Page 84 of Hunt Me

She prowls between them, taking in each one as if trying to memorise how each of them looks now. Or more accurately how exactly each one of them died.

Then she takes the oil burner in the corner and smashes it into the last body she studies, this one I notice she kept for last, purposely passing by him to return later.

Flames illuminate her face, and I can’t help but stare as I watch some emotion work its way to the surface. The flames shine in the depths of her pain filled eyes.

Then, as if we never came across them, we leave them to burn.

Chapter Thirty-four

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Ruaridh

Another dead end.

My molar cracks with the force I clench down.

I point down another corridor.

‘We’re going in circles. Let’s stop for a sec—’

‘I am not stopping.’

We’ve cut through too many groups to slow down now. She must be here and she must be close.

Liam sighs but follows me into the next tunnel. This one lit with the glowing orange of a fire at the end of it.

I pick up my pace.

‘Wait,’Liam whisper shouts at me as he pulls me into the wall before I can charge into yet another group.‘Listen,’he looks at me eyes imploring.

I strain my hearing, focusing on what other noises are around us. Since the raging in my head began when Fauna was takenI’ve not allowed myself to hear much. My fury is too loud, but also my undeniable fear of being able to hear her screams like I heard Isla’s has been my brain's way of protecting me from what may come.

Isla lives, and so will my little dear.

‘Where’s this new bitch?’one voice asks, and my entire body goes cold.

Liam stiffens beside me.

No. They can’t be talking about what I think they are.

‘Wha?’

‘Old bat was screaming about bringing a new hole.’

‘Bout time. That one is getting used up. She’s no fun now she’s stopped screamin. Like a good fight me.’

‘Aye, I like em broken—’

Neither Liam nor I wait to listen more; done with hearing their vulgar conversation, we step around the corner looking like the human carnation of the apocalypse. We do not allow abusers to live in this world. Their gift of surviving the virus is completely wasted on the lowlifes that they are.

‘What did you just say?’I seethe with calm destruction in my voice.

Three men, all noticeably bigger than the ones we have come across so far, sit lounging on cushioned chairs far too extravagant to be found in such a vile place as the sewers beneath the city. Vermin sat on their perches.

None of them get up; they don’t even try to move. Instead, they look both of us up and down. Every single person in this city, no matter how vile they are, knows who we are. Our masked facesare enough to identify what we represent, and to these rats, it is their end. They are just too self-absorbed to care.

‘You lost, Skull?’the piece of shit in the middle asks, his double chin wobbling as he half chuckles.