Page 53 of Huntress

“I’m not talking about Mutt.”

“I’ll go after him,” Morgan said.

“Leave him, Morgan, I need you with me,” Elsie ordered. If Mutt wanted to run for it, she wouldn’t stop him. Whatever happened going forward, he’d taken his freedom and safety into his own hands. “We have more important things to worry about.”

Morgan’s brows furrowed, and the look in his eye was one shade away from a promise of mutiny. Elsie gritted her teeth; they needed to be running!

“Captain, you can’t let him run away! Not with everything he’s seen and heard?!” Grady shouted, aghast at her attitude. Elsie didn’t even glance back at him.

“He is not the issue at hand, the rats are, and the bastards are a hell of a lot smarter than we gave them credit for.”

“What do you mean?” Grady asked, working twice as hard to keep up with her.

“The rats are a symptom, not the disease, and we missed it. We didn’t catch on because we trusted our source of information,” Elsie said while running full tilt toward the barrier. “They used the rats as a distraction, the real threat is the demon that’s infiltrated the inside. Franklin and Jeshua sent us to slaughter.”

Even while running, Grady went pale. “One of the nest’s hunters is a demon?! How did we not notice?”

‘Mutt noticed,’ Elsie thought to herself bitterly, then said aloud, “At least one of them, and I have a suspect in mind.”

“Are you saying they knew we’d come out here?” Morgan asked.

“I’m saying they manipulated the information given to us, so we’d end up on the wrong side of the barrier–without our witch–leaving them inside of it with all those humans. And they managed to convince us it was our own idea. Think about it. Who tried to stop us from collapsing those tunnels?”

“Fuck,” Grady puffed.

They ran hard, and Elsie cursed herself for leaving the trucks behind, remembering who’d suggested it. Talbot. He’d claimed the ruts and holes in the dead zone were too hard on the vehicles and they didn’t have enough maintenance people. The asshole was definitely in on it. Or at least taking orders. Grady realized it at the same time she did. A scowl darkened his features, and he didn’t say anything else until they reached the barrier.

Elsie cursed when they ran up to it, skidding to a stop. The blue dome fizzed with angry energy, promising a nasty shock to anyone who tried touching it. They were locked out.

“What are we supposed to do now?” Grady asked.

“We get Morgan to break that fucking barrier down, and then we regroup,” she answered with a frown.

Morgan gave her a nod. The sniper was capable of using his own magic because his ego wasn’t too massive to stop him from taking lessons from Perrie.

That peculiar feeling of being watched intensified. Elsie looked back toward the treeline. She stared hard, convinced something would come through at any moment, and it wouldn’t be Mutt.

Crack!

Something snapped a tree branch. Both Morgan and Grady looked over, frowns on their faces. Wild animals rarely came close to the dead zones surrounding the nests, a phenomenon that had been studied over a decade ago. They’d concluded that ancestral memory was hard-wired into the DNA of wild animals, teaching them before they were even born to avoid the dangers of humanity.

Demons and magical creatures only made noise when they wanted to be noticed. A shadow shifted, flitting between one tree and another. It happened again a few seconds later. Elsie’s eyes refocused, taking in the woods before them. The hair on her arm rose as she realized what she was looking at.

She swallowed hard and took a few steps forward, placing herself between the threat and her squad members. Not that it would do much. They were in for the fight of their lives, and she couldn’t protect them from the hoard staring them down.

The rats had an army. Now she knew why there was no trace of the previous squad who’d attempted to eradicate the problem. They’d been completely decimated.

Elsie’s squad was scattered, but even if all eight of them stood beside her, she wasn’t confident that they’d survive the day. Lifting her radio and pressing the button, she gave instructions.

Mutt

Adrenaline rushed through his veins, and he ran as though the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels. He couldn’t believe he’d gotten away with it.

He’d thought his life was over. There were instances when he’d believed he’d never get away from that bitch and her lackeys. More than once he’d considered ending his own existence and taking the nine of them with him. Only the thought of how heartbroken his mother would have been over it had stopped him.

Those dark thoughts had stayed with him right up until he’d seen that massive pile of bones. Humans, demons, spirits–all discarded without respect or care.

His father had been the lord of their pack. A strong man with stronger morals. As much as he hated to admit it, his father would not have allowed the rats to taste another breath after finding that dumping ground either. He’d kept life in their little patch of the world peaceful, regardless of what others thought.