Fight (Book Three, the Hunted)

by Patti Larsen

  FIGHT

  time to stand your ground

  Patti Larsen

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright 2011 by Patti Larsen

  Purely Paranormal Press

  Find out more about Patti Larsen at

  http://www.pattilarsen.com/

  Sign up for new releases at

  www.bit.ly/pattilarsenemail

  And check out the live-action trailer!

  http://bit.ly/RUNtrailer

  ***

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  ***

  Cover art (copyright) by Stephanie Mooney. All rights reserved.

  http://www.stephaniemooney.blogspot.com/

  Edited by Annetta Ribken, freelance Goddess. You can find her at http://www.wordwebbing.com/

  Proofing by Jessica Bufkin

  ***

  Dedication

  For the way your eyes light up when I bring you a new book and how you’re always there for me, no matter what. Love you, Mom

  ***

  Chapter One

  The forest is so familiar Reid is almost comfortable perched on the limb of the tree he’s chosen. Who would have thought six days ago he was safe and sound, living with his sister Lucy in her new and expensive apartment, no longer in foster care? It amazes him when he reflects on it and wonders if he’ll ever be comfortable indoors again.

  He glances at the back of his hand where a small bug trundles with purpose across his skin to get to the other side. Birds sing softly in the midday heat, while the leaves above rustle from a passing wind. Reid feels a connection to the tree, like the sap flowing within it is his own blood. The song of the robin in the spruce next door is almost translatable into words. The fresh air swells his lungs, fills him with calm and purpose.

  He’s a far cry from the drugged and kidnapped kid dumped in the darkened woods with no idea what was happening to him. He’s learned so much since that first night when he discovered he was there to be hunted by creatures who looked human but weren’t. Reid still remembers the dead stare of the first kid he saw, suspended from a tree, his entrails spread over the path, stinking like road kill.

  He was so terrified he spent the next several days running. And hiding. Meeting other kids like him, almost dying a number of times, all for the pleasure of the hunters. Rats in a maze, that’s what the kids are. Ruled by terror and the need to get away.

  Not anymore. Reid’s so done with that. He wonders what is happening to him that makes him feel he’s changed so much.

  He is different. Strong, steady. Powerful. His fear remains but most of it has left him, only a dull ache of anxiety left behind. Compared to the terror he’s lived with the past six days, Reid finds the hint of it almost pleasant. He’s replaced terror with excitement. The thrill of knowing he is acting instead of running or hiding.

  Reid is finished with being a target.

  His adrenaline spikes as the forest falls suddenly still. The robin wings away in the quiet, the rush of its departure almost a song in itself. Reid’s body tenses in anticipation. This is it, his plan come to fruition.

  He can’t wait to kill another hunter, to feel it die at his hands, the soft hiss of its collapse as he ends its life. Reid doesn’t spare a second worrying what that says about his state of mind. They’ve created him, shaped him into what he’s become. And if killing them is the only way to survive, the hunters and their creators have done a fantastic job turning the tables on themselves.

  The familiar tingle returns for a moment, the surge he felt when he inhaled the dust from the last dead hunter. Something about it feeds Reid’s body, gives him strength, heals his wounds. His lips split wide, teeth shining as he grins, heart pounding against his breast bone, this time not in fear but in pure joy at the thrill of fighting back. He knows he should be worried about it. Whatever is happening isn’t natural. He can almost hear Drew’s voice questioning him, while the chubby kid’s glasses flash in the light.

  “What the hell is that stuff, anyway? And what’s it changing you into?”

  Reid doesn’t have an answer for his dead friend and, not for the first time, suddenly wishes the boy was here. He has a sharp moment of loss all over again, as fresh as the day Drew died, crushed under the rockslide sealing the kids inside the mine. Reid is surprised when tears actually well in his eyes and he has to swipe them away with the back of his hand. Everything he is feeling seems intensified, immediate. And yet, when he recognizes it, the emotion fades in favor of his intense need to strike back.

  Drew flashes out of his head and all his questions disappear in the next heartbeat. Someone is coming, running fast. Reid hears Ashley’s footfalls before he sees her, his focus sharpening down the trail. With quiet deliberation, he unfolds the knife as the tall, slim girl appears through the canopy, running hard, her sneakers barely making a sound as she practically flies along the trail, auburn hair streaming out behind her.

  She glances up. Their eyes meet and she pumps a fist, fear written all over her face but a wild exultation there, too. She doesn’t stop but continues on, while a flicker behind her draws Reid’s attention back to the job at hand.

  The hunter lopes along at a casual pace, traversing far more ground than Ashley could ever dream to cover. It is taking its time, teasing her with terror, wearing her out. Reid has come to know this tactic, to find it familiar and less horrifying than it used to be. So predictable. Reid’s lips curl back from the grin into a snarl of fury. The creature’s arrogance is almost as much a weapon as its sharply curving claws and shark-like teeth.

  As it passes beneath him, Reid speaks.

  “Up here, asshole.”

  The hunter stops immediately and tips its head back. Those silvery eyes meet his, pupils slitted like a cat’s. It hisses at him, a large smile on its pale but human face. All of its teeth shine, far more than should ever fit in a normal person’s mouth.

  Reid smiles back. And takes advantage of the arrogance, turning that weapon against it. He deliberately flips it the finger.

  The hunter howls, rage stirred, and lunges for the tree.

  Reid bounds down the branches, practically throwing himself at the attacking hunter, his blood on fire, need to kill driving him to get to the thing first.

  But he is too late. As the hunter leaps forward, Marcus, Milo and Cole rise up from the undergrowth on the other side of the path, sharpened sticks at the ready. They surge forward with a common yell of defiance. The hunter has just enough time to spin and face them before the two lengths of wood impale it through the abdomen.

  Reid hits the ground running, practically on top of the two boys with the sticks while Marcus lifts a rock and smashes the hunters face into pulp.

  Feet approach, Ashley’s light tread. He can see her out of the corner of his eye, panting with her hands on her knees, watching from a safe distance. She needn’t have bothered keeping space between her and the hunter. It’s not going anywhere.

  Reid unfolds his knife while Marcus raises the rock again. Before he can bring the weapon down, Reid jabs the hunter in the heart with the full length of the blade.

  It groans once, softly, like the sound of a soul set free, before it disintegrates into a fine dust, shimmering in the light of the sun.

  “Wicked.” Ashley crouches next to Marcus with a
grin on her face. “That was wicked!”

  Milo and Cole look traumatized, both shaking and skin ashen, even through Milo’s deep color, but they nod at the girl while Marcus glares at Reid.

  “That was my kill.” There is a fierceness in Marcus’s face, an animal quality that makes Reid consider his isn’t the only screwed up state of mind. And wonder if the bits of floating dust he probably inhaled are affecting him. Reid is pretty sure Marcus hasn’t had enough exposure to the stuff for him to be feeling it, but can’t be sure.

  “You can have the next one.” Reid looks at his knife. The blood he expects isn’t there, that too gone to dust. “We need to move. That howl will bring more hunters.”

  Ashley is already moving, one hand on Cole’s shoulder and the other on Milo’s. They run together, their weapons carried lightly with them.

  Reid steps over the powdered remains of the hunter and into Marcus’s space. Marcus blocks him, whole body rigid with anger.

  “Don’t ever take my kill away from me again.”

  Reid’s own need is forgotten, shunted aside, his worry taking its place. He had begun to rely on Marcus a little, very little, but still. They have formed a sort of uneasy truce since the night before and Reid is unhappy to see it crumbling already. It’s enough to drag him out of his own blood thirst and back to himself.

  “The point is to kill them,” Reid says. “I don’t give a damn how or who. But if you can’t do the job in the first blow, don’t try. The hunter will kill you.”

  Marcus is shaking, eyes wild. “You’ll see,” he mutters. “I can do better.”

  Reid gets the impression Marcus isn’t talking to him anymore.

  They don’t have time to discuss it further. A hunter howls in the distance.

  “We have to go.” Reid tries to get Marcus’s attention but he just stares at the powdered remains, his fists clenching and unclenching. Reid grabs his arm only to have Marcus jerk away. “We have to go,” Reid repeats. “Marcus. Marcus!”

  Marcus looks at him again. When their eyes meet, the terrible rage visibly drains away, leaving confusion and hopelessness behind.

  “Reid?”

  Reid grabs his arm and pulls him forward, unable to deal with Marcus’s breakdown right now. “Run, you idiot.”

  As they do, their feet pounding over the hard-packed trail deeper into the forest, Reid wishes he had thought to gather some of the powder, a subtle aching need for it making him wonder not only about Marcus but his own mental well being. He shakes off the concern. Whatever the powder does, he feels stronger for it. And he won’t waste an opportunity like that again.

  ***

  Chapter Two

  Now that he’s not running from fear but with a goal in mind, Reid finds it easier to focus on what he’s doing. And how to go about doing it. He’s pleased with their success, not just with killing the hunter. Getting away is just as important. His father’s favorite saying, “He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day,” rambles on and on in Reid’s head as he and Marcus race through the forest. Surviving and more fighting is exactly the idea.

  After about a half hour of strategic evasion, planned in advance, the calls of the other hunters fade in the distance. Reid can’t help but grin to himself and say a soft thanks to his dad.

  Reid lets them rest then, in a well-sheltered gully thick with underbrush just below the trail, also chosen before the trap was set. He can’t help but think staying organized will be their most powerful tool against the hunters. Aside from the night they burned the gas station in town where the kids tried to hide from them, there doesn’t seem to Reid to be any sort of organization among the creatures. They travel singly or in small groups of two or three. If that continues to be the trend, there is a good chance the kids can continue to make their traps work.

  Of course, Reid doesn’t plan to rest on that. They need to be even more cautious than ever, now. Once the hunters find out what the kids are up to, it could turn into an all-out battle, the game cut off in favor of self-preservation. Reid hopes to have some options in place by then but refuses to stop no matter what. Whether the hunters pick them off one at a time or come at them with deadly intent, the end result will be the same.

  Might as well take as many of them with him as he can. And even though the kids are behind him, eager to make this work, he’s pretty sure none of them have illusions about survival.

  Reid returns his attention to his friends when Cole coughs softly. His little face is red, chest heaving as he pants for air. Milo isn’t in much better shape. Ashley hunkers down on her haunches and grins at everyone like it’s funny. Marcus turns away, arms crossed over his chest when Reid tries to talk to him.

  “Good hunting,” Ashley whispers. There’s a glint of crazy in her eyes but Reid welcomes it as long as it doesn’t get her into trouble.

  “We have to get back to the others and set the next trap.” Their decision to fight back wasn’t necessarily impulsive, but it did require a certain amount of organization and timing. Leila will be waiting for them, to switch out fighters and move the group to the next site.

  Not that the suggestion went entirely smoothly after the kid’s excitement at acting wore off last night. It was Alex who questioned Reid’s idea to fight back.

  “How do we stand up to them?” Reid remembers Alex pressing against him after the others stepped back and let him be.

  “We set traps for them, lure them in. Remember Joel?” Everyone did, their groans and squeaks of fear made Reid grin. “Come on, not like that. But he had the right idea. We lure them with a runner and attack at a safe location.”

  “Will they fall for it?” Leila was back to comforting Ashley who didn’t look like she really needed it anymore. From the moment Reid mentioned fighting back, the tall girl’s expression settled into fierce determination.

  Reid thought about the question. Would the hunters fall for it? “I think so,” he said. “They won’t be expecting us to fight back, for one thing. And if we set it up so they are distracted, maybe we can keep them from figuring out what’s going on before we can strike.” He turned to Leila then. “When you killed the one back by the pit, it almost seemed surprised.”

  She nodded. “I was so afraid,” she said. “I kept expecting it to turn around and see me, like it wasn’t fooled for a second. But it was so focused on you, it either ignored me or didn’t see me as a threat until it was too late.”

  Ashley turned to Leila then and held up her fist. “You killed one of those things?”

  Leila’s blush was visible even in the dark she was so pale. “Did.” She bumped knuckles with the other girl.

  “I want to kill one too.” Ashley’s fear had obviously turned to more helpful emotions.

  “Me too,” Milo said, though his voice shook.

  “I want my turn.” Cole tried to look dangerous. Reid could have hugged him.

  “We’ll all get a chance.” A plan was already forming in Reid’s mind. He turned to Marcus. “Tell me what you think of this.”

  Marcus looked surprised again. “Shoot.”

  “Teams of five. One as a runner, one to distract and three to attack. While the runner leads them in, the distracter gets the hunter’s attention at the last second leaving them open to the three with the weapons.”

  Marcus nodded slowly. “The runner needs to be someone really fast. And the distracter has to be fast, too, just in case something happens.”

  Reid turned to the group. “We’re starting right away. First thing tomorrow. Set up a trap, lure the bastards in and put an end to this.” He knew it wouldn’t be that easy. Still knows it while he crouches there in the bushes and shakes off the memory of the night before. He's even nervous everything seems to be going according to plan. And yet, Reid can’t help but feel empowered by what they’ve done.

  After about five minutes he leads them out, cautiously, watching the path for telltale black flicker.

  It is brilliant, really. Hunting the hunters in the daytim
e was Cole’s idea.

  “We have the advantage,” he said as they made their plans. “Well, maybe not an advantage. But we can see them better, at least.”

  Reid hates the idea they will still have to hide when it is dark, that they spent the entire previous night huddled together, listening to the hunters celebrate their victory, hovering around the burning building, shouting out their taunting calls and barks of distant laughter. Reid’s anger only grew those long and frustrating hours before the sun came up.

  He meant to get started right away that morning but they were forced to relocate at dawn when the howls started getting closer. It wasn’t until he had the kids in a safer place, up an incline with a clear view of the forest around them, that he felt it was time to implement the plan.

  Leila was furious with him when he chose Ashley to run for him.

  “I can do it,” she said in a hissing whisper, pulling him aside. “You know I can.”

  “You’ll get your chance,” Reid told her. “But I need you here, looking after the others. Please, Leila.”

  She scowled at the tall red head bouncing in place, eager to be off.

  “She’s pretty,” Leila said. Reid laughed at her, out loud and with real amusement, and realized his mistake the moment Leila’s pale eyes locked on his again. He hadn’t meant to hurt her.

  “So are you.” Reid let his fingers trail over her cheek, felt her skin heat under his touch as she blushed and looked away. “I’ll be back soon. You’d better be here.”

  She watched him go, arms hugging herself and he found it hard to tear his eyes from her.

  He’s eager to get back to her, to tell her of the victory. And to keep going. Their plan will only work for so long. Sooner or later the hunters will catch on to the traps they set and Reid needs to come up with a secondary plan before that happens.

  “So I figure we could do this twice more before we have to change tactics.” He turns to Marcus, trying to draw him out of the dark place he’s been hovering in since the hunter died. Marcus shrugs but nods and meets Reid’s eyes.