The Hunter

by Kurt Robinson

  “What the hell is going on!? Is that a helicopter!?” The new hunter yelled as he turned to face John and the hunter, truthfully a little scared, as the helicopter flew right over them and all three looked up.

  “Sir,” John began, “there are men trying to kill us! We need your four-“

  But, John was cut off as the new hunter was suddenly ripped apart by bullets fired from two Beretta APX Combat .40 caliber pistols that Gayhart carried. John and the hunter ran to get behind the four-wheeler as bullets ripped through the flesh of the new hunter. He was spun around and fell into his blind as blood sprayed the snow and the blind collapsed under his weight.

  John and the hunter got behind the four-wheeler, which wasn’t safe either because the helicopter was beginning to turn around above the field behind them. John looked at the ignition and saw that they key was there. John then looked over top the four-wheeler just a little bit, and could see four men walking to them through the trees and one was Adam. He saw that Adam had a determined look on face and he didn’t appear to attempt to speak this time. They had to act fast.

  “Okay, cover me,” John told the hunter. “I’m gonna start the four-wheeler, then you hop on, and we’ll take off.”

  “Okay, say when,” the hunter said as he pulled back the bolt on his .30-06 rifle to make sure he had a round in the chamber and then looked down past the first round into the magazine and saw that he had a few rounds in there as well. “Ready.”

  “Now,” John said as he nodded and got up, turned the key to start the four-wheeler, and then jumped on the seat. The hunter stood up at the same time and fired four shots in the direction of Adam and his men, which made them all scramble to find cover behind a tree or rock or just go prone. The hunter then jumped on as soon as John put it in a gear and they took off.

  Throwing snow behind them, John slammed on the gas and pushed it all the way down. As they drove past the collapsed blind, Adam gave out a very loud, “Fuck!” John decided, once he saw the helicopter was now heading straight for them, to turn toward it. As they did that, Gayhart held up his two pistols and fired at John and the hunter. Since he was shooting aimlessly, he missed them for the most part, as bullets hit the snow around them and pinged off the four-wheeler in several spots. However, one shot did hit its target as a bullet struck the hunter in the back just below his left shoulder. He winced at the pain as he tried to ignore it, but felt blood running down his back.

  John looked forward, as the cold air pierced his face and eyes and the engine of the four-wheeler roared, and saw the helicopter heading right for them. Without hesitation, he pulled his pistol from its holster and fired several well-aimed shots through the middle of the windshield. The bullets missed Emily and Harper as Emily jerked the stick to the right and the helicopter veered off course quickly, causing Harper to grab onto a handle so he wouldn’t fall out.

  “Goddammnit! That motherfucker!” Emily yelled as she turned the chopper. “Adam,” she spoke into the headset, “please kill that motherfucker. He almost got us that time.”

  “What the fuck do you think we’re doing!?” Adam yelled into his radio as he, Travers, Lewis, and Gayhart cleared the trees and ran past the blind.

  “A shitty job,” Emily told him.

  “Just follow him!” Adam demanded.

  “Adam, please let Harper take them out. We can end this bullshit right now.”

  “He’s mine!”

  “Adam, he has transportation now!” Emily said. “If all we can do is follow then he’ll find somebody soon and we’re all fucked! Let us kill him.”

  Adam stopped in the field, looking at the chopper going to his left and then at John and the hunter nearly entering the tree line on the other side of the field. “Fuck,” he said aloud as the others watched him contemplate the decision. Then finally he held up the radio and pressed the button, “Fine, take them out, we’ll continue on foot as fast as we can.”

  “It’s about fucking time,” Emily said and then flipped up the microphone on her head set and directed her attention to Harper. “Hey, Harper, you’re up!”

  “Fuck yeah!” Harper said and then adjusted himself into firing position.

  John and the hunter entered another set of trees on the four-wheeler, relieved for a second, but realized they were nowhere near out of trouble yet. John maneuvered around the trees, and the hunter could feel his back was warm and there was pain just below his left shoulder, but he still didn’t say anything.

  “You okay!?” John yelled behind him.

  “Yeah, just keep going,” the hunter told him.

  “Okay,” John said and then shifted down a gear as he turned around a tree. They had slowed down because of the trees, but they were about to wish they were able to go faster.

  John looked behind them, through the trees, and saw the helicopter coming into view and then turning to the side where Harper sat with his G36 up and ready.

  “Shit!” John yelled as he pushed on the gas and maneuvered around the trees and through the snow as fast as he could. However, it was not fast enough as Emily and Harper spotted them, and Harper let loose. Bullets ripped through the trees, cutting down limbs in the process. Snow was thrown into the air and wood splintered from trees when they were hit. John moved the four-wheeler as fast as he could around trees and used them as cover as best as he could.

  Harper was getting angry because he kept missing his target, but it was hard since he was shooting at a moving vehicle while in another moving vehicle around obstacles. “What the hell!?” he said as he stopped shooting for a second and John sped on in front of them. He looked ahead of John and the hunter and saw that they were heading for a thick cluster of pine trees about thirty yards in front of them. If they made it there, Harper wouldn’t be able to see them. “Fuck, we’re gonna lose them in a second!” he yelled at Emily.

  “Then stop fuckin’ missing!” she yelled back at him.

  Harper held up his G36 against his shoulder, aimed through the optical sight, and pulled the trigger. John looked up and saw Harper open fire and jerked the wheels around a big tree, which the bullets hit, and then through some dead bushes. He sped up and jumped over a dead tree, both of them bunched down making themselves smaller as bullets struck the four-wheeler on the front, back, and the bottom where his legs were as sparks flew off the metal. He then gunned it into the clump of pine trees, far enough that he knew they couldn’t be seen, and stopped.

  But the lack of visibility did not stop Harper as he fired blind into the pine trees. John jumped off the four-wheeler, grabbing the hunter as he went, and they dove to the side of the four-wheeler and used it as cover. Harper let it rain down on John and the hunter in the pine trees. They hunkered down as bullets flew all around them throwing pine needles through the air, breaking limbs, destroying trees, creating holes in the four-wheeler, and sending snow into the air. It was as loud as it could be.

  Finally, Harper ran out of bullets in his second of three Beta C-Mag drum magazine and the woods went almost silent again, with the exception of the helicopter. Harper ejected the magazine and inserted his last one. Emily then began circling the chopper around the cluster of pine trees. Even with the fallen limbs, they still couldn’t see John or the hunter anywhere.

  “Well you definitely got something,” Emily said.

  “Fuck off. They’re in there somewhere, dead or alive.”

  John eased up after being tense against the side of the four-wheeler, which was now smoking from the other side. He looked around as he heard the helicopter move around above the trees. He then looked to his right and saw that the hunter had blood running from two bullet holes in his chest and blood running from his mouth, as he struggled to breathe.

  “Oh, shit,” John said and grabbed him, put him on his back in the snow, and began putting pressure on the wounds. John then saw blood flowing in the snow underneath the hunter and realized that the bullets had gone through.

  “Hey,” the hunter began, “you need to get out of here.�
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  “I can’t leave you.”

  “You’re not gonna have a choice in a second.”

  “I can get you out of here too. It’s my fault you’re here.”

  “Oh, it ain’t your fault,” the hunter coughed up some blood, “it’s theirs. You can get them. Take out that fuckin’ chopper first though,” he said as he gave a smile. “It’s kicking our ass.”

  John smiled and then said, “And how am I supposed to do that?”

  “Shoot at the rotors. You can do-“ he coughed again.

  “Jesus, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry-“

  “We all gotta die some time,” the hunter paused to take a few quick breaths. “I just…so happened…to be helping out-“, his voice trailed off.

  “Hey, hey!” John said as he grabbed the hunter’s shoulders and shook him slightly. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” he looked at the hunter’s face and his eyes were wide open, looking straight ahead, as more blood ran out of his mouth. John then checked the hunter’s pulse on his neck and felt nothing. John sat back and looked at the lifeless body of the man that tried to help him and a man whose name he never knew.

  He stared at his body for another several seconds and then his face turned from sorrow to rage. He stood up, pulled out his pistol, looked at the hunter’s body one more time, and walked away. He listened to the helicopter to find out where it was and then made his way out of the group of pine trees. He found an opening in the trees and looked up and to his right. He heard the chopper coming from that direction and then it appeared from behind the pine trees.

  John glared at it as it came around. They must have seen him because he noticed it was slowing down. It almost came to a complete stop close to John, above the tree line, and then turned around so the side where Harper sat faced John. It hovered as John saw Harper looking directly at him and then give a smile. John returned the smile and then held up his pistol, aimed above Harper, and emptied his magazine into the rotors.

  Emily jerked the chopper away as John still sent bullets in their direction. Harper grabbed the top of the cab and hung on for dear life. Alarms went off on the console as Emily struggled to control the chopper. Smoke began pouring from the top rotor.

  “We’re hit!” Emily spoke into her headset.

  “Fuck!” Adam’s voice came through the radio. “I see you! Can you make it to the field? Can you see us?”

  “Yeah, I see you. I think I can,” she spoke as she tried to control the chopper. She steered it the best she could toward the field where Adam and the others were, the same field John and the hunter had driven through, but had come to a stop to watch the chopper. The chopper swayed back and forth but Emily was able to steady it out just enough as she cleared the tree line with the dormant field right in front of her. Her stick vibrated with intensity and the chopper dipped down some, but she was again able to pull it back up.

  Adam, Travers, Lewis, and Gayhart watched as the chopper headed toward them. Snow was now flying through the air as the winds from the rotors hit the ground. The helicopter took another dip to the right but was stopped by Emily as she pulled on the stick to steady it again. She was about fifty feet off the ground and pushed on the stick to move the helicopter forward then back slightly to slow it down and they came to a sliding halt on the snow-covered field. Emily began shutting down all the helicopter’s systems; the alarms stopped and the rotors began slowing down.

  “Fuck me,” Harper said and released his grip from the top of the cab.

  “Tell me about it,” Emily responded and then looked in front of her around the bullet holes in the windshield, and saw Adam and the others running toward them. She unbuckled her seatbelt, took off her headset, and opened the door and got out. The rotors were coming to a stop as Harper jumped out as well. They both backed up, keeping their heads down, and looked at the base of the main rotor and saw a few bullet holes in the casing and some smoke coming out. “Son of a bitch.”

  “Good luck explaining this to the captain and maintenance crew,” Harper said sarcastically.

  “Shut up,” she told him and then looked to her left as Adam’s voice rang out.

  “Hey! You okay!?” He yelled as they neared their position.

  “Yeah, we’re fine.”

  Just as the rotors came to a complete stop, Adam and the group arrived. Adam looked at the smoke and then at Emily and gave her a hug and a kiss on the lips. The others shared an awkward moment as they kissed. Adam had either clearly missed her or thought he might have lost her when he saw the helicopter going down. Finally, they released lips and the attention could be focused on the problem at hand.

  “Do you know what the damage is yet?” Adam asked.

  “No,” Emily told him. “I’m about to check it out.”

  “Okay, well get going. We’re gonna need it.”

  Emily nodded her head and went to open a side compartment on the helicopter that housed a couple of toolboxes, some smaller spare parts she made sure got put in there, another pistol of hers, and some flares. She pulled out the two toolboxes, set them on the floor of the cab, and opened them up. She didn’t know what she was going to need, although she had an idea.

  “Harper, help me get up there,” she said, and Harper moved to the chopper, slung his G36 behind him, interlocked his fingers, and cupped his hands. Emily stepped on his hands and Harper boosted her up on top of the chopper. She climbed up, moved to the casing for the rotors, removed it, and looked inside to inspect the damage.

  “Well, what’s the word?” Adam asked.

  Twenty-two

  Saturday – 12:43 P.M.

  John Watkins watched the smoking helicopter land in the field through the trees. He looked at his pistol and saw that the slide was stuck back; he was out of ammo. He slid it back forward and holstered it. Very stoically, he walked back into the pine trees, toward the four-wheeler, and next to the hunter’s body where his .30-06 was laying. He picked it up out of the snow and pulled the bolt back. There was one bullet in the chamber - he didn’t see any more below it in the magazine. He looked over at the hunter but saw no ammo pouches on him or places where he would have any more. He only had one more bullet remaining, between his pistol and the rifle. Nevertheless, he would make good use of the one bullet he had.

  He stood up with the rifle in his right hand, and pulled out the radio with his left hand. He took one last look at the hunter’s blood-soaked body and walked back out of the pine trees. Looking through the trees, he saw that Adam had reached the helicopter and kissed one of them. It took John a second, but he saw the long hair and he knew it was the girl he heard on the radio. He moved ahead a little further, where he saw a downed tree with a big trunk. It was big enough to set the rifle on and steady the shot. He dug out the snow some, got down on his knees, placed the rifle on the dead tree, and looked through the scope.

  He watched them and then saw Lewis, the man he hit in the head, with them. He watched the group and saw Emily pull some boxes out of a side compartment of the chopper, and then Harper helped her up on top of the helicopter. He watched her for a second, then moved the scope back down to Harper, who turned toward the trees, like he was looking right at him. John moved the scope over to Adam, who was looking up at Emily, and then over to Gayhart, who was just looking around. Next, he moved to Travers who looked concerned about his life decisions right now, and then to Lewis, who was looking toward the trees as well, but he had a look of rage about him.

  John pulled away from the scope for a second, looked at them with his naked eye, and then went back down to the scope. He aimed at Lewis’ chest, the crosshairs right on his heart, but he had another idea. He moved the crosshairs up, just above his lung, and pulled the trigger. The bullet struck Lewis just below the left shoulder, sending a stream of blood onto the snow as he spun around and fell down to the ground. John looked up from his scope and they all scrambled; Emily jumped down from the chopper while Harper moved around to the other side, as did Travers. Adam grabbed Lewis and helped him be
hind the chopper, and Emily ran through the cab to the other side.

  John saw no movement now and saw that they were all on the opposite side of the chopper, thinking they were pinned by sniper fire. Now he would use the radio, so he picked it up and spoke into it, “Hey there, Adam, how are y’all doing?”

  “John?” Adam came through. “You son of a bitch. I’m guessing that’s you firing at us? So, what’s your plan now? Pick us off one by one?”

  “Nah, that would be too easy, besides that was my last bullet. You know I like a challenge, so if you want me come and get me, just follow the prints. No more running. I’ll be waiting for you.”

  “You got it, buddy.”

  “Over and out motherfucker.” John told him and stood up, leaving the rifle on the tree, and walked back into the pines.

  Adam brought his radio down and looked around at his fellow comrades he had available and then toward Emily, who was kneeling next to him. They all noticed that it had begun to snow again, which was just perfect for them. Adam looked up at the clouds and then at the snowflakes falling down and sighed.

  “Can you fix the chopper, Emily?” Adam asked her.

  “Yes, with a little time.”

  “How much time?”

  “Hard to tell. Maybe a half hour.”

  “Alright. Travers, Lewis, and Gayhart will go with me and get him. Lewis, you gonna be okay? Adam asked.

  “Yeah…I’ll be fine. Just the shoulder-“

  “What!?” Travers jumped in as he stood up. “No, I’m done! That son of a bitch is fuckin’ beating us and he’s gonna pick us off one by one! I’m not doing it! This has been bullshit from the start! So, fuck your friend and fuck you! I didn’t come here to die in the fuckin’ snow!”

  Adam stood up quickly, pulled his knife from its sheath on his belt, grabbed Travers by the collar, slung him around, slammed him against the chopper, and put the knife against his throat.