Page 2 of North (Hunter Squad #2)

CHAPTER TWO

Jess

W arm fingers brushed over my side.

I pressed my lips together and focused on the comm screen. But of course, I didn’t see anything, I only felt North’s touch as he checked my bandage again. He had nice hands—strong, with well-shaped fingers.

I released a breath. Get a grip, Jess. The man doesn’t even like you.

“How’s the pain?” he asked.

“At about a two. The injection did its thing.”

He nodded and rose. “Good.”

He towered over me. My belly fluttered. Stupid belly . I stood as well and felt my side tug. I ruthlessly ignored it.

The man was built how I liked—tall, broad shoulders, lean hips, fit. I knew he had some tattoos because I had seen them on his arm in the squad locker room. He had thick, brown hair, with a few streaks of gold and a jaw that could cut steel.

He studied my damaged chest armor, frowning at the burned areas. “You can’t put this back on.”

“I’ll be fine without it.” I cocked my head. “I’m glad to see you have a decent bedside manner, especially when your general personality leans toward dislike and disapproval.”

He frowned at me. “I don’t dislike you.”

I snorted. “Really? Ignoring me and glaring at me says otherwise.”

He looked past me, toward the waves lapping the sand, and scraped a hand through his hair. “I don’t hate you, Jess. I just don’t trust you. These men—” he gestured to the squad in the distance “—are like brothers to me.”

And I was the outsider.

“I just…don’t want anything that will upset the balance of the squad,” he added.

A part of me understood that. I couldn’t argue with his need to protect his friends. I gave him a small nod. “I’ve got their back, North. And I’ve got yours, whether you believe it or not.”

He was quiet for a beat. “And you’ll always get the best medical treatment from me. I took an oath.”

That’s right. North wasn’t just a medic, but a fully trained doctor. I wondered why he was on Hunter Squad and not working in a clinic or hospital somewhere.

“Hey.” Jameson and the others jogged over. “Jess, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

“She’s got some burns from that substance in the monster. I treated her, but she’ll need nano-meds when we get back to base.”

Jameson nodded. “Okay, let’s?—”

“Jameson.” Sasha’s voice cut through the comm line.

Everyone straightened.

“I’m tracking a lone creature. It made it into the trees and is headed for the ruins of an abandoned town near your location.”

Jameson cursed. “Okay, we’re on it.” He looked at us. “We can’t let a monster with this acid stuff inside it stay on the loose around here.” He eyed me. “I don’t like that you don’t have any chest armor.”

“It’s one creature.” I lifted my chin. “I’ll be fine, and I’ll make sure I stay back.”

North frowned. “That’s against protocol.”

I shot him a look. “From what I hear, you guys don’t always follow protocol.”

Marc smiled. “Protocol isn’t that much fun.”

I looked at Jameson. “If I stay here alone, I’m at higher risk of getting attacked by something than if I’m with you guys.”

He stroked his stubbled jaw. “Okay, it is only one creature. Let’s put it down and go home.”

We trudged off the sand and into the trees. We moved onto an old road, where the pavement was cracked and weeds were growing through it. We made our way up the road, and came to some signs, rotting and falling down. One hung drunkenly from its post.

Welcome to Sussex Inlet.

As we walked into the derelict town, I wondered what had happened to the people who had lived here. There were thousands of places like this, once bustling with life, now turned into ghost towns.

The world had spent the last three decades rebuilding, but it took time. We’d lost skills and so many people. The population was slowly growing, and we were busy reconstructing so many skills and capabilities. Providing secure homes, power, and water had been the first items on the agenda for the burgeoning governments. Followed by education, food production, and medicine.

Prior to the invasion both the United States, Australia, and many other countries had been part of the United Coalition. After its collapse during the invasion, most governments were now small, and slowly starting to work together.

I knew we’d get there. Eventually. It was just going to take time. I scanned the ruins around me. We’d rebuild what we had before, but we’d do it even better. In ways that were better for the environment and people’s health.

We approached a row of old shops. The glass fronts were smashed, and they’d probably been looted during the invasion. We turned a corner.

“Hell,” Kai said. “Look at that.”

It was a small Gizzida fighter ship. It had crashed into a store and the back end was pointing up through the broken roof.

“It’s a ptero,” Zeke said.

I’d seen pictures of the alien fighters. They had a distinctive pterosaur shape with large, fixed wings that sharpened to a pointed cockpit at the front, along with a long, tail-like back end.

We walked closer.

“Sash, any sign of the monster?” Jameson asked.

“Nothing yet.”

I peered through the shattered window. “Oh wow. The Gizzida pilot is still in its seat.”

The seat had listed sideways, with the mummified pilot still strapped to it. The gray, scaly skin now looked like leather. The alien’s body was solid and muscular, and its face shrunken.

Marc peered over my shoulder. “He was a big fucker.”

The humanoid Gizzida had been called raptors. They’d been the leadership and main foot soldiers of the Gizzida army. They’d been intelligent, cold, and cunning. I shivered.

“Split up in pairs,” Jameson ordered. “Kai, you’re with me. Zeke and Marc. North and Jess. Fan out and find the monster. My girlfriend is coming home today, and I want to get this done so we can get home before she gets back.”

I knew that Jameson was dating an engineer, Greer Baird, who worked on a dam project nearby. She came home from the worksite every few days.

I met North’s blue gaze. He jerked his head, and we headed down the empty street. Our boots echoed on the pavement. The town was eerie as hell.

North scanned around, alert. He might be a good doctor, but he was also a good soldier.

“Do you see it?” he asked.

“No.”

I peered into a store. It looked like a clothes store, but most of the racks and hangers were empty.

“There!” North said.

Spinning, I looked up and saw the monster clamber over a fallen brick wall into a larger store. The greenish-yellow glow from its back gave it away.

I touched my ear. “Sasha, we have a visual on the monster. North and I are in pursuit.”

“Acknowledged,” the comms officer replied.

“Don’t let it get away,” North clipped out.

We broke into a run and followed.

North

Stepping into the abandoned shop, I fought back the urge to sneeze. It had once been a grocery store and was filled with aisles of shelving. It looked dusty and forlorn, with old, desiccated leaves, and scraps of paper and rubbish on the floor.

Closer to Sydney, teams had started to dismantle the abandoned towns, and recycle what they found there. But farther out, towns like this one had sat untouched since the invasion. No doubt the people of Swanhaven had scavenged whatever they could from here.

As we walked inside, my boots crunched on twigs and rocks. The shelves were bare, and one set was tipped over. Toward the back of the store, the roof was caved in.

The monster was in here somewhere.

Jess moved forward, and I scowled at her. “You don’t have any chest armor, so I’ll take point.”

She didn’t look happy, but nodded.

There was a noise at the back, something falling. It hit the ground with a loud clatter. I whipped my carbine up and hurried down an aisle, Jess behind me. Another crashing noise and I swiveled.

Come on, asshole, stop hiding from us.

Then I saw a flash of movement at the end of the aisle, and swiveled my carbine and fired.

Whatever it was darted away in a flash. I cursed.

I pointed and we slowly continued on. We came to an area with old glass-fronted fridges, the doors hanging open. My boot crunched on some broken glass.

“Looks like people raided this during the invasion,” she murmured.

“Yeah, my mom and dad said they had teams to scavenge for supplies to keep their base stocked. They’d search for food and medicines.” Now we could create most of those things, but it had taken time to build capacity and abilities back up. The world was nothing like it had been before the invasion. Things were done in smaller batches, and on a priority basis. Smaller communities farther out depended on supply drops from New Sydney.

There was another noise, and I pointed. We moved into the next aisle.

My boots stuck to something on the floor, and I pulled a face. I lifted my foot. The sticky brown substance smelled bad. Great .

“North, there.” Jess pointed quickly.

I looked up. The creature was perched on top of a shelf, like some weird gargoyle from the fairy tale stories my mom had read me as a kid.

We both fired at it, and it leaped off.

I was getting mad. I felt like it was playing with us.

A loud, squawking noise broke the silence, and we quickly rounded the next aisle. Two birds took flight, and I caught a glimpse of colorful wings as they flew at us.

“Hell.” Jess ducked and lifted an arm as they flew past her, and arrowed out the torn roof. She straightened. “They surprised me, but they were pretty.”

“Rainbow lorikeets.” Another flash of movement. “There’s the monster.”

It was scuttling across the floor at the back of the store, near the old deli section. I ran after it, circling some old counters that were covered in decades of dust. I fired.

The monster leaped onto a table, then over an old slicing machine. I fired again, and it jumped to the floor, and skittered back into the center of the store.

I growled and followed. It was not getting away.

I ran out near the aisles. “Do you see it?”

“No.” Jess was walking slowly, scanning around.

I moved down an aisle quickly, straining to hear anything.

Creak .

“Watch out!” she shouted.

The shelves to my left started tilting. I turned, sprinting back toward the end of the aisle.

Jess waved at me. “Hurry.”

I pushed for more speed, then jumped.

I landed flat on my front, just as the shelves crashed down behind me. They missed my boots by centimeters.

“That little fucker.” I rose, dusting myself off.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“North? Jess?” Sasha’s voice. “Are you two all right?”

I touched my ear. “Yeah. We have the damn monster cornered in a store.”

“Jameson and the others spotted something in the northeast quadrant. They’re checking it out, then they’ll head your way.”

A skitter of sound at the back of the store had Jess swiveling, whipping her carbine up.

Then I heard something crashing at the front of the store.

“Are there two of them?” she said.

“Maybe something just fell.” I looked at the front.

“I’ll check out the back.”

I frowned. “Jess, you don’t have full armor.”

“It’s fine. I won’t get close. Let’s nail this thing and get out of here. It’s creepy as hell.”

I didn’t like it, but I gave her a tight nod. “Be careful.”

“I always am.” She moved toward the back of the store, her ponytail swaying behind her.

Walking in the other direction, I came to a section of the store with smaller display cases. I took a few more steps, when something slammed into my knees.

Shit . The monster knocked me off my feet, making a squawking sound, its claws clicking on the tiles.

I rolled and got my carbine up.

The damn thing had been hiding under some shelves. I fired at it, and it jumped, its bulbous back glowing. It knocked into a display case and some leftover pairs of sunglasses tumbled onto the floor. The case crashed down and hit my legs.

Dammit, it was heavy. I was pinned to the floor. I fired again. The creature was hopping around, and raced at me. It rammed into the carbine and sent the gun flying.

Fuck .

I tried to pull my legs free. I was trapped, dammit.

“Jess, I need?—”

The creature leaped at me. I whipped my hands up, pressing my gloved palms to its torso. Its jaws snapped at me, and with a huge heave, I pushed it back. It did an ungraceful somersault on the floor, struggling to right itself.

“Come at me again,” I growled. “I’ll break your neck.”

If the damn thing exploded on top of me, I’d be in a hell of a lot of trouble.

It snarled and launched at me again. Fuck . I threw my hands up.

Carbine fire erupted.

The creature made a gurgling noise and fell beside me with a thud.

Thank God . I sagged back. It had been a precision shot, which had missed the acidic goo on the creature’s back.

I looked up at Jess.

She hurried forward, swung her carbine onto her shoulder, then gripped the shelves. She bent her legs and heaved. I helped as best I could. The shelves moved and I finally slid my legs out. Jess held out a hand.

After a second, I took it and let her pull me up.

We looked at each other.

“Thanks,” I said.

“You’re welcome.” Her lips quirked. “I guess that makes us even now.”