The Hunter

by Kurt Robinson

  Regardless, he knew Adam and whoever was with him were still coming his way. John waited.

  Adam Hart had taken the M4 ammo that Travers had left, and was fixated on getting John. His mind wasn’t wavering anymore, and the decision he just made on sending the helicopter somewhere proved that. He, Lewis, and Gayhart were the only ones left for the time being. They were all squinting through the snow and wind as they entered the trees from the field where Travers’ body lay. Neither the snow nor the wind was as fierce in the trees, but both were still enough to piss a man off. Adam’s lips had gotten dry and chapped throughout the day, and were killing him.

  Lewis was the same way, especially after taking a dip in the ice-cold water. He was very pale and had gotten weaker since being in the creek for longer than a person should be in the freezing temperatures. He had dried cold blood on his head where John had hit him, and he could no longer feel his toes. Despite all this, he refused to get in the chopper when Adam gave him the choice. John was his mission now - not only because he knocked him out, but also because John had killed two of his friends. Lewis was not about to let that go unanswered.

  Gayhart was the healthiest of them all at the moment. At worse he, was a little cold. Having avoided long exposure to the elements, he was also the most alert, which was good for him. He was behind Adam and Lewis and he did not care who John was. He was just here for some extra cash and to help his friend, Adam. The situation was not personal for him - he was just here to assist and possibly kill.

  Adam and Lewis walked side by side through the trees now, with Gayhart behind them. Adam had his M4 up and at the ready, while Lewis had his stainless-steel Sig Sauer P226 up and ready. The tracks from the four-wheeler were still visible but slowly being covered by snow. They kept their eyes sharp, looking for John and the other hunter he picked up. After a few more minutes, they came to a group of pine trees. They saw that the vehicle tracks led right into them, and saw several broken branches where the vehicle sped into the pines.

  Adam stopped and looked around one more time, through the howling wind, rustling trees, and large snowflakes falling to the ground and then went into the group of pines. Lewis and Gayhart followed. They tried to be as quiet as possible so they moved slowly, navigating through and around branches, including dead ones on the ground. The further in they went, the quieter the area got. Adam had a feeling that John was watching them right now - he just did not know where.

  A few more steps in, Adam stopped, as did Lewis and Gayhart, and looked through the thick pine needles on the branches. He had to squint and, through the snow, saw a mix of orange, red, and green.

  “I see something,” Adam told them in a whisper. “Get ready.” They all brought their weapons up and moved forward.

  Adam, with his M4 up, pushed branches out of the way quietly. A few feet from the opening in the pines, Adam realized what it was and then gave an angry sigh. He looked down, fuming, lowered his M4, and made his way into the opening, Lewis and Gayhart followed. The snow still falling, Adam came to a stop, Lewis and Gayhart stopping on each side of him. They all looked down and saw the blood-soaked body, along with the crimson snow beneath the hunter that had accompanied John. His body was now cold as snow began to cover his form. The four-wheeler had blood on it as well, running down the side in lines. Snow also covered the abandoned four-wheeler.

  “Fuck,” Adam said.

  “How much you wanna bet he’s pissed now?” Lewis said.

  “Yeah,” Adam said and then paused. “And he’s probably watching us right now. But, he’s out of bullets, we’re not. He can talk all he wants, but we have the fire power.”

  “There’s prints, what’s left of them, that go each way,” Gayhart pointed out.

  “He’s probably messing with us. Those head back to the field,” Adam said looking at the tracks that went to their left. “But, go check it out real quick. We’ll wait here.”

  “Okay,” Gayhart said and then took off to the left, following the tracks.

  “What do you want to do?” Lewis asked.

  “I’m going to kill him,” Adam told him.

  “Well yeah, but it’ll be a lot harder in this storm.”

  “Well that means he’s not far. There’s still prints in the snow, we’ll follow them. If not, he still has a radio, then we’ll introduce him to our contingency plan.”

  “Right,” Lewis paused. “This guy, your fuckin’ friend, is good! Now, you know as well as I do, that he has something planned. So I say when Gayhart gets back that we split up in this area.”

  “You want to split up in this shit!?” Adam asked him.

  “We have radios, plus we’ll cover more ground and find this fucker faster! Like you said, he’s not far away. I want to end this! Now! Your way hasn’t done shit for us! So we’re doing this one my way!” Lewis said looking into Adam’s eyes now.

  “Alright,” Adam said, with a grin. “We’ll do it your way.”

  “About fuckin’ time-“

  “Hey, guys!” Gayhart said as he came back through the pines holding a rifle. “Check it out. Looks like that’s where he shot you from. Tracks come back through here.”

  “Of course,” Adam said. “Alright, let’s go, but we’re splitting up once we get out of these pines.”

  “Splitting up?” Gayhart asked.

  “Yeah, let’s go,” Adam said, and he and Lewis followed the other set of tracks. Gayhart threw the rifle down, pulled out his other pistol and followed them.

  Once they got out of the group of pine trees the area opened back up, but visibility was still very limited as the snow continued to fall. They looked down and saw the tracks go straight in front of them and disappear like a ghost in the snow.

  “I’m following the tracks,” Adam told them. “Lewis, you go right, Gayhart you go left.” They nodded to each other, were quiet, and moved slowly in their own direction.

  The snow and wind picked up again as Gayhart squinted to block the cold from getting into his eyes. He had both of his Beretta APX Combat .40 caliber pistols up and at the ready. He was now beginning to freeze as the bleak air pierced his SWAT uniform and vest. Trying to concentrate on the mission at hand, he couldn’t help but think that he wished he was at his warm house with his wife and cancer-sick daughter. However, he had to tell himself he was doing this for his daughter. Helping on this job would be another few thousand dollars to add to her treatment. He would do anything for her, even if that meant killing a man.

  As he walked through the snow, he could tell that it had already snowed at least another inch since they left the chopper. It was getting deeper and would be hard to find or follow tracks left by John. As Gayhart made his way around some more trees, disturbing the smooth fresh falling snow on the ground, he saw indentions in the snow that looked like they were fresh before the snow began to fall. The snow was filling them up, but Gayhart could still tell that they were footprints because they went everywhere. They went in circles and then to tree-to-tree. He decided to stay close to the trees, and then move to the next tree in front of him, and put his back against the trunk.

  “The hell is he up to?” Gayhart said to himself.

  He looked back and forth to see if he could see Adam or Lewis but he saw nothing through the snow. He turned around the tree and was able to make out that there was a drop off a few feet beyond that tree, which the tracks led to, and then came to a stop. But, the almost covered prints seemed to turn back around and come back to his position.

  “The fuck is going on!?”

  He moved from the cover of the tree and began to walk to the drop off, his pistols out in front of him. Then he heard a scraping sound that seemed to come from above him. He jerked his head upward to see John, just as he jumped off with a limb he had crafted into a spear in his hands. Thinking quickly, Gayhart dived forward face first into the snow, but it wasn’t fast enough as the spear sliced open the inside of his left calf. He gave a short yell as the whole front of his body plowed into the snow.
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  John landed smoothly and very swiftly, not showing any mercy as he walked behind Gayhart and held up the spear to stick it in his back. But, Gayhart wasn’t about to go out that easily. He spun around with his two pistols still in his hands and held them up. However, John anticipated this move and as soon as Gayhart had them up, John hit both of his hands at the same time, hitting his left hand as it knocked into his right. The pistols flew out of Gayhart’s hands as he grimaced in pain.

  John went to raise the spear once more, but received a kick to the stomach from Gayhart. John flew back some as he gasped for air, giving Gayhart, whose leg was spilling blood on the snow, time to get up and charge at John. He tackled John to the ground, causing him to dig into the cold snow and his spear to fall to the ground. Gayhart landed a punch to the right side of John’s face and then another, but John was able to block the third incoming punch and landed one of his own to Gayhart’s side. As the punch hit his ribs, Gayhart gritted his teeth and hunched over slightly. John then landed another punch to Gayhart’s face, causing his nose to start bleeding.

  John took this opportunity to sit up and dig his finger into the open wound on Gayhart’s calf. Blood squirted from the gash and covered the snow. Gayhart gave out a blood-curling scream as his face turned red. He tried to reach for John’s hand but John removed it and gave Gayhart a shove backward. He landed hard on his back, breathing heavily.

  John got up quickly and went around Gayhart toward his two pistols laying in the snow. As he reached down for one of the pistols, Gayhart was up and threw his body on John, knocking him down. John flung himself around, throwing Gayhart to the side. John then rolled to face Gayhart, who was on his back on in the snow. John tried to lay a punch, but Gayhart blocked it and then kneed John in the side. John then fell over and Gayhart got up, got on top of John, and grabbed him by the neck.

  John struggled to breath, but then brought both his arms down on Gayhart’s elbows and they collapsed down. John then put him in a headlock, with his face against his chest, trying to suffocate Gayhart. They both struggled as John tried to keep Gayhart against him as Gayhart tried to escape. Then Gayhart shifted his body weight to the right causing them to roll through the snow. Gayhart continued to move them to the right, trying to get himself free somehow. However, what he did not know was that they were heading toward the smooth slope down to the field at the drop off.

  John noticed and yelled, “Oh, shit!” and let go of Gayhart, spun him around, and pushed him down into the snow. They hit the steep slope with Gayhart on his stomach and John on top of him. John tried to look ahead because he knew what was waiting for them in the snow.

  They slid down the hill on the snow. Gayhart tried to reach for John behind him but John, being bigger and stronger, wrapped his arm around Gayhart’s and gave it a quick snap backwards and broke Gayhart’s radius and ulna in one blow. Gayhart gave out a piercing scream. John looked in front of them as snow flew all around them, but he didn’t see one of the sharpened limbs yet.

  In extreme pain, Gayhart tried to reach back with his other arm to swat at John, but it was useless as John pinned him down. John then pushed on the back of his head and forced his face into the snow as they slid down at a faster speed now. Gayhart gave out another scream as his skin was being burned by the snow. Some flesh ripped off as ice burns appeared on his face, leaving red streaks in the snow. John let the pressure off his head, looked forward through the falling snow, and saw one of the limbs coming fast in front of them.

  At the top of hill, Adam and Lewis finally got to the edge after they heard the screams and saw the fresh prints and disturbed snow from John and Gayhart’s struggle. They looked down the hill and saw, just barely though the thick snowfall, what looked like two men sliding down the hill.

  “What the fuck is that!?” Lewis yelled.

  “Fuck, I think it’s John and Gayhart. Come on, let’s go,” Adam told him and they began to make their way down the hill very carfefully.

  Gayhart’s scream could probably be heard from miles around as his face raised from the snow, now disfigured. His skin and blood had now crystalized from the extreme cold and he continued to get away from John’s grip. He tried to escape, but that was cut short as one of the wooden spears dug itself into his throat and came out the backside. Blood sprayed everywhere as John jumped off and rolled the rest of the way down the hill, which was only about twenty more feet. Gayhart, with the limb still stuck in his throat, slid down on his side and came to a stop a few feet shy of the field, not far from John.

  Covered in snow, John looked up toward Gayhart and made his way to his feet. He walked the short distance, holding his arms against his body for warmth, over to Gayhart. Blood was flowing from the gapping open wound in his neck, which had opened further with the movement down the hill. He was shaking, and trying to breath. It was a disturbing image for John, but he knew this man was trying to kill him and he was simply protecting himself.

  Gayhart gasped for air one more time but then he began to gargle on blood, which flowed from his mouth as he stopped moving. His eyes were still wide open looking toward the white clouds as snow fell on his now dead body.

  John stood there for a few more seconds. Then he heard gunfire and bullets sprayed around him in the snow. He took off running straight ahead toward the cliff that was next to the hill. He looked to his right and saw where the gunfire was coming from, midway up the hill, and knew who it was even though he couldn’t see their faces. Adam and Lewis were running down the hill through snow as they fired their weapons. Not one bullet hit or scraped John as he ran for cover. Snow was thrown in the air as the bullets hit the ground. John made it to the bottom of the cliff, pushed through some trees and bushes, and kept going.

  Adam and Lewis ceased fire when John went out of sight. They continued down the hill, trying not to slip and fall. As they got closer, they could make out a body surrounded by crimson colored snow.

  “Oh, shit,” Adam said as they neared the body.

  “Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” Lewis added.

  They finally reached the body and saw who it was. Both of them, out of breath, gave out a sigh. Lewis was furious - another one of his friends was now dead. Lewis had seen deaths that were more gruesome in his line of work, but he couldn’t look at this one, not one of his friends. He turned away and looked off in the direction John had run. He couldn’t see shit with the snow still coming down hard, which was beginning to piss him off too. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but notice how peaceful and beautiful the sight was. A sight he was about to turn into chaos.

  Adam was kneeling down next to Gayhart, a feeling of sorrow running through him when Lewis, who only had his pistol left, reached down and grabbed Adam’s M4 from his hands and let it reign down hell toward John. Lewis held the weapon at his hip and let the automatic function rip through the peaceful white landscape. “Fuck you, John! You motherfucker! I’m gonna fuckin’ kill you!” He yelled as loud as he could over the gunfire. He couldn’t see anything he was firing at, but bullets ricocheted off rocks on the cliff, cut down limbs, destroyed bushes, and threw snow back into the air. He sent bullets flying until the magazine was empty.

  With an annoyed look on his face, Adam stood back behind Lewis as he went on his tirade until the gun was empty.

  “Are you done?” Adam paused. “Do you feel better?”

  “I’m gonna kill that motherfucker,” Lewis said as he turned back around and faced Adam, who could see that Lewis was losing it. His eyes were wide and empty, and Adam could see that he had only one goal now.

  “That’s fine, but don’t lose yourself in the process-“

  “Lose myself!?” Lewis raised his voice. “I’ve already lost my-fuckin’-self! A fuckin’ nobody is killing us…cops…our fuckin’ friends! Why the fuck are you so calm about all this!? You don’t even care that he’s killing us!”

  “Because I know how to control myself!” Adam tensed and moved closer to Lewis. “I’m not some dumbass rookie who
doesn’t know shit!”

  “Oh, I fuckin’ know plenty! We’re expendable to you! Well guess what, not me! I’m not gonna die for you or anybody else! I’m ending this fuckin’ thing right now!”

  “I got a fuckin’ plan-“

  “Fuck your plan and fuck you! He’s mine!” Lewis yelled once more and started to turn around to go after John, but Adam attempted to grab him by the arm to stop him.

  “Hey-“ Adam began, but was silenced by a quick punch to the face from Lewis. He fell to the ground, into the deep snow next to Gayhart’s body with a grunt, holding his face as a stream of blood ran down from his nose. He breathed heavily and looked toward the whiteness that was sky and felt the snowflakes landing on his face.

  “Touch me again, I’ll fuckin’ kill you myself,” Lewis told him, pointing the empty M4 at Adam, who was ignoring him now. “I’m taking this,” Lewis said as he reached in Adam’s coat pocket and took the last magazine for the M4. He ejected the old clip, put in the new one, pulled back on the bolt, and then pointed it at Adam once more.

  “This’ll be the last time you ever see me! You fuckin’ hear me!?” Lewis paused for the effect. “I’m going on one last hunt,” he paused again, unhooked his radio from his belt, and then threw it as far as he could to his right. “Your friend is mine! Sayonara motherfucker!” Lewis finally finished and then took off running through the snow after John as Adam just lie there.

  Twenty-Five

  Saturday – 2:06 P.M.

  April Watkins was enjoying the peace and quiet of her home, with the exception of their Husky, Derby, and his occasional bark out the front window. She had just finished cleaning the house and decided to sit down and relax. She put on some soft music in the background, sat down on their couch, and picked up her laptop off the end table.

  April had always loved romance novels, had read more of them than she could count, and had always wanted to try her hand at writing one. Today was the perfect day since John was out hunting and there was nothing else she could do because of the weather. Therefore, the plan was to start writing on her novel.