Outskirts Press Book Publishing Presents Those Made to Suffer
Those Made to Suffer
by Philip Colander
Ordering Information
6.14 x 9.21 Paperback
ISBN: 9781598002713
$24.95
Instant e-Book Download
$10.00
Note: e-Books are for electronic enjoyment only. They may not be edited or printed.
Book Information
Genre:
FICTION / Thrillers
Publication:
Mar 07, 2006
Pages:
400
Books by Philip Colander
Ralph Laffoon is the leader of a group of paranormal investigators, currently scrutinizing the case of three individuals who have disappeared in a long-abandoned museum in northern California, a building with a rumored supernatural past. Ralph is supposed to go in with his team to the alleged haunted museum and find the missing persons, not stumble upon a deathtrap that finds them locked within the building, at the mercy of a malevolent deity from the ancient world.
Rich with vibrant detail and a story that throttles to a breakneck pace, Those Made to Suffer delves deep into the human psyche struggling with a desperate situation, showing it at its best...and at its very worst.
It all leads to one of the most unexpected endings you'll ever read.
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It was then that David heard the whispering sound again. However, the sound had a different tone to it, and David was certain that this time, it was not the wind. He suddenly felt the sickening swoon of imminent danger. A shiver raced down his spine, chilling him to the core, and his heart began to slam against his ribcage. The sound was slowly becoming louder, higher-pitched, unnatural.
He tore his eyes away from the skull in time to see his burro's reins slide off the rock. In the pale glow of the flashlight's beam, David saw the animal rear and turn to make her escape. But, in the narrow confines between Las Rocas de Sangre, she slammed her head like a sledgehammer against the side of the jutting rock wall. David could hear her skull crack as bone met stone. The burro crumbled in a heap. David could hear the centuries-old pottery break under the animal's weight.
"No," he weakly muttered. He moved to stand, salvage what he could, but caught another glance of the skull and froze. He couldn't get his body to move, fear having rooted him to the ground. He looked down at the leather pouch and the scattered gold disks at his feet. Then, he looked at the O-shaped emerald and its matching medallion, still resting in the hollow.
"My god...it's true," David thought.
Las Rocas de Sangre were now alive with sound. A high-pitched wail tore through the rocks, reverberating off the blood-red walls, growing ever louder. It stabbed David's ears and he covered them with his hands.
"I don't want to die..."
It was then that David noticed the sand all around him suddenly shifting slowly every which way. The sand undulated languidly under him. Invisible fingers seemingly grabbed the sand and pulled thin wisps of it into the air. In the circle of light provided by the flashlight behind him, David saw the sand wrap around the burro's limp, lifeless body like so many arms, seemingly swallowing her whole.
The screaming sound shook David's body. The sand grew wilder, each individual grain with a mind of its own. The sand jostled his leather pouch, the few medallions still inside spilling out. The sand churned the medallions, burying them back into the earth. David saw his hunched shadow on the rock wall cast by his flashlight's beam. The light flickered in and out as the sand bobbed the flashlight to and fro, covering the light, uncovering the light. David's mouth opened, wanting to let loose a scream of his own. Grains of sand coated his lips, his tongue. David was then immersed in darkness as the sand buried the flashlight for good.
"The rumors are true..." he thought.
David sat in the total blackness of night, all the color gone from his world forever. He was immobilized, as if some dark power, some evil power had taken hold of him in the shifting, dancing, screaming sand.
"Los Ninos," he muttered.
About Philip Colander
Philip Colander is the author of one book...the one described above. His enthusiastic love of books inspired him to write one of his own. He lives in the 38th state of the Union with his wife, Michal, and cordially invites readers to visit his website at www.pacbooks.net