Page 86 of Hunt Me
I don’t blame her. It’s not like we had time to become friends whilst I was caving my abductor's face in and she was setting her rapist’s corpses on fire. Still, my chest hurts for her and how she’s all alone.
Ruaridh’s fingers grip my chin, bringing my gaze up to meet familiar forest-green eyes — eyes that feel like they are trying to look deep into my soul.
‘They hurt you,’his words are so quiet I’m unsure if he realises he’s spoken out loud. It's more like he’s saying it in a way that processes it.
I tug at the stiff fabric of his mask in silent request, and he answers me immediately. The blood-covered mask slips backwards, revealing the sharp features of Ruaridh’s face. He doesn’t try to hide his anger, and it doesn’t look like he could even if he wanted to. His jaw is sharp and defined with the way he is clenching it, and a worry line I’ve never seen before is between his eyebrows.
The concern radiating from him has me fully melting into his body, unable to hold myself up any longer.
I’m in pain, so much pain. Both physically and mentally.
I feel my body convulse with emotion, but I don’t allow a sound to escape me. I will not let this place take anything from me. It does not deserve the privilege of hearing me cry. And over my dead body will I ever allow these assholes to be near me whilst I crumble, even if they are too dead to witness it.
Ruaridh threads an arm around my back whilst the other hooks beneath my legs, slotting behind my knees as he lifts me into a cradle.
‘Come on, baby. Let’s go home.’He whispers into my hair, placing a soft kiss to my forehead.
Ruaridh explains that the other skull with him is his closest friend, Liam. Silently, they communicate with one another as we begin to move.
None of us say anything as Ruaridh guides us down the tunnels. How he knows where to go is a mystery to me but his steps are confident, never feeling like we are walking in circles or getting turned around.
I trust Ruaridh. He’s come after me twice now, and I see how different he is from the stories we’ve heard. He might have a reputation as a monster, but to me he is far from one. The creatures here are monsters; someone like Ruaridh who kills them is not.
I can’t shake the need to watch where we are going.
We don’t come across anyone else. No one alive anyway.
The first lot of bodies he walks us past look like quick kills, all with chest wounds and the occasional one to the head. But the further through we go the more apparent it becomes that these ones were more calculated in how they killed them. Hacked-offlimbs lie near bloodless bodies, the expression of terror staining their faces for eternity.
Each room we pass through emphasises how serious Ruaridh’s words were when he said he would find me no matter what. Each life he has mercilessly cut through all to get to me.
It is clear that Ruaridh and Liam, in their search for me, had tortured these people. Then, for whatever reason, whether it be finding the information they needed or just giving up, they began hacking through people like they were nothing but objects in their way.
My skin prickles at the evidence of how far he will go to get me. And judging by the evidence of dead bodies he left in his wake, there are not many limits to it either.
He warned me against leaving him that I am his and he will never let me go, but it has never fully sunk in until now.
Ruaridh tightens his grip on me as if reading my thoughts, confirming that I’m not getting away. And now I’m starting to accept that I don’t want to.
‘Hold onto me,’guiding my arms around his neck, hugging my hands together in a secure grip as he adjusts my body so I’m wrapped around his front.
The rising sun greets us as we begin our climb up a rusted metal ladder.
It's impressive how Ruaridh manages to manoeuvre us both upwards through the narrow space, but the scraping sound coming from his back causes me to pause. I try to sneak a peek over his shoulder, but Ruaridh grunts as I wiggle for a look.
‘Try not to move, baby.’His breath is hot as he pants into my neck.
I tuck myself back into the crook of his chest, but not before I catch a quick look at what’s happening. Ruaridh’s broad shoulders are wedged against the rounded brick wall, scraping against it with each move upwards. I try to make myself smaller to make it easier for him to move, but it doesn’t make much of a difference.
He must notice my attempts, stopping for a second to nuzzle the top of my head and placing a small kiss there in reassurance.
It’s lighter now that we’re almost at the top, the sun's yellow glow a bright welcome out of the darkness.
‘I was down there all night?’
‘Umhm,’Ruaridh’s climbing speeds up, and we lift out onto the road. His hands cradle the back of me, pulling me into him as if he wants to shelter me with as much of him as possible. Seeing no immediate threat I feel him look down at me, eyes as deep as a forest boring into my own.‘You should never have been down there with any of them. I’m so sorry, little deer.’
Tears blur my vision as I finally let my warring emotions take over. It’s all been so much these past couple of days, but despite it all, all I want is to be here in his arms.
