by Patti Larsen
He can’t react. It’s impossible to even comprehend. Milo’s cannibal joke returns, still humorless but at least relevant. He tries to look away at last, but is locked in the horror of the truth. Not just hunters, but devourers, eaters of their flesh. It drives Reid’s mind to the edge of madness.
Someone cries out, leaps from the bushes and bolts. It pulls Reid out of his spiraling descent into the black. He sees a familiar pair of sneakers on the trail, army pants tied at the ankles with yellow rope. One of the hunters leaps, is gone in a flash, lands next to the fleeing shoes. A voice Reid knows shrieks, body dragged to the kill site. Forced to his knees into Reid’s view. Trey screams over and over, barely drawing breath. There is a chuffing sound, like laughter. And then, another whoosh of air and a groan so mournful it takes Reid’s breath away. Trey falls to the path, his coffee-colored face washed pale in death.
Reid is forced to huddle there in total silence while the hunters eat his friend, too.
It’s not long before they seem satisfied. They rise and grab the bodies, dragging them away down the path. Reid watches them go, wishing they would hurry so he can turn and throw up.
Just as they vanish down the trail, the hunter in the rear spins and looks right at Reid, flashing him a smile, teeth red with blood. Then they are gone into the forest. It takes him a heartbeat to move, but when he does, it’s not to puke, but to punch the tree he rests against.
They knew. The hunters. All along. They knew the kids hid there and did nothing about it. Reid is so furious he hits the tree again, feels the skin of his knuckles part, the bones protest. He pulls himself free of the brambles, aching to fight back, knowing at last he was right, that this is a game to the hunters and the kids are just toys.
***
Chapter Nineteen
The first person Reid encounters when he hits the path is bullyboy. His rage instantly refocuses as he side steps the puddle of blood his friend left behind and finds a nice, ripe target.
Reid doesn’t get a chance to take that anger out on the other guy. Instead, the kid grins at Reid like it’s funny and gives him a punch in the arm. Reid is so startled by the change in attitude his fury melts away, leaving only grief behind.
“Joel,” the bully jerks a thumb in his own direction. “You guys did good just then. Maybe we can help each other.”
Reid can hear Drew whispering behind him. Leila answers back, but their words are lost. He still sees the boy’s staring eyes, Trey’s dead face. And in front of him, Joel. It’s hard not to blame. But Reid’s been down that road and knows it won’t do any of them any good. Even if it feels like the only thing to do.
“Reid.” He doesn’t move or gesture but as he speaks the other’s names he feels them come forward to be recognized. “Drew, Leila. And Milo.” He catches Leila’s short nod out of the corner of his eye, Drew’s scowl. Milo slips a little and looks stricken. Reid can’t think about it but knows he’s slid in the cooling blood.
“We need to move on.” The dark-haired Hispanic guy won’t meet Reid’s eyes anymore. He instead speaks directly to Joel.
“Yeah, right. Let’s move out.” Joel shoots Reid another smile, a shark’s version of humor. Reid’s dislike grows by the moment. He almost ducks out and retreats the other way, knowing his friends will follow him. But, his curiosity wins instead and he goes after the bully.
The pack falls in without a word, stumbling and dragging themselves along, stealing peeks at Reid and the others. He ignores them, focusing on the bulky leader.
“This is Marcus.” Joel punches the Hispanic guy in the arm. Must be his favorite thing to do. Reid catches Marcus watching him and refuses to look away first. He doesn’t have long to wait before the other shifts his gaze.
“He’s my second,” Joel says like he’s some kind of general. “Got to keep these kids in line, you know?”
Reid is more interested in staying alive, but doesn’t say anything.
“Where are we going?” Drew is beside Reid and Joel doesn’t look happy about it.
“What you want to know for?” Joel barely looks at Drew.
“You said this was your territory,” Drew says. “And since you seem to have a purpose, I’m guessing you’re taking us somewhere.”
Joel barks out a laugh, nudging Marcus. A few of the other kids laugh too, but they look like they are only doing because it’s expected of them. The crushed spirit in their eyes is horrible, almost as bad as the blankness of death.
“You hear him? Nice little way of speaking you got there, pudge.”
Reid’s stomach clenches. Even when he was popular he couldn’t stand it when kids were bullied. His father had to pick him up from school a number of times for fighting, but never punished him because he knew what Reid did. He was always on the right side.
Drew never missed a step. “Thank you. Now, are you going to tell us where we’re going?”
Reid’s respect for his friend takes a leap. Especially when he is sure the boy knows Joel is the kind of bully who will take it out on Drew physically and not think twice about it.
“You’ll see, pudge.” Joel meets Reid’s eyes, a dark and nasty smile on his face.
“Drew.” Reid’s correction is soft, smooth like melted butter. Joel’s eyes widen. But he gets the point. And lets it go.
“There’s something you’ll want to see.”
Joel and Marcus pull out ahead and Reid lets them. Drew waits until they are out of earshot.
“Thanks.” His fingers are busy with his glasses. “It’s okay, though. You don’t have to do that. Not like it’s never happened to me before.”
Reid doesn’t say anything for a moment, trying to come to terms with that. He had a hard time himself this year at school, something he wasn’t used to. But being a foster kid carries a kind of stigma he wasn’t able to shake no matter how good he was at sports.
“You’re my second,” Reid says at last. “And no one treats you like that.”
Drew’s smile is the first good thing Reid’s seen in a while.
Leila’s hand catches his, squeezes, lets go. Reid almost turns to her, but Joel is shouting for him up ahead. Reid winces from the volume, wondering why, after Joel’s comment about noise, he isn’t careful with his own.
He joins Joel and Marcus with Drew right beside him at the edge of a cliff. He hears Drew’s sharp intake of breath and almost tells the boy to go back with Leila. But one look and Reid feels a surge of pride to go along with that warm feeling he’s allowing himself. Drew faces down his fear of heights with barely a tremor in his hands and doesn’t look away.
That covered, it still takes Reid a bit to figure out what they are looking at.
“Lots of interesting stuff here,” Joel says like it’s a supermarket he plans to rip off. “If you’re not squeamish.” He laughs again, but this time he laughs alone.
Reid’s brain makes the connection at the same moment Drew whispers, “Oh my God.”
It’s a deep, narrow valley and looks manmade, the sides sloped, the dirt fragile from depressions left behind by rain, cuts running from the top down to the bottom of the pit. Inside it are bones, piles of them. Hundreds of kids. Beneath those, charred earth where more have been burned to ash. Hundreds more. Reid feels his bile rise, touch the back of his throat.
“They leave us everything,” Joel says as he starts to slide down the side. “Clothes, shoes, you name it.” He looks up at Reid, that darkness still visible, hurtful because the malice is so happy. “Coming?”
Reid joins him, Drew on his heels, breathing heavily as he struggles with his fear. Reid tries once to help, but Marcus is watching and Drew waves him off. He’s right. They can’t show weakness, not now. Not with these kids.
Once on the bottom, it’s not so bad. He can pretend the bones are sticks, they are so clean and white. The scent of char and old smoke disguises any remaining hint of decay. Reid shies from wondering how the skeletons have been stripped like that while his practical side goes digging for thin
gs he can use.
His sneakers, for instance. They weren’t new to begin with and all the running over rough terrain has worn them almost completely through. He spots a pair nearby, checks the size. Perfect. The jeans and t-shirt neatly piled next to them would fit him too, but Reid isn’t willing to go that far even as he wonders why they aren’t covered in blood.
It’s like the hunters left them gifts but make them walk among their dead to receive them. The longer Reid is in the pit the more his horror grows and he finally scrambles out with his friends on his heels while Joel and the others follow more slowly.
Marcus is the first to point out the backpack. “What did you find?”
Reid’s first instinct is a sharp jab of anxiety. He doesn’t want to say. There are too many of them and he fully intends to abandon this group the first chance he gets. He and his friends need all the food they have for their own survival. But Milo speaks up before he has a chance to mutter an answer.
“We found a camp. Power bars and stuff.” Reid wants to throttle him. Milo instantly knows he’s made a mistake because he turns with a look so full of remorse Reid forgives him.
Joel is beside Reid in a flash, the others hovering around. “Food? You going to share that?”
Like he has a choice, now. Reid hands out bars. When the last kid clutches his to his thin chest, the backpack is almost empty. Joel tries to take it but Reid slings it back over his shoulders and glares. The bully backs off, grinning and chewing. Reid almost comments when Joel takes a bar from one of the smaller kids, pushing the skinny girl aside, and eats it, too. Reid holds his peace, however. He can’t save them. Has no desire to. His only concern is protecting what remains of the food. And his friends.
“So, I’m working on a plan.” Joel speaks around a mouthful. No one looks up. But Reid can feel their tension and wonders about it. Marcus steps forward but Joel shoves him off. “No one agrees with me.” There is food in his teeth and again Reid gets the impression he’s been eating on a regular basis while the rest of them look starved.
“I’m listening.” Can’t hurt.
“We set a trap, see? For one of the hunters. Send a runner out, use him as bait. Lead the bastard into a spot we can surround.” He hocks up a wad of phlegm and spits it out, barely missing Milo’s sneaker. “Found the perfect place just this morning, in fact.”
“And then?” Drew’s being cocky, but Joel doesn’t give him a hard time. Just smiles that horrible smile.
“Then the rest of us kill the some bitch,” he says. “Take the fight to them.”
“With what?” Drew rolls his eyes at Reid. “Sticks and stones?”
Joel finally looks pissed, but it’s okay with Reid. He prefers the bully’s anger to his dark humor.
“Yeah, sticks and stones! We sharpen them, right? Lay in wait and BAM!” A couple of the kids jump. “Dead hunter.”
“I see several flaws in your so called plan,” Drew says while Reid thinks it over. “One, what if the hunter catches the kid before we can spring the trap? Two, don’t you think they are smart enough to smell something like this and not fall for it?”
“Worth a try, I say,” Joel shoots back. “Who asked you, pudge?” His eyes flicker to Reid and he grins. “Sorry, Drew.”
“Besides,” Drew goes on, speaking to Reid as if Joel doesn’t exist. The fact is not lost on the pack leader and his anger returns, smoldering. “We’ll just piss the hunters off. They’ll come after us even worse then.”
Something about Joel’s idea has sparked a light in Reid and he shakes his head. “It might work.”
Joel sits back and laughs, punching Marcus in the arm. Reid reminds himself not to stand too close to the bully. His right shoulder is still giving him trouble. “There, you see? Reid agrees.” He looks around at all the kids. No one meets his eyes, but a handful murmur how great that is.
Not for the first time, Reid wonders about Joel and what he’s done to these kids.
He shoves that aside for now. The idea of striking back, of getting even a small measure of revenge, is worth collaborating with the bully.
“How many are there?” Leila’s voice is so soft and unexpected everyone looks at her. She’s one of the few females in the group. Girls must be easier to catch, Reid figures. But not her. He wouldn’t count her out before himself.
“How many what, sweetheart?” Joel’s attention is very unwelcome. Reid makes it plain the bully should back off by simply taking her hand.
“Hunters.” There’s an edge to her voice, now. “How many hunters, smart ass.”
Joel looks like he wants to make another comment, one Reid is sure will start a fight. Instead he shrugs. “No one knows.”
“Have you tried this brilliant plan of yours before?” Drew is so skeptical even Marcus pays attention, though his face stays stony and blank.
“Nope,” Joel says. “Just came up with it, like I said. ‘Cause of the perfect spot and all.” He belches and scratches his stomach through his filthy shirt. Reid wonders why he doesn’t help himself to a fresh one. “Need a fast runner to make it happen.” Joel’s eyes are fixed on Reid’s. “Someone they won’t catch too easy.”
“Are you volunteering?” Leila’s hand tightens. Reid can feel the warning in that squeeze.
“Nope, not me,” Joel says. “Can’t run that fast. But I can swing a rock like a some bitch.”
Some bitch is Joel’s favorite swear, obviously. Reid feels Marcus staring at him and turns to face him. Marcus looks away, but not before something in his eyes triggers Reid’s anxiety. Not everything about this situation is as it appears. And yet, the plan has a chance if he is willing to risk it.
“I’ll do it,” Reid says.
***
Chapter Twenty
Reid decides to wait until full nightfall. He is tired and needs to rest. His friends huddle around him as he doles out the last of the food, taking the final bar for himself. Leila tries to hand hers back to him but he shakes his head.
“We’ll all need our strength, I’m thinking.”
She nods, but doesn’t eat. Her pale eyes flicker over to the others. They are all sprawled out near the lip of the hole, Joel laughing over something he’s said to the dark and silent Marcus who simply stares at Reid’s little group.
“I don’t trust him.” Leila reaches for Reid’s hand again, but pulls back before they touch. “Please, can’t we just go?”
“Where?” Reid forces himself to swallow a bite despite it sticking in his throat. Her mention of leaving has made his fear rise. She’s right. They could just run off. No one in Joel’s pack could catch them if they really wanted to retreat. But his question remains and Leila looks away.
“Anywhere but here,” she whispers.
“I’m with Leila,” Drew says around a mouthful of his own. “There’s something really wrong with this whole situation. Did you see the hunters, how they acted? They knew we were there.”
Milo shudders and slides closer to Reid. “That was messed up. What happened to Trey.”
They all take a moment. Reid bows his head and tries to get the dead boy’s face out of his mind. It’s not working.
“I know.” Reid folds the end over his power bar and stuffs the remainder in his pocket, too nervous to eat anything else. “That’s why this is important. If we can take one of them out, the kids will know it can happen. It’s not the best plan,” he stops Drew from interrupting by raising one hand, “but if we can pull it off… Drew, if these kids learn they can fight back…”
“Reid is right.” Milo offers a little smile. “I may be a jerk, but I know when you’re doing what needs doing.” Reid accepts the boy’s apology. No one owes him anything.
“How do we know Joel won’t double cross us or something?” Drew tosses his wrapper to the ground with some heat. Leila immediately retrieves it and puts it in her pocket.
“What do you mean?” Reid is so wrapped up in the thought of deliberately baiting a hunter he can’t figure out the question.
“He obviously enjoys being the boss around here,” Drew says. “And sees you as a threat.” Drew glanced at Joel and back again. “I wouldn’t put it past him to try to get rid of you.”
Reid shrugs. That won’t be up to Joel. It won’t be the bully chasing after him through the forest with claws for hands and sharp teeth thirsting for his blood. So he doesn’t care at the moment.
“Let me do it.” Milo’s chocolate brown eyes never waver. “I can run as fast as you. Faster maybe.”
They all know that’s a lie. Reid smiles. “I know,” he says, “but if something happens, who will take care of Drew?”
Milo grins, but Drew doesn’t take the joke bait.
“I’m serious,” Drew says.
“I know.” Reid sits back, leaning against a tree-trunk. “But I’m the best one for the job. You’ve seen his crew. Aside from that Marcus, no one else looks like they could outrun you.” Another joke. Reid can’t help it. And, finally, Drew smiles.
“Fine,” he says. “Then you sleep and we’ll watch over you.”
“You all need to rest,” Reid says. The dark circles under Leila’s eyes are worse and even Milo looks ashen despite his dark skin.
“Never mind us,” Leila says. “We’ll take turns. And we’ll wake you when it’s time.”
Reid is sure he won’t sleep, he’s so keyed up, but when he allows himself to curl on his side with his friends around him, he is lost to the dark in moments.
***
He wakes to gentle hands on his shoulder, shaking him. Reid is instantly aware, senses hyper focused. He can smell the mix of stirred earth and crushed spruce needles, the hint of old smoke coming from the pit. The ground is both soft and hard beneath him, the darkness wrapping him up like a blanket. He turns and meets Leila’s eyes. She does her best to hide her fear for him, but he can see right past the wall she puts up.
