She’d always heard that someone’s life passed before their eyes when they knew they were about to die. Maybe sucking some in would promote a scream but…no. She couldn’t even breathe and she really needed air. Her heart beat so rapidly she wondered if it could take flight right out of her chest and still no sound passed her lips. Her mouth hung open but the scream wasn’t forthcoming. She mimicked a lawn statue instead or a mime locked in horror. All her best-laid plans of being tough, prepared for anything, had fled with her courage.

She stood frozen, no matter how loudly she inwardly screamed at her body to turn and run for her life. Not in a million years had she seen this kind of situation coming, even with her wild imagination working overtime. Yet…here she faced the kind of terror she never thought she’d experience in real life. The worst case scenario she’d ever thought up was perhaps being shot at if she ever catered a party for the mob but the chances of them ending up living in a small town in Northern California were slim to none. She could slip and fall or get burned if she spilled hot food. What really bad thing could happen, serving food and drinks? She had mentally gone over the list. She’d just never believed her job would really be treacherous. After all, someone, somewhere, had accidentally broken a window, ended up badly cut, and had bled to death while on the job. Driving on the highway could be perilous, someone crossing a street could be struck by a car, and even cleaning windows could be hazardous. Everything these days held a bit of risk. Tammy Shasta had experienced fear plenty of times in her twenty-eight years of life but this made all those other times pale in comparison.

Valiant by Laurann Dohner