Run (The Hunted)

by Patti Larsen

  “Joel sent for you,” she says.

  When he tries to pull away from her she clings on, not tightly, just enough to make him pause. She doesn’t say anything else. She doesn’t have to. Reid just nods and removes her hands from his arm.

  “It’ll be okay,” he says.

  “Promise?” There is a hint of moisture in her eyes. She blinks several times before looking down, fingers twining around the laces of her shoes.

  “Promise.” He can’t, not really and they both know it but she smiles at him for the effort he made.

  “You need to do something for me.” Reid leans forward, lips against her ear. “Your turn to promise.” She doesn’t respond so he goes on. “If anything happens to me,” he feels her twitch in protest beside him, “I want you to take Drew and Milo and run.”

  He leans back, meets her eyes. She just nods once and gets to her feet. He stands beside her, turning to look for the others, and comes face-to-face with Marcus.

  “This way.” It’s only the second time Reid’s heard the other speak and the first time he paid attention. He was expecting a Latino accent, but Marcus’s voice is almost polished English. Like he spent time in Britain or something.

  Reid follows him, Leila trailing along behind. He spots Drew and Milo standing apart from the others. When Drew tries to join Reid, Joel holds him back. Reid just stares at the bully and swears to himself he will survive this if only to teach the jerk a lesson.

  No one touches Reid’s friends. No one.

  He wonders at the passion in him, where his need to be alone has gone, his desperate loss of empathy. Everything is different inside him now. Leila’s hand squeezes his. She moves to join Milo and Drew as he realizes friendship trumps even the threat of death.

  His dad would be proud. He’s on the right side again.

  “This is the deal.” Joel grins at Reid. “You go out there,” he gestures into the forest, “and make lots of noise. When you hear a howl, start running back here.”

  “Where is the trap going to be set?” Reid meets Drew’s eyes, silently commanding the boy to be silent while Joel answers his question.

  “Right here.” Joel opens his arms wide, looking around. “If we can get the thing in the pit, all the better.”

  “This is too large of an area.” Drew scowls, ignores Reid’s warning. “A lot can go wrong with this.”

  “You got a better idea, pudge?” Joel doesn’t even pretend to care what Reid thinks of his attitude toward Drew and Reid realizes his friend is right about Joel’s goal to get rid of him. Reid decides he’s going to be in for disappointment.

  “I do, as a matter of fact.” Drew walks off and Reid immediately follows. He sees the surprise in Marcus’s face and the anger in Joel’s, but ignores them both.

  They don’t go far. Drew stops in a narrow part of a path, more deer trail than the cleared ways they have gotten used to. “See, it’s really sheltered here.” He points to exceptionally thick undergrowth. “And these trees are heavy with leaves but climbable.” He points upward. “This one is dying.” Drew shoves against a gray-barreled tree. It rocks slightly, ready to fall. “Reid leads the hunter here. He passes this spot, we knock down the tree. Won’t stop the thing, but should slow it down. Then the rest of us attack from the sides and back and from the trees above. The smaller kids can be up there throwing rocks. That way we corner it and have a better chance.” He meets Reid’s eyes. “What do you think?”

  Reid is so proud he suddenly knows how his dad felt when he did something fantastic. Instead of embarrassing himself and his friend, however, Reid just nods. “Sounds good to me.”

  He hears Joel grumbling behind him and catches the look of speculation Marcus gives Drew, but in the end everyone agrees and the plan is set.

  It doesn’t take long for the kids to place themselves and they are almost done before Reid heads out.

  “Be careful.” Drew shuffles back and forth from foot to foot, eyes on the ground. He seemed so confident when he explained the plan, but now he’s like a little kid whose puppy got run over. “We need you, remember?”

  Reid squeezes Drew’s shoulder with one hand in answer and runs off into the forest. He can’t speak. Doesn’t trust what might come out.

  Reid only goes so far. He wants a good start at the trap and he knows how fast the hunters move. He decides he’s going to get some payback one way or another and chooses to shout profanities into the night to summon the creatures in black.

  Reid’s first curse is barely past his lips when he hears a howl. It’s close. Far closer than he’d like. He freezes for a moment, shocked that this is actually working before spinning in his tracks and running with all his strength for the trap.

  There is a long and terrifying moment when he is certain he won’t make it. He risks a glance behind him and sees the hunter on his trail, so near he can make out the flash of the things claws, the grin on its face as its white teeth shine in the moonlight. Reid has an irrational thought, how the full moon is beginning to wane and what will happen to them when it is new and they can’t see anything? But he is running for his life and the answer is irrelevant, entering and leaving his mind so fast it’s like the pace he’s keeping.

  And then he is on the trail and swerving for the underbrush, diving for safety. He hears the hunter chuff behind him, knows he has seconds before those claws gut him. Reid’s heart leaps. He’s safe! Until his body stops up against something hard. Joel stands over him, grinning down on him, looking almost as evil and alien as one of the hunters.

  “He’s here!” Joel uses one foot to roll Reid back into the path. Reid is so shocked by the betrayal he lies there and stares into the other boy’s eyes while the hunter’s breathy chuffing gets closer. Joel laughs. “Enjoy your dinner.” With that, he runs away.

  Reid scrambles to his feet and faces the hunter. It is still ten or so feet away, but he knows the thing can close the space faster than he can run. His mind flashes to the back of his pants and the weight there. He has a chance after all. If he can act quickly enough.

  His hand slides around to the waist of his khakis and feels for the knife he liberated from Mustache and Scar. His fingers find the heavy leather sheath but the blade itself is gone. Reid seizes up, cursing and yelling in his head while he stares at the hunter.

  It laughs at him, a horrible sound, its shining silver eyes only glimmers around its massive pupils. It takes its time, easing around him, head cocked to one side, snuffling his scent.

  It’s hopeless. He is lost. Betrayed. And not the first to be turned over to the enemy, Reid knows it in his bones. This is how Joel has survived. He has made a pact with the hunters, giving up lives for his own worthless existence. It is this knowledge that prevents Reid from quitting. He can’t give up. He has to make Joel pay for what he’s done and Reid can’t do that if he is dead.

  Someone screams in the distance. The hunter is distracted. It’s brief, but Reid takes it and dives for the bushes. He is up and running as the creature snarls behind him. Reid swerves and weaves, using every trick he can, going on instinct and his will to live, dodging death at every corner. The hunter is right behind him, but can only move so fast in the underbrush. At one point Reid grabs the trunk of a spruce and uses it to leap over a shrub, risking a look over his shoulder.

  He was wrong about the hunter’s lack of ability to move quickly through the forest. It leaps with immense agility from tree to tree. His own clumsy effort seems pathetic in light of the thing’s dexterity. And yet, it hangs back, takes its time.

  Plays with its food.

  Fine. Reid jumps for the path and lands hard, breath almost gone from the effort. At least he will die running.

  Fate is cruel. It snaps out a low branch and hooks his new sneaker. Flings him to the ground face-first, his head bouncing from a protruding root, not enough to harm him really, but just enough to make him see flashes of light. In that moment it takes him to recover, Reid is lost.

  He manages to spin over ont
o his back and see his destiny crouch over him. The hunter breathes its foul breath into his face, right arm rising slowly over its head, the shining claws sparkling in the cold light of the moon.

  A lifetime runs through Reid’s mind, sunny days with his parents, camping with his dad, playing little league and high school football. The smell of his mother’s hair. His favorite stuffed bear. Then, more current memories force his old life aside. Lucy, the apartment. Drew. Milo. Leila. He worries about them in the last half second of his life and hopes she does as he told her. Prays they can escape Joel. He can’t bear the thought they will become victims like him.

  The hunter’s down stroke seems to take forever. It pauses part way to his heart, its eyes growing even wider. Its mouth gapes, sharp teeth dripping saliva onto his face. It jerks forward, face hovering inches from his as something wet and hot pools on Reid’s stomach. He glances down. A glistening spike sticks out of the hunter’s gut. When he looks back up into the things eyes, he sees the light in them fade just like it had for Trey and the other kid he was forced to watch die. But this time he feels no remorse, no grief. Only shock and, ultimately, fierce joy.

  The hunter rears back, a soft cry escaping it as though it can’t believe its life is over. The spike jerks free, leaving a gaping hole behind. The hunter twitches once, claws grasping the air.

  It dies then, falling toward him. Reid flings up his arms in an attempt to keep it from landing on him, and yet unable to look away. He needn’t have bothered. As it collapses, it disintegrates into dust. Reid breathes in some of the glittering powder it leaves behind, choking and gagging on the remains of the creature. For an instant he feels powerful, as though he could take on all the hunters and win. But the moment passes and he forgets about it as he stares up into Leila’s eyes.

  She is sobbing, face twisted into a grimace she can’t control. In her hands she clutches a thick branch, sharpened on one end and glistening with the hunter’s blood.

  ***

  Chapter Twenty One

  It only takes him a moment to recover. Reid leaps up and hugs Leila. The stick drops at their feet and he kicks it violently away.

  “We have to go,” he says. “Are you okay?”

  She nods, manages to stop sobbing, but the tears continue to fall.

  Reid clutches her hand and they run together back along the trail. It’s Leila who pulls him into the trees at a certain place. He trusts her instantly. His fury burns him up inside, so much he can barely think of anything but what he is about to do to Joel.

  They are back with the group so fast he is almost shaken out of his anger by the familiar sight of the pit and the pack. Everyone stares, some kids falling back, but even Joel is in complete shock when Reid runs straight for the bully. Leila’s hand drops away just in time to save her from being dragged into the punch Reid throws.

  It takes Joel right on the crest of his nose and sends him flying backward. Reid feels his crusted knuckles rebel, pain flaring, but he doesn’t care. He dives for the fallen bully and straddles him, pounding away at the other guy over and over again. Reid is unaware of the other kids or what they are doing, detached from the fear a hunter might come. All he can focus on is the pulp he is creating of Joel’s face and the weak and pathetic attempts the bully makes to fight him off.

  Someone pulls Reid away. He struggles, a deep growl of fury growing into a roar as he jerks himself free and staggers back. He spins on the one who stopped him and just recognizes Marcus.

  “He’s done.” Marcus glances at Joel. “You’ve won already. Leave off.”

  Reid takes a challenging step toward Marcus and bumps his chest with one bloody fist. “Who says?”

  Marcus shrugs and backs off a step. “Not saying he doesn’t deserve it. Just that there’s another way to make sure he pays.”

  “You knew.” Reid is shaking, unable to stop the tremors, his anger’s outlet groaning on the ground and no target anymore. “You freaking knew and you let it happen.”

  “It’s not like the deal started on purpose.” Marcus won’t look at him. “Not the first time. Joel just pushed a kid out of hiding. The hunter took him instead. That was the beginning.” Marcus grinds to a halt. Reid spins and pins all the kids with his glare, but no one will meet his eyes except his own friends.

  “Reid…” Drew trails off.

  “He tried to kill me.” Reid lashes out with one foot, feeling Joel’s ribs give way under the blow. He has never been so furious. Like he’s possessed by someone else’s rage. “This sick bastard,” Reid kicks Joel again, rocking the bigger boy’s body to the side and getting a groan out of him, “uses kids as bait for the hunters so they won’t take him. He feeds them kids. Like us.” All of a sudden his stomach cramps and he wants more than anything to be ill, but refuses to let go of his fury just yet.

  “I know,” Drew whispers. “As soon as you left they corralled us and brought us back here. That’s when I figured it out.” He wipes at his eyes under the shining plastic of his glasses. “Leila got away, went after you. But we couldn’t.” He is openly crying now. “But Reid, you can’t leave him for the hunters. You can’t. You’d be him, then.”

  Reid knows what Drew is saying, understands the logic, the emotion even. But his heart is hard against the bully and out there is only life and death. There is no middle ground for someone like Joel.

  “I don’t make the rules,” Reid says. “And he’s not my responsibility anymore.” The anger finally unclenches and eases, his upset belly relaxing at last. “He’s on his own.”

  Reid walks away. Drew is at his right side, Leila at his left. He feels Milo scoot up behind him. As for the others, he doesn’t care. A hunter calls nearby. Reid picks up the pace, hands suddenly throbbing.

  He doesn’t make it far when Leila pulls him to a halt. “We’re not alone,” she whispers. Reid looks around, not surprised to find Marcus and the rest of the kids trailing along behind.

  “I can’t be responsible for them, too.” Reid tries to turn away but Leila won’t let him.

  “They need you,” she says.

  Just behind them Reid hears Joel crying out. They all listen, no one breathing or making a sound.

  “Oh God, help me, please, help me! No. No! I fed you! I gave you what you wanted! I gave you what you—“ His words cut off, there is a heartbeat of silence. A scream, long and loud and drawn out raises goose flesh on Reid’s arms. And then, at last, silence.

  Reid waits another moment before speaking. “You cross me or any of my friends and I leave you behind.” He is talking to them all, but he keeps his eyes locked on Marcus. “I even suspect you’ve betrayed us and you’re dead. Understand?”

  He doesn’t wait for an answer. Reid doesn’t need one. He is clear. And justice will be done.

  They run on for some time, the exercise wearing away the last of Reid’s fury. When they finally pull up for a rest, it’s because of Marcus.

  “The smaller kids can’t keep up.” He is panting himself, just at Reid’s shoulder, barely able to reach him around the suddenly protective Milo.

  Reid lets them stop, crouching with his friends while the pack groans and collapses for a bit. “Keep your eyes on them,” Reid says. “I know Joel’s beaten them down, but he’s also taught them to sell each other out. Don’t think for a moment they won’t do it to us.”

  “I don’t know,” Drew says and, not for the first time, his optimism amazes Reid. “They’ve seen the worst that can happen. I think they’ll want your protection too much to screw this up.”

  “At least you’re not going to sacrifice them to the hunters,” Milo whispers. “That would make me want to follow you. If I wasn’t already.”

  Reid grinds his teeth. He meant to do something about this whole leader mess. Then Leila speaks up and shocks them all.

  “I say we leave them behind right now.” She looks so fierce even Reid is a little afraid of her. “We couldn’t trust Joel and we can’t trust them. Besides, it’s easier with just the four of u
s. A group this size, we’re slower and a bigger target for the hunters.”

  “You want to abandon them?” Drew’s mouth hangs open, his braces glittering. “You? There are little kids in that group.”

  “So?” She tosses back her blonde hair, hanging in dirty strings around her pale face. “If we’re going to survive we need to think of ourselves. Us, I mean.” She flushes, the pink visible even in the moonlight. “I’d do anything for the three of you.”

  Reid squeezes her knee. “We know, Leila. And we get it.” He sighs. “I don’t want them with us either. But I seem to recall telling someone else I wasn’t interested and being followed.”

  Drew grins and ducks his head while Leila offers a little smile.

  “So for now, we just keep moving,” Reid says. “And if they follow, well… not much we can do about it. But we’re in this together and if something happens to one of them, so be it.”

  Leila nods right away, but it takes a moment for Milo to agree. He finally does and they all look at Drew. He tosses up his hands. “Fine. Okay. I see your point.” He glances at the weary pack behind them. “It’s just… I was one of them once.”

  “I know how you feel,” Reid says. “I do. But they have Marcus. He can lead them if it comes down to it. And Drew? You were never one of them. You wouldn’t have let Joel sacrifice kids.”

  That seemed to make Drew feel a little better because he nods as well.

  “That’s settled,” Reid says, “now we need a new plan.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Drew says. “The way I see it we need water, food and shelter. Or a way out. Right?”

  “Preferably a way out,” Reid says.

  “Right. So, the fence.”

  The damned fence. Reid has forgotten about it, about the crashed helicopter. Now it comes rushing back. “Yes,” he says, “I still think it’s the best idea so far.”

  “Then we find it again,” Drew says, “and follow it.”