the sound of her own screaming voice almost sent her into another panicky , convulsive interlude , and the scariest part was n't gerald 's continued failure to move or respond ; it was the realization that the panic was still there , still right there , restlessly circling her conscious mind as patiently as a predator might circle the guttering campfire of a woman who has somehow wandered away from her friends and gotten lost in the deep , dark fastnesses of the woods .