Shear Murder

Prologue Sharon ran. Her mouth dry from gulping air. Her heart pounded in her chest. Her shoulder length blonde hair hung limply around her oval shaped face rain soaked strands slapping her skin. The wet sand was cool between her toes. To her right, the surf appeared from the darkness, a wall of seething foam. It slammed into the sand a few feet in front of her, sending a wall of air pressure against her skin and causing her to stumble. But she quickly regained her footing. She’d lost her shoes father back, but that didn’t matter to her. Survival was all that mattered now. In her rising panic and the darkness, she wasn’t sure anymore if she was following the curve of the beach or was headed toward the pounding surf. In the last few minutes, the glowing moon had disappeared behind the dark, angry clouds and now stinging drops of rain blinded her. She frantically tried to blink the cold water away, but it did no good; the rain was coming faster, harder now. The sand made her slip and slide as she ran. She could hear the panting of her pursuer, closing from behind. She willed her tired legs to move faster. Faster than she’d ever been able to run before in her life. Her heart raced in her chest and fear kept her going. The panting behind her lessened. She hoped he’d given up. Slowing, she took a quick peek over her left shoulder. In the dim light, she saw him, bent over, holding his thighs. She had won. She would live. Her breath left her when she was slammed off her feet by thousands of cold needles and was lifted off the ground by dark, icy water. A numbing cold caught her voice and wouldn’t let her scream. With her mouth full of salt water, she struggled to reach solid ground. Her chest ached as water filled her nose and mouth. Her eyes went wide with terror as she realized what was happening to her. I can’t breath. I’m drowning. A sneaker wave. It was to be her last thought as the dark, freezing water engulfed her and dragged her farther from the shore. The numbing cold of the ocean made her muscles seize up. Unable to move her arms or legs, Sharon Carstairs disappeared into the inky depths of the vast Pacific, in the embrace of a receding killer wave.