Author: Alyse Zaftig
Category: Paranormal
Go to read content：https://readnovelfree.com/p/32470_15
Chapter 1
Ew. Worms.
Bella scrunched her nose up as she bent over to look at them slithering through the soil. What kind of store sells worms? A redneck store, that’s what kind. And that’s exactly where she was. In the deep backwoods of Dark Creek Swamp. It was as appealing as it sounded.
This was the last stop to get supplies before she went on her two-week long excursion into the forest. It was a little mom and pop general store, although there didn’t seem to be a mom in sight. Only perverted old men who kept checking out her ass.
“Going fishing?” the old man behind the counter asked, eying her funny.
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Bella didn’t take it personally. She did look totally out of place with her brand new two hundred dollar hiking boots and sparkling clean Wilderness Face jacket. These guys weren’t used to seeing girls like her all the way out here.
“No,” she said, shaking her head and laughing. She wouldn’t be caught dead fishing. She laughed, picturing herself sitting there feeling bad for the poor fish who got the sharp hooks caught in their lips and worse for the worms who got speared, drowned and then eaten alive.
She was here for school. Four weeks of living in the wilderness to study the endangered sleepy owl. It was for her dissertation paper and she had been excited about it for months.
“Just doing some camping,” she said, looking at the dusty boxes of crackers with the faded labels on the shelves. She picked one up and looked at the expiration date. August 2004. At least it had the price to match at only thirty-nine cents.
“Do you have anything organic?” she asked.
The old man lifted his frayed trucker hat and scratched his thin hair as he scrunched his face up. “We don’t sell drugs. Is that what you kids are smoking these days?”
“Huh?” Bella said, looking around. The two older men behind her were still staring at her ass. They didn’t even try to pretend like they weren’t looking. They just blatantly gawked.
Bella just rolled her eyes and turned away, shaking her head. She’d always had a really curvy behind that looked odd with her slim body so she was used to it. It never stopped being really annoying, but she was used to it nonetheless.
“Anything gluten free?” she asked.
The man lifted up his pipe and lit it as he stared at her with a furrowed brow.
She waved the smoke out of her face and huffed out a breath. “Are you allowed to smoke in here?”
“Are you going to buy the worms or not?” he asked impatiently.
“I’m looking for food,” she said, sliding the old box of crackers back on the shelf. “I was told by a local that you would have some.”
The old man pointed to the aquarium full of worms. “You buy worms, you catch food. If you don’t, you eat the worms. What is the problem?”
“Fine,” Bella said, grabbing a bunch of boxes of cookies. They sti
ll looked old but they didn’t look too bad. She had a few cases of beans and soup in the trunk, so hopefully that would be enough.
“Be careful of them woods at night,” one of the men behind her said. She turned and frowned at him. He was wearing a tight Spice Girls t-shirt with a Coors Light trucker hat with his ugly mullet hanging out the back.
“Thanks,” she said with a roll of her eyes. He was just some redneck trying to scare her. Bella had never been camping before but she had read all about it online. Her food was going to be hung from a tree several feet from her tent and she even washed all of her clothes and blankets with an aromatic fabric softener. She had read that the fabric softeners act as animal repellent and were great for keeping animals away from campsites.
She was definitely prepared and she didn’t need any advice from these creepers.
“Don’t go down too far south,” the other man said. She exhaled hard as she turned to him with a blank look on her face. He was rubbing the gray stubble on his saggy jaw as he stared at her. He had clearly left his dentures at home. “There’s a monster living down in the woods down there.”
“A monster?” she said with a chuckle. “Really? Does he eat little city girls?”
“Probably,” the man answered, his face serious. “Legend has it that he can turn into a bear.”
That was rich. Bella threw her head back and laughed. “Like a bear shifter?”
“No,” he said, as all three of the men shook their heads. “Shifters can blend in with people. This guy can’t. The beast has taken over.”
“Okay,” she said, walking over to the cash. “Thanks for the tip guys. How much do I owe you?”