Page 82 of Hunt Me
My head lowers for a moment as I try to collect myself. I’ve felt rage before but never on this level, and it has never held this amount of terror with it. It feels like someone is holding a boulder on my chest, and every minute that goes by without finding Fauna adds another weight. The only thing keeping me up right now is knowing that the sooner these rats are gone, the quicker I will have my little deer in my arms again.
My lungs expand with a breath that fails to fill them fully, and I turn to face Liam. His expression is hard, not wanting to give anything away to me, but I’ve known him for long enough to know what he’s thinking.
What if we’re too late?
I can’t allow myself to go down the same route. Fauna is a fighter, and there is no way she would go easy on any of them.
I motion towards the next connecting tunnel. With all the adrenaline rushing through me, there is no time to rest. I will not rest until I have found her.
??
The smell gets worse the further we go and the less human each of these sewer rats seems to become. Their movements are animalistic, some in the way that they use their arms to aid them in walking, whereas others attack like rabid beings. They use bones as weapons, ones that have been sharpened, and if I didn’t feel like a monster working on instinct, I might cringe at the sight.
The horrors we find in each room become worse than I could have imagined, and with each body I cut down, I see more appear.
Please baby, please be okay. I silently beg as more rancid blood sprays at me as I rip an axe from a rat's chest.
I look to Liam, us no longer using words to communicate. It has been a while since there has been anything useful to say, and now it is at the point where I don’t dare to open my mouth out of fear that my voice will crack with emotion. The only time I speakis to interrogate one of the worthless creatures we come across, and each one doesn’t seem to know shit. They just beg me. It’s becoming annoying, and instead of trying to get any more information out of them, I don’t wait a second before I end their disgusting existence. Liam hasn’t tried to stop me; he knows better than to try. So we keep moving from tunnel to tunnel in search of my girl.
Chapter Thirty-three
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Fauna
‘You stupid cow! Get the door shut and the room ready.’A screeching voice stirs me from my grogginess.‘They’re coming. Don’t be stupid and get us killed. I want him to find them with her.’
‘What are you… No, I don’t want—’
‘Quit whining,’the watery voice screeches again, and the distinct sound of a slap rings out.
My eyelids take some time to respond to my brain’s instructions. They are heavy and swollen as they struggle to open, but when they finally do, a small part of my stomach sinks.
Two filthy women stand at the end of a small room, arguing. An oil burner sits on a small table next to them, illuminating the room's decorations. Rugs cover the concrete flooring, and tapestries hang across the walls. The distinct smell of dampness and mould choaks the room.
Rapid movement from the doorway draws my attention back to them, and I recognise one of the women. She’s the one that attacked me, twice. Her forearm is still wrapped tightly around her midsection, and her skin looks clammy and green despite the orange hues from the lamp.
‘Stop it. Get out! Just get out,’the smaller of the two pleads.
The one who is half dressed must be the one this room belongs to, her purple robe more in fitting with the brightly coloured decorations. She somehow looks cleaner despite living in the sewers. Her skin looks red and irritated, almost as if she has scrubbed it raw, and instead of dirt and boils like the others, it seems like every touch is scorching her. The young woman looks so out of place compared to the rest of the people down here.
Mag, the one that took me, pulls a weapon and my stomach churns as I look over the sharpened bone. She waves it threateningly in her right hand.
‘Listen to me, you whiney slut. We’ve let you live here because you sort them out but don’t think I won’t fucking cut you to pieces if you don’t listen to me.’
Sort them out?
They stand silently, challenging one another for a moment. Just as I think the one in the purple robes gives in, she screams, reaching desperately to knock the weapon out of Mag’s hand. Their bodies smack against either side of the door, moving too quickly for me to make out what is going on.
I take the distraction as my opportunity to escape, but a quick look around shows only one entrance and exit, the one right next to my very angry abductor.
I groan; how do I get myself in these situations?
Mag gets the upper hand, her frame easily overpowering the smaller woman as she knocks her to the floor, slicing the sharpened bone across her cheek. I expect the girl to wince, but she doesn’t even blink at the abuse; she just watches as the woman’s irritation grows.
‘He done this to me,’Mag gestures to her weeping stomach and I consider who she could be.
Is she one of the people Ruaridh and I had run into when we were in the sewers a few days ago? It's safe to say the apocalypse only made people more vengeful. How long had she been following us for her to find me? Had she been there the entire time? I curse myself for being too lax about feeling like I was being followed. It is my fault she found me and the girls. My fault she attacked Isla.
