Page 9 of Hunter’s Valentine (Xarc’n Warriors)

I looked up at the sky in dismay. The snow was coming down, and it was coming down hard. The wind had picked up too, and the heavy, wet flakes was snowing sideways.

I decided to take my chances and get as far as I could on two wheels before the weather made it impossible. I prayed to whatever deity that was listening that it would just be a small snow, but nobody answered my prayers.

I’d expected the freezing cold; it was winter, after all. I’d even expected the snow. But I hadn’t expected the wind to be so strong that it threatened to topple me over with every gust. It slowed me down so much it felt like I was pedaling through molasses.

Eventually, I reluctantly admitted defeat. Mother nature had won this round and I had no choice but to stop. I’d made good time after the hunt yesterday, since all the bugs in the area were gone. I’d stopped for the night at a little motel by the side of the road and had started out at first light, eager to make up the distance I’d lost yesterday while with Mur’k.

I wondered what he was doing now. Probably setting up for his next hunt. Did Xarc’n warriors do that during snowstorms? Or did they spend them warm and cozy in their shuttles?

Man! To be in that shuttle right now! So much better than out here with the wind whipping snow in my face.

I turned into the parking lot of a mall that looked like it had seen better days. It was a small mall with all the necessities to serve the neighborhood. Even from the outside it looked rundown, and I knew I’d find relics from the 80’s and 90’s once I stepped inside.

I sheltered under the overhang for a moment, wondering if this was a good idea. Something niggled at the back of my mind, as if I was missing something. Then I remembered. This area on the updated map had been shadowed gray. I hadn’t been able to read the alien glyphs, so I didn’t know what that meant. I’d noticed that the area around my old bunker had been gray too. Did that mean there were human inhabitants here?

Fuck.

What a horrible place to be stranded in a storm. If there was anything I’d learned, it was that other survivors could be just as dangerous as the bugs. If anything, I’d been lucky to bump into Mur’k because at least I knew that a Xarc’n warrior wouldn’t try to eat me for dinner. Well, not literally, anyway.

What were the chances the survivors here were friendly? Knowing my luck, pretty damn slim.

But despite my misgivings, this mall was my only choice. The last shelter before this had been a ransacked feed shop that someone had driven a truck into. It wouldn’t protect me from the elements, and it was a little ways back. Given how hard the snow was coming down and how much the temperature had dropped, I didn’t think I’d make it. I was already shivering, and my teeth chattered so loudly that Mur’k could probably hear it from his shuttle. If I didn’t get inside now, the cold would be the end of me.

I tried to tell myself it would be fine, that while malls had been dangerous during the start of the apocalypse, they were safer now since they’d long been looted. There was no reason for anyone to be inside unless they were living in it. If there were permanent inhabitants here, there would be signs on the outside, like piles of refuse.

If there was no one in it, that meant no bugs either, since the bugs’ only job was to feed.

Deciding to be extra safe, I braved the freezing cold for a little longer and continued to walk around the building with my bike. Nope. No garbage piles, or anything else suggesting that there were survivors here.

I went back to the entrance and found an unlocked door. I opened it just enough to roll my bike inside. As expected, premillennial decor greeted me. This place hadn’t been updated in decades. It had probably been falling apart even before the bugs and the apocalypse had been the final nail on the proverbial coffin.

There was a strange smell in the place—almost like the bugs, but not quite. That had me on edge, but then again so did the storm outside. I wasn’t sure if I hadn’t lost the tips on my ears to frostbite already. They were hurting like a mofo as they warmed up. The tips of my fingers too.

I had to take my chances. I didn’t barge in yelling “Is anyone there?” at the top of my lungs like they did in horror films. If I stayed quiet and near one of the doors, whatever was in here wouldn’t notice me. At least, it was what I told myself.

Who knew? Maybe there was no one here at all, and I was just scaring myself.

I cringed at the loud squeak my wet boots made as I stepped off the carpet and onto the tile floor. I carefully stepped back onto the carpet and dried my shoes off as best I could before wheeling my bike into a nearby store and ducking behind the counter, hoping to god that the noise of my shoes hadn’t given me away.

I double-checked to make sure my bike hadn’t left a trail. It hadn’t. Good.

It took all of five minutes for me to realize that I wasn’t alone. Three human forms came down the main corridors, walking right past the shop I was in. They didn’t look friendly. And they didn’t look healthy either. One of the women seemed almost normal but there were sores on her face and a wild look in her eyes. The other two, a man and a woman, looked almost like zombies from a movie. They shuffled instead of walked , and they had sores all over. One of them had bloodshot eyes, and the other’s were glazed over with a white substance.

Jesus! They stank too.

Not the stink of not washing for weeks; I was used to that, being in the bunker. These people smelled like the bugs.

I held my breath to prevent myself from coughing and giving myself away. Before the internet went down, I saw a video of a lion that had been like this. It was surmised that it had caught a disease from eating the bugs.

“Someone was here,” said the woman.

The other two didn’t reply but made unintelligible noises.

“It’s colder in here,” the woman continued. “The door was open. And I see footprints. Hopefully this one will have some meat on him. I’m hungry.”

I shuddered. So, cannibals then. Well, at least there was no question if they were hostile or not. No point in trying to be nice.

Instinctively, I swung my rifle forward. The two zombie-like ones were slow-moving, but who knew, maybe they got a sudden burst of speed if they found prey. Either way, they were going down if they so much as looked at me.

I was hoping they’d skip over the shop I was in, but no such luck. I decided to take a stand as soon as they walked into the store.

“Stop, or I will shoot,” I announced from behind the counter, aiming my weapon at them.

The woman that looked the most normal paused, but not the other two. They continued toward me, foaming at the mouth and salivating like they’d scented prey.

I didn’t have time to think. Just like during the bug attack, I let my training at the range take over.

Breathe in.

Relax.

Aim.

Breathe out.

Squeeze the trigger.

Keep squeezing to follow through.

The shot rang out loudly through the store, and the first guy who had been coming toward me fell to the ground. He must have been ready to fall apart anyway, because his insides splattered everywhere, like he’d stepped on a land mine.

I retched at the disgusting stench that filled the air.

Oh god!

Even if I got out of here alive, I’d probably die because I’d caught whatever he had. But I didn’t have time to think about that. Because his zombie woman friend was coming my way.

Instead of attacking me, though, she dropped to the ground in front of him and started eating him, gut first, like she was one of the bugs. I wanted to hurl.

The woman that still seemed most human ignored the macabre scene before us. Since her friend was distracted by the impromptu feast, I trained my weapon on her.

I can do this.

Breathe in.

Gag .

Unable to go through the full routine I just fired, hoping it was good enough. But this one was fast. She zig-zagged through the store, using the clothing racks to block my view. Where the hell was she? I saw her zooming between some shelves and fired again, only to miss. She was almost at the counter now.

Fuck! I was going to die!

I panicked, firing several more times. She was close enough at this point that I really didn’t need to aim anymore. Finally, she fell dead just an arm’s length from the counter.

I didn’t have time to analyze the fact that she’d come charging into battle unarmed despite knowing that I had a weapon. I could hear shouts and footsteps coming down the mall corridor.

By the sounds of it, there were plenty more where these three had come from. I needed to get out of here. I wheeled my bike carefully around the body and back into the mall. I had just made it outside when they came into view.

Holy shit! There were a lot of them.

I climbed onto my bike, deciding that it was still faster to cycle despite the snow, and started pedaling as hard as I could. That had been the wrong choice because the wheel started sliding out from under me, and I found myself sprawled on the ground.

So. Here it was. This was the end.

Damn it! I should’ve stayed with Mur’k. What I wouldn’t give to go back in time and make that choice instead.

There was a sudden metallic click, and I flinched as something flew over my head. A giant net fell over the group of zombie-like people.

I whipped around to see a smug-looking Mur’k leaning against his shuttle that I swore hadn’t been there just seconds ago.

“Still getting into trouble, I see.”

“You came for me.”

“The second I heard your weapon, little hunter.”

That meant he had been nearby. I didn’t even care that he was tailing me. I was just grateful he was here.

Mur’k moved suddenly, drawing his axe, his eyes fixed intently on something behind me. One of the crazy infected guys had avoided the net and was charging toward us. But he had no chance against Mur’k and his plasma-edged weapon.

I watched as Mur’k moved like a natural predator. He was quick and efficient: the perfect hunter. And he was saving my life yet again.

He looked hot as hell doing it too, especially with the storm raging around him. Talk about cinematic! Seconds later, he was stalking toward me, his axe already cleaned on the newly fallen snow.

I found myself being lifted off the ground. I wrapped my arms and legs around him, burying my face into the crook of his neck, glad to smell something that wasn’t that horrible stench.

“Come, little hunter,” he said, even as the purring started up again. “We need to get these spores off you.”