Page 10

CHAPTER 10

REDLEY

I swallow hard and gather my courage before looking down. The lantern may be turned low, but there’s plenty of light to see the dead expression on the Murphy kid's face. He’s about seventeen unless this is the fifteen-year-old. I can’t really tell them apart, nor do I have a damn clue what he did to cross the Wolf. Whatever it was, he won’t be repeating the mistake.

A deep gash separates the halves of his neck, nearly revealing bone. His blue eyes sit wide open in death, and blood dribbles out of his lips. He’s not been gone long, but there sure as hell isn’t any bringing him back. My heart cries for him, but my eyes don’t. At a certain point, you’ve seen enough death that no matter how sad it is, it just doesn’t affect you like that. Imagining his mom messes with me, though. Could I have stopped all this had I just gone with him when he asked?

Your fault as much as mine. My stomach turns with my guilt and the weight of that responsibility. This time, I don’t manage to keep the bile down, and I puke a few feet away from the dead kid. After I’ve emptied the contents of my stomach, I remain doubled over to catch my breath.

Exhaustion swamps me as well as a sense of duty I can’t possibly live up to. The kid is too heavy for me to carry out of here, but leaving him in the forest dead and alone where the animals can get to him feels wrong. There’s no way I can move him on my own, though. Even if I didn’t have the gun and lamp, he’s nearly six feet tall and strong.

I need help, and I really don’t have any other options but to ask. Someone will believe me this time. They have to. There’s a body with a cut throat. Either that or they’ll throw me in jail for the crime. Either way, they’re not ignoring this one.

“I’m really sorry, kid. I’ll be back,” I tell the corpse at my feet as I turn to the cabin.

I’ve not gone more than ten feet when a sinister laugh tickles the back of my neck. I spin, looking for its source. The lamp swings as I move, and the swaying beam reveals a massive shape about fifteen feet away at the edge of the lamplight. He’s nothing but a shadow, made bigger by a trick of the light. It’s been a long time since he’s let me see his face.

“Red,” he calls. “When are you going to realize? I’m the one hunting you.” He’s enjoying all the carnage he’s created.

I lift the gun and figure it doesn’t really matter if this bastard dies hard. I’ll shoot until the guns empty if that’s what it takes. I get off a shot, and it goes a mile wide. I swear I want to hit him. The gun kicks back. It has too much power for me, but I don’t break my wrist or anything.

“Redley, how are you so good with a bow and such a waste with a pistol?” He laughs. And how the hell does he know I’m good with a bow? Just how often is he watching me? “Maybe you should get yourself a smaller gun.”

Goddammit. I’m just as afraid as I was the first time I found him in my room, and I hate that no matter how much time passes or how much I hunt him, I’m still afraid.

“I’ll shoot you with the bow if you prefer, Wolf.”

He laughs as he slips back into the darkness so my only chance of hitting him is the equivalent of closing my eyes and praying.

“I love the way you flirt, Muffin. I bet I’d prefer the way you fuck.”

My cheeks burn, and I can barely wrap my tongue around my own thoughts to form words. In my moment of shock, I miss the faint whizzing sound until something hard hits my hand, and the gun goes flying.

“Dammit!” I shout. My hand throbs, jarred down to the bone. That’s going to leave a bruise. I don’t know what it was, but I suspect a rock. I don’t get a chance to find out for sure because his massive hand grabs my upper arm. I’ve been wondering for a long time when he would lose his patience and kill me. Too bad for him, I have no intention of dying.

I swing the lamp over my head like an axe and crack it over his shoulder, his head too high for me to reach. The glass shatters, the kerosene douses him, and the lit wick immediately catches. Fierce hope fills me, and for a stupid moment, I think I’ve won.

“Fuck! Fuck, Redley!” he screams at the top of his lungs.

Big hands pat the flames out faster than I could have guessed. The lamp must have been about to run out anyway. My brief swell of hope crashes, and he’s left fine once again. My satisfaction turns to bitter disappointment, the type of hatred that makes you someone else.

“Fuck, god-fucking-dammit!” he curses like the devil, and that’s the least of his sins. “That shit hurt! You’re going to pay for it.”

“Then make me pay for it!” I shout in pure rage, ready to die if putting me out of my misery is his plan after all this time.

“Don’t tempt me. Not when I have so many filthy things planned for you.” His voice sounds every bit as wicked as his words.

I swing a fist and find the darkness ahead of me once again empty.

“I’m going to kill you,” I promise the space.

“You’ll have to mean it first,” he taunts, but from the sound of his voice, he’s moving farther away. “Have a good night, Muffin. You’re going to have a long walk back in the dark.” His feet pound against the earth as he runs away.

I sigh as I come to terms with how right he is. This will be one hell of a walk back. My heart sits in my throat, and I’m so scared my entire body shakes. I bend down, hands extended, and sightlessly search the forest floor until I find the gun. Sweaty, desperate fingers hold it, and I wipe off the bracken. Thankfully, it didn’t land in my vomit.

“Are you there, Wolf?” I ask the darkness, sounding oddly hopeful. Thank God I get no answer because the last thing I need is him knowing I sometimes wonder if I made the wrong choice. Should I have saved everyone the trouble and just gone with him, or would that ultimately not have changed anything?

And why the hell can’t I shoot him?