Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 70

Mary paused outside the door leading into the forbidden zone, and looked up at the camera that was watching her. With a sad smile she pushed the door open.

In the auditorium, Max and Jerome were just finishing their supper. They had been discussing the ramifications of the new living quarters and how it was finally settling down, when an alarm went off. It was a short sharp buzz, but they both knew what it was immediately.

“Who would dare?” gasped Jerome in shock.

“It has to be either Mary or Lisa. They’re the only ones who know about it.”

Max was out of his chair, heading for the side of the stage as he spoke. Jerome quickly followed him.

Shoving the thick curtains aside, Max pushed a wooden board to the side and hit a buŧŧon. Mary appeared on the screen he had uncovered, smiling at them sadly.

“Mary?” whispered Jerome, still puzzled.

“You know what this means,” Max said, looking up at him.

Jerome nodded reluctantly, and pulled out a key. He handed it to Max and watched in silence as he inserted it into another he had pulled out of his own pocket. The two locked together, and became a much larger key. Before he could insert it into an opening just under the screen, a large bat came swinging out of the dark.

Lisa stood breathing hard, as Jerome shouted and jumped to flee. Max slumped to the floor, blood pouring from a wound to his head.

Not giving him a moment to spare, she swung again, but missed as he dodged under the bat. He went to jump off the stage, but Gavyn grabbed his arm and jerked him back away from the edge. Alex stepped out from behind the curtain where they must have been watching, and glanced at his dad. Worry was etched into his face, and it was obvious he wanted to see if he was dead.

Lisa didn’t hesitate and swung the bat as soon as Jerome was close enough, hitting him hard enough, he went flying out of Gavyn’s grasp.

It was obvious from the angle he landed that he wasn’t getting up again.

“Clean it up, and dump his body in the pit.”

Gavyn nodded at her words, taking the bat from her. Alex watched as she approached Max, nudging him with her foot. A groan from him had her waving Alex over, who rushed to his dad’s side.

“Take him to the hospital and see to it he stays there. That probably gave him a concussion and will need to be watched for brain bleeding.”

Alex nodded at her words, and with Nathen helping, they dragged him away.

Lisa glanced at the screen that showed Mary smiling at the camera, and slid the wood back into place. She then picked up the keys and slid them into her pocket before turning to leave.

Mary stepped lightly down the damp stairs until she reached the bottom where a concrete hallway opened up before her. She didn’t hesitate to follow it by the light of bȧrė bulbs hanging from the ceiling. At the second door to her left, she paused and touched the door gently, before continuing on down the hall. At the end, she turned right and opened the door that lay there. A series of stairs led even deeper into the ground, but she ignored them, opening the door that was opposite this one.

Stepping into the dim room, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dim glow of the computer before her. Sitting down gingerly in the ancient chair, she reached out and touched a key on the keyboard.

A prompt appeared.

-Who is this?

She hesitated before responding.

-I’m interested in trade.

-What kind of trade?

-Are you interested in humans?

-Possibly, how many?

-Hundreds…

-Sex, ages?

-All.

She thought carefully how to answer the question before she finally typed.

-I want to be in charge of the people that remain.

-Ah, a power struggle.

-Yes.

There was a long pause and she began to get nervous.

-I want females. Lots of them. And infants under the age of one.

She chewed on her cheek. This wasn’t the answer she wanted.

-What about males?

-I would be interested in a few, but not many. Where are you located?

-I can deliver them to you, if you have Slavers ready to ambush them.

-That will be difficult if I don’t know where you are.

Mary typed in a location north of them. It was just close enough, people could get there in a day, but would be too difficult for wagons to navigate to get here.

-That location will be sufficient. When do you want to initiate the trade?

-In one weeks time.

-We will be waiting.

Turning in her chair, she stood up and left the room. The computer cursor blinked for a while, before the computer powered down into standby mode once again.

Nathan glanced at Alex over Max’s head.

“I thought they were just going to be placed in jail. I didn’t think she was actually going to kill Jerome.”

Alex was trying not to cry, so he didn’t answer right away.

“I just hope my dad is okay.”

“Dude, this is way over the line, and you know it.”

“I know, but what are we going to do? Gavyn’s totally in line with his mother, probably sick in the head from all that stuff he puts in his hair. They have some of the guards in on it, and we don’t know which ones. If we try to do anything now, we might end up in the hospital next.”

“My mom’s all sorts of messed up, but I’m not okay with killing people. Monsters maybe, but not people.”

“I know. Let’s get my dad to the doctors and see if we can find Rick. He should know that his dad’s…” Alex couldn’t finish the sentence.

Nathan nodded, and they continued the rest of the way in silence.