He hesitates, then nods against my arm. “They’re nobodies. Just lowlife scum. We’re just doing them a favor. Ending their misery.”
Blinding rage sweeps through me. The utility knife with the rusty blade is burning a hole in my palm.
He jolts when I stick it in his groin.
“Wh… what?” He gasps.
“That’s for Jade.” I jerk the blade sideways, slicing through his femoral artery.
“You. You cut me,” he whimpers. “I need a medic.”
I laugh crudely, dropping him onto the ground as the scent of blood fills the air. He scrambles to put pressure on his groin, but it won’t help.
“Scary shit, huh? Don’t you wish you would have heard me coming?” I wipe the blade on the ground and retract it back into the casing.
He’s crying, shuddering, reaching for me with a bloody hand with his pants still around his thighs, his artery pumping faster. “Help me!”
“Enjoy hell. I’ll send your buddies along real soon.”
“No. No! Don’t leave me.”
I pick up his rifle and inspect it. “Nice. I’ll put this to good use tonight—delivering justice. Oh, and thanks for the Glock too.”
I hold up the pistol he didn’t even know I swiped from the holster on his hip.
He’s lying flat now. Gasping like a fish out of water.
While he’s still holding onto the last ounces of his humanity, I step close and rip off his shirt—the one that matches all the other hunters.
In a backpack, he’s carrying a satellite phone, water, and extra ammo, first aid kit. Other things I don’t have time to inspect.
I toss the red kit to him. “You wanted a medic? Here’s some gauze and bandaids.”
The cell phone from his pack is unlocked. An app is open. On the screen are six blinking beacons. The hunters. They’re scattered over the mountain. Converging on the old marijuana grow. There’s a pin drop there too. The last place our collars transmitted.
I need to get to Jade. She’s not close to the grow, but anywhere in this forest it’s too fucking close.
Glazed eyes follow me, but the hunter’s body as limp as his dick. Too weak to move. Blood’s not spurting now, it’s oozing from his exposed groin.
In the dim light of the redwood forest it’s not even red. It’s just another shade of dark, soaking into a forest floor.
It gives me no pleasure watching him take his last breath. Nothing will give me relief until we’re off this mountain.
I don’t check his pulse. Don’t even look his way again as I pull on his shirt.
It’s still warm. That should bother a decent human. Too bad that person is long fucking gone.
I shoulder the strap on his rifle, shove the Glock in my waistband, and turn down the mountain with one purpose—get to Jade.
This time, I follow a direct route down. Moving through the undergrowth, cutting along the edge of a burn scar with ghostly tree skeletons.
The hair on my nape rises, causing me to stop.
I scan my surroundings. Search the opening between the trees, and finally look up.
Fuck. I know what that sound is now.
Over the ridge rises a black helicopter sporting only minimal lighting. One fast pass, it shudders the trees and drops low to sweep down the ridge.
