Helltown (36 page)

The twenty-six-foot-long green anaconda slithered silently through the deadfall toward the sleeping boy, forked tongue flicking in and out of its lipless grimace, collecting the sleeping boy’s scent particles from the air and the ground. It had devoured a similar creature years before, on the night it had escaped the House in the Woods, and like all the raccoons and deer and foxes and rodents it had subsisted on since, it knew the creature to be easy prey.

When the snake came to within striking distance, it opened its mouth one hundred eighty degrees and sunk its rear-facing teeth into the boy’s shoulder. The boy awoke, jerking then thrashing, trying to flee, but the snake was already coiling its body around its prey, constricting and wrapping, around and around and around, until the boy went still.

Then it ate.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

Thank you for taking the time to read
Helltown
. If you enjoyed the story, it would be wonderful if you could leave a review on the
Amazon product page
. Reviews might not matter much to the big-name authors, but they can really help the small guys to grow their readership.

Also, you can check out
www.jeremybatesbooks.com
for info on my other novels and novellas.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeremy Bates is the award-winning author of several novels and short stories. He writes suspense, horror, and thrillers. The novels in his “World’s Scariest Places” series are set in real locations, and so far include Suicide Forest in Japan, The Catacombs in Paris, Helltown in Ohio, and (forthcoming) Island of the Dolls in Mexico. You can check out any of these places on the web, or visit his website at: JEREMYBATESBOOKS.COM

For a limited time, visit
www.jeremybatesbooks.com
to receive a free copy of
The Taste of Fear
.