We Are The Hunted (Book 1): We Are The Hunted

by Matlin, Perry T.

  I can hear other movement inside, so I know at least some of the other survived the shots. I am about to figure out who, when the next sound rings loudly around us. I peer blindly in the direction of the noise. Not knowing what to expect, not able to place the noise. Then I see something shudder in the darkness. I realize what they’re doing.

  “They’re ramming the garage door” I say to Paul, before grabbing ahold of him, and pulling him away from the door. I stand up now, unable to crawl anymore. I can see a little better now, as the garage door begins to bow inward. I search for the others, but I can’t make out anything clearly.

  The garage door is slammed again, and it finally gives way. The dwindling light flows through, lighting up the building around us. I look around one more time, grabbing Paul’s hand, as the men rush into the open door. I stiffen, as I see the guns in their hands. I’m still standing behind the car, when the first one of them speaks. I tense at the words.

  “We got you surrounded. Come out with your hands up, or we’ll light you up” the voice says, filled with gravel. A hint of an accent is there too. I immediately put my hands up, walking out to face them. Paul follows behind me. I can see other movement out of the corner of my eyes. I wonder who it is.

  “We don’t want any trouble, just let us leave please” I call, my voice ringing clear. I say the words, hopeful they will work, but dubious in that result. I can tell the words were useless, even before they leave my lips. A laugh rings in the building. I look for its source.

  “The problem, boy, is that we do want trouble” the voice says, as one of them steps into the light. As the shadows flee from around him, his face comes into stark relief. I take in his features. Tan skin, high cheekbones, a thin layer of stubble, and perfectly slicked back hair.

  “We’ll give you anything you want, just please let us go” I say again, knowing my words will make no difference. I know my words are useless. I know it’s all over now.

  “No thanks buddy” the man says, a smile thick in his voice. That’s when the lights come back on. I jump in surprise, but the other group doesn’t budge. This was part of their plan. When my eyes adjust, I look around. Ten of the men are inside. I see that all of us made it through the gunshots unharmed.

  I lay eyes on Emily, just as the man behind her winks at me. The same man speaking for the group. Then he pulls the trigger. I watch as if in slow motion, as her head snaps forward. Emily crumples to the floor. Blood pooling around her. My vision goes dark, my mouth drops open in a scream.

  I feel my own arm lifting, as the gun points at the man. I pump the trigger once, twice, three times. I pump the trigger until long after the shots die out, until all that’s left is the sound of Riley crying, the sound of some keeling scream, and the sound of the gun clicking. The man who killed my best friend is dead, just another body on the floor. My finger won’t stop pulling the trigger.

  THIRTY-FOUR

  The whole room seems to be frozen in the moment. One from each side fallen. It takes me a moment to realize the scream is coming from my own mouth. I am howling in pain, sobs racking my entire body. Then Paul comes up beside me. I feel his fingers wrap around my hand, lowering the gun. He removes it from my shaking hand and reaches up to touch my face softly. I continue to stare at the two bodies before me. Emily, poor Emily dead on the floor. Her red hair matted with her own blood. The two different colors of red meshing together sickly.

  “Ben, it’s… are you…” Paul begins twice, but his words die in his throat each time. That’s when the gang seems to recover from the death of their apparent leader. The one standing behind Riley, shoves the barrel of the gun into the back of her neck. I act immediately. I grab ahold of Paul’s closest knife, and I throw it as hard as I can at the man. I pray for my archery skills, my precise aiming skills.

  My perfect aim doesn’t disappoint me, as the blade sinks deep into his neck. The man and the gun drop to the floor with a thud. Again, everything seems to be frozen, but then the garage erupts into a deafening tumult of violence. Bullets fly, people are jumping around, and everything is just so confusing for a minute, and I struggle to keep up.

  Riley runs up to me, handing over the rifle dropped by the third human I’ve ever killed. Doesn’t that make me a serial killer? I take the rifle gratefully and take off running. I thank God that my body is back to full performance. We’d all be dead if not. I look around, coming to a brief stop. The last man has rejoined the group, so it’s nine-to-eight.

  I watch as Paul takes two of the men down, as easily as he did the infected. They fall at his hands, blades to their skin, thin lines of scarlet on their throats, then just crumpled heaps of skin and bone. Paul moves on, matching the steps of a short man with a greasy bun. The man has a long blade, the color of the moon. It’s now seven-to-eight.

  I look for something to do, now that everyone has someone to fight but me. I turn just in time to see the tallest of the men hit Chase right in the mouth. Chase drops like a rock in water. That’s when I realize the man is wearing brass knuckles. Anger boils within me, as I race over. He turns just in time.

  I bring the butt of the rifle down on his head, knocking him unconscious. His body hits the floor with a crunch, so I turn back to Chase. His eyes are fluttering. I quickly shake him awake, hoping he’s okay. He opens his eyes then. The first thing I see is confusion, then his eyes widen in fear. I feel movement behind me, so I whip around, just in time for those damn brass knuckles to collide with my right eye.

  It’s like a white-hot iron is being pressed to my eye, as his swing hits home. As I fall painfully to the floor, my hands automatically reaching for my eye, as it instantly swells shut. The man hits Chase again, his knuckles hitting jaw. Chase swivels there on the spot, before he drops.

  The man has his back turned to me, as I grab the rifle again. I struggle to my feet, as he goes to walk away. I hit him with the butt of the rifle again. He falls, just like the first time, but I don’t stop. I hit him again, the rifle hitting bone. Blood sprays, as I hit him a third time. The man tries to crawl away, but I jump atop him like a bull at the rodeo. I hit him a fourth time, a fifth, a sixth. I keep hitting him, even after he falls to the floor, even after he stops moving, even after the bone gives way. I hit him still, even as the rifle effectively beats the mess inside his skull like scrambling eggs.

  “Ben, he’s dead. Ben stop” Chase says, as he gathers himself to his usual height. He pulls me off the dead man, off the fourth man I’ve ever killed.

  “Oh my God, that looks really bad Ben” Chase says, his voice panicking, as he takes in my swollen eye. I look up at him with my one eye and see that his lips look no better. They are bruised, swollen, and bleeding profusely. I laugh at him then, even though everything is going to hell around us. He looks at me, confused.

  “Speak for yourself lips” I say, laughing and crying at the same time. He returns my grin, though with his damaged lips it looks more like a grimace of pain. I sit up, as he takes my hand. Pulling me to my feet, Chase flashes a quick smile, before heading back into the fray. I look after him, taking in the fight again. This is such a mess right now. My eyes find my siblings first.

  Riley is beside Lana. They’re standing, ready for the man circling them like a shark. I find Ryan, just as he does an artistic drop kick off the tailgate of Dan’s truck. Then Paul comes into my line of vision. He has both his blades again and is swinging them around, as artfully as a ninja. I decide to help the girls out first, so I take off running toward them, hoping to get there in time, before something else bad happens to someone I love today. Emily never leaves my mind, as the pain corrodes everything inside of me.

  The man never sees me coming, as I take no risks, cocking the rifle, and shooting him dead immediately. There is no pause, no wavering. I am sure that he needs to die. I’m used to shooting guns now, having handled them while hunting for my entire life. I’m not surprised by the kick of the gun.

  He falls dead to the floor, his body rolling onto itself slightly
from the force of the shot. I look to Lana and Riley who are now sprayed with his blood. I nod at them briefly, unable to manage anything else, before turning back to Paul. I see just as he takes down another one of them. It seems as if we’re actually winning for the moment. There are only four of the men left.

  That’s when gunshots begin again. This time we all seem to be on the same page. I take off for the stairs, hoping to gain some kind of control on the roof. We run into the stairwell, making our way as two sides of a war up to the second floor. At the top of the bannister, one of the men catches up with me, but I’m ready.

  I shove him with all of my might, accidentally dropping the rifle as well, but the man falls the twelve feet over the railing, and lands in a broken heap on the concrete floor. I make it to the second-floor hallway then. Racing forward, I try to make it to the third-floor stairwell. I yank it open and take off up the stairs. That’s six people that I have killed now.

  I can hear fighting behind me, as everyone continues to move slowly toward my herding plan. I race up the stairs, hoping to just get outside. I know it will even the playing field. I make it into the hallway, where the roof door is. I’m the first one through the door. The staircase is short, and then I’m on the roof. I notice a cinder block, so I prop the door open.

  The others join me a second later. I notice that Lana and Thomas are missing. I see a pained look, and tears on Paul’s face. Something must have happened, while I was racing ahead. I come to a stop, looking over at the roof’s edge. I’m trying to come up with some plan to get us out of this. We have the upper hand now. We can do this.

  When everyone is finally on the roof together, I look from face to face. There is blood, sweat, and tears on each one I know. Paul comes to stand beside me, as one of the final men move near me. He has a hungry look on his face, as I take in his features in the gathering darkness around us on the roof.

  He has long blonde hair, it’s curly. It is pulled into a man-bun. I can see some amateur tattoos coming out of his shirt, creeping up his neck, as he takes me in with his toothy smile. I can see that’s he’s missing two of his front teeth. He’s tall, with an angular jaw, a pointed nose, and pale, pale skin. He looks underweight, like someone who hasn’t eaten healthy in a long time. I make a mental judgment. This man is high on something.

  “Leave us alone now. We don’t have to fight anymore” I say to him suddenly. This time I’m not naïve enough to think it’ll make any difference, but I’m searching for some tell. I’m trying to get a read on him.

  “Are you really that dumb boy?” he asks me, spitting on the ground at my feet. I can see him leaning on his left side, testing the weight of his body. He’s going to jump soon, and he’s going to jump directly at me. I’m ready. I keep my eyes on him, as I muster up my most pleading voice. I crinkle my eyes, and turn to him, with a look of pain on my face.

  “Nobody else has to die. Aren’t enough people dying already?” I ask him, and he squints at me, as if seeing through my act. I know the moment is coming, so I gently nudge for Paul to step away. He hesitates, making me worry he will ruin the plan. Then he takes two steps to the right, out of reach of me. I shudder.

  The man looks at me, his smile growing even wider, exposing more missing teeth. I know it’s coming. I know he’s about to attempt to tackle me, to kill me. He thinks I’m the leader, the most dangerous target. I shiver at the reason he believes this. I’ve now killed six people in two days. I’m dangerous.

  He jumps, his entire body thrown into the tackle, but I was expecting it. I step aside, as he crashes right past me, and collides with the wall. I’m also ready for this, as I step back to him, in his daze, and tip him over the edge. A moment of silence passes, before the sound of his body colliding with the concrete forty feet below us fills the night.

  Seven people. I just killed my seventh person. I turn to the last two men, just as the retaliation happens. The man standing in front of Ryan pulls out a handgun, and shoots Dan right in the face. He is thrown backward a couple feet and lands on his back in front of me. His eyes are open, his heart beating no more. A small hole between his eyes, is pouring blood. The blood of his life. He’s dead. Gone, forever.

  I look from Dan’s lifeless body, his open eyes to the man who just killed him. There are only two of them left, but now we’ve lost two of ours by my count, as well as the possible loss of Lana and Thomas. I’m not sure of how to proceed. We stare at each other. Seven strangers. Blood on all our hands.

  “This has to end. We’re all gonna end up dying” I plead, for real this time. The two men look unmoved. That’s when I see one of them lower their gun. Maybe, just maybe we can end this before anyone else has to die.

  “You just killed six of our people on your own buddy. We’re not leaving here with you alive” the man who killed Dan says, his voice filled with grief. I wonder who I killed that was unforgivable to him. Maybe, a brother.

  I’m just about to plead with him, when he pulls his gun up to point directly at me. He pulls the trigger, the deafening sound filling the air, but then in a blur of limbs, Riley tackles him over the edge of the building. The bullet misses by a few inches.

  I see the look of shock, of fear, when her body goes over too. She was trying to manage something like I did with the other man, but she’s too small, not strong enough, so she goes too far. She seems suspended there for a moment, before they both disappear from view. I scream out in utter agony, life ending pain fills me then. I nearly collapse.

  I run to the roof, just as they land on the ground. I see for the first time that it’s a basketball court. An outdoor court that is fenced in. With utter relief, I see Riley sit up. The two men are dead, but miraculously my sister survived. I turn to face the others, just as the last man takes off running.

  I’m not sure if he’s running for safety, or if he’s running to finish off my sister, so I take off running after him. I make it to the stairs just behind him, so I run after him. I’m just making it to the bottom of the stairs, when shock fills within me. Peyton and Lily are running down the hall at us. They were supposed to be safe; they were supposed to stay hidden.

  They scream something at me, but the man is getting too much of a lead, so I chase him down the hall. We come to the stairwell, just as the rest of the group catches up. We make it down the stairs and are just opening the door to the second floor, when a large group of armed military men file into the room.

  Their guns are pointed directly at us, so I do the first thing that comes to mind. I raise my hands in surrender. This is the military after all. They’re here to save us. Maybe this will be the end of all this zombie garbage. I see the rest of our group drop their weapons, raising our hands in surrender, hoping to be saved.

  “Put your hands up right now” the commander screams, anger in his voice. I notice then that the last man from the gang is standing there, his gun trained at them. I want to warn him, to tell him to please put his weapon down. He needs to choose life over revenge, life over power. He is the only one who ran, instead of killing. He can survive.

  I’m just about to say something, when the man lowers his gun. He drops it to the floor. I relax, looking around. There is a window nearby, and I can see if Riley is still okay or not. Something tells me to stay put though. There are too many guns trained on us, for me to make any sudden movements.

  “Look, if you could just let me…” the man says, his lowered weapon on the floor. He steps over it, his hands up in surrender, as he talks. The shots ring out then, riddling him with a dozen bullets. He drops like a rag doll, his bloodied body on the floor before us. I look in horror, as the men in unison lower their weapons, the commander turning back to us. He has a malicious smile on his face. I feel my stomach twist in fear. I thought we were saved, but something gives me a horrible feeling. Something tells me we are worse off with the military here, than when we were fighting the gang to the death. Something tells me some bad stuff is about to go down.

  THIRTY-FIVE

 
; We continue to stand there, looking down at the body of the unarmed man they just killed. Something tells me that we are no safer now, than we were with the gang. I’m not sure of what to do, but Riley may need medical help. She fell forty feet and somehow survived the fall, but it’s impossible for her to be perfectly fine right? I raise my hand higher, for them to see it.

  My sister, she fell from the building, but she’s alive. She’s in the basketball…” I begin, my voice rising an octave with the nerves in my stomach. I look to the commander, but when his men point their guns at me, I stop mid-sentence. Would they really shoot me just for talking? Something tells me they definitely would.

  “What do you want us to do with them sir?” one of the men asks, his face turned directly at me, as he speaks. He gives me a scowl, as the words leave his lips. What could I have possibly done to this man to anger him so much? Maybe, he saw me throw a man off the roof? I remind myself that it was self-defense. I was protecting myself.

  I try to look around them, to see Emily’s body, but there are too many of them. I can’t make out anything behind them. I look back to the commander then, before deciding I need to speak again.

  “You can’t shoot us, just for asking questions. What are we doing here? Why are we being detain-,” I begin to say, my bravery escalating in the moment. The commander paces over to me, while I’m speaking and backhands me across the face. My words die there in my mouth, as blood fills it. I look up at him with disgust. How can he abuse his power like this? Fear grips me in that moment.

  I’ve read all kinds of stories about war criminals. What if this man is like that? What if he and his men are just horrible people abusing the power they were given? I answer my own question. It’s not a good answer. It’s a fear inducing, stomach lurching answer. We will all die terrible deaths.