Victoria turned to run. Click. Zzzap. Something slapped her back. A zing snapped through her body as if she’d touched a hot outlet. Every muscle in her body flexed and locked in place. Unable to break her fall, she pitched face-first to the ground. Her chin struck a rock. Pain lanced through her head.

She heard him approach, his footsteps cracking through dead leaves. Her body tingled, but she couldn’t move anything except her head. She turned it to focus up the trail. Ashley sprawled motionless three feet away. Ten feet ahead, the blond creep was squatting next to Samantha and binding her twitching hands and feet with plastic ties. Samantha groaned. Her eyes were open wide enough to show the whites all the way around. She opened her mouth and inhaled.

He slid a knife from his pocket. “If you scream, I will cut out your tongue.” Impersonal, cold, and steady as the river, the voice held no malice or anger. Its just-the-facts lack of emotion sent Victoria’s racing heart into a fresh sprint.

Samantha stilled. He stuffed something in her mouth, wrapped a bandana around her face, and threaded it through her mouth. A tight knot secured it behind her head.

He moved to Ashley. Kneeling next to her, he touched her face, frowned, and continued to Victoria’s side.

Ashley was too still.

Victoria commanded her body to rise, told her hands to lever her body to her feet, instructed her legs to run. But nothing happened. Her body’s connection to her brain had shorted out. Rough hands closed around her ankles and brought them together. He bound them just above her low boot tops. The plastic tie cut into her skin. He maneuvered her hands behind her back. Her face ground into the dirt.

Just as he finished binding her, tiny pinpricks signaled the return of her muscle control. She wiggled her toes and flexed her feet. Her body responded, the epitome of too little, too late. Pulling another bandana from his pocket, he shoved the fabric into her mouth and fastened it tightly. It tasted of dirt and sweat and pulled painfully at the corners of her mouth. Victoria gagged. He dragged her by the feet through the dirt past Ashley. Her friend’s body remained motionless.

He left Victoria and Samantha on the bank and ducked back into the brush. Victoria turned her head. Fear and hopelessness clouded Samantha’s eyes. Tears glistened on her cheeks. Victoria couldn’t cry. Numbness spread through her, a self-defense reaction against what her brain knew was coming. Though they were bound, she felt the connection as their eyes met. Mentally, they were holding hands.

They were thinking the same thing. Serial killer.