Run: An Emma Caldridge Novella: The Final Episode by Jamie Freveletti Read Free Book Online Page A

of Petri dishes, test tubes, and even a microscope tumbling to the floor.
    “Stop it!” Her voice was harsh. He froze. As she neared she could see the machete in his hand. It was what he’d used to sweep the bottles off the table. “That’s my work. You have no right to be here.” The man stayed still, saying nothing and keeping his face turned away. Emma heard the gravel crunch behind her.
    “He responds only to me.”
    A woman stood at the corner of the drive. The weak moonlight lit her dark skin. She wore a scarf wrapped around her head and a pareo was knotted at her hip. She smiled, and her teeth, straight and white, glowed in the night, giving her a feral appearance. Emma leveled a stare at her. The woman’s hard eyes were what bothered her most. They revealed a person without a soul, like the witch women in the Sudan who rode with marauding armies, wore black robes, and beat on drums while soldiers killed everyone in the village. The woman at the corner of the drive reeked of depravity. It was all Emma could do not to take a step back, away from the force of ill will that flowed from her in waves.
    “He’s my slave,” the woman said. “A zombie.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous,” Emma replied, her voice sharp. She knew better than to show fear or acquiesce to the woman’s bizarre claim, but found it difficult to maintain her ground. She hadn’t expected to meet with evil in the middle of the night on a beautiful Caribbean island. Yet she managed to remain in place. “He’s a trespasser. And so are you.” Her anger fizzed at the deliberate destruction of her work. The woman moved closer, walking in an exaggerated, swaying motion.
    “ You are the outsider on this island. We belong here. Leave. And take your bottles and experiments with you.”
    Emma glanced at the man, but he remained still, not moving a muscle. His stillness was strange, and a frisson of a chill ran through her. She wished that she had thought to bring her cell phone. She was loath to leave these two even for the time it would take to retrieve it. If she did, she was afraid they would destroy even more.
    “I saw the mess you made in the entrance hall,” she said. “I’m going to call Island Security about your breaking and entering.”
    The woman chuckled, but the noise sounded wicked. “Island Security knows better than to interfere with a bokor priestess.”
    Emma was glad that the man stayed frozen during this exchange. She didn’t want to grapple with both the woman and him. She took a step toward the woman.
    “But I don’t know better, and I’m telling you one more time to leave. Now. And take your companion and absurd talk of zombies with you.”
    The woman raised an eyebrow. “Ahh, the scientist in you doesn’t believe? Be warned. You have no idea what you’re dealing with here. With one word from me he’ll cut you to ribbons. There’s no negotiating with him.”
    “I don’t recall offering any negotiation. I said leave. Both of you.” Emma kept the man in her peripheral vision. With the machete in his hand, he didn’t need to be a zombie to hurt her. Flesh and blood human would be enough.
    The woman flicked her hand. “Kill her,” she said.
    The man burst into motion. He raised the machete and sprinted to her, closing the distance between them in seconds. His hair hung in thick Rasta braids down his back, and his face was contorted in a strange spasm. His eyes pointed straight to the sky even as he ran toward her, swinging the machete. It was as if he was not in control and that his body was responding to a force outside of his mind. His tongue whipped right and left, adding to the horrific sight. He started screaming in a high-pitched wail.
    Emma spun and ran toward the villa. She heard the priestess’s harsh laugh and the man’s feet on the gravel driveway behind her. She had the fleeting thought that the man was insane and if he were to catch her would show no mercy.
    She made it to the French doors and