Hunter lurked.
It’s what he did, always in the shadows, somewhere in the background, watching, waiting, ready to move.
The moon hung in the sky, a full silver disc, like an old fashioned coin, hanging in a sky tainted orange by the night lights of Los Angeles. A single wispy cloud passed across its face, and deep within the line of trees, Hunter knew now was the time.
He hunched down and scooped up a handful of dry mud, letting it fall between his fingers, piling onto a dried leaf at his feet.
There was the faint but familiar odour clinging to the air, tickling at his honed nostrils, telling him everything he needed to know.
The hunt was on.
And Hunter took his time, letting his body adjust to the idea that it would be needed soon. His muscles flexed, his blood coarsed, his lungs heaved harder, grabbing as much oxygen as they could in preparation for the oncoming exertion.
He pulled his hood over his head, staring out from the new darkness with piercing brown eyes that saw everything with a clarity most people wouldn’t recognise.
And when he stood up, he towered high, half a foot about six feet, his body so taut and toned that he was all muscle and sinew, no fat, no waste. He was a hunting machine.
He slipped his hand into the deep pocket of his hoodie and let his fingers caress the weapon, feeling its shape and size, familiarising himself with it for when it would be needed.
A breeze danced across his body, and he sniffed at it, getting a better idea of where he needed to be. The smell was coming from upwind, and so he moved with a practiced stealth through the brush, and alighted behind the thick trunk of a giant tree, peering around it, and seeing his prey.
A car was parked up, and within, he saw a blond woman and a young guy with a crew cut. One looked nervous, the other looked like she was in a hurry.
Hunter watched.
The couple was becoming more and more amorous, getting hot and heavy in short time, and as they did, he saw people emerging from the woods. Half a dozen bodies, staggering out like zombies, stumbling towards the car as the windows steamed up and the springs started to rock. They gathered, pressing their faces to the glass, peering in, an orgy of voyeuristic pleasure. Some started to fumble with themselves as they took in the show, and the stench of it all grew thicker in Hunter’s nostrils.
The noise from within the car grew louder, as she bucked and writhed on the man’s lap, screaming and swearing, telling her audience just how it felt as she fucked for them.
One of the onlookers suddenly stepped back and wandered away, fastening his fly as he walked. Hunter watched him go, watched him step back into the woods and hover behind a tree, catching his breath, swigging from a hip flask as his chest heaved and his skin cooled.
Back over at the car, things seemed to be reaching a climax, a crescendo of loud, hard sex. And just after its peak, the bodies around the car began to disperse, some heading back into the woods, others moving silently down the road to their own cars. No one spoke, no one shared their thoughts about the sordid experience, they just skulked off in silence.
And Hunter watched them.
Then the car door opened, and the woman climbed out, still half naked, her breasts exposed to the chill of the night air for a moment, before she clutched her shirt over them and moved away at a steady trot.
Hunter mirrored her movement in the trees, matching her step for step, keeping her in his sights at all times. A few yards further and she too stepped into the trees, coming close to him, but not seeing him, not even aware of his presence.
He fingered the weapon in his pocket.
She took a drink from a bottle, and then retrieved clothes from a bag hidden behind a trunk.
He watched as she slipped into the familiar uniform of the LAPD, pinning her shield back over her heart and plumping her swollen breasts, her nipples still huge and hard beneath her black shirt.
The smell of it all still clung to Hunter’s nostrils, even with this unexpected turn of events. He hadn’t expected her to be a cop.
It didn’t change much, he’d just have to be more careful than ever.
The woman stepped back out onto the road, moving more deliberately now, her poise different, changed by the uniform, and the weight of the gun and radio at her hips. He watched her ass moving under her pants, watched her walking down the hill.
It would soon be time.
A movement on the other side of the road marked the moment.
It was a blur, so fast and so silent that Hunter barely had time to react. The shape moved rapidly, heading straight for the woman.
Hunter burst from his hiding place.
Their bodies met in a bone crunching collision, Hunter’s shoulder slamming hard into the side of the other man, lifting him from his feet and carrying him back into the woods.
The woman moved on, unaware.
Hunter smacked the other man into a tree, hearing the air wheeze from his lungs. He had the upper hand for now, but the other man’s strength, guile, and speed would soon turn the tables, he knew it.
He lunged for the weapon in his pocket, annoyed he hadn’t grabbed it sooner, had it ready. He’d been distracted by her ass.
As he fumbled, he lost momentum, and the other man chopped hard down on either side of Hunter’s neck. The pain made him recoil, staggering back a few paces, and he used the cover to wrap his fingers around the weapon and pull it free.
But the speed of the other man surprised him; this one was strong and fast.
He piled forward, head first, smacking his skull hard into Hunter’s jaw.
Everything went white, and a high pitched noise filled his ears. Every time he moved, there was nothing but white blur, the shrill tinnitus starting to pierce his ears painfully.
He swung his arms in front of him, knowing another attack was coming, just trying to fend it off until his sight and hearing returned.
And yet, nothing came.
He blinked, and saw some vague shapes.
Another blink, and things got clearer.
He saw the trees, saw the ground, but didn’t see the other man.
Shit.
Hunter span, and something filled his vision.
A fist.
It cracked into his nose, and he immediately tasted blood in the back of his throat.
And then a smack in his wrist, and he let his weapon go, sending it flying out onto the road.
Hunter came to his senses, and managed to block and parry two more punches, dropping low and sweeping his leg. That upended the other man, who landed on his side and kicked out in annoyance, but Hunter was already moving back to the road to retrieve the weapon.
It had landed in a pool of light beneath an ageing lamp pole, framed in the orange glow.
Hunter stooped and grabbed, and span round ready for another attack.
The other man was quickly on him, screaming a spine chilling scream, trying to bite Hunter’s head and face.
Hunter forced him away, and lunged forward with his weapon.
He missed, but he saw the man’s eyes widen when he saw it, saw him retreat and put up his defences more tightly.
The momentum had shifted once more.
And Hunter took advantage.
He sold the other man a dummy, sending him left as he himself went right, arm extended. The point of the weapon pierced the man’s ribcage with a loud squelching crunch, and Hunter felt it penetrate the man’s heart.
A wheeze bubbled out of his mouth, followed quickly by blood.
He must have punctured his lung too.
The other man’s hands grabbed for Hunter’s wrist, but only took a weak hold, before his knees gave way, and he slumped down to the ground. Kneeling now, Hunter pulled it free, and watched as the man fell on his side and died, the final rattle of his throat so sickening, even as blood pooled around his chest.
Hunter looked to the moon, gasping for air, sweating hard, every muscle aching to the bone.
And when he looked back down, the body was gone.