Page 1 of Hysteria Rises (Dark Falls Hollow #1)

ONE

DELILAH

I’m surrounded by fear-inducing, soul-sucking darkness.

The full moon overhead is bright, but the forest is so dense, it may as well not be in the sky.

Worry laces every thought in my head while anxiety slithers over my skin.

The unknown pushes me to keep up my frantic pace, its soundtrack the chaotic, relentless throbbing of blood moving through my veins.

For an undetermined number of hours, I’ve taken a beating from the elements.

Haven’t eaten. Have become dehydrated. I’m so weak.

There’s no doubt in my mind I’m going to die out here if I can’t get my head screwed on straight.

My own penchant for horror movies reminds me of all the ways this misadventure could go wrong.

You are stronger than this, Delilah. I’ll be damned if I let Mother fucking Nature—or anything else—take me out. Not after everything I’ve survived. But maybe I deserve it after what I’ve done.

Only a fraction of a second after that thought, my foot catches on the undergrowth, and I’m propelled blindly forward.

Throwing my arms out to catch myself, I land on hands and knees with an undignified thud, skidding through the damp, disgusting muck on the forest floor.

I groan. As if I weren’t already coated head to toe in sweat and grime.

It takes me a moment to gather myself before scrambling to my feet. The texture of whatever I’m caked in has my empty stomach rebelling. Oh god, please tell me that was only mud.

I grimace, frantically wiping my hands on my jeans.

A sob promptly erupts, unbidden, from somewhere deep in my chest, the agonized sound wholly inhuman.

As an owl hoots somewhere in the distance, its cry practically brings me out of my skin.

Is it taunting me … or delivering a warning?

Whichever it is, my imagination screams right along with it, terror of the unknown slicking my body with sweat. My lip trembles, nerves stripped raw.

With only two options presenting themselves to me—keep pushing forward or lie down and let the earth claim me—I continue to cut a path through the undergrowth. I don’t have any fucking idea why I’m bothering, except that I’ve always stubbornly refused to accept my fate.

If the weariness settling into my bones and muscles means anything, I must have traveled miles from the road I was hiking along hours ago.

Wait … days ago. It’s been at least two days.

My stomach growls angrily at the reminder.

Tamping down my growing anxiety, I look around again.

There’s absolutely nothing out here. Nothing.

No food. No water safe enough to drink. Nowhere to rest my head.

No sign of humanity at all. Just the wilderness.

And she’s hell-bent on teaching me a lesson about her power.

Cautiously, I place one foot in front of the other as I blink into the dark.

A moment later, something crashes through the dense vegetation up ahead of me, and I shudder at the possibilities of what lies in wait.

Is this how I meet my end? Because there’s a good chance I might very well die out here.

I can’t come up with a scenario in which I’ll survive my own stupidity.

It’s humbling. This wasn’t the plan. Not at all.

And I fear I’m already beyond my breaking point. What the fuck am I going to do?

My head whips toward the sharp snap of a twig.

It’s followed by the whisper of the wind through the leaves.

A rustling in the underbrush. Try as I might, the urge to panic grows with each passing second.

Chaotic terror spikes in my blood as it dumps adrenaline through my system.

Teetering on the edge of sanity, I glance over my shoulder, eyes straining.

My own shadow follows me, stealthy and quiet, an evil menace sent to drive me out of my mind.

The more time that passes in the inky dark of the abandoned mountainside I’ve lost myself on, the more spooked I become.

An eerie sensation slips along my spine, toying with each vertebra.

In this moment, I give in to my primitive side, becoming nothing more than an animal, relying on survival instinct alone.

Frantically looking first one way, then the other, I creep along, wary of every hint of movement.

Each breath that wrenches past my lips is more ragged than the last because I could swear …

I’m being followed. Tracked. Hunted.

Fear slices through me, sharp and unrelenting, but I beat it back, knowing it’s all in my head. The lack of food and water is getting to me, and my mind fills with the worst possible outcomes.

In fact, maybe I’m not even conscious. Maybe I’ve passed out and am lying on the forest floor, caught in a nightmare.

I give myself a shake. Shit. A shiver works its way through me from head to toe, and I lift my arms, wrapping them around my torso.

I force myself to take a deep breath, but it does nothing to calm me, and on an exhale, the air gusts forth with a shuddering, panic-ridden sob.

What was that flutter of something white off to my right? I train my eyes in that direction but no longer see it. There’s nothing there. With every passing hour, the looser my grasp on reality becomes. My imagination has to be playing terrible, devious tricks on me.

At another glimpse of filmy white, though, I know I’m not crazy. Filled with trepidation, I call out into the vast darkness. “Is someone there?”

No response.

I shift to scan the shadows in another direction, then take a careful inhalation of night air.

It now feels heavy with a coming storm. Thick.

Dense. A moment later, a bolt of lightning streaks from the heavens down to earth, followed by a clap of thunder that rolls through the sky. Ominous. Forbidding. Bone-chilling.

Far above, rain spatters through the tops of the trees, ruffling the leaves on its descent. Gradually picking up its tempo, an all-out downpour rushes from the sky and pelts angrily through the canopy above. Leaves begin to flutter downward, torn away from branches as a result of the deluge.

Despite the torrential storm, flickers of light in the distance that I hadn’t noticed before snatch my attention. Slowly, I walk forward as the beacon curls its finger, drawing me closer.

Hope has not been my friend throughout this misery, but she visits me now, filling my chest with yearning.

What if—? This has been one of the few indications that there could be people nearby.

I swipe the water from my eyes with both hands as the rain continues to dump from overhead.

What I wouldn’t give to have somewhere to take shelter for even a few hours.

My mind conveniently transports me to a place where I might feel safe enough to sleep, change my clothing, and grab some food—and most importantly—water.

And while that sounds nice and all, the earlier disaster makes me think twice.

In fact, the mere suggestion of running into whoever might be crazy enough to live in the middle of nowhere freaks me right the fuck out.

My thoughts twist and turn in on themselves as I clench my teeth and shake from the disturbing direction they have taken.

The way I’m going, I’ll probably stumble upon a serial killer’s fucking cabin in the woods.

Unfortunately, the odds that I won’t survive if I don’t find help soon are beginning to skyrocket. Inching forward again, I head toward the source of the dancing glow.

I haven’t taken more than three steps when a vision in white dashes in front of me.

Gauzy fabric. A feminine form. Surprise rocks me, and I stumble backward, my brow furrowing as my gaze follows.

Then, one excited masculine shout after another has me freezing in place as I stare, wild-eyed.

Multiple dark shadows crash through the trees. Madness ensues.

I blink, confusion sliding through me. My heart rate quickens as four bare-chested men swivel their heads to peer in my direction.

Each wears a mask. A snarling wolf. A deviant ram.

A sinister deer. And a menacing leopard.

Terror has me strangled in its clutches.

I’ve stepped into some demented dreamscape.

Unable to make sense of anything transpiring before me, all I focus on is the one word relentlessly pulsing inside my head, imprinted there with every beat of my heart. Run.

And so, I do.

On a gasp, I whirl around, scrambling haphazardly away from the hysteria.

I give no care to the branches that reach out to snag at me, letting them tear at my skin.

A shriek rips through the night. Faster.

Move faster. Lightning streaks across the sky, illuminating the dense woods for a split second as thunder cracks, but not enough to give me any indication what else could be hiding there.

What the actual fuck have I stumbled upon?

Before I can take another breath, a second bolt of lightning slices jaggedly from the clouds above.

I skid to a stop, blinking into the inky void.

Rain hits my face like the prick of a thousand needles while I fervently pray they won’t give chase—that they’ll just let me go.

But I can’t deny I wonder both where they came from …

and what the hell they’re all doing out here.

I sidestep, obscuring myself behind a tree, glad my T-shirt is black and my jeans are dark. Yet somehow, from deep in the gloom, I get the eerie feeling they know exactly where I am. They’re watching me. Waiting for my next move—whoever they are. Whatever they are.

Just then, a bloodcurdling scream shakes me to my core.

Eyes wide, I dart out from my hiding place with my heart cramming itself upward and lodging inside my throat.

I’m so intent on my escape, I almost miss the log blocking my path.

I manage to hurdle it, expecting my foot to find earth on the other side.

Instead, down, down, down I go, ass over head, in a gasping, tangled mass of limbs.

Pain explodes in my temple, and I cry out as everything goes black.

I have no way of knowing how long I’ve been lying here when whispers bring me back from the edge.

Undiluted panic builds in my chest. Those same voices I heard before are right here, close enough to raise goose bumps on my skin and make it crawl all at once.

My ears are ringing, I can’t concentrate on a word they’re saying.

The thumping in my head quickens. I must be skating along a very thin line between consciousness and oblivion.

Nothing makes sense. Not the whispered conversation swirling around me, not anything in my range of sight when my heavy eyelids lift, then drop closed again.

The rain continues, the noise of the storm muffling the voices surrounding me and making it impossible to decipher much of anything.

I moan, unable to do anything but wince at the battering my head is taking.

My eyelashes flutter for a split second, but my head swims and my vision is badly blurred.

Every drag of air I pull into my lungs hurts in a way that terrifies me.

Lips trembling, I croak out the only words I can. “P-please help me.”

As I lie here, knowing full well that I’m at their mercy, warm skin touches my face above and below my right eye.

A moment later, it’s forced open. My chest jerks in surprise.

A muscular body is braced over my upper half, shielding me from the rain …

and a feverish gaze set behind a black mask—the wolf—watches me, unblinking.

For several long, nerve-racking moments, he doesn’t budge.

Not so much as a millimeter, with the exception of breathing.

Those exhalations of air from between his lips coast along my cheek as he cocks his head to the side.

My lungs have completely screeched to a halt.

A guttural sound rumbles from the man above me.

Panic surges. Oh god. Chest jerking, a nervous swallow works its way down my throat.

As I shake, my focus lowers to the unconcealed portion of his face.

Full, soft-looking lips hover not far from my own.

They’re pulled into a tight, pinched line.

Stubble coats his jawline. His face lowers.

I let out a weak, strangled cry. “No!” It’s a last ditch effort, but I’m positive it’s futile.

Because not only does this guy not even flinch …

but from the way my head is swimming, I’m about to pass out again.

And then who knows what he’ll do to me—what they’ll do to me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spot the other three men approaching.

All at once, the wolf man caging me between his arms wrenches his hand from my face and pushes upward.

Without looking, I sense that he’s gotten to his feet and backed away.

I take one careful, slow breath after another.

Despite the pain streaking through me, I know I have to look, need to know what’s happening.

More angry whispers. Will they leave me here to die?

This time, I fight like hell to open both eyes.

The glimpse it gives me is unnerving. A short distance away, the wolf stalks toward the other three.

None of them have noticed me struggling to watch them yet.

My brow furrows in concentration. They appear to be having a heated discussion, so while they tear into each other, I take in everything I can.

Bare to the waists, their skin practically glows under the moonlight.

My vision grows foggy. Then, as I slip slowly from consciousness again, the argument escalates.

“I’m taking her home.” The insistent rasp leaves no room for questions.

Barely able to hang on, another voice drifts to me, murmuring low this time. Softer. “Yeah, they’ll want her. You know they’ll fuckin’ want her.”