by Martha Woods
“Iggy?” She reached out slowly, cautiously placing her hand on his shoulder. “Iggy is everything alright?”
When he looked at her she almost yelped in surprise, his eyes black as the darkest of night and swirling like the lightest of smoke. “I can smell them, they’re close.”
“Who can you smell? Who’s coming?”
“Hunters. A lot of hunters.” He grinned, his teeth starting to lengthen and his voice lowering to a growl. “And I smell blood.”
Claire reached over to her seat, picking up her pistol and firing two shots at the already retreating car. She thought that she had bought herself some time, only realizing what was happening when they swerved to the side, the back of her car crumpling under the assault and spinning her to the side, the tires losing traction as they left the road and continued down the hill. Her seatbelt was the only thing that kept her alive, the car spinning into a rock and flipping, the front windshield switching views between the ground and the sky before she could have time to process either.
The car finally came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, the roof almost fully caved in as it finally rested on its top, oil and brake fluid leaking onto the ground and burning Claire’s nostrils. She couldn’t move, her body not obeying her wishes to unclip herself and get moving, every muscle screaming at her for rest, to let the journey just be over and done with already. Blood was rushing to her head, her vision still fading out but sheer will be keeping her from falling in.
“Not today...” She groaned, reaching towards her hip against her body’s protestations. “I’m not… Going to die… Like this.”
Sliding her knife out of its sheath she grabbed a handful of the seatbelt, sawing slowly through the material and bracing herself for a very sudden descent. As the last thread was severed she closed her eyes, body falling through the air and impacting with the crumpled metal underneath. Laying there for a few more seconds was all she could give herself, sliding the knife back into its sheath and dragging her arms along the roof, paying no mind to the shards of glass biting into her skin.
Crawling out of the totaled car she noticed flecks of water starting to fall onto her hand, slowly increasing until there was a steady downpour falling on her and chilling her to the bone. “Oh great, all the pain isn’t enough, now I’m going to die cold.”
Gun in hand, she picked herself up, feet dragging through the mud with every step she took to get deeper into the forest. Up the hill she had tumbled down she heard a commotion, car loads of hunters unloading to pursue her. Distantly she wondered if she should consider this a compliment, considering that they needed dozens of people to even have a chance of stopping her.
“If this is a compliment then they can keep it.” Claire braced herself against a tree, aiming carefully and squeezing off a shot, one of the hunters’ chests spouting blood and their body tumbling down the hill towards her. “I’d sure hate to be insulted by them.”
Turning and running as best she could into the forest, she weaved in between trees to avoid their enraged shots, flecks of wood splintering off and showering into her hair. One by one, hunters started chasing in after her, guns at the ready and tempers high. Behind all of them, still at the top of the hill with a bandage pressed to his neck stood their leader, a tight grip on the handle of his rifle and a sadistic smile on his face.
“You can’t run forever girl, you can try but you’ll have to stop eventually. Fuck what Christian said he wanted to do to you,” He spat onto the ground, “You’re mine.”
* * *
“She’s over there! She’s-” Their announcement cut off with a pained gurgle, dropping to the ground lifelessly under the sound of the gunshot.
“Jesus, I never noticed how annoying that is before.” Claire fell back against the nearest tree, hand at her shoulder and gasping in pain. “Never thought I’d ever be the one being hunted, guess I can consider this a lesson in humility.”
Distantly, she heard a scream followed by obviously panicked shots, the commotion falling silent in seconds and leaving only the faint echoes of death on the air. Claire raised an eyebrow, cautiously poking her head out before pulling back quickly, rifle fire disintegrating the bark where she had just been. “Fine, whatever’s going on over there doesn’t mean shit if people are still shooting at me!”
Steeling herself, she pushed off with her feet and propelled herself to the side as hard as she could, feet pounding into the ground with every step and pushing her forward as best she could. Arm outstretched, barely aimed shots arced through the air towards her attacker, the hunter barely dropping to the ground in time to avoid the onslaught of bullets.
“Try and catch me you assholes! I’m right here!” Firing more shots behind her to force their heads down, Claire ran as fast as she could, ignoring the screams that were growing louder by the minute and the growing fatigue in her body. Her movements were getting sluggish fast, her legs feeling like jelly and vision blurred, but still she pressed on. She had learned many things in her time as a hunter, many of which she would spend the rest of her days trying to forget, but one that had been ingrained in her very being was the knowledge that you just. Couldn’t. Give up.
So that’s what she was doing, even if her blood felt like it was acid and her head was fit to explode, she wouldn’t stop until she dropped dead. Anything less was just pathetic in her opinion, and for all the faults she saw in herself pathetic and a coward were not included.
Checking her magazine again, she grimaced when she saw it was empty, only one bullet still left in the chamber for her to use. “You know, if this is some sort of sign for what you want me to do next...” She looked up, pointing at the bullet. “I’m going to just ignore it.”
Tossing the empty magazine to the side and sliding the pistol into the front of her waistband, she knelt low to the ground, quieting her footsteps and keeping an ear out for anyone approaching. Surely enough breathless pants and heavy boots echoed through the forest around her, Claire slinking back and hiding in the bushes.
“Where the fuck is she?” The lead hunter said, looking around the trees before turning back to her partner. “She ran this way, right?”
“Yeah, I had to get on the ground when she was shooting at me, but she went this way!” He turned, just in time to see the rock seconds before it impacted with his nose. His head snapped back, his weapon dropping from his hands instinctively to protect his face.
Exactly what Claire was hoping for.
With a roar she charged out of the forest, leaping into the air and thrusting her knee into the leader’s chin, grabbing her hair on the way down and slamming her into the ground. Picking up the nearby rifle by the barrel, she stood quickly, swinging with all her might and crushing her jaw under the heavy metal and wood. “Stay! Down! God! Dammit!” Each word was punctuated with a swing of the rapidly deteriorating rifle, making absolutely sure she wasn’t going to get up again any time soon.
Hearing a shuffling behind her, she threw the rifle into the air and spinning around, catching it by the grip and bracing herself on her knee. Three shots fired before the ruined weapon jammed completely, just enough to take down the last hunter once and for all.
“Jesus...” She panted to herself, stars dancing in front of her vision while she dropped the gun. “How many of you were there?”
Silence was her answer, the screams from elsewhere finally ceasing and leaving her alone with her thoughts. If ever there was a chance that she was going to be welcomed back with open arms that was well and truly gone, what hunters she hadn’t killed laying broken and bruised on the road and the grass around her. Most of her was proud of that fact, but she still couldn’t deny that there had been friends, lovers among that number. She wasn’t sure what broke her heart more, the fact that she had to end their lives, or that they had no hesitation in attempting to end hers.
“Well fuck them then,” She said, “If it was that easy then I never meant anything to them anyway.”
She heard the snap of the bra
nch before anything else, turning and throwing a fist out on pure instinct and catching her attacker in the cheek, remembering his face the second she saw him. “Oh, for fu- Why can’t you just die!”
He grinned, backing off and spitting out a mouthful of blood. “That’s no way to greet me girl, especially after that show at the hotel don’t you think?”
“Yeah? How many innocent people did you kill trying to get to me?” She clenched her fist, keeping an eye on his hands. “Do you even care about them?”
“Not really. They got in the way, I don’t like people getting in the way of my targets.” He pointed to the wound in his neck. “Don’t really appreciate you doing this by the way, that pushed you from catch to kill if I’m being honest.”
He looked down at her stomach, seeing how pale she was. He smirked, saying, “But from the look of you I’m not gonna have to do much to finish you off am I? You’re basically dead on your feet already.”
“Yeah? You wanna see if that’s true or you wanna sit around and talk all night?” Claire brought her arms up, clenching her fists tightly. “Only one of us is walking away from this, let’s just get it over with.”
“You got some spunk kid, I’ll give you that. Just a shame you had to be an idiot about this whole thing.” Cracking his neck, he stepped forward. “Doesn’t feel right killing you without knowing who I am, I’m-”
“I don’t give a fuck what your name is. You’re shit underneath my shoe, I’m gonna forget about you as soon as I see the life drain out of your eyes.”
He sighed, “Like I said, you’ve got spunk. But you’re an idiot.”
Darting forward before she could even blink, he threw his arm out and caught her in the stomach, knocking her backwards and winding her. He threw a hook into her temple, sweeping her leg out at the same time and letting her fall to the ground in a brief daze.
“Come on girl, don’t tell me you’re done already. I didn’t chase you halfway across the country just to let you off that easy.”
Shaking her head, she got to her feet slowly, weighing up her options. He was heavier than her, if they were to get into a raw strength competition she would lose hands down. He was fast, but once she got over the shock of his first movement he wasn’t overly so. He wasn’t an unconquerable monster, he was just a hunter, and a wounded one at that.
And she was not going to go quietly.
She fainted to the left, ducking underneath his wild haymaker and jabbing her fingers into his ribs, darting around and sinking her nails into the wound on his neck. Two nails dug into muscle, the cut opening even further and drenching his shirt immediately. Howling in pain, he threw his elbow out, Claire only just jumping away from it and flicking the blood off her hand.
He growled in anger, seeing red as he looked towards her and charged. Uncontrolled punched flowed from him, Claire having to use every ounce of her focus to avoid each one in its unrecognizable pattern, pure anger pushing each fist towards her. She backed up until she felt bark at her back, ducking underneath a furious straight and wincing when she heard his knuckles break against the wood.
Grabbing his wrist and pulling him towards her, she dragged his arm over a nearby branch, his eyes widening as she dropped to her knees and snapped his elbow over the wood.
He threw his foot out on pure instinct, Claire not able to move in time to avoid the boot sailing into her temple and knocking her onto her back. Her vision swam, head pounding and her body suddenly not obeying her. Dimly, she was aware that he had straightened up, barely registering the boot that planted in her side until she flipped onto her front, the dirt cool against her cheek.
“You little fuck!” He grabbed her by the scruff of her jacket, dragging her back into the open and tossing her to the ground. “You know I’ve really gotta hand it to you, it’s been a long time since I faced off against such a gigantic pain in my ass.” Another boot planted in her stomach, flipping her over onto her back. Slowly, he slid his knife out of the sheath, admiring the shine in the night before he knelt down, legs on either side of her hips.
“I’m gonna enjoy this.” He thrust his knife down, her hand catching his wrist just in time to stop it doing more than cutting her cheek.
“Still fighting huh?” He grunted, pressing down as much as he could with his one good arm. “I can’t believe this.”
As quickly as she could, fighting her body’s urges to give up every step of the way, Claire snaked her hand down, pulling the handgun out of her waistband and pressing it to his stomach. “Believe it you piece of shit!”
The gunshot was muffled between their bodies, a dull thud and a fountain of blood erupting from his back in the bullets wake. He screamed wordlessly, in so much pain he couldn’t even work his throat properly. Claire ducked her head to the side, letting go of his hand and hearing the knife sink into the dirt next to her ear. Holding his hand there and throwing the empty gun to the side, she drew her own knife and swung it towards his neck.
The blade sunk in to the hilt, his mouth hanging open in shock and pain as he shook on top of her, trying desperately to get his own hand out of her grip to no avail.
Claire pulled him in, growling in his face while his blood started to drip onto hers, “How about that? Do I have enough spunk for you now?”
He gasped in response, eyes bulging out of his head in pain. His body was losing what little strength it still had, his feet capable of doing nothing but digging fruitlessly into the dirt and dragging small tracks. Slowly, he started to fall forward, the only thing keeping him from collapsing completely was the knife still embedded in his neck.
Claire pulled it out, blood immediately drenching her as he fell forward lifelessly, small twitches the only movement his body could still do. She let her head fall back, spitting out blood that was belonged to both herself and her opponent, the knife falling from her hand as she finally let herself relax.
“Who’s the idiot now huh? Heh, guess it’s still me isn’t it?”
The sound of approaching footsteps made her head fall to the side, seeing a group of people staring at her with looks that measured between hostility and confusion, before she locked eyes with one person in particular.
“Claire?” Cayden stepped forward, looking around the scene in front of him. “What the hell happened here?”
Ignoring the pain in every part of her body, Claire tilted her head back and laughed, tears spilling from her eyes as she finally started to slip into unconsciousness.
“Hey Cayden, long time no see.”
Chapter 5
“Get her legs.” Cayden spoke from Claire’s body, shoving off the dead hunter that still lay on top of her. “Come on! We’re running out of time here!”
Michael walked over quickly, dragging her out the rest of the way before lifting her with Cayden, the two of them walking her towards the exit of the forest. “I don’t know who this woman is, or what she was doing out here, but I’m not just going to leave her to die.”
Farah ran ahead of them, making sure the way was clear for them before running further, exiting the forest and seeing their cars ahead of her. She opened the back door to the nearest one, pulling out the bags and throwing them into the trunk before running back to them.
“How is she?” She said once she reached them, finally getting a clear look at Claire’s body. “Oh merde, she looks terrible.”
“She’s hurt bad, really bad.” Cayden smiled, a hint of fondness in the expression. “If it was anyone else I’d just leave them there or put them out of their misery, but she isn’t exactly like everyone else.”
The rest of the group caught up to them, eyes wide as they looked over her condition for the first time as well. Iggy had a look of hunger in his eyes, but he looked ashamed of the instinctual reaction, his eyes black as he saw the hunters blood covering her neck. “There’s no one else moving in this forest, we don’t have to worry about anyone coming to attack us.”
“Cayden, she recognized you,” Skylar said, walking alongside the two
men. “Who is she?”
“She’s an old friend, haven’t seen her in a couple of years. I sure as hell didn’t think tonight of all nights would be the night we reunited.”
They reached the cars, Cayden carefully maneuvering himself into the car to lay her head down softly on the seat. “Have you got her?”
Michael nodded as he slotted her legs in as comfortably as he could. “Not my first time having to get someone out of a bad place in a car, can’t always shift and do it myself.”
“Good, that’s good.” Cayden jumped out, closing the door slowly and moving over to the rest of them. “We need to get going, she’s fading fast.”
“Cayden, who is she?”
He looked at the ground awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “She’s a hunter, like I am. Or I guess it’s more appropriate to say was, on both counts.”
“She’s a hunter?” Iggy turned icy, his fangs extending and his fist clenching. “Then why are we helping her?”
“Because she’s a friend of mind, and I don’t leave a friend behind in the dirt, no matter what they’ve done.”
“Even if that friend is on the same side as your worst enemy?” Iggy took a step towards the car, growling at the hand the Cayden placed in the middle of his chest.
“No matter what. You don’t like that then you can walk.” Cayden leaned in, almost snarling, “If you try and lay a single finger on her I’ll feed you your own insides, are we clear?”
Farah pulled them apart, rolling her eyes. “This big masculine display can wait, no? We have a woman dying in the back of our car, that is a problem that we need to solve soon.”
“How bad is she?” Skylar walked with Farah towards the back, instinctively taking Claire’s hand when she saw her bloodied form again. “She looks bad.”
