Danni wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about killing Ezekiel. She was sick to her stomach from her actions, but knowing he’d never victimize anyone ever again gave her grim satisfaction nevertheless.
What that said about her, she didn’t care to know. Had she crossed a line tonight? Her team hunted monsters, not for sport, but because they endangered people. Did that change once the monsters turned out to be human? Or were human monsters even worse because they knew what they were doing?
The thought haunted her even as she pulled the knife out of Ezekiel’s body, wiped the blood off, and sheathed it. If she could go back in time a year, what would her old self say? She’d lost some of the carefree spirit that had once defined her life, but in its place had apparently arisen a willingness to do whatever it took to survive. That knowledge frightened her, or it should have, but that was a luxury for another time and place.
Out here, now, it was hard to question. There was little doubt in her mind that it was kill or be killed with these sons of bitches. They acted more like a sick cult than anything, unable to be reasoned with in their single-minded pursuit of preserving their twisted line.
But what about the future? What would happen if she found herself in a similar situation, but one where help was within reach – walking down a city street, or in the suburbs? Before, it had seemed such an easy decision. But now, given her experiences with the Adam and Ezekiel Lesterfields of the world, she was forced to wonder.
Danni gave her head a shake, sending small globs of mud flying. She’d need to think good and hard on that once this was over. But first she needed to make sure this ended, one way or the other.
Pushing those and all other thoughts, save survival, from her head, she crept back into the surrounding brush, retrieved her weapons, and disappeared once more into the darkness of the forest.
♦ ♦ ♦
Noah crouched over the body of his uncle Ezra. At first, coming across his crumpled form on the ground, Noah assumed he’d simply been a casualty of the firefight that had ensued just minutes earlier. But it soon became clear that wasn’t the case. Ezra had been shot in the back at close range.
He dropped to all fours, a position almost as natural to him as walking upright, and studied the ground around the kill – taking his time on the gloom-enshrouded floor of the forest. There! A track, much smaller than Ezra’s. Not a shoe – more like a sock or slipper.
It was his Sarah. He was certain of it. They’d thought they were hunting her, driving her forward, but in the confusion she somehow doubled back on them. Then, while his family was dealing with these new trespassers, whoever they were, she’d turned the tables.
Such a thing should have worried him. All the Sarahs he’d ever known were cowed, timid creatures, just as the Good Book said they should be. They were breeding stock, cattle, nothing more. That one could potentially do something like this was nearly unthinkable.
Yet it only excited him. All Noah could think about were the fierce children she’d bear for him. The family, under his lead, would need strong offspring to survive. More importantly, they’d need wives durable enough for child rearing for many years to come because they would also need to be more careful about choosing them. Noah was far more clever than the others realized. He was well aware of the concept of search parties, knew that those who went missing in the woods would be looked for. He also knew that the more they took, the more danger they’d be in, something even his father seemed to not care much about.
His Sarah would be the first and together they’d live a long life with many offspring, God willing. Their children would grow strong and...
A gunshot sounded from somewhere behind him. It was followed by voices which carried on the wind. He couldn’t make out the words, but was certain they weren’t from anyone in his family.
Noah turned. He would find his Sarah, hunt her down, conquer her, and make her his. But first, he had more trespassers to deal with.
♦ ♦ ♦
“Let’s get him,” Elijah Lesterfield growled from the side of his mouth. The lips on the other side of his face were fused shut thanks to the tumorous growths covering his upper body.
He let out a whoop of laughter as he glimpsed the intruder’s body dangling from a snare, hanging like a pig left out to dry. The stranger was almost certainly dead, especially following the peppering they’d given him, but they needed to make certain.
“It only takes a second to gut a man, so best be sure,” his daddy used to tell him. Wise words indeed.
He’d offered those same words up the day before, after they’d ambushed that trio of trespassers and captured their newest bride, but had been ignored. At the time, it hadn’t seemed like an issue. But now, with Ezekiel calling the shots, he wondered if such wisdom would be thrown to the wind.
Adam Jr., one of the youngest of the clan, stepped past him.
“Be careful, boy.” Elijah grabbed hold of his arm, but the arrogant teen just scoffed.
“What’s the matter? Afraid of the dead?” Adam Jr. pulled free and continued on through the bushes ahead.
Almost as soon as he reached the hanging man, gunshots erupted from the woods.
Damnit! They’d miscounted. Elijah was certain the hanged man was the last of them, as the forest had gone quiet up ahead. But now he realized there was at least one more lying in wait.
Elijah raised his gun and yelled for the younger Adam to pull back, but the teen dropped to his knees, his good hand clawing at his throat.
More gunshots answered the first volley, his kin returning fire from their places in the surrounding bushes.
“Get down, you fool!” he cried, raising up his own rifle and shooting in the direction he thought the attack had come from.
Adam Jr. fell prone and gunfire rang out for several more seconds. One of the trespasser’s bullets came dangerously close, nicking the tree next to Elijah.
He fired once more, then was forced to pull back to reload. Elijah was dismayed to find his pockets almost empty. Only two shells left. More than likely the same was true of the others. They’d come out here in search of one runaway girl, not aiming to hunt down armed intruders.
Elijah was forced to consider how best to proceed. With only two bullets left, he wanted to make sure he didn’t waste them firing at trees.
“Fuck you, you fucking freaks!”
The cry had come from up ahead. Stupid. The fool of a trespasser had just given away his...
A single gunshot sounded from the intruder’s location. Elijah ducked back behind cover and waited, but only silence followed.
After several seconds had passed, his kin returned the salvo, but their shots were staggered, more deliberate. He was right. They were all running low.
When silence once again had descended on the woods, Elijah let out a bird call, a sign to let his family know to keep their eyes peeled but hold fire. He got down on all fours and slowly crawled to where Adam still lay prone.
“Come on,” he whispered, copious drool dripping from the side of his mouth. “I think he’s out. Get moving.”
He shook the lad, then did it again. Finally, he grabbed hold of him from the side and turned him over. Even in the darkness, Elijah could tell the eyes that stared back at him were glossed over and unseeing. The boy had been shot in the throat and bled out.
“Goddamn it all!” he muttered, the curse escaping his lips before he could think better of it. Lashing himself for his sinful words would have to wait, though. He needed to avenge the boy and send this intruder to whatever hell awaited those who stepped foot where they didn’t belong.
Silence continued to reign. Elijah listened hard for any sign of movement from the stranger’s location, but none came. Either the bastard was damn good or he was standing his ground, hoping for them to make a mistake. Elijah didn’t get a sense of the former. These interloping sons of whores had acted like fools from the get-go. No reason to think they’d smartened up since.
He picked up a rock and threw it, listening as it knocked against a tree and fell to the ground with a thud.
Still nothing.
Elijah whistled again, letting the others know to keep holding their positions, and then crept forward.
The quiet was just beginning to unnerve him when he heard a shot from somewhere further back the way they’d come. He flattened himself on the ground and waited to see if there was more, but that was all he heard.
What the?
Had the others found that bitch Sarah? Or maybe they’d flushed out whatever bastard had shot Lemuel earlier.
He couldn’t worry about that now, though. He had to trust in his family and God to protect them.
Elijah Lesterfield continued to creep forward, inching past bushes and pushing through undergrowth toward where he thought he’d heard the intruder last. He said a silent prayer as he moved, begging the Good Lord to watch over him.
He was just about to mentally add an “Amen” when he slid some branches out of his way and found a pair of eyes staring back at him.
Elijah cried out in surprise, pulled his rifle up, and fired it point blank into the intruder’s face.
Three more shots answered from somewhere behind him – his family. He heard them strike the trees around him while he ducked down and hoped for the best.
“It’s me, you idiots!” he cried out once the echoes from the gunfire died down.
He stood up, covering the trespasser with his rifle just in case he was playing possum. It was the space of a second, no more, to see that wasn’t the case. His own bullet had struck true, nearly splitting the man’s forehead open. Fatal as it was, though, it hadn’t mattered because the stupid son of a bitch’s brains were already splattered on the ground beside him.
The intruder’s final shot suddenly made sense. The crazy bastard had blown his own head off rather than let them catch him.
Elijah gave the man’s body a savage kick, then another.
Son of a bitch!
He put his hands together and gave a crow caw, the signal for all clear. Soon enough, Samuel and Matthew stepped out, guns at the ready, and joined him.
“Where’s Adam?” Samuel asked.
Elijah shook his head. “Bastard got him. Where the hell are the others?”
“I saw Jonathan back near the bog. No idea where he wandered off to after.”
“I thought Zacharias was with us,” Matthew said.
Elijah opened his mouth to shout for their missing family members but then remembered there were still more trespassers in the woods.
“You don’t think...”
Elijah rounded on his brother. “I don’t think anything. We’re not through here yet. We ain’t found Sarah, and there’s no telling whether our kin found whoever shot Lemuel. Let’s go find the others.”
“What if they’ve already been got?” Samuel asked.
“Then we’ll find those who laid them low and do the same to them. God smiles upon us just as he has done for centuries. Now is not the time for us to lose faith.”