They reach the second ambush spot with plenty of time and achieve the same result. This round they don’t lose anyone, though, while taking out another three hunters.
Reid counts it as a solid win.
Nishka hovers, bent in half, her hands on her knees, panting and shaking from her run while the rest of the pack has a silent celebration, the elation almost too much for them this time. Leila offers her a gentle hug, driving the girl into immediate tears. It’s only Marcus’s insistence that gets them moving again while the weary runner chokes on sobs.
“Three targets,” Marcus says. “Closing fast. Maybe a half a mile south.”
“Leila,” Reid meets her eyes, “you’re up.”
She looks at him like she doesn’t know what he means. When it registers, her smile is deadly.
“Finally,” she says, leaving Nishka in Sarah’s care before running off with Marcus to the next ambush point.
Reid nods to Kieran. “I’m taking the back,” he says. “You guide them.”
The tall guy flushes pink but grins like Reid gave him a gift. “I won’t let you down.”
Reid has nothing to say to that. If Kieran is able to deliver, he’s doing a better job than Reid.
Still, he feels a thrill of excitement as he jogs along behind the pack, while Kieran leads the kids on. He knows better than to let such hopes get the better of him, but the weapons they carry and the help of the GPS is giving them a distinct advantage. And the way he figures it, as long as they keep moving, the hunters will have no choice but to risk chasing them. And as long as their ammunition lasts, the pack can keep trying.
It’s not likely they’ll get another chance to take out soldiers and replenish their bullets but if they save the last of their ammo for an assault on a blind, maybe there is a chance. But running around the enclosure, killing hunters and trying to find soldiers isn’t getting them what they really want.
Freedom.
He’s pretty sure the creators of the hunters won’t let Reid and his friends kill so many it threatens their program. Which means they’ll soon have armed men to deal with as well. Armed men hidden behind camouflage that can shoot the kids without them even knowing the soldiers are there.
Reid just hopes they can hold the army and the hunters off long enough to turn the tide and get them through the gate. Because if Reid can get out, he swears to himself he’ll keep running and never look back.
His mind goes back to the fence as it always does. Why kill hunters at all? Or wait for the soldiers to be discovered? Now that they have guns, maybe they should retreat to the gate and try an assault.
He casts that aside as a dumb idea. A frontal assault on an armed camp with a pack of desperate kids is a fool’s mission. There’s no way out of here without stealth and careful planning. Taking on the army would just end up getting them all killed.
Not that this fool’s mission is really any different. Chances are their luck is going to catch up with them eventually. Not the good luck they’ve been experiencing, oh no. The bad luck that has dogged their every step since they were dropped in this woodland of horror.
Reid slides into the underbrush at the ambush site, finding his place along the trail. He waits, only then noticing he’s on the wrong side from Marcus. Not that it really matters, but they are trying to keep the guns on one side of the path so no one gets shot accidentally in crossfire. Reid is about to dodge to the opposite tree line when he sees Marcus gesture a warning and hears footsteps at the same time.
Too late. Leila is coming. He sees her, glowing white-blonde hair flowing behind her, pale skin translucent in the moonlight. He didn’t want her to run, tried to avoid it, to keep her safe from the hunters, to shelter her if he could. But knew she would never forgive him if she didn’t get the chance.
He can’t stop staring at her as she flies by him, so beautiful. He has to jerk his gaze from her and turn when he hears Marcus shout, “Now!”
Reid shakes himself, furious he’s missed the hunter’s appearance, kicking himself over and over as he sets aside his rifle and crouches out of the way of the kids with guns.
It’s not until then he feels them, all around him. The hunters, yes. But they are not alone and whatever is with them isn’t quite the same, not really. Whatever is out there is something else. Something more sinister.
Instantly Reid suspects the small, furred creatures from the mine and he calls out, his voice a hoarse croak of warning. But when one of the flying shadows lands on the path in front of a knot of screaming kids, Reid realizes they are dealing with an entirely different kind of attack.
These new creatures are at least four feet tall at the shoulder, as big as a couple of the kids, taller in the front with powerful hind quarters slumped low to the ground. Like their smaller counterparts, these monstrosity’s faces are mostly mouth and gigantic teeth, beady black eyes flickering in the dim light from above. Long trails of saliva hang from gaping jaws as the thing growls like a dying chainsaw.
Reid scrambles for his weapon as the first one strikes. It moves as fast as the hunters, if not faster, rising up on its back legs. The huge mouth wrenches wide and descends, engulfing the entire upper half of the little boy cowering in front of it.
The teeth snap shut, the horrible crunching sound of them making Reid stagger. Blood gushes from between its clenched jaws, pouring down the boy’s jeans to soak the ground. The thing shakes the kid once, the lower half of the boy flying to the side, a spray of blood going with it, legs limp but seeming to kick the air as what’s left of him impacts the trail.
The monster’s massive mouth grinds sideways, chewing the boy to bits.
Reid fires at it point blank, not knowing he is screaming until he stands over its disintegrated form. He spins, sees another has Nishka and Sarah cornered, the two girls trying to protect a handful of the pack from this new horror. Reid fires, sees their shock through the cascade of dust the creature leaves behind.
Reid’s rage rises higher and higher, his accuracy unwavering with the rifle, taking down three, four, five of the giant beasts while the three hunters stand back and laugh.
Reid squeezes the trigger again, feels the impact of the butt against his shoulder and cheek, smells the sharp scent of gunpowder, hears the crack of the bullet as it leaves the rifle and kills another creature. He spins, looks around, knows from feel there are only the hunters remaining. They have stopped laughing and crouch to attack.
“Scatter!” Despite their terror, Reid’s barked order is followed immediately. The kids turn all at once and run in their own directions, not looking back or waiting for anyone. It’s the only defense they have left.
Reid sees the hunters leap after their chosen prey, feels guilt wash over his fury. If only he hadn’t allowed himself to be distracted by Leila, he could have warned them all earlier, been ready for the new onslaught. His shame and rage drive him to desperation. The powder. The power it offers. Reid has to save them, even if he has no idea what the stuff is doing to him.
His hand dives into his pocket, pulls out a fist full and for the first time, Reid purposely inhales as much of it as he can.
Through the tingle and burn that takes him over, Reid realizes the world is so clear around him all at once he stops and stares. It’s like everyone else has slowed down while the sun has somehow come up in an instant. He can see everyone, hear everything, his senses so sharp they cut him deeply, deliciously painful and marvelous all at the same time, so much so he can barely stand it.
He spots a hunter closing in on Sarah and Nishka and acts in an instant, springing from where he stands to a flat-out chase. He forgets the rifle swinging from his chest, the knife in his pocket. Those weapons are useless, irrelevant. Reid wants to kill, yes. But with his bare hands.
Reid hits the hunter from behind, knocking it off balance as its claw descends to Nishka’s terrified face, missing her by inches. Reid and the hunter tumble across the path, it twisting around until they are face to face. He is sure it is about to strike when it looks in his eyes. Its own widen for a moment, pupils blowing out from shock. He can’t believe it when it suddenly stops resisting.
Reid grips its head in his hands and drives it into the ground, over and over again, grunting from the effort, his fury making him powerful while the powder’s influence feeds his strength even more.
Hands grip him, pull him away, but Reid refuses to let go. Finally someone hits him, hard across the jaw, and Reid spins, anger transferring immediately. Marcus comes into sharp focus, and for a moment Reid considers doing something about his rival once and for all. It wouldn’t take much, a simple grasp of his head, a twist of his neck. Instant death.
But reason returns at last, forcing its way through the haze of his rage, until he finds himself panting and shuddering, kneeling over the unconscious form of the hunter, ashamed and horrified he was so ready to kill.
“Reid.” Marcus looks scared, but not of the passed out creature between them. “What the hell, Reid?”
He shakes his head, unwilling to tell Marcus what he’s done and silently swearing to himself he can never do so again. The power is incredible, the benefits clear and precise. But this time when Reid climbs to his feet and tries to find his humanity again, he discovers he’s lost a part of his soul.
Or, at least it feels that way. A gaping hole taunts him from deep inside, sucking him toward it, calling his name, asking him to cross over.
Marcus may be scared of Reid, but he’s not the only one.
***