Fight (Book Three, the Hunted)

by Patti Larsen

  What he isn’t expecting is Marcus’s reaction to the hunter. Instead of running the other way like a coward, Marcus throws himself between Reid and the creature in a foolish attempt to protect him.

  Reid is so shocked by the move he doesn’t react for a long moment, enough time for the hunter to refocus its attention on Marcus and slash out at him.

  Reid’s fury surges, drives him forward. And while his abilities may not be as perfect as the hunter’s, Reid is still able to block the creature’s descending arm with his and get in a quick blow to the hunter’s face before it can kill Marcus.

  The hunter stares at Reid like he is only now recognizing him for what he is. Reid flinches from the hollow and grating laugh of the creature as it bows slightly to him.

  “Survive then,” it says to him. “There is a place waiting for you, baby brother.”

  The hunter disappears into the darkness, leaving Reid shaken, not by the attack but the offer. His heart clenches in passionate need to go with the creature while his soul begs him to stay.

  He takes his fury out on Marcus instead. “What the hell were you thinking?” He jerks Marcus to his feet. Marcus doesn’t pull away and the expected sullenness is still absent.

  “Protecting you,” he says.

  Reid stares, mouth open. “Why?”

  “Because,” Marcus says. But that’s all he says.

  Reid sighs heavily. “Don’t ever do that again. The hunter would have killed you.”

  “But it didn’t.” Marcus holds Reid’s gaze while the sounds of fighting get closer to them. “It let us go. What did it say to you?”

  Reid frowns. “What do you mean? You heard it.” Didn’t he?

  “I heard something that sounded like talking,” Marcus says. “But it wasn’t English.”

  There’s no time to process that. A knot of soldiers bursts into the clearing, spinning immediately to fire back down the corridor between the tents. Reid grabs Marcus and hauls him around the corner, crouching to watch.

  Three hunters bound over the tops of the rigid canvas and dive into the compressed pack of soldiers. Reid ignores the screams, the flying blood, even the smell of death, so intent on the weapons the soldiers are dropping he barely registers they are dead. Or cares.

  The hunters finish their slaughter and return the way they came.

  Reid is already moving by then, beside the steaming bodies and jerking free their weapons while Marcus hurries to keep up. Two rifles are empty but the others are fine. The handguns and clips are welcome weapons and feel good in Reid’s grip. He shoves the holster down the back of his pants, slinging the rifle over his shoulder, the pistol held low and ready.

  Reid doesn’t have to order Marcus to follow. Almost as one, they run back toward the bunker.

  They immediately find themselves in the middle of another skirmish as five more soldiers barrel into the clearing. They look so desperate; the one in the lead almost fires at Reid before he realizes he’s not a hunter. Reid holds the man’s eyes only for a moment, his attention drawn over the soldier’s head at the descending black shape growing in the night. It comes almost straight down on the man’s shoulders, driving him to his knees while sharp claws cut his throat.

  Hot blood washes over Reid’s face and he catches himself licking it away, savoring the salty goodness of it. The hunter grins at him but lets him be, turning to finish the slaughter with the help of two of its mates while it’s Marcus’s turn to grab Reid and pull him on.

  Marcus shoves Reid through a gap in the back of one of the tents and crouches low behind a heavy metal container.

  “What’s happening to you?” Marcus watches with disgust as Reid wipes the blood from his face and looks at it, smeared on the palm of his hand. The compulsion to bring it to his mouth and lick it clean is so strong Reid deliberately turns and wipes it off on the thick canvas.

  “I don’t know.” Reid meets Marcus’s eyes. “I could ask the same of you. That’s twice you tried to save me.”

  “Did it the second time,” Marcus says.

  “What’s the deal?” The sounds of battle have faded but Reid decides to give it another minute.

  “No deal,” Marcus says. Shuffles his feet. Shifts his grip on the rifle in his hands. “I’m an idiot,” he finally blurts.

  “Could have told you that.” It’s out of his mouth before Reid can stop it but instead of triggering an angry response, Marcus just grins.

  “Yeah,” he says. “I figure you could.” He shakes his head like he’s trying to forget what he’s done. “My dad, Reid. My own dad. He lied to me, every day of my life. Treated me like crap. Told me I was nothing.” Marcus shrugs. “You hear it long enough, you believe it, you know?”

  Reid does. Only he got the opposite from his dad. Just lucky, he figures.

  “I get here and meet Joel and it’s Dad all over again.” Marcus shudders. “I wanted to save them, the kids, I really did. But why bother when I’d just fail anyway? Joel bullied me and I let him. I told myself I could live with the kids dying as long as I didn’t have to choose.”

  Reid holds his peace. Despite the crap Marcus pulled, Reid is sure he’s finally trying to stand up and be the guy he’s always wanted to be.

  “Then I meet you,” Marcus says. “Looking out for your friends. Keeping them alive. More worried about them than you. And I hated you for it. You were this stupid jerk who thought he could win, who never, ever quit and proved to me just how much of a loser I really was. That my dad was right all along.”

  Marcus’s jaw clenches. “God, I so wanted you to die. I wished you did every time something happened. I blamed you for everything even though I knew it was my fault. I saw that crack in the tunnel, remember? The one Cole pointed out? It was right over your head. I was sure it would kill you.”

  “Guess you didn’t plan to get trapped with me?” Reid cocks his head to the side. Was that a sound? Outside or inside?

  Marcus goes on, oblivious. “Or get one of the kids killed. The others hurt.” He swallows, the sound audible. “And the elevator. I wanted the hunter to kill you. Every time Leila stood up for me I felt like a king, you know that? Because she was your girl. She is your girl. Everyone knows it. I wanted her because she wanted you. And when she stood behind me in the town, it was like I’d won.”

  Reid nods, still paying attention but senses honed. There is someone there with them. A normal, human someone, trying very hard not to be noticed while the sound of an attack passes by the other end of the tent.

  “Only I didn’t.” Marcus sighs, deeply, full of regret. “I almost got us all killed. When I saw my dad that day, Reid, I needed to do something to get that feeling back. To be a hero for once.” He snorts while Reid eases to the side, finger pressed to his lips while Marcus looks first concerned then nods in understanding. He stays put and keeps talking.

  “I was so wrong.” Reid leaves Marcus there and goes toward the tiny sounds, the thrum of a heartbeat, the soft exhales through an open mouth strong with garlic. “I wanted to tell you, when I came back.” The scent of fear grows stronger, so much Reid can almost feel the thrum of shaking flesh as he gets closer. “What a mistake I made. I knew Dad would never let us go. But I was so proud, probably too proud.”

  Reid is almost there. “I’m glad you left me behind. It forced me to think, to face what I was. What he made me.” Reid can see the edge of something white, like cloth, and a shiny black boot tip sticking out from under a tarp. “I knew if I got the chance I had to make it right. I had to tell you and to save the others if I could. And I’m finally getting that chance.”

  Reid whips back the bulky canvas and jerks the quivering man out of his hiding place.

  “Marcus,” he whispers. He is there in a flash, hovering with him over the trembling, weeping young man dressed in a lab coat. His round glasses are fogged from his tears, mucus running down his upper lip.

  “Please don’t kill me.” His voice is so quiet it would be hard to make him out if Reid wasn’t enhan
ced.

  “Who are you?” Reid rifles the tech’s pockets, finds a keycard and a nametag. Edwin Saunders.

  “I’m Dr. Lund’s assistant.” His teeth chatter from the pressure of his terror. “Please, don’t kill me.”

  Reid rolls his eyes and shoves himself away from the quivering mess. “I’m not a hunter,” he says while his mind calls him a liar. “Or a soldier. I don’t give a crap about you.”

  “Did you think you could control them or something?” Marcus is furious but keeps himself in check much to Reid’s surprise.

  The man draws his knees to his chest, wiping the snot from his face with his white sleeve. “Dr. Lund conducted all the interactions. I had nothing to do with it.”

  “Don’t play the innocent card with us,” Marcus says. “You’re part of a program that built creatures created to kill helpless kids, asshole. What did you think the hunters would do if they saw a chance to escape?”

  “She told me the failsafe would take care of it.” He is sobbing again. “She promised she’d take care of it if anything happened.”

  Reid pounces on him. “What failsafe?”

  He sucks in a few short breaths, chest hitching. “The drug that reverts them back to human form.”

  Reid exhales slowly, relief warring with the need to kill this idiot where he crouches. “Do they know? The hunters, do they know about the drug?”

  Saunders shakes his head. “She wouldn’t tell them,” he says. “It kills them.”

  So, not the salvation Reid was hoping for. Still.

  “Where is it?” Reid grabs the tech by the front of his shirt and shakes him, the white coat lapels flapping from the force.

  “The main lab. Small, made of steel. Other side of the compound. You took my keycard. But you’ll need a thumbprint.” Reid lets the guy fall back and retreats with Marcus next to him.

  “This is nuts,” Marcus says. “We need to get out of here.”

  “And let the hunters escape?” Reid shakes his head. “The soldiers are dying out there, Marcus. Imagine what the hunters would do to someone unarmed. They want to reproduce, right? That means more of them. And they have to eat.” His mind takes him to the future, a quiet night, an even quieter subdivision in some peaceful town. And a swarm of hunters descending to feed. “We have to stop them here. Now.”

  Marcus looks like he wants to protest but keeps it to himself. “Fine. Let’s go.” They return to the tech who has since crawled back under the tarp.

  “We need you to come with us.” Marcus jerks on Saunders’ feet, sliding him out into the open again.

  “No, no, you can’t make me, I’m not going back out there, no…” the tech starts to thrash, voice rising. Marcus slaps him, hard.

  “Probably not a good idea, I guess.” He points at Saunders’ hand. “We could just take the thumb.”

  The man squeals like Marcus has already done it and he is forced to punch the guy this time. The tech falls back, passed out, whether from the blow or his own panic Reid doesn’t know. He sees Marcus pull a knife out of the gear he carries but stops him before he can do the deed.

  “We’ll find another way.”

  Again Marcus is about to protest but stops himself. “Your call.”

  Reid ponders a second. “We have no idea how many hunters there are or whether the soldiers have managed to kill any. But there can’t be that high a number, right?”

  Marcus nods. “I think you’re right. But we have no way of knowing.”

  “If we can get to the drug and somehow administer it, we can cut their numbers even further.” Reid sighs. “Means more running, you know.”

  Marcus grins. “At least we’ve had lots of training.”

  Reid finds himself grinning back. “True that.” Marcus gets up, follows him to the flap. Reid peeks out, sees and hears the battle raging, tightens up his control over his senses and leads the way out into the fight.

  ***

  Chapter Twenty

  Either the earlier explosion set fire to camp or some hunter did it deliberately but whatever the cause, the whole upper section near the gate is in flames. Reid and Marcus stay out of the light as much as they can, dodging running soldiers and the shadows of pursuing hunters.

  They are forced to pause once, crouched between a truck tire and a pile of wooden boxes, while three soldiers manage to overpower a hunter by shooting it repeatedly, screaming while the thing goes down. The creature finally collapses in a hiss and the soldiers cheer. Reid’s eyes lock on the pile of powder, longing for it, but doesn’t get the chance to retrieve any. Just as the soldiers turn from their celebration, two more hunters appear and the killing starts again.

  The combatants distracted, Reid and Marcus slip around the back of the truck. Marcus scowls at the two flat back tires and shakes his head. No help there. Reid shrugs. He’s fully expecting to have to run for it so the disappointment is only for Marcus.

  Reid spots the metal building they’ve been looking for and catches himself cursing. It’s right in the center of the fight.

  “Reid, this way.” He follows Marcus out away from the back of the truck and to the edge of the trees. Marcus presses his lips almost against Reid’s ear and whispers. “We can circle around the back and see if there’s a way in.”

  Reid nods. Good plan. He lets Marcus lead, keeping an eye on their trail, the rifle in his hands feeling abnormal. He should have claws and teeth to tear with, the rush of dust in his lungs, pushing him to his potential.

  Reid knows if he gets a chance to kill a hunter and take its power he’ll do it. Without a moment’s hesitation.

  He is so wrapped up in his need he runs right into the back of Marcus. He hisses in surprise, steps around the frozen figure, catching the blank look on his face before following Marcus’s gaze.

  Colonel Brackett lies slumped against the side of a tent. Reid can see him clearly but doubts the same of Marcus, wondering if he knows his father’s guts are lying in a steaming heap on the ground beside him. He’s been gutted. The hunters obviously felt the need to show the colonel what they thought of his apparent control.

  “Dad.” Marcus’s whisper is soft and drawn out, the ‘a’ going on forever.

  The colonel coughs gently, one hand fluttering around the grip of his gun.

  “Boy,” he says.

  Reid stays back, his sense of justice shoving aside his disgust. Whichever of the hunters sliced him up him did it deliberately, leaving him to die slowly and in as much pain as possible. How fitting. It doesn’t pay for Trey or Carly or even Drew, but it’s a start.

  Marcus moves to crouch but stops, looks down. Reid hears the low moan, knows Marcus finally sees the truth.

  “Dad, why?” Marcus’s voice shakes as he finally sinks to one knee next to his dying father. “Why did you dump me in there with those monsters?”

  The colonel chokes briefly, stills again. “Blame it on that bitch you called a mother.”

  Reid is actually taken aback, not by the words, but the dead tone of the delivery. Like the colonel is stepping on a cockroach, not his son’s heart.

  Marcus’s shoulders quiver. “Don’t call her that.”

  “I’ll call her whatever I damned well like.” The colonel twists his neck and spits. “I knew it for years, you mongrel. Knew it my heart. But she finally told me you weren’t mine.”

  Marcus stills. “What?”

  “You heard me, you bastard. She went and got herself pregnant by some jerk at a bar.” Brackett’s anger gives him the strength to snarl at Marcus. “While I was off defending our country, your mother was screwing around. Neither one of you deserve to live.”

  “You told me she had a reaction. To the new depression meds. The doctors said you were right. But it wasn’t an accident.” Marcus’s voice is as flat as his father’s now. “Was it? You killed Mom. Somehow, you killed her and made it look like the drug did it.”

  “Damned right I did. And she deserved it. You can thank Dr. Lund for that particular gem of a toxin.”
He wheezes out a dark chuckle. “Waited out my time, too, for the project to be far enough along I knew you’d never make it. Took you from your bed, dumped you myself, you little shit. Happy to do it.” He laughs, deep and hurtful. “Imagine my surprise when my worthless wife’s worthless git shows up in my camp.” His amusement chokes off into a groan of pain. “I should have put a bullet in you myself.”

  The colonel’s hand twitches again, his pistol trembling in his useless fingers. But he is unable to lift the gun. Marcus leans forward and takes it from him. Stands to his full height. Points it at the colonel’s face.

  “Go ahead,” Brackett wheezes out. “Pull the trigger, you useless little punk. Show me you’re a man.”

  Marcus stands there for a long moment. Reid fights the urge to rush him. They don’t have time for this. But he can’t bring himself to break the poisonous thread between the two.

  Finally, Marcus drops his arm. “You’re not worth a bullet.” He tosses the gun to the ground and walks away.

  “Coward till the end,” Brackett whispers.

  Reid lets him go, bends for the pistol himself, unable to watch the man suffer any longer.

  “That bitch got away.” At first Reid wonders if the colonel is talking about his wife again but realizes who he is talking about.

  “Dr. Lund.” Reid remembers what she said. About how she took the dust herself.

  Brackett nods slowly, breathing shallow and harsh. “She… moved like one of them… the creatures. When I tried… to shoot her.” He is fading, but not quickly. His pain is written all over him.

  Reid nods. “I’ll try to find her.”

  “I bet you will, freak.” Brackett glares at Reid. “So how about you, boy? You have the courage in you to pull the trigger?”

  Reid shrugs. “If I think you deserve it.”

  Brackett’s body bucks, his rage coming out at last. “You little asshole,” he snarls, “you’ll never get out of here. They’ll… kill you. Think you can be… one of them? All those… little friends of yours. Snacks.” The colonel laughs, the sound like flesh tearing.