Hunter

by Joanna White

  Suddenly, a creature I didn’t recognize burst through the murky water a couple of feet in front of Lehlax. It was long and slithery, yellow-colored, with medium-sized legs that ended in long talons, with a wide-round mouth full of sharp teeth. It had a long tail, a lot like one of the mermaids did.

  “Iszrae,” Ysogi murmured. He closed his eyes and just before the thing was about to take a bite out of Lehlax, the creature snarled, but slowly dove back in the water and swam off.

  “That took a lot of concentration and I don’t have the strength to do it again. I actually want to live, so I suggest we get out of here quickly,” Ysogi said.

  We got back to swimming and within half an hour, we were finally out of the swamps. The water became shallower until we were walking ankle-deep in mud again. We stopped, where the trees grew evenly, and we came to the edge of a huge field that looked like it was filled with regular sand.

  We all knew better.

  About ten feet away, stood three Raxcin. They turned and trotted over to us and I flinched, but they just stood there quiet and unmoving. They weren’t growling either, which surprised me considering the spikes along their spine and the razor-sharp teeth and fangs hanging from their mouths that made them appear terrifying.

  “I thought you said you didn’t have the strength to do that anymore,” Sine said to Ysogi.

  “I’ve been keeping them here this whole time, which is why I don’t have any more strength,” he snapped back.

  We hurried as quickly as possible. Municx climbed on the Roxcin first, with Ysogi behind him and Axe behind Ysogi. The Roxcin could carry a lot of weight, but as far and as quickly as they had dragged me, it wasn’t that surprising. Sine climbed on the front of the middle one, and Quinn shoved Jared behind Sine and sat down behind him. I climbed on behind Lehlax, who was on the Roxcin on the right.

  They ran very quickly across the sand. There wasn’t any scenery for a long time, and I wasn’t sure if we were still inside the prison, or outside, or if this was considered a different part of it. It was still dark, and the moon didn’t provide much light to go by. It was hard to tell how long we traveled, but it might have been another half an hour or so before we passed all the sinking sand. The Roxcin stopped and we hopped off except for Ysogi.

  “Here, use this as you order the Roxcin take you back across the sand. You can work on cutting through the ropes.” Lehlax slid a dagger into the back of Ysogi’s belt. “Now go.”

  Ysogi glared at him, but all the Roxcin left, except for his. Seconds later, after glancing at Jared, his Roxcin darted away and we watched them until they faded in the distance.

  “The labs don’t look too far from here. Five to ten minutes,” Lehlax said. I could see the building in the far distance in front of us. It was massive, with so much depth and layers to it I didn’t see an end to it. It towered up four stories, with a tower-like structure in the middle, along with one on the far right and one on the far left. Just behind the structure and going around the right side, a lake rested there. The water seemed to stretch on forever.

  “Wait, how are we going to get back across the quicksand?” I asked, suddenly panicking. We were all so focused on saving Jared and getting to the labs, that none of us had bothered to figure out how we would get back from the labs.

  “There is a path that has a shield over it, so you can’t see it from inside the main part of the prison, but from the labs, you can see the path and go through it. The prisoners have tried searching for it for years, with no luck. I knew that if we could find a way to get across the sinking sand, we could find the path to get back. Once we figured out to use Roxcin to cross the sand, I knew we would be able to find our way back and see the path,” Municx explained.

  “Why wouldn’t we try to escape? I mean why head back?” I crossed my arms and pursed my lips.

  Everyone looked at me like the question had an obvious answer.

  “They have some kind of shield over the whole area. It’s one big dome, so even if you managed to fly you still couldn’t escape. So, that’s no use either.” Lehlax shrugged.

  I nodded.

  “Where to?” Sine asked.

  “Let’s go around to the side and see if there’s another entrance.” Municx led us around to the side.

  I looked back at Jared, who was completely relying on Sine and Quinn for support. “There’s a cellar. You can come in through the basement…” Jared started. His voice trailed off.

  “Why would you tell us that?” Sine asked him.

  “The sooner you do what you need to, the sooner I get water,” he tried to snap, but it only sounded like exhaustion.

  We trekked around to the side of the building, and, sure enough, there was a cellar there. “I have something to pick the lock.” Sine stepped forward.

  “You do that.” Lehlax grasped Jared’s shoulder in support while Sine picked the lock. It didn’t take him too long, and then we all trailed down the stairs and inside the cellar one by one. Inside, it was dark and dank, with stone walls. There was a closet off to the right and ahead of us were a few stairs leading up to a door.

  “Have your weapons ready in case we run into anyone. I have no idea what we’ll find here.” Municx unsheathed a dagger, and the rest of us copied his movement with our own weapons.

  “What are we looking for?” I asked.

  “A lab room with equipment. Any kind will do.” Lehlax glanced around the room.

  “Well, that should be easy. This whole place is a lab. There’s gotta be a lab room somewhere,” Sine said sarcastically.

  We all shot him a look but started through the door. The hallway was long, with doors on either side all along it. There was no sign of anyone. “Hmm. You would think they would have an—" Quinn started, when an alarm blaring cut him off. “—alarm,” he finished with a sigh.

  “You just had to say something, didn’t you?” I glared at him.

  He shot me a sheepish look, but we dashed down the hall, looking through the doors as we went. After five rooms, we found one that Lehlax sharply turned inside, saying that it was what we needed.

  Jared looked like he was going to ask something but was too tired to say anything.

  “Here.” Lehlax gestured to a table with restraints.

  Quinn and Sine helped Jared onto the table. When Jared felt it, he elbowed Sine in the face so hard Sine reeled back, his nose gushing blood.

  “Hold him down!” Lehlax shouted, trying to grab Jared’s shoulders. Axe put the handle of his ax around Jared’s neck and pressed down.

  Jared gasped for air, and put his hands on the handle, trying to pry it off. Normally, he would have been able to break it, but he had been blinded for too long; he was too weak. Axe slammed Jared down on the table as Municx and Lehlax put the restraints on his wrists and ankles.

  “What are you doing?” Jared thrashed and yanked at the restraints.

  “I’m sorry, Jared, but this is for your own good. We’re going to help end Zagerah’s influence over you for good.” Municx looked at Jared with a pained expression.

  Jared thrashed and grunted once but seemed to struggle inside of himself. Even though his hands thrashed, his body seemed to relax, almost involuntarily.

  “I’m almost sure these are Hunter-proof restraints,” Municx said.

  “Almost sure?” Sine asked, at the same time that Lehlax said, “We should take the blindfold off. He can’t be weak when we do this.”

  Quinn took the blindfold off Jared. His eyes were still silver, but there seemed to be a red tint to them, as if he was fighting it.

  “Jared, I’m right here.” I met his eyes, grabbing his hand. Instead of jerking away, or thrashing again, he instantly relaxed.

  Lehlax pulled a machine above Jared a few inches over his chest as Municx wheeled over a tray of tools.

  I flinched.

  “Stop this.” Jared clenched his teeth as his eyes flashed black once, but it was gone before I could say anything.

  Lehlax grabbed a small
tool that I didn’t recognize, with a blade on the edge, and he rested it on top of Jared’s chest, where his heart was. The machine he moved on top of Jared projected an image of Jared’s insides against the left wall. Lehlax looked at that, as he started cutting in Jared’s skin.

  I looked on the screen, unable to watch Lehlax’s hand slicing Jared’s flesh.

  Right over Jared’s heart, was a small square object, which I assumed was the device.

  Quinn gasped. “It’s true.”

  Jared grunted as Lehlax dug deeper, and then screamed in fury. His crimson blood pooled out of the wound, but with a hint of silver in it.

  I made a sound that was almost like a whimper.

  Squeezing my hand, Jared cursed in pain as Lehlax used prong-like things to stretch apart the cut he had made. “Sine hold the cut open just like this as I dig inside until I find the chip.”

  Sine nodded and grabbed the prongs.

  I stared at Jared, and his eyes were a swirl of silver and reddish gold.

  “Averella,” he whispered and groaned as Lehlax dug inside his skin.

  “I’m here,” I whispered back to Jared, stroking his hair and holding his hand as tightly as I could.

  He closed his eyes and hissed in pain with a wince. His eyes opened, and they were more silver than red as he glared at me. “You will never save me. I am a Hunter and I always will be!”

  “Got it.” Lehlax began pulling it out.

  Jared’s eyes turned redder and he whispered to me, pulling me close. “I love you. I’m so sorry.” His eyes softened on mine, full of grief and shame.

  “None of this is your fault, Jared.” I met his gaze, willing him to see the truth there.

  The silver returned, and he cried out, as if fighting something inside himself that the rest of us couldn’t hear. Axe and Quinn were helping to hold him down, so Lehlax could pull the chip out.

  I looked on the screen and yelped. The chip had something growing out of it, and I realized it was metal legs each about an inch long that clung to Jared’s flesh, holding the chip inside. It looked as if it had veins inside of it, which were now glowing silver.

  Jared’s eyes widened, and he screamed; a blood-curdling sound that made me wince. I caressed his face and tried to talk to him, to get his attention.

  “Get—" He cut off with another cry, followed by a growl. “— it out—" he finished through gasps.

  The silver liquid started leaking out of the chip and his skin sizzled. He screamed again, and thrashed, his body jerking wildly, and his eyes widened.

  “Do something!” I shouted.

  “It won’t come out.” Lehlax looked at another machine that I didn’t recognize, which had paddles on them. He wheeled it over and turned a knob on it, holding the paddles up to Jared’s chest.

  He looked at Jared, who glanced at him.

  “Jared, the risk—" Lehlax started.

  “Just... do it,” he grunted. Suddenly, he stopped thrashing and his body was still. The chip whirled and beeped from inside of him, but when I felt his chest, his heart wasn’t beating.

  “Jared!” I screamed, grabbing his arms and pulling on him. “Jared—Jared no! Don’t you dare leave me!” Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.

  “Move,” Lehlax ordered harshly. I moved and released Jared’s hand as Lehlax placed the paddles on his chest and pressed a button. Electricity came out of the paddles and into Jared’s chest. His body jerked but made no other movement.

  “What—" I started when Lehlax moved another knob and touched the paddles to Jared’s chest again.

  He jerked again but still didn’t move.

  In his chest, the chip had stopped moving.

  “Quinn!” Sine shouted.

  Quinn dug inside and yanked the chip out of Jared’s chest. Lehlax put the paddles against Jared’s chest again and he jerked.

  Jared gasped loudly, and his eyes snapped open. He doubled over the side of the table and vomited the silver liquid onto the ground. He groaned as if it hurt him as it came up. Grabbing a knife, he sliced both of his arms right above the crease in his elbow.

  “What are you doing?” I screamed at him, grabbing his hand to stop him from cutting his chest.

  “Bleeding out the silver,” he replied with a wince. He tore the flesh on the other side of his chest, and then, as Sine moved, Jared made the wound on his left side bigger.

  Instantly, he started bleeding and it was red, but it had a silver tint to it. Jared cried out and gripped the table so hard his knuckles turned white. He closed his eyes as he bled out.

  “Jared, please—" I started.

  “Just… a little… longer.” He gritted his teeth.

  I bit my lip to keep from screaming.

  “Here,” Municx said, holding a pail full of water. I had no idea where he had gotten it, but it didn’t matter.

  Jared’s eyes opened and there was no silver in them at all. They were the normal, beautiful reddish-gold that I loved so much. He took the pail and poured it on his body before he drank the rest of it.

  Instantly, his body relaxed, and he sighed in relief. The wounds healed, right before my eyes. All that was left to even tell there had been cuts there was the blood that covered him, the table, and the floor.

  He pulled me into his arms and I kissed him hard. A first, he jerked back in surprise, but he ran his fingers through my hair and kissed my forehead, holding me tightly.

  “Thank you... thank you so much,” he whispered and there were tears in his eyes.

  He met Municx’s eyes and the tears spilled over. “Father…” he whispered, and I slid out of the way. Jared collapsed into Municx, who caught him. For the first time in seven years, he held his lost son, who had finally returned to him. Tears coursed down both their faces and Jared buried his head in his father’s neck.

  “You…you remember?” Municx asked him in shock.

  “Yes.” Jared’s voice broke. “When the chip left… my memories, all of them, came back.”

  They released each other.

  “While we’re here, the Aretul must come down. Without their labs, they can’t create any more Hunters.” Jared slid his gaze around each of us.

  “It’s dangerous. They will never forgive us for this. We will never be safe.” Lehlax frowned.

  “I know. Which is why, if the rest of you want to leave, you should. It’s not a risk you should take.” Jared crossed his arms, and his gaze held a newfound strength and willpower that I had never seen in him before.

  “No. This will never end as long as the Aretul are left in power. It’s a risk we must all take.” Axe stepped forward.

  “Agreed,” Lehlax responded.

  “How are we going to destroy the labs?” Sine raised an eyebrow and glanced around the room.

  “They have a stockpile of bombs, just in case they feel like slaughtering all the prisoners they have. They could always capture more to arrive at once. I don’t think they’ve ever used them before though. They keep them in a locked room up on level three I think,” Jared said.

  “Level three?” Sine asked, frowning.

  “Don’t worry, there’s an elevator.” Jared smiled at something none of us understood.

  We all looked at him blankly, except for Lehlax, who obviously knew what an elevator was. As we followed Jared out the door and into the hallway, I looked at Lehlax.

  “How did you know what all that equipment was?” I asked him.

  “Even though I used to be a doctor, I used to love to read about ancient technology. Our planet used to thrive, but something happened that caused many planets, like ours, to almost be completely wiped out. The governments were the only ones able to keep what little was leftover, including some of the old technology they used. It has never been as successful since then. I figured the labs would have some of it here. I happened to know how to use that, and what it was from pictures inside the ancient texts.” He shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.

  “Wow. I didn’t know all that.
” I smiled at him, though my eyes never left Jared as we walked through the hall.

  “Most people don’t.”

  “Here,” Jared said, stopping in front of a huge metal door.

  Through everything we had done with Jared, I had forgotten that the alarms were still blaring—had been the entire time. He pressed a button and the doors opened and we all followed him inside. Once there, he pressed a number on it, three, the doors closed, and we zipped upward. My stomach lurched, and I hated the feel of being inside it.

  Jared shot me a reassuring look.

  As soon as the door opened, a group of Gredi came in the doors, weapons out, ready to fight us.

  Jared zipped past one that lunged at him and hit him on the back of the head as he ducked out of the sword range of another one and back-kicked the man’s chest. He was forced to take that Gredi’s sword quickly so that he had time to meet another one who had swung his sword at him.

  Unsheathing my sword just in time, I blocked a Gredi, who lunged toward me, but the blow made me stagger. I pushed forward and attacked toward his legs, but he easily deflected it. Taking out a dagger, I ducked and slid under the Gredi’s legs. He tried turning, but I was quick enough to stab him in the side with my dagger before he turned all the way around. I just barely had enough time to duck as another Gredi jabbed toward me. Slicing his leg, I swung up and grazed his arm.

  Something grabbed my hair from behind and held me up, while the Gredi swung his sword right at my stomach. Jared stepped in front of him in an instant, grabbing his blade at the tip with his hand. He ripped it away from the second Gredi and swung it around to hit the legs of the one holding me.

  I heard a crack as he fell to the ground with a groan. Jared met my gaze and I nodded to tell him I was okay.

  Axe sliced a Gredi’s stomach as Lehlax slammed his head against the head of a Gredi who had his arms around Lehlax’s from behind. Sine met the sword of one Gredi, and he ducked, back-kicked another one, and swung left to pierce the Gredi in the neck. He sliced the other one he had kicked and breathed heavily.

  We all exchanged glances, most of us trying to catch our breath, all except for Jared.

  “This way.” Jared led us down another hallway, which opened up into a huge room.