Page 56 of Cruel (Brutal Academy)

"Yeah, you too," she whispered.

If I didn't know better, I'd think she was being sentimental. I couldn't think about that right now. Even if she was, it didn't change anything. Once we dealt with this, the competition would continue and things would get brutal. Right now, I had to focus on tonight and getting through this with me and my guys intact.

We kept to the shadows, moving as silently as a group of about fifteen people could. Granted, all of us were trained for things like this. To fight, to kill.

Chloe and I had handled guns since before we could walk. I had no doubt Hunter knew exactly how to use a fucking rocket launcher. If anyone could, it would be him. And he'd laugh while doing it. That was all kinds of fucked up, but I loved it.

Gunshots rang out again from inside the Academy building. A couple of people shouted. The sound of running footsteps was cut short by another shot.

"It sounds like they're hunting them down," Slade said. His voice was ice cold fury. That was sexy as hell. Hearing him sound so protective made the pulse in my clit pound harder.

"At the risk of sounding cliché, the hunter just became the prey." Hunter brandished the rocket launcher. "And this Hunter loves nothing more than a good hunt."

"It's not fair that you got a cooler name than I did," Parker told him.

"When this is over, you can change your name to Tracker, if you want," Hunter said.

"Hmmm, I'll think about it." Parker didn't sound convinced.

Slade shook his head at him, gripped his gun in both hands and started up the steps.

CHAPTER21

PARKER

I kept close to Lila as we moved through the corridors. Every now and again, a shot would ring out, or a scream or shout would come from somewhere else in the building. They'd only last for a second or two before fading into silence again. That made it difficult to pin down the exact location of the attackers. They seemed to be moving through the building, some on the bottom floor, some on the second.

"Someone get the—" a voice shouted from up ahead. Whatever else he said, I couldn't make it out. He was definitely only ten or fifteen metres ahead of us. This part of the school contained the classrooms. At a guess, they were in one of the chemistry labs.

"This way," Slade whispered. "There has to be at least two of them in there."

"This wasn't what we were sent here for," a second voice said.

"Who cares?" said a third. "We can just… Did you hear something?"

Slade lunged toward the doorway, Hunter and I on his heels. Zachary and Dane weren't far behind.

Slade was illuminated by the light from the attackers. He raised his gun and fired.

A grunt and a thud said he hit his mark. He ducked sideways, narrowly missing return fire.

I got off a couple of shots. The first missed, but the second took an attacker right in the stomach. He cried out in pain and doubled over before falling to the floor.

The next thing I knew, Zachary was standing shoulder to shoulder with me, taking out the third asshole with a neat shot right through the centre of his forehead.

"Dude, nice shot." I didn't like the guy, but I had to give him credit. It was a better shot than mine.

"I have skills." Zachary shrugged.

Dane stepped into the room and ended the moaning of the guy shot in the stomach. A shot to the left side of his chest left the room in a few moments of silence.

"Three down, nine to go," Hunter said.

"What exactly are you going to do with that thing?" I ask him. "You can't use it without destroying half the school."

"It's a last resort," he told me. "If I have to decimate the place to get rid of the infestation of invaders, that's what I'll do."

"You've been watching too many science-fiction movies," Dane told him.

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