Whispers of Darkness (The Deadwood Hunter Series)

by Rachel M Raithby

  “My little wild cat, you’re not dying, do you hear me? I will come for you and you will survive this, you are so strong.”

  “I can’t Linc, it’s just all too much. I just want it to end, please make it stop.”

  “Lex, you’ve given up, you need to fight. Do you hear me? Fight, fight with all your soul, fight for me.”

  “But you’re not coming, I’m trapped underground, you’ll never find me.”

  “Someone’s coming, I need to go.”

  “No!” She sobbed again, her eyes blurring from the tears. “Please don’t leave me.”

  “Am coming for you, Lexia, Fight! Fight for me!”

  “LINCOLN!” Lexia screamed, sitting upright in bed, she glanced around her at the unfamiliar room she was in and lifted up the sterile white sheets she was laid on to find her body completely healed. One last look around the room confirmed she was alone. It had just been a dream, Lincoln had never been there. She was still trapped underground, she was still a prisoner in the Hunter compound.

  The door opened. “Ah, good you are awake. Ready to get to work, Lexia?” Derrick asked.

  Lexia just sat there. Work?

  “Are you feeling better? Remarkable that you have fully healed in a week. You heal far quicker than the other Hunters here. Of course that’s not common knowledge. You will struggle as it is, without everyone knowing how different you are.”

  “I’m completely different, I’m nothing like you,” Lexia snapped.

  “Well, yes, but no one needs to know that, do they? Get dressed, clothes are over there in the wardrobe.” Derrick smiled and turned around.

  Lexia sat, confused, staring at Derrick’s back. When he stood with his back to her she quickly climbed from under the sheets and rushed to the wardrobe. Her head didn’t spin and her hip no longer hurt. She glanced down at the leg that her mother had snapped and found not even a scar.

  Opening the wardrobe door, Lexia looked at her naked body in the mirror hung on the back of one of the doors. Looks like I’m back up to full strength. Every cut and bruise had completely healed, the only scar left on her was the small ribbed line across her hip. She clutched at her stomach as the empty gaping hole inside of her churned with pain.

  Linc, Cade, Caleb. The things they did to help her, the nights Caden battled to keep her alive, tears Lincoln spilt because of her. She looked at the face staring back at her in the mirror and hated her. Maybe you are more like the Hunters than you first thought.

  Once she’d controlled the pain within her and dressed in black cargo pants and a simple grey tank top, Lexia followed Derrick out of the room. Her head whipped from side to side as she tried to take in her surroundings. The walls and floors were made out of polished concrete, the walls curved up meeting in a point at the top. Lexia felt like she was walking through a rabbit warren, identical corridors spilt off in all directions and identical doors every few meters. It was deadly silent, the only sound was their feet clicking on the floor and echoing around them.

  “I’ll have you moved to a better location later. This side of the compound is mainly used for medical and science.”

  “Science?”

  “Yes, don’t ask me what they do in there, only Lucy has access.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Well, I thought I’d give you a quick tour and then put you to work.”

  “I’m hungry.”

  “Well, Cafeteria it is then,” Derrick said, turning sharply to the left.

  Lexia followed in silence. She’d given up trying to memorize a route out of here, the place was massive and every corridor looked the same. Derrick turned right and Lexia followed but her steps faltered as people walked past. The Hunters stared at her with equal amounts of hate and envy.

  “Don’t mind them, they’ll get used to you.”

  Derrick led her into a huge room. Along one wall were trays of food and a view into the kitchen, Lexia thought it looked like a school cafeteria. As she walked behind Derrick, her eyes cast down, the voices around her died until the whole cafeteria fell into a hushed silence and all eyes followed her. Lexia could hear her heart pumping in her ears and she felt dizzy. If they attacked her now she’d have no chance of getting out and a quick scan of the area clocked at least 200 people.

  “Derrick,” Lexia whispered as he approached the first food cart.

  “Food’s not that great but it’s better than starving. Breakfast runs from 5 to 6 am, Lunch 12 to 1, and supper is 6 to 7. You missed breakfast, of course.”

  Lexia wasn’t listening, she was scanning the people around her and beginning to see that at least half of these people looked to be just human. They huddled together on the far side, dressed in white coats. Lexia stopped, closed her eyes, and left her gift take over. She noted the dark energies of the Hunters, tinged with anger, and then settled on the very human energies, laced with fear.

  “Humans,” she whispered, her eyes snapping open. By the gasps and slight steps back from the Hunters around her she guessed her eyes had turned gold.

  Derrick stopped talking and turned to look at her, a frown on his face. “Yes, how did you know?”

  “Never mind how I know. Why are they here?”

  “Well, they work for your mother in the labs.”

  “Doing what?” Lexia snapped, no longer afraid of being surrounded by so many Hunters.

  “Well I’m not sure, experiments, I guess. All part of science, you know the part we passed that I know nothing about.”

  Lexia looked at the hands he held up towards her, palms facing her. She frowned at him and then glanced once more around her at the Hunters that had now scattered.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Well, Lexia, you look kind of pissed and I’ve seen what you can do when your eyes go gold. I swear I’m only trying to help you.”

  Lexia laughed. They really think I’d attack them surrounded by so many Hunters?

  “What is going on here, Derrick? Lucy has been torturing me for weeks and suddenly you let me out like I’m just going to play happy families. What’s your angle? What are you hoping to gain from this little tour?”

  “Lexia, I’m not playing any games. I assure you, I would just like to help you.”

  “Right, okay you can keep playing nice guy but I will never trust you. And put your freaking hands down I’m not some monster that will attack for no reason.”

  After Lexia had eaten, with many eyes watching her, she was led down more corridors and into another large room. This one had elevated seating around three sides and the fourth was covered floor to ceiling in glass windows. She followed Derrick as he walked around the edge, watching the hunters train. Some lifted weights and others used the various gym equipment that was set up along one wall. Whilst others sparred, their grunts and the sound of their limbs hitting padding echoed around them.

  “What are we doing here?” Lexia hissed, walking alongside Derrick; she looked behind her again at the large crowd forming outside the glass wall.

  “You’re going to train.”

  “What? Are you serious?” Lexia could feel her anger rising now.

  “Yes, Lexia, deadly. When you are back up to full strength then you will train the new recruits.”

  “New recruits? You honestly think I’d help you by training my enemy?” She growled.

  Derrick pushed her back against the wall, his chest rising and lowering in quick angry breaths. “Yes, I think you will because you are the one who killed off all our best fighters, you are the one in the enemy’s nest, you are the one with the psychotic mother who is hell bent on torturing you. I am trying to help you, Lexia. Lucy will be back in little over a week, you have that time to get back to full strength and prove to her that you are more useful alive than dead.”

  Lexia matched Derrick’s anger and then some. She could feel it swirling, building, until it consumed her body. She was losing control of the darkness within her and she made no attempt to try to contain it. She hated him, hated that
this is what he wanted her to do, train the Hunters so they’d be better, stronger, but most of all she hated that he was right. He was trying to help her, he was trying the only way he knew how but maybe she could use this to her own advantage. She could train them, show them enough so that Lucy could see an improvement but she could also learn all their weaknesses, memorize every face so that when the time came she’d know where to strike first. Yes, she told herself, this could work, I may be in my enemy’s nest but maybe that’s where I was always meant to be, to destroy them from the inside out.

  “Okay, Derrick, but I’m already at full strength.”

  “Really?” he scoffed. “After only a week’s recovery, you’re just going to jump out of bed at full strength?”

  Lexia let go of the last thread of self control she had, the smile that lit her face was twisted and evil. The smile belonged to the darkness within her, not Lexia, but she didn’t care. If she was going to survive in here, they had to fear her. “Really,” she said, pushing him and laughing as he flew across the room.

  The room grew silent. Hunters rushed through the doors from outside, whilst others cowered back. Lexia ignored them and kept walking towards Derrick. “Really,” she repeated again. “Maybe I should give you a few pointers, too? Like never get in my face or you’ll end up on your ass.”

  Derrick climbed to his feet and waved off the people crowding around them. “Back to training, nothing to see,” he said in his increasingly annoying calm voice.

  He walked over to an area with a padded floor. “Shall we train here so I’m not black and blue by the end of the session?”

  Lexia laughed, “Oh Derrick it will take more than a few mats to keep your skin pretty.”

  An hour later Derrick had more than just a few bruises on him, Lexia had kept her hands from hitting his face but she knew by the way he now walked in front of her with his shoulder dropped to one side that he’d maybe bruised a rib. She struggled to hold herself back, knew beating him to a pulp wouldn’t help her case but she had so much anger and frustration circling through her that, it had tested her self control.

  “Where to now?” she asked his back.

  “Your room. I’m guessing you will want to shower before you train the new recruits later.”

  “But this isn’t the way we came before, is it? I mean this place is pretty hard to keep track of but...”

  “No, it’s not but I have put you in another room, next door to me.”

  “Okay... Not creepy at all.”

  “I assure you it’s for your safety only. Not everyone here is as welcoming as me.”

  “I figured that out a long time ago, Derrick. You do realize I’ll never fit in here don’t you?”

  “Lexia not everyone here is what you think, not everyone fits in we just learn to, to survive.”

  Derrick led her through a few more corridors. They passed a few people but most of them only quickly glanced at her. He stopped in front of a door and brought a key from his pocket. Turning the key with a click he let Lexia into a room, it looked similar to the one she’d woken up in earlier. A bed sat made in the same white sheets in one corner, there was a wall with shelving, a wardrobe, and a door that led into a small bathroom. Lexia scanned the room again and then froze as her eyes spotted what sat beside the bed.

  Her feet moved without her knowledge, her heart tried to beat from her chest and the nearer she got the more pain awakened within the numbness of her soul.

  Her fingers ran over the worn leather of her boots before touching the silver panther that hung on the necklace Lincoln had given her.

  “Pretty panther,” she whispered, tears stinging her eyes.

  “I managed to save what I could. I have your ruby knife and the one that was strapped to your leg, too, but you can’t have them yet. I’ll be back in an hour.”

  Lexia said nothing. She slumped on the bed, staring at the panther in her hands and welcomed the agonizing pain that ate away at her heart.

  “Oh and Lexia? Don’t let your mother see the necklace. The boots I can manage to get away with but the necklace... Well, being Lucy’s favorite only lets me get away with so much.”

  Lexia nodded. When she heard the click of the door locking, she let the pain consume her and sunk to the floor crying, gasping desperately for breath. She wondered if her life would ever get easier, wondered if she’d ever stop needing Lincoln like she needed her next breath.

  Lexia followed Derrick back to the training center. He talked as he walked and Lexia tried to listen and memorize the way at the same time.

  “No one really uses the center on an afternoon so it will be the perfect time for you to train the new recruits.”

  “Derrick, you realize I have no experience training people, right?”

  “Yes, but you can fight so I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

  “Derrick, I think you’re putting too much on my abilities; abilities that are half instinct and the rest Lincoln taught me. I really have no knowledge of fighting.”

  “Well, I suggest you try because this was the only way I could think to convince Lucy.”

  Lexia shuddered at the thought of seeing her mother again. “So where is everyone else at this time of day?”

  “Guard duty mostly.”

  “What do they guard?” Lexia asked.

  “The compound, the science labs.”

  “You are being very vague, Derrick.”

  Derrick paused, his hand on the handle ready to push open the door to the training center. He turned and looked at Lexia an unreadable expression on his face.

  “I told you I do not know every secret of the Hunters and you do not need to know what others do. You only need to know what you have to, to survive.”

  “I’m not stupid, Derrick. You know far more than you let on and I will find out all there is to know about this place, but for now I’ll leave it.”

  With a nod Derrick pushed open the door and led her into the center. At the far end stood fifteen Hunters, their eyes glanced nervously about as they fidgeted. As Lexia walked closer she took in her recruits; they looked nothing like she was expecting and most of them looked younger than she was.

  Grabbing Derrick’s arm, Lexia pulled him sharply behind her as anger ignited in her blood. “They are nothing but a bunch of kids, Derrick! I refuse to show them the horrors of this world!” she ground out through clenched teeth.

  As always Derrick remained calm and composed, he merely glanced at Lexia’s hand gripping tightly around his arm and then studied the recruits behind her.

  “Yes, they are just kids but they are also Hunters that survived the programming and now they need to be trained further. Normally this is completed by several people but I’m hoping to show Lucy we only need you.”

  “’Programming’?” Lexia asked with a gulp.

  “Lexia, you do not need to know, nor would you want to know what ‘the programming’ is. As I said before all you need to know is that these people, kids as you call them, are new here and need help finding their way. They need to be able to fight well if they are going to last out the year.”

  “Where the hell does Lucy get them from? Why would anyone in their right mind join up for this?”

  Sighing Derrick answered, “They most likely signed up for the military and were offered to be part of a special project.”

  “And they just signed up with no questions asked?”

  “Yes Lexia, just like I did when I was seventeen. We follow orders, it’s not our place to question.”

  “So the government is behind this ‘project’ then? And I plan on questioning a lot.”

  “Regardless Lexia, these people need training. Half of them will still be confused as to what’s happening to them. I can assure you everything they have been through has not been a pleasant experience.”

  “Neither is waking up one morning to find you’re a wack job’s experiment,” Lexia muttered, releasing his arm and walking towards the recruits.

  Derrick muttered so
mething unattainable back before walking to her side and addressing the recruits.

  “Welcome, this is Lexia and she is going to help you train. She is new here, too, so go easy on her.”

  Lexia stood frozen at all the eyes staring at her and suddenly felt as if she was back in school presenting some work to the classroom. Taking a deep breath and squashing her nerves she spoke:

  Here goes nothing, “If you could just pair up and show me what you can do, then we’ll go from there.”

  The men and women in front of Lexia started to separate off in silence until the smallest of the group, a young girl with mousey brown hair and freckles splattered over her face was left standing alone, looking as if she wished the floor would swallow her.

  “What’s your name?” Lexia asked her.

  “Belinda,” she mumbled, her eyes to the floor.

  “Derrick partner up with Belinda please... And Belinda go easy on the old man, hey.” Belinda glanced up to meet Lexia’s eyes, a small timid smile playing on her lips as her gold eyes warmed, the tension leaving her body.

  Derrick threw Lexia a dirty look but never replied to her comment.

  Lexia looked at the others staring at Belinda and Derrick. “What yah waiting for? I hope you can move quicker than this in a fight or you’ll not last long,” she snapped.

  Walking between them Lexia could see everyone knew basic fighting skills, some more than others. She said nothing as she watched them and tried to focus on what Lincoln had said to her. She pictured him next to her, the words he spoke to her as he trained her, the way he’d watch her with his silent unreadable eyes and make her want to hide. Is that how these recruits felt now? Some cowered away from her gaze, whilst others met her head on. Did they know who she was? Did they know the things she could do? Did they trust her or did they feel the way she first felt when being trained?

  If they did feel that way, as if being studied by the eyes of a predator, then they’d be right. No matter how sorry she felt for these people, for the fate that had been set for them, it still changed nothing. Lexia was in the enemy’s nest and as she watched them fight, she studied their weaknesses and their strengths, waiting for the right time to strike.