Come on an adventure with Jack and follow along as he writes his new book in real time! Here is chapter 20.
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
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APOSTATE
by JACK DEY
A whisper from the wilderness calling.
CHAPTER 20
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Stifling a mind-numbing yawn, Ish’s eyes watered and misted over as he struggled to maintain a vigilant watch, probing the forest for evidence of Caylin’s missing wife, Lisa. His silent prayers for Lisa had never once faltered, but as the BMW continued to crawl at an excruciatingly slow speed and at the end of twenty-eight hours without sleep, the redheaded giant could almost feel himself nodding off in mid-petition. If Caylin had noticed the depth of tiredness in his cramped and uncomfortable passenger, he wasn’t letting on and when the BMW’s speed abruptly stepped up from one mile an hour to three, the accelerated pace gave Ish an unexpected boost in alertness.
Suffering through five hours of concentration, meticulously searching but discovering very little resembling the whereabouts of a missing woman, Ish found himself frequently peering at the vehicle’s clock. The daunting hours seemed to drag by, hanging as a torturous threat with all the appositeness of a small child squirming and trapped in the grip of a dentist’s chair. No matter how Ish shifted in his seat, the experience was challenging his oversized frame and he’d almost come to the end of his endurance and his ability to focus. On the verge of calling the mission to an end for the day, Ish’s inattention practically disappeared when the BMW’s computerised control system suddenly filled the cabin air with an audible alarm. The startling barrage, closely followed by a stern, automated voice added chaos to the confusion, throwing into their midst a critical message intent on protecting the engineering powerhouse… fuel level… fuel level!
Obviously annoyed by the abrupt termination to his endless plan of searching, Caylin stabbed at the warning screen with a furious finger and silenced the irritating noise. As the vehicle finally drifted to a stop hidden by a thicket of trees and after reaching the last remaining metres of yet another forest track, Caylin punched the buttons on the vehicle’s interface screen and immediately the GPS system calculated their position. Then as his fingers wildly stabbed again, the computer calculated the exact distance from the farm, the area’s speed limit, and how much fuel it would take to get there. Spitting up the needed information onto its screen, the only thing it didn’t do was inform the driver if they would actually make it back—or wish the incompetent operator success in his foolish endeavour.
Even without the aid of a computer, the panic alarms going off all around the car were enough for Ish to make a few calculations of his own. He figured if nothing was done soon to rectify the situation, walking would definitely be part of the formula and in the very near future. “We’d better turn around, Caylin, and head back. There’s not a lot of traffic around to rely on hitchhiking when we run out of fuel!” The intention in Ish’s pointed remark was hard to miss. He wasn’t thrilled with the idea of walking miles, especially when he hadn’t had any sleep.
Caylin didn’t acknowledge Ish, but swivelled his head to peer through the rear windscreen, placed the transmission in reverse before attempting to back out of the forest maze. The slender man’s face reflected a childish image, like he’d been denied a treat by an overbearing parent and his foot raged against the accelerator pedal in frustration, wasting precious fuel and spinning the expensive tyres on the stony track.
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Trudging the loose but sharp, grainy sand of the dry river bed, Dani pushed on towards the forest boundary, her shoes making a squelching noise with each laborious step. When she finally reached the edge of the tangled copse, the sand had become less contaminated with the mix of fertile red clay from the farm paddock, making the effort to walk and the sand’s squelching voice to increase dramatically. In places, tree roots had been exposed by the river’s winding nature and hung out of the bank like a tantalizing escape rope. When she tried to take advantage of the situation, jumping up to grab a hold and intending to hoist herself out of the deep belly of the snake, the roots were too brittle and broke off in her hands, causing parts of the loose bank to crumble and cave in on top of her. Shaking off the avalanche of dirt and tempted to panic, Dani gave herself a stern talking-to and for a moment considered retracing her steps and taking the opposite route back into the farm. Yet when she turned to give the course a thorough inspection, a confusing mix of emotions gnawed at her spirit and convinced her to keep walking in the same way she’d already been trekking.
After tumbling into the deep, dry watercourse and becoming flustered and panicky, Dani lost her focus on the loving presence who’d led her out into the far reaches of the farm, leaving the door wide open for the terrors of the previous night to come rushing in. Alone and trapped, Dani’s gentle trust factor had been smothered by the sticky goo of alarum, and her fear was making it almost impossible to re-establish a solid God connection. Her faith had to once again turn away from the limited knowledge she had of her circumstances and what she could achieve on her own, to the almost inaudible voice prompting her and guiding her in a way that made little sense to her human understanding. Trying to calm down, she attempted to pray and call on her Lord. He, however, remained silent and all the decisions appeared to fall unconvincingly on her uncertain shoulders, testing her willingness to follow the last known command. Taking one last glance to the easier track, Dani hesitated before continuing on into the forest, hoping the intuition she was relying on wouldn’t turn out to be a devastating and deceiving counterfeit playing with her head and leading her deeper into trouble. “Okay, Lord! If that’s You and this is the way… this is the way I’m going. The rest is up to You.”
A small flicker of hope smiled down on Dani, taking it to mean she was following the right path and this much of the test she’d successfully completed. Guessing the time to be nearing midday, the dappled sunlight faltered against the thickening trees and made the surroundings darker and feel a lot later. The further she walked, the longer and more bleak the shadows became, casting a dark, creepy facade against the high river walls. Dank, earthy forest smells filled the air and drifted down into the parched river bed, toying with Dani’s sensitivities. Feeling an increasing sense of foreboding, she turned to face the direction she’d just come, only to be met by a curious halo where the surrounding forest gloom met the bright, open sunlight entering into the channel from the noonday of the farm paddock.
An abrupt and intense C-R-A-C-K! followed by a slow motion A-A-U-U-G-H and then a mighty C-R-A-S-H filled the riverbed with the audacity of an explosion, transmitting shockwaves under Dani ‘s feet and sending her diving for the sand. Stunned by the suddenness of the cacophony, she carefully checked her surrounds and whether she in any way had been a victim to the monster’s fall. Confident she had suffered no ill effects, she stared wide-eyed into the failing light, speculating and hoping that the tree may have given her some form of access out of the endless, empty river. Kneeling in the sand and watching for signs of movement or sounds of distress, Dani eventually climbed back onto her feet, convinced the forest vegetation was the only victim. Taking a shaky step towards the assumed crash site, she froze in mid-movement when an unfamiliar sound reached her ears.
“What on earth was that?!” Dani whispered harshly to herself, holding her breath and waiting for the sound to repeat. Many moments passed while she peered into the semi-darkness, but the sound had vanished.
When an unseen prod urged her to push on, she hesitated and her faith took a nosedive while she wondered whether the incessant and urging voice was, in fact, friendly. Feeling a desperate sense of being torn and unsure, her feet were reluctant to move and their timid stance remained frozen.
The strange forest noise suddenly repeated in a lower reverberation, causing Dani’s skin to ripple in prickles of fear and forced her heart to pump wildly. Whatever it was wasn’t far away and she was close enough for it to hear any movements she made. As the battle raged in her head between her own safety and trusting an intuition that she may have imagined, the quandary became intolerable. The loud and fearful hammering of her own heart conspired against her, becoming the traitor she was trying to silence; however, it’s allegiance was somewhere else and apparently intent on revealing her whereabouts. Recent images of the dark trailer roof shaking violently above her raced back into her memory and now she wished she hadn’t been so quick to venture away from her home and the safety of Ish’s covering prayers.
Moments later, a piercing moan drifted across the forest floor, triggering a commotion among the tree litter as if a herd of wild animals were spooked and on the run. Staring, petrified to the scene above her, Dani caught the silhouette of a dark shape and then another and another until the bank seemed to come alive with movement. They had definitely seen her. Her heart sank when she realised Ish would have no idea where she’d gone and what had become of her, and by the time he found her this time… it may be too late.
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Chapter 21 coming soon!
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Jack Dey, born to adventure, lives in the tropical rainforest of North Queensland, Australia. He has three loves in his life: Jesus; the Editor (his wife of 30 something years); and writing adventure novels. He is the author of MAHiNA; Paradise Warrior; Aunt Tabbie's Wings; The Secrets of Black Dean Lighthouse; The Legend of Ataneq Nanuq, The Valley of Flowers; La Belle Suisse (co-authored with Dodie La Mirounette); Zero; Naive; and Brindabella's Prophet. His latest book, Apostate, is currently being researched and written - and you can follow the story along chapter by chapter as he writes in real time! Jack writes only to please Papa God and considers his writing a ministry, demanding nothing from the reader for his e-books. If you like Jack Dey’s books and would like to support his ministry, please consider praying for the team at Jack Dey and telling your friends about his titles. New books are written with the intention of being a pencil in Jesus’ hand and bringing joy and encouragement to you, the reader.
Jack Dey 
Yak back to Jack