The Oakhurst Murders Duology

Prologue

Prologue

“I said stop!” Georgina was as surprised as He when she slapped him, it was completely out of character.

She sat there for several long moments, too stunned by what she had done to move, while He pulled back, the hand he had been sliding up her leg now at his cheek. It was only when he reached for her again, this time with something other than lust in his eyes, that Georgina found the impetus to move.

She fumbled with the door next to her and tumbled from the Land Rover when she got it open, hitting the ground with a wet splat.

Under other circumstances she would have been concerned about getting her dress muddy, and what her mother would have to say; just then, though, she had other things to worry about, most important of which was the groping and grasping fingers of the person she had thought she knew.

Scrambling to her feet she looked around wildly for a means of escape. To her right was the farmhouse the yard they were in belonged to - there was no help to be had there, the house was a burned-out ruin that had been unoccupied for years. To her left was the drive, at the end of it was the road to the centre of Oakhurst - going that way would mean going past the Land Rover, and Him, which she was too afraid to do. The third option open to her was the overgrown field in front of her, on the far side of which was some woods - there was no help to be had in that direction, if anything it led further away from help rather than towards it, but it led away from the person she now feared, and that was more important.

All of that flashed through her mind in a fraction of a second, too quickly for her to be aware of it, and then she was off. She wasn’t the fastest runner she knew, but she was faster than her pursuer; she reached the fence, climbed it, and was ten yards into the field before he was even halfway to the fence.

“Get back here, you b***h!”

The shout – harsh, cruel and loud – was so unexpected that Georgina couldn’t help slowing to look back over her shoulder. The look of insane rage on His face was a shock, she had never seen anything like it. She had thought she was scared when she scrambled from the Land Rover, now she knew what it was to be terrified.

His footsteps pounded and echoed in her ears, the sound made her heart beat so fiercely she thought it was going to burst from her chest, while beneath the mud that coated her hands she could feel her palms sweating.

She was so intent on what was behind her that she wasn’t aware of what was in front and she stumbled on the uneven ground. Terror and shock made her want to scream, but before she could she hit the ground, burying her face in the mud and grass, which left her unable to utter so much as a syllable.

Georgina was almost on her feet when He caught up to her, crashing into her like a rugby player desperate to keep the opposition from scoring. He knocked the air from her lungs and crushed her to the ground with his body. The weight disappeared after a moment as He lifted himself, so he could roll her onto her back, but before she could refill her lungs he had a hand at her throat, choking her.

“You f*****g b***h! Look what you’ve made me do,” He snarled, screaming the words even though his face was barely a foot from hers. “I was just copping a feel; why’d you have to overreact?”

Georgina was a passive person usually, but when He began pawing at her, as he had back in the Land Rover, she found the courage and the strength to fight.

She clawed at the hand that groped at her breasts and tore at her dress, and then at the hand that was squeezing her throat. When she failed to stop him that way, she reached up to his face, searching for either his throat or his eyes, the two areas she knew instinctively were his most vulnerable.

He continued to tear at her dress and grope at her with one hand, while he took the other from her throat to keep her hands from his own. Once, twice, three times he pushed her groping hands away, until finally he got angry – angrier – balled his hand into a fist and punched her.

“Lie still, you little b***h,” He ordered. His blow rocked her head to the side, so that she was no longer staring up at him. “If you don’t fight, this won’t hurt.” He immediately gave the lie to his words by hitting her a second time, splitting her lip and drawing blood.

Georgina was afraid of what he was now capable of doing, and that fear, and the adrenaline it flooded her system with, gave her the strength to throw him off her with a sudden heave. It came as such a surprise when his weight disappeared that she almost didn’t react in time to free herself.

It was a second or so before she realised she could move, and once she did she scrambled out from under him, hitting him in the groin in the process. His face twisted into a grimace of agony, while his mouth hung open, though no sound escaped him, and his hands clasped at his balls.

Her chest heaving, Georgina rolled onto her front and, with an enormous effort, pushed herself to her feet. She glanced quickly in the direction of her attacker but saw no sign of movement, which was a small comfort to her, and then set off across the field towards the trees.

Her face hurt from the blows she had been struck, her throat felt as though his fingers were still around it, squeezing, and her lungs ached from the effort of trying to get air into them while he was strangling her; she couldn’t move quickly so she half walked, half jogged, her eyes fixed on the trees at the far edge of the field.

She would have been better off circling around and returning to the yard, from there she could reach the village in about five minutes. Even if He used his car, there was little chance of him catching her, let alone stopping her, before she reached safety. None of that occurred to her, however, her thoughts were fixed on reaching safety, and she had already decided that safety lay within the trees she was heading for.

“Get back here, you b***h!”

Her fear, which had been beginning to subside, returned at that, and Georgina felt a fresh burst of adrenaline flood her system. She spared a brief glance over her shoulder and saw that He was on his feet again. The sight of him pursuing her spurred her on and she covered the final twenty or so yards in under five seconds, slipping between the trunks and into the darkness of the woods when she got there.

Despite having reached what her mind thought of as safety, she didn’t stop, not until she had gone another thirty or so yards into the trees and felt certain he couldn’t find her.

Georgina rested with her back against the trunk of a large oak and took deep breaths to calm herself. It was hard for her to achieve any measure of calm, for every slight rustling noise she heard made her heart thump a little more rapidly in her chest as she imagined Him creeping up on her.

“Where are you, Georgie? Come on, where are you? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. Come on, I’ll take you home. I promise I won’t hurt you again.”

Georgina heard Him crashing through the woods as he searched for her and remained frozen where she was, determined not to give herself away. It was only when the sounds of his approach grew nearer, and she felt certain He must find her at any moment, that she moved. Frightened, she slipped away through the trees as quietly and as quickly as she could, heading, she hoped, towards the far side of the woods, and the river that would lead her back to the village.

Leaves, twigs, and branches all slapped and caught at her as she fled, but she made no effort to defend herself from them. Instead of fending off the foliage she clutched the torn fabric of her dress to her chest in a vain effort to protect her modesty and searched the belt at her waist for her mobile phone; dismay joined with her fear as she realised she had lost it.

How long it took her to make it through the woods to the far side, she didn’t know, but the relief she felt when she did was incredible. That relief disappeared as quickly as it had appeared when she realised she could see no sign of the village.

Her eyes darted rapidly left and right as she tried to figure out where she was, and, more importantly, where the village was; she should have been able to see the steeple of the church, but not even that was visible. The only evidence of human habitation she could see were the ruins of an ancient stone building atop a hill a short distance to her right.

Georgina turned to her left, so she could follow the river, which was bound to lead her to the village, eventually, but had only taken half a dozen steps when He came crashing out of the woods. His chest was heaving, and his hair and clothes were a mess of leaves and twigs, which gave him the appearance of a crazed woodsman from a horror movie – the sight magnified her fear to even greater heights.

“There you are, Georgie, I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Georgina felt like a rabbit in the headlights of an oncoming car; her brain screamed at her to run, the direction didn’t matter so long as it was away from Him, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. She was glued to the spot, and could only watch as he approached, one slow step at a time.