Page 17 - FINAL DESTINATION

FINAL DESTINATION
This guy was mad and not in the mood to be reasoned with. Talking his way out of this didn’t look like a viable option, so Neil tried to hide deeper in the shadows behind the door. Breathing as quietly as possible, he could hear every step the farmer took on the old flooring downstairs. He heard him move from the kitchen to the front room. When he heard the same groan the stairs had made as he had climbed them he tried not to whimper.
The farmer made his way slowly up the stairs. With each step, hiding seemed less like a viable option. The creaking stopped when he reached the upstairs landing and the house went silent again. After what had seemed like hours, but had only been a few seconds, footsteps move off toward the front of the house and away from Neil.
If the farmer went into the front room he could make a dash for it down the stairs. It was an almost straight line from the back room to the top landing. Maybe he could make it there before the farmer came out of the room and shot him, but he wasn't sure he could get to the bottom before the farmer could reach the top. If Neil was still on the stairs he would have a straight line of fire at him. It wasn't a great plan, but it was all he had at the moment.
There was the shuffling of feet as the farmer made his way around the sagging spot in the floor and then more slow and deliberate steps as he neared the front room. Just a few more steps and then Neil would make his break.
It was then he felt the prickling on the skin of his left hand. Just nerves or a trickle of sweat? But sweat would run down his hand not up. The light tickling move up the back of his hand and onto his thumb where he could see the second spider.
He didn’t plan on letting go of the box, but the fear of the spider overcame the fear of the shotgun and he flicked his arm out. The motion dislodged the spider, sending it off in an arch across the room, but it also caused his arm to hit the
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