Shadows of Hunters Ridge

by Sarah Barrie

  She flailed in the air, the sensation of falling making terror fill her throat. Then her legs hit rock, and the jarring impact jolted her spine and threw her onto her outstretched hands, the momentum propelling her onto her side. She rolled, tumbled over another drop, and went down hard again. She tried to protect her head as she fell, slamming onto another rock below. When her body eventually stilled, she lay, stunned, while the world continued to spin behind her eyelids.

  Everything hurt. It just hurt too much. She curled up in a ball. Beaten, she let the tears come.

  When there were no more tears, she remained still, wondering with a strange kind of detachment how long it would take them to find her. Men were calling out, discussing coordinates. They would find her soon. Her mind was numb, her emotions shredded.

  She hoped it wasn’t Rob or Nick who made the kill. She couldn’t stand for either of them to win. It occurred to her that wasn’t really the point, but it hovered there: a single, silly thought in her overwhelmed mind. She knew if she got up, if she kept trying, the fear, the desperation would return – that in lying there calmly accepting the inevitable, she was having some kind of mental break from reality on this cold, hard rock in the middle of nowhere.

  Could she get up even if she tried?

  Another shout. ‘Torches on!’ Nick’s voice?

  Yes, she could get up. She had to get up. She gasped as her body protested her movements. Panting, mewling with pain, she made it unsteadily to her feet.

  Cautiously, she staggered a few steps. As the instinct to survive overcame the temptation to give up, she began to move more purposefully, heading to the trees to seek shelter.

  ‘We’re almost there!’ the pilot said into their headsets.

  Lee scanned the landscape below. The river was illuminated by the moon and guided his thinking. ‘Down there.’ He pointed between Ben and the pilot.

  The pilot conferred with another helicopter that had been called in. ‘Where can we land?’

  ‘Ally’s place,’ Cam said. ‘There’s a clear, flat paddock – look, there’s headlights. The police on the ground are already there.’

  ‘There’s a few, the rest will still be en route,’ Ben said.

  ‘We should do a sweep first,’ Lee suggested. ‘If the hunt is underway, we need to scatter them, let them know we’re here – it might be Ebony’s only chance.’ He didn’t say, If she’s still alive. He couldn’t.

  The pilot looked to Ben. ‘There’s a good chance they know about us anyway.’

  ‘Let me just talk to the people on the ground.’ He was fast, and then they were heading over the army range, the spotlight lighting up large areas of bushland as they went.

  ‘Look!’ The light bounced off three vehicles near the buildings. Sweeping low, hovering, Ben relayed what they’d seen. ‘Let’s go.’

  ‘Over there,’ Cam said, pointing east. ‘I saw a light.’

  ‘I don’t see it.’

  ‘If they were using them, they’ll turn them off when they see the chopper,’ Ben said.

  ‘What if we lose them?’ Cam asked.

  ‘We won’t.’

  ‘Look at this place. How are we ever going to find her?’

  ‘She’s here!’

  Several shouts and the sound of breaking branches had Ebony dropping to the ground. She couldn’t risk another fall, not with them all descending upon her. Could she hide? Would they run right past her? No, they had torches now.

  ‘Ebony!’ Nick’s voice sounded from somewhere behind her. ‘You’ve done so well! It’s not often we resort to torches. But you must be so tired. Are you hurting, Ebony?’

  ‘Fuck you, Nick,’ she muttered. She straightened then swooped back down with a shot of panic. There was a hunter not twenty metres away. Had it not been for the quick flash of his torch she would have walked straight out in front of him.

  Silently she waited for any indication he’d seen her. Instead she heard a distant thundering. She waited for it to pass – she needed to know where the hunter was – but it got louder, closer. She risked a look up and saw a helicopter – no, two. They were low. Were they looking for her? With hope came resolution. If she was going to live, she needed to find somewhere she could be seen.

  A spotlight lit up the trees from above. Shouts echoed around her. Running feet pounded in her direction. The hunters were moving for cover. She went to ground again. This was a chance to be found, but she’d be exposing herself to the hunters. To hell with it.

  When the light reached a relatively clear area in front of her she ran to it, waving madly. She heard the shout from behind her, saw someone coming, and ran again, this time for the cover of the darkness.

  ‘Put it down!’ Cam and Lee shouted at the same time.

  ‘It’s too dangerous,’ the pilot warned. ‘I can’t land there.’ He pulled up again.

  ‘We have to get down there. He’s right behind her!’ ‘I’m looking for a better spot.’

  ‘And taking the spotlight off Ebony. Shit!’ Lee had never felt so powerless in his life. He was so close and he couldn’t help. ‘Has this thing got a winch?’

  ‘No, but over there. I think I can land over there.’

  ‘It’s too far – how low can you get?’

  ‘Not low enough.’

  Lee spotted a large man streaking towards Ebony. ‘Go as close as you can, you might scare him off.’

  ‘You bet.’ The chopper dived quick and low, and the hunter threw a hand up against the spotlight, disoriented. Lee opened the door.

  Furious wind whipped into the cabin. There was chaos as the pilot yelled something frantically into the mic and Ben shouted back at the pilot, who tipped lower still. As Ben shouted at Lee, he tossed the headphones aside, unstrapped and threw his legs out to the edge. The wind was whipping at tree tops and making them dance madly. The hunter moved. The pilot made another lurch towards the ground.

  Eyes on the man below, Lee jumped.

  The fall seemed to take too long, but he landed on the hunter. The force of it sent them both slamming violently to the ground. Winded, his whole body screaming from the force of the landing, Lee took just a second to recover his breath, then looked up to see Ebony several metres away. She started towards him as a figure appeared and charged at her, knife out. She turned and ran.

  ‘Ebony!’

  The chopper circled, headed towards the spot Lee knew the pilot was going to attempt to land, leaving him in darkness. How could anyone navigate through the bush like this?

  The other helicopter came into view, its spotlight finding him quickly. But where had Ebony gone? Who was chasing her? Why wasn’t that idiot hunter running away? Something slammed into him from behind, sending him sprawling. He twisted around just in time to avoid a knife in the back. The man who’d tackled him was large and strong and Lee was far from his best. He wrestled with the hunter until his already injured body began to weaken.

  ‘Freeze!’ Ben called out over the sound of the chopper overhead. The man stopped and looked up. Lee followed his gaze. Ben was five feet away with his weapon drawn. Holding up his hands, knife in one, the man hit his knees.

  Ebony’s scream had them all spinning.

  The hunter who had been on his knees pushed up, leaping at Lee. Cam appeared out of nowhere and landed on the man hard, before rolling off and jumping back to his feet. When the hunter didn’t move, all three men looked at each other. Lee put a foot in his side and pushed him over. His knife was protruding at an awkward angle from his chest.

  ‘Ah, shit!’

  ‘Leave him. Let’s go!’

  Nick was right on Ebony’s heels. She chanced a look over her shoulder, saw the excitement on his face. Desperation pumped one last surge of speed through her system. The chopper’s light caught up and she saw the black hole ahead just in time. The drop off could be nothing – or it could be deadly. She stopped suddenly, allowing Nick to snag her from behind, and came crashing down with a scream. He was immediately on top of her, she heard the
zing of the hunting knife sliding from its sheath.

  ‘This is fate, Ebony.’

  ‘No!’ She lifted her hands to defend herself.

  Lee slammed into Nick from the left as Ben appeared behind them. The chopper’s light was haphazard from the frenzied movement of the tree branches it was attempting to penetrate. The two men wrestled violently, rolling over and over until Cam dragged Nick from Lee, threw him back. Nick was instantly on his feet.

  ‘Put the weapon down!’ Ben ordered, gun trained on Nick.

  Nick held up his hands as though in surrender before flicking the hunting knife around and throwing it at Ben. He doubled over.

  ‘No!’ Ebony scrambled to Ben’s side. There seemed to be too much blood. She looked back to see Nick pull a second knife from his belt. Cam and Lee circled him carefully.

  ‘Ebony,’ Ben gasped, clutching his side. ‘Get my gun.’

  ‘Ben, you’re hurt.’

  ‘I’ll be fine, but I’m not going to be able to fire it – give it to Lee.’

  Ebony scrambled for the gun, heard a shout and looked up just in time to see Cam smash into Nick as he thrust his second knife at Lee. The momentum made Cam stumble past Nick and over the drop she’d narrowly avoided.

  ‘Cam!’ She couldn’t get around Lee and Nick to reach him. She couldn’t leave Ben bleeding on the ground.

  Nick was swinging the knife in all directions but somehow Lee got a punch in, sent him backwards. The knife went sailing through the air. Ebony lunged at Nick, lurched back again as he and Lee fell in front of her. Nick jumped up first and ran in one direction while Lee went in the other to grab at Cam’s arm and help him up.

  She pushed to her feet again, and as she did, her hand pressed Ben’s gun into the earth. Carefully, she picked it up. Nick charged once more, knife held high. His face was insanity mixed with fury.

  ‘Ebony, shoot him!’ Ben’s quick command snapped her out of the shock.

  She aimed, her arm wavering as she tried to focus on Nick. Time seemed to slow down, the world was fluid, emotions refused to register. She thought, Get down! and must have said it because Lee went down next to Cam. She pulled the trigger.

  Nick jolted, stopped his approach, slowly dropped his head to look down at the stain on his chest as though he couldn’t quite believe it. His head came back up and his eyes met hers.

  ‘Good for you,’ he muttered. He sounded drunk. He swayed.

  Ebony’s own shock had dark spots flooding her vision. She almost dropped the gun. But then Nick lifted the hand with the knife, shifted his grip like he had when he’d thrown the first knife at Ben. This time he was aiming at Lee.

  Her finger jerked on the trigger again.

  Nick fell to one knee.

  Lee was suddenly beside her. He snatched the gun from her fingers, fired it again. Nick convulsed a final time, a red hole appearing between his eyes. He fell.

  Lee turned her away from the grisly sight and dragged her to him. Too shocked and exhausted to feel more than simple relief, she let her body fall against his and closed her eyes.

  * * *

  They went back to the military grounds in the helicopter, touching down in Ally’s paddock. People approached: police officers, a paramedic.

  ‘We need to get Ben to a hospital,’ Cam called out.

  ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ Ben replied, still clutching his side. ‘We need to find Mia.’

  Indy approached at a jog. ‘We’ve got three arrests, two of those are injured, and three dead – these guys just don’t surrender.’

  ‘We’ve got another two dead out there.’ Lee had a bad feeling about who was still missing. ‘There should be ten Masters.’

  ‘And two others,’ Ebony said, ‘they were like assistants.’

  ‘So we’re still missing four. Did you get Rob Littleton?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘What about Mia?’ Ben asked again.

  ‘Crap, Ben – what about you? We’ll get an ambo over here. I put Mia in an ambulance twenty minutes ago.’

  ‘What happened to her?’ Ebony asked.

  ‘Not sure, she wasn’t talking.’

  Ebony reached out and clutched his arm. ‘But she’s okay?’

  ‘Looks like she’s taken a long stroll through the pits of hell, but …’

  ‘But?’

  A ghost of a smile briefly touched Gibson’s face. ‘You should see the other guy.’

  ‘I need to see her, I –’ Ebony swayed.

  ‘Take it easy,’ Lee murmured and supported her. ‘We need to get you seen to.’

  ‘What about Ben?’ Ebony asked, watching blood drip from his fingers.

  ‘Get back in the helicopter,’ Ben decided. ‘We’ll fly there.’

  CHAPTER

  37

  Ebony felt the fingers stroking her hair as she drowsily came around.

  Her eyes fluttered open. Lee was smiling down at her.

  ‘Hi.’

  ‘Hi.’ Disoriented, she blinked a few times, looked around the small hospital room, couldn’t see much with the curtain drawn, but she could tell the sun was well and truly up. ‘Is it morning?’

  ‘Almost afternoon. How are you feeling?’

  ‘Do you want the honest truth or the brave response?’ she asked, shifting around, testing every muscle. ‘Ow. God. How many muscles in the human body?’

  ‘You’ve got some bruised ribs as well, and a couple of decent bumps on your head. You passed out before they told you that.’

  ‘Awesome. How are you?’

  ‘Better than you.’ A grin spread over his face. ‘You’re tougher than you look, kiddo.’ He gently pressed his lips to hers. ‘I love you.’

  ‘I love you too.’

  Ally stood at the curtain and cleared her throat. ‘Keep it G rated, people, these are visiting hours.’

  ‘Ally.’ Ebony sat up and accepted a hug.

  Ally drew back and looked her over. ‘Wow, that’s a very different look for you. I’ve tried the black and blue thing … I think you pull it off better.’

  ‘Thanks. Where’s Cam?’

  ‘With Ben … they were right behind me.’ She craned her neck, shrugged.

  ‘Did they find Rob?’

  ‘No. There’s a search happening but nothing yet.’

  ‘How’s Mia?’

  ‘Sleeping.’

  ‘I should get up and move around, get rid of some of this stiffness.’

  ‘Go steady,’ Lee reminded her.

  ‘I want to see her.’

  ‘She’s in the room next door. Just slow down.’

  Ben came in with Cam. ‘Hi, Ebs. How are you?’

  ‘I’ll live. What about you?’

  ‘Plenty of stitches and pain meds.’

  ‘And he’s supposed to be resting,’ Cam added before hugging Ebony gently. ‘Proud of you.’ Ben gingerly took one spare seat, Cam sat himself in the other. ‘What did the doctor say?’

  ‘That I could expect to be stiff and sore. Why is Mia sleeping? What happened?’

  ‘We were hoping you might know,’ Ben said.

  ‘I don’t know what happened once the hunt started … She was brought into the room with me before the hunt. Two young guys were bragging about jumping her while she was feeding the horses. They weren’t Masters, but they wanted to be. Nick was really annoyed because he was worried you’d come looking for her and figure out where the hunt was on. Rob came in and Mia made some comment he didn’t like, so he pulled his knife on her, but she did this amazing kick and slammed his hand up to his face. The knife went straight through his cheek. She really sliced him. Nick had to stitch it up and Rob was too hurt to hunt.’

  ‘Atta girl,’ Ben mumbled under his breath.

  ‘When it was time for me to be taken out for the hunt, she went nuts. She goaded Nick – made him really pissed at her.’ She looked at each person in turn, her expression pained. ‘She told him to take her instead. She tried to take my place. She would have. I’ll never forget that, ever
. But Nick wouldn’t do it. Said I was already paid for. Then Rob took me outside and told me to run, but I couldn’t move. Mia snapped me out of it, got my legs moving. That was the last I saw of her. I have to see her. Please tell me she’s okay?’

  ‘She’s fine,’ Ally reassured her. ‘Why don’t we go see if she’s awake?’

  Mia lay in bed, eyes closed, arms on top of the blanket showing bandaged wrists. Her lip was swollen, one eye was black. A small patch of gauze was taped to the base of her throat.

  ‘Mia?’ Ebony sat on the edge of the bed, the others spread themselves around.

  Mia’s eyes opened, the bruised one, at least some of the way. But she smiled. ‘Ebs. I’m so glad you’re okay.’ She gingerly sat up. Ally put a pillow behind her back. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Are you okay? What happened to you?’

  ‘Nothing serious, don’t worry.’ Mia almost pulled off the brisk tone.

  Ebony’s gaze fell to the little patch on Mia’s neck. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Just Rob having some fun.’ Mia pointed a finger at the scar on Ebony’s throat. ‘Twins.’

  Ebony smiled sadly. ‘And you’re covered in bruises.’

  ‘Look who’s talking.’ Mia attempted a laugh. ‘We can have a competition if you like. Most colourful?’ She closed her eyes and released a long, slow breath. When she opened them again, twin tears escaped. ‘Sorry. It’s just a relief to see you. I was so worried.’

  ‘Hey, you’re allowed.’ Cam smiled, gently squeezed her arm. She shifted away.

  ‘Sorry – bit sore,’ she said. Then she smiled. ‘Okay, a lot sore.’

  ‘Do you need some more meds?’ Ben asked, watching her closely. ‘I can get a nurse.’

  ‘No, really, I feel zonked enough, but thanks.’

  ‘I heard the other guy came off worse,’ Lee said.

  ‘Of course he did.’

  ‘What’s with the wrists?’ Ben asked.

  She shrugged. ‘I don’t like being tied up. Did you get Rob?’