….”

Jose stood up. “What she sayin’, man?”

“I don’t know but we gotta get outta here.” Billy turned to leave, “I’m callin’ 9-1-1.”

Both boys ran from the garage and headed to the convenience store where they used the phone.
“Hey, police, you gotta come quick; there’s a naked lady in the garage. She’s hurt bad.”

Gripped By Fear is available online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, etc, and at some Borders books stores.

The third book in the series, Targeted, will be released April 6, 2011.

For more info, go to my website: www.johnmwills.com