Two hunters dive at him from the darkness, but he is ready for them. One broken tube is enough to kill them both. Reid doesn’t pause to witness the deaths of the two young men, now human again.
He’s got more running to do.
Another one leaps in his way and dies as quickly. Reid is panting now, his side soaked with blood right down to his foot, enough that it squelches into his sneaker with every step. His strength is leaving him but he can’t stop, won’t stop.
Reid has hunters to kill.
The envy he felt is gone. The terror is too. Only his need for survival remains, his old friend that has kept him alive until now. But Reid hasn’t been badly injured before in this game, has managed to stay whole and mostly unharmed, able to keep running.
It seems even that small shred of luck has left him behind.
Reid runs for the gate, sees a knot of soldiers battling a handful of hunters, back lit by the fire that consumes the front end of the camp. A large truck lies on its side, a hunk of twisted and useless metal, the source of the earlier explosion. He doesn’t pause or stop to think about stray bullets or flying claws, simply snaps three tubes in half and tosses them as he barrels through the fight on his way to the fence.
He has no idea why it’s so important to get to the enclosure but he needs to return there. His instincts drive him to go back, to go back to where this started, though he will never make it that far.
One of the large, furred creatures leaps at him, knocking Reid down, sending him tumbling, the tubes scattering away from his clutching hands. Hot, stinking breath and strings of saliva suffocate him for a moment, the thing’s teeth descending toward his throat. Reid’s fingers find a tube, latch on. He jams the plastic into the creature’s open mouth where it shatters.
An enormous rottweiler collapses on top of Reid, panting out a gush of white foam as it dies. He shoves it free, scrambling around for more of the drug. The tubes are lost to him in the mix of flickering fire and darkness. He scrambles about, looking up just in time to see a hunter coming his way, and panics.
Reid’s fingers brush over plastic as he reacts, grabbing the tube as he leaps forward and runs on. And on, leaving the fire behind, the shouting, dying soldiers. He spots a flicker to his right and looks, instincts still in control.
Leila is running, a hunter right behind her. Reid’s heart swells and explodes outward, his rage giving him the strength he needs.
“Hey, freak!” He waves his arms, sees Leila’s shocked face turn to him, but more importantly, catches the attention of the hunter. “I’m right here!”
It leaves her, comes after him. He laughs, terror trying to find a hold. But he is beyond that, past all feelings except the anger that consumes him and drives him onward.
Only the sound of her voice has any impact. “REID!”
It’s too late, he’s drawn the fire to him, and he’s ready to be burned.
A rush of rightness fills his body as he passes through the gate. The familiar sight of the fence heartens him for some reason. Reid turns right immediately and follows the inside edge of the chain link barrier. He sees other kids up ahead, some darting through the trees, others spinning and killing hunters with the tubes of death they carry. He laughs again.
His body fails him the first time when he is barely fifty steps inside the perimeter. He stumbles, nearly falls, feels the rush of a hunter’s attack just miss him as he goes down. The thing spins to attack but too late. Someone dives from the tree line and throws a tube in its face. Reid looks up, sees Milo salute.
Reid is about to thank him when the boy spins, fear killing his cockiness, and runs off again.
Saved, for now. His luck hasn’t abandoned him completely yet. Reid makes it to his feet and heads out again.
He hears the screams of kids around him, heart cracking with every cry, wards off a small flying bundle that attacks him out of nowhere, reflexes just fast enough to dash the thing to death against a tree.
He stops. Looks. A small pile of dust. Reid crouches immediately, gathers the precious stuff into the palm of his hand. This will save his life, give him the power he needs to finish the job. He needs it, wants it so much, knows he can save them if he just gives in and lets the darkness take him over again.
Reid’s hand is shaking as he tips it, the powder drifting from his palm to the ground. No more. He decides to live or die as himself.
He thinks his father would approve.
As he stands to run again, he hears Leila screaming his name. Reid spins, trying to find out where she is, how to get to her, when her last cry is cut off suddenly. With finality.
Reid’s heart breaks for the last time.
There is nothing left for him if she is gone. Everything in him demands he turn around, save her if he can, but he is sure she is already dead.
He feels them around him, knows the hunters are coming even without his hyper senses. His friends have failed, he has failed. And there is only one thing left for him to do.
They have indeed trained him well. Reid runs.
***