The Rabbit Hunter

by Lars Kepler

  ‘We’re here,’ he says, pointing at the map.

  ‘Great,’ Sammy says without looking.

  Rex takes out his binoculars and tries to figure out the borders of the zone. He catches sight of Lawrence further down. Rex adjusts the focus and looks at him through the binoculars. His bearded face is wary, his eyes narrow. He’s creeping through the undergrowth in the valley, then raises his rifle, stands absolutely still, lowers the gun without firing, and walks on. Rex follows him through the binoculars until he disappears between the trees.

  ‘Let’s go higher up,’ Rex says.

  They head up the side of the fell. The ground is dry, and the low birches are more sparse.

  ‘Will you help me with the burgers later?’ Rex asks.

  Sammy stares ahead sullenly without answering. They keep walking but stop when they see three reindeer up ahead. The animals are standing between a clump of low trees and some large rocks.

  They creep closer, wind in their faces, as they move around an almost black rock-face.

  Rex crouches down, raises his rifle and looks at the stag through the sights.

  The reindeer lifts his head with its big antlers, looks out across the tundra, sniffs and twitches its ears, and stands absolutely still for a few seconds before it continues eating. It moves forward slowly as it grazes.

  Suddenly Rex has the perfect line of fire. It’s a magnificent reindeer, a large bull with a pelt like bronze and a milk-white chest.

  The crosshairs quiver over its heart, but Rex has no intention of putting his finger anywhere near the trigger.

  ‘Hope you find a hole in the fence,’ he whispers, and watches the stag raise its head again.

  Its ears twitch nervously.

  There’s a snap as Sammy steps on a branch behind Rex. The animal reacts instantly and rushes away down towards the edge of the trees.

  Rex lowers the rifle and meets Sammy’s contrary stare, but instead of being annoyed he smiles.

  ‘I wasn’t going to shoot,’ he says.

  Sammy shrugs and they walk up the slope through the meadow grass. They find steaming reindeer droppings between some alpine flowers and forget-me-nots. The sky is cloudy above the summit of Lulip Guokkil and the wind is noticeably colder.

  ‘Bad weather on the way,’ Rex says.

  They clamber upward until the ground flattens out and they find themselves on a sort of heath that stretches off towards the dark, steep mountainside.

  ‘Can you carry the rifle for a while? I just …’

  ‘I don’t want to,’ Sammy snaps.

  ‘You don’t have to be mad at me.’

  ‘Am I being boring now? Too bitchy for your liking?’

  Rex doesn’t respond, just points ahead and heads off along a track that leads through thorny bushes and scrub.

  He thinks about his alcoholism, all the things he’s ruined, and becomes increasingly convinced that he will never win back Sammy’s trust. But perhaps they can meet up from time to time in a restaurant somewhere, just so he can hear how Sammy’s doing, just so he can ask if there’s anything he can do to help.

  The wind is getting colder. Dry leaves come loose from the bushes and blow away.‘We’ll chargrill the burgers,’ he says. ‘Cut the crusts off the sourdough, add some slices of Vesterhav cheese, some Stokes ketchup, Dijon mustard … tons of rocket, two slices of bacon … pickles and dressing on the side …’

  As he passes the biggest rocky outcrop, Rex feels the first drops of rain. The gusting wind makes the grass tremble, as if an invisible animal were running through it.

  ‘And we’ll fry thin strips of potato in olive oil,’ he goes on. ‘Black pepper, lots of flaked salt …’

  Rex falls silent when he sees a foaming white stream tumbling down the mountainside up ahead. He can’t recall having seen it on the map, and turns to ask Sammy, but his son isn’t there.

  ‘Sammy?’ he says in a loud voice.

  He starts to retrace his steps around the cliff, and sees the empty track running back across the plateau. The low trees and bushes are shaking in the wind.

  ‘Sammy?’ he calls. ‘Sammy!’

  He starts to walk faster, looking out across the landscape. Heavy rain is falling on the southern side of Lulip Guokkil, it looks like a curtain of steel rods. The storm will soon be here. Rex hurries back along the sloping mountainside. Further up small stones come loose and roll towards him.

  ‘Sammy?’

  Rex scans the terrain, then steps off the path and starts climbing the steep slope. He goes as fast as he can. He’s quickly out of breath and he can feel the lactic acid in his thigh muscles. He’s sweating, and wipes his face as he follows a dry stream up the hill, slipping on a rock.

  His progress is hindered by the thorny undergrowth. As he moves off to one side, he thinks he sees someone disappear behind a rock up above.

  Rex pushes through a gap in the bushes. He’s keeping his face down, but still scratches his cheek, and the rifle over his shoulder gets caught on the tangle of branches, so he leaves it behind. It hangs there swaying as he stumbles out and falls forward.

  Then he catches sight of James in the distance, up above, between two large rocky crags. Suddenly James turns his rifle towards him and takes aim.

  Rex stands up and straightens his back, peering at James, but he’s having trouble seeing what he’s doing from this distance. Light glints off his binoculars and Rex raises his hand to wave.

  The barrel of the rifle flares yellow and then he hears the bang.

  Rex lurches as he hears the echo bounce off the mountainside. The bushes behind him rustle and a couple of branches break and fall to the ground with a heavy thud.

  Up above he sees James running in a crouch, then kneel and take aim again.

  Rex turns and sees the large stag trying to get up. Blood is gushing from its chest and it’s rapidly losing strength. It falls sideways into the bushes, kicks its legs and catches its antlers on the thickest branches, making its neck twist in an unnatural way.

  The reindeer stag snorts and bellows, tensing its neck as it tries to stand. Another shot rings out and the large head is thrown backwards, and its body slowly slumps to the ground, still twitching.

  James runs down the slope towards Rex and the stag, sending loose stones rolling downhill.

  ‘What the hell are you playing at?’ Rex shouts. ‘Are you out of your fucking mind?’

  He can hear the anger in his voice but can’t help himself. James stops, panting for breath. His eyes are wide and his top lip is shiny with sweat.

  ‘Are you crazy?’ Rex goes on.

  ‘I shot a reindeer,’ James says through clenched teeth.

  ‘My son could have been standing there!’ Rex shouts, throwing his hand out.

  ‘You’re in my zone,’ James says, unconcerned.

  A strong wind blows in, bringing the heavy rain. It sweeps across the birch trees and the drops start to splatter the slope around them.

  Just as the rain starts to pour they hear a whip-crack from the sky.

  The two men turn around.

  High above the ground a red emergency flare glints through the downpour. It drifts off to one side, then falls slowly, disappearing from view as if sinking into a stormy sea.

  102

  The storm is right above them, and the wind is gusting hard, driving the rain into their eyes.

  When they reach the place the flare went off, Rex finds his son. He’s sitting huddled against a tree-trunk with DJ. Their green hunting outfits are drenched and rain is dripping down their faces.

  ‘Sammy?’ Rex cries, running over to him. ‘What happened? You just disappeared, and I—’

  ‘OK, listen,’ DJ says, standing up. Water is dripping from his blond beard onto his jacket, and his pale blue eyes are bloodshot. ‘There’s been an accident. Kent is dead. He fell into the canyon …’

  ‘What the fuck …?’ James yells through the driving rain.

  ‘He’s dead,’ DJ shouts. ‘There’s no
thing we can do.’

  The rain changes direction on the gusting wind. Their clothes whip and flap around them.

  ‘What happened?’ Rex gasps.

  ‘The edge is kind of overgrown,’ DJ says. ‘He couldn’t see the drop. Maybe he didn’t know where he was on the map.’

  ‘Sammy?’ Rex asks. ‘You just vanished …’

  His son looks at him, then turns his face away.

  ‘He fell,’ Sammy says weakly.

  ‘Did you see?’

  ‘He’s lying down there,’ Sammy says, pointing.

  Rex and James walk cautiously towards the edge to look. The rain runs down their necks, over their backs and down into their trousers.

  ‘Be careful!’ DJ urges behind them.

  It is hard to tell where the ground stops in the heavy rain. They slowly approach the edge and see the deep ravine open up. The wind tugs at James and he stumbles a couple of paces before regaining his balance.

  Rex moves forward tentatively, making sure he has firm ground beneath his boots, and holds onto the tangled bushes as he leans out over the edge.

  At first he can’t see anything. He squints and brushes the rain from his face. His eyes scan the trees, rocks, upturned roots, bushes. And then he sees Kent. His body is lying some forty-five metres below, towards the edge of the drop.

  ‘He’s moving,’ James exclaims beside him. ‘I’ll climb down, there must be a way.’

  Rex pulls out his binoculars, but has to let go of the bush to be able to see. He moves sideways along the precipice and raises the binoculars to his eyes.

  The sheer edge of the cliff is still blocking his view. He moves closer, leans out and manages to see the green-dressed figure. Suddenly the ground moves beneath his feet. Rex grabs hold of some branches and throws himself backward as a clump of moss and compacted earth breaks off from the edge and tumbles into the ravine.

  ‘God,’ he mumbles.

  A shiver of mortal dread runs through his body, and his heart is pounding as he raises the binoculars again, leans out and adjusts the focus. In spite of the water trickling down the lenses he can see the body clearly now.

  The blood from where he must have hit the rocks is being washed away by the rain.

  Kent is wedged into a gap in the rocks. His neck must have snapped because he’s facing the wrong way, and one leg is sticking up at an impossible angle.

  There’s no doubt that he’s dead.

  ‘We need to get an emergency helicopter here!’ James shouts, his narrow eyes dark with panic.

  ‘He’s dead,’ Rex says, lowering the binoculars.

  ‘I’m climbing down,’ James insists.

  ‘It’s too dangerous,’ DJ calls behind them.

  ‘Shit,’ James whimpers, and sinks to the ground close to the cliff-edge.

  Lawrence arrives at last, out of breath. His glasses are wet and he must have caught himself on something, because his thigh is bleeding through the fabric of his trousers. His thick grey beard is full of pine needles and twigs.

  ‘What’s going on?’ he pants, wiping the water from his eyes.

  ‘Kent fell in the ravine,’ James replies.

  ‘Is it serious?’

  ‘He’s dead,’ DJ says.

  ‘We don’t know that,’ James exclaims angrily.

  ‘There’s no way he could have survived the fall,’ DJ tells Lawrence, pointing towards the drop.

  ‘He’s dead,’ Rex confirms.

  ‘Shut up!’ James screams hysterically.

  ‘Listen to me,’ DJ says, raising his voice. ‘Let’s go back to the hotel and call the police.’

  Lawrence moves away, shaking his head, and sits down on a rock with his rifle on his lap, staring into space. James is standing completely still, his lips white with rage and shock.

  ‘I knew it,’ he says quietly to himself.

  ‘There’s nothing we can do for him now,’ DJ says. ‘We need a phone …’

  Rex goes over and squats down in front of his son, and eventually catches his eye.

  ‘We’re going back to the hotel,’ he says softly.

  ‘Yes, please,’ Sammy replies.

  DJ tries to reason with the other two men, but they won’t listen to him.

  ‘I know it feels awful leaving him down there,’ he says. ‘But we need to get the police out here as soon as possible.’

  Rex helps Sammy to his feet. DJ indicates a direction away from the cliff-edge and they start walking.

  ‘Come on,’ DJ calls. ‘We don’t want any more accidents.’

  The other two men look at him, then slowly start to move. The group walks along the side of the mountain, heading gradually into the valley towards the hotel.

  ‘This is fucking sick,’ James says.

  The rain is still falling hard, and their clothes hang heavy on their bodies.

  ‘Can’t we just go home?’ Sammy says.

  ‘I’m so sorry you got dragged into this,’ Rex says, then turns towards the others.

  He looks at the three men through the rain. Puddles are forming in every depression and hollow, and the ground looks like it’s bubbling. The rocks have acquired a ghostly halo from the rain bouncing off them.

  ‘Take care not to slip,’ he reminds Sammy.

  ‘I saw him fall,’ his son whispers. ‘I was heading towards them from the side … it was before the rain. It all happened so fucking fast … I don’t get it …’

  ‘We shouldn’t have come on the hunt,’ Rex says, anxiety and regret gathering in his throat. ‘I always think I have to do all these things, but I’m not a hunter, and I could have said that from the beginning.’

  ‘You’re too kind to do that,’ Sammy says tiredly.

  ‘We could have waited back at the hotel instead,’ Rex goes on, holding a branch out of the way. ‘Got the food ready, sat and talked, like you wanted.’

  ‘Mum told me I wasn’t planned. The opposite, really …’

  ‘Listen,’ Rex says. ‘I was incredibly immature when she and I met. I’d never even thought about having children. It felt like I’d only just started living.’

  ‘Did you want Mum to have an abortion?’ his son asks.

  ‘Sammy, everything changed the moment I saw you, when it really sank in that I had a son.’

  ‘Mum’s always tried to tell me that you care about me, but it’s been hard to find any evidence.’

  ‘I always said I’d be there for you when it really mattered, but I haven’t been,’ Rex says, swallowing hard. ‘I haven’t been there for you.’

  He trails off when he feels his voice starting to crack. He tries to catch his breath and calm down.

  ‘I want your mum to take that job in Freetown, and I want you to move in with me, properly … the way it should be,’ he eventually says.

  ‘I can manage on my own,’ Sammy retorts.

  Rex stops and tries to make eye contact with his son.

  ‘Sammy,’ he says. ‘You know I really like having you live with me, right? You must have noticed, some of the best moments of my life have been when we’ve been cooking together, playing the guitar …’

  ‘Dad, you don’t have to,’ Sammy says.

  ‘But I love you,’ Rex goes on in a thick voice. ‘You’re my son. I’m so proud of you, and you’re the only thing that really matters to me at all.’

  103

  The whole valley has vanished in the downpour; it’s as if the church and old railway barracks never existed, just a grey world with no real depth.

  Rex and Sammy’s clothes are soaked through and they’re freezing cold when they finally see the outline of the hotel through the driving rain.

  DJ, James and Lawrence passed them a while ago, at the gates to the enclosure. The three men hurried ahead and disappeared along the waterlogged track.

  When they were halfway back Sammy put his foot down wrong. Now his ankle has started to swell, and he’s limping with his arm around Rex’s shoulders.

  ‘Dad, wait,’ Sammy says, stopping
at the bottom of the steps to the deck.

  ‘Is it hurting?’

  ‘It’s not that. I just want to say something before we go in. I said I saw Kent fall, but it … it actually looked more like he jumped.’

  ‘It could have looked that way,’ Rex says.

  ‘And there’s something else … he only flashed before me for a moment before he was gone … but I had time to notice his red scarf trailing behind him.’

  ‘But …’

  ‘He wasn’t wearing a scarf, was he? It was blood.’

  They walk up the steps in silence, then go into the large lobby while they try to figure out how Kent could have been bleeding before he fell.

  Maybe he walked up to the cliff-edge and shot himself, Rex thinks.

  There are wet footprints on the stone floor of the lobby. Rifles and other equipment are piled on the low coffee table in front of the fireplace.

  DJ is standing in the foyer searching the cushions of the sofas and armchairs.

  ‘Did you call the police?’ Rex asks.

  DJ shoots him a dark look.

  ‘The phones are gone,’ he says.

  ‘No, we left them at the reception desk,’ Rex says.

  ‘Then they must have somehow slipped off,’ DJ says, walking behind the desk.

  ‘Is anyone else here other than us?’ Sammy asks.

  Rex shakes his head, shivers and looks over at the windows. The rain is still coursing down the glass.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ Sammy asks.

  ‘We need to get you into some dry clothes,’ Rex says.

  ‘That’ll solve everything,’ Sammy says, walking off towards his room.

  ‘They’re not here,’ DJ mutters, searching among the papers.

  ‘Isn’t there a landline?’ Rex asks.

  ‘No … and the computers need a password,’ he says in a hollow voice.

  ‘I’ve got an iPad,’ Rex remembers. ‘Do you think there’s Wi-Fi here?’

  ‘Try it,’ DJ says as he searches behind the desk.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ Rex sighs, watching Sammy walk off.

  DJ stops and looks at him.

  ‘Is it Sammy?’

  ‘I’m trying, I … I’ve got so many emotions right now, but of course I understand that he can’t just absorb the fact that I want to be a father to him after all these years …’