Page 7 of North (Hunter Squad #2)

CHAPTER SEVEN

North

S he was safe.

Chest heaving, I cleaned my knife in the water and turned to Jess. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

Jess glared at me and sat up. There was blood on her face from a small graze. “I’m fine .”

I reached out, and she smacked my hand away. I frowned.

“What the hell was that?” There was acid in her voice as she shoved to her feet.

I frowned. I’d been so focused on getting her safe, and killing the wraith, I wasn’t sure what was going on.

“What?” I said. “A monster attacked you. I wasn’t going to stand by and watch. I helped you, saved you.”

“I had a plan, Connors. I’m a fucking soldier. I was about to attack it, and you pushed me out of the way like I was some damsel in distress.”

Shit. Had I? “Jess, we were in a fight for our lives, I?—”

She stepped forward. “You think because we fucked, you can choose what I do or don’t do? That I need a big strong man to protect me?”

I rubbed the back of my neck. I wasn’t dumb enough to walk into that. “No.”

“You didn’t treat me like a squad mate, North. Definitely not one you trust.”

I blew out a breath. Shit .

She whirled and stomped back up the bank.

Was she right? Hell, maybe my feelings had made me react and want to protect her.

I’d seen the dangerous monster that had just tried to drown her, and I’d reacted.

But I did trust her.

“Jess.” I jogged after her.

“There you two are.” Jameson appeared, Kai beside him. Our squad leader’s brows drew together. “Did you take a swim?”

“A river wraith decided we looked tasty,” I said.

Jess’ back was stiff, her face set in unreadable lines.

“You both all right?” Jameson asked.

I lifted my chin. “Yeah.”

Jess nodded.

“We saw footprints,” I said.

“Show me,” Kai said. “Because we found nothing.”

We all headed back toward the creek. I kept one eye out for any more wraiths. They were usually solitary, but who knew what the monsters were up to lately?

Kai studied the print, then scouted around. “I found the trail!”

“Let’s move,” Jameson said.

The four of us took off at a jog into the trees. I ran behind Jess.

She didn’t once glance my way. Shit, I needed to apologize. I hadn’t meant to go Neanderthal on her. She really did mess with my head.

The trees thinned out, and we stepped over a fallen wire fence.

“Looks like an old farm,” Jameson said.

The field ahead of us was filled with long, overgrown grass. I lifted my carbine. Anything could be hiding in here. In the distance, I spotted a small, abandoned house and some old, rusted metal sheds.

“Sasha, any heat signatures?” Jameson asked, touching his ear.

“Negative, Jameson,” the comms officer replied.

We walked in a line through the grass.

“Kai, can you see anything in here?” Jameson asked.

“There are some flattened patches of grass.” Kai stopped, then pressed his palm to the ground and closed his eyes. A second later, he said, “They came this way.”

We kept walking. There was a hill ahead, topped with rocky outcrops.

“Where the fuck did it go?” Jameson muttered.

I took a step, and my boot sank down into the dirt, almost twisting my ankle. “Hell.”

Jameson spun around. “North?”

“The ground isn’t solid. Nearly twisted my ankle. Be careful.”

“The ground’s all churned up,” Jess said.

Ahead of us, the earth was all upended and fresh, the grass ripped up.

“Shit,” Jameson said.

“I don’t like the look of this,” Jess murmured. “I saw something similar to this back home. Mutated prairie dogs with alien DNA. They burrowed in and liked to pop up and attack anyone walking over them.”

“Nice.” Jameson kicked the dirt.

But nothing popped up to attack us.

“Let’s skirt around it.” A muscle ticked in Jameson’s jaw. “We don’t have time to investigate right now. Not while the kid is in danger.”

We headed around the churned-up area. I scanned ahead of us, but saw no movement, no sign of any monsters.

We’d also lost the trail.

“Kai?” Jameson said.

Our tracker pulled a face. “Nothing. No sign of the monster.”

Damn . I looked around. Maybe we’d gone in the wrong direction.

My throat tightened. I couldn’t face Joe and tell him that we hadn’t found his best friend. My gaze shifted to the hill, then I frowned. “Jameson, look.” I pointed.

The others swiveled and stared up at the hill.

Jameson drew in a breath. “A cave.”

There was a large dark entrance set in the side of the hill.

“The ground is rocky leading up to it,” Kai said. “It could’ve obscured the monster’s tracks.”

“Let’s check it out.” Jameson headed up the hill.

I waved at Jess. “After you.”

She spared me a sharp look, then stomped ahead.

I sighed and followed.

Jess

So North really was just another dick.

I picked my way up the rocky hillside toward the cave mouth. I remembered the men from my first squad who’d doubted my abilities, or felt the need to protect me. It had come with a lot of condescending and belittling remarks. It hadn’t taken me long to teach them the error of their ways.

My gaze flicked to North, then away again. Honestly, this time, I was disappointed.

I continued on to the top of the slope, then stopped.

There was an intricate old buttress wall that had been built inside of the hill. A flat path cut across the other side of the hill, away from the cave. “Look at that.” The brickwork was immaculate and neat. And old. It was coated in moss.

North stopped beside me. “It’s part of the old convict trail.”

“The what?”

“When the English set up a colony here in Australia, hundreds of years ago, they used convicts to build the Old Great North Road. It was a pretty amazing feat of engineering that linked Sydney with the northern Hunter region.”

“Oh.” I honestly didn’t know a lot about Australia’s pre-invasion history.

“We’re nearly there,” Jameson said.

“I see signs of the monster coming this way.” Kai’s voice rose with excitement.

We carefully approached the cave mouth and all lifted our carbines.

Jameson touched the flashlight on the shoulder of his armor. The beam of light illuminated the darkness ahead.

“Jesus,” Kai muttered.

A sticky, weblike substance hung from the ceiling and coated the rocky walls.

“Please don’t be hybrid spiders,” North muttered. “They’re the worst.”

“Shh.” Jameson yanked out his combat knife, then hacked a hole through the web. He shoved it aside and continued into the cave.

We continued on, Jameson and Kai taking the lead.

“Jess.” North grabbed my arm.

I yanked away.

“Hey, I just want to apologize,” he said quietly.

I blinked. “What?”

His face was in shadow. “You were right. I was out of line earlier. It was the heat of the moment. I was just focused on the fight, and getting you free of that monster. I know you have skills. I trust that you have my squad’s back. Have my back.”

I stared at him for a long moment, then I nodded.

He nodded back, then pushed on ahead.

He’d apologized. I hadn’t been expecting that.

But I didn’t have time to think about it right now. We had a monster and a kidnapped boy to deal with. I hurried to catch up with the others. But still, my brain tried to process it. Not many guys I knew were good with an apology.

“Form up,” Jameson said.

We all focused on the cave. The web stuff was thicker here, and I saw that it was harder for Jameson to cut through it.

“Could the monster get through this?” North asked.

“Maybe it made it,” Kai suggested.

Eww . That was a gross thought.

“The cave is wider ahead,” Jameson said. “Let’s?—”

“Shh.” Kai held up a hand, cocking his head. “Quiet.”

We all stilled.

I didn’t hear anything.

Then, came a faint noise. A moan, maybe? I tightened my grip on my carbine. “What is that?”

Another moan. Then what sounded like a sob.

Of a kid.

My pulse spiked. “It’s Hudson.”

Kai pulled out his knife and helped Jameson hack through the web. We pushed deeper into the cave. The sticky crap caught on my armor, and I grabbed it, trying to rip it off. It stuck to my gloves.

We couldn’t risk calling out to the kid, and alerting the monster if it was close by.

Finally, we reached an open space. The web stuff was all over the walls.

“Shit,” Jameson said.

We skirted a large rock. In a few places, the web stuff was dense, creating oval-shaped balls.

I frowned. “Is that web…coating something?”

North reached one of the thicker pod-like things. He cut it open with his knife.

A body fell out.

“Fuck,” Kai cried out.

I leaped back.

The body was desiccated, the skin like leather. But I could tell it was a woman. She’d had lots of blonde hair.

“Shit.” North crouched and touched her. “She was in some sort of cocoon.”

“That’s just wrong,” Kai said.

Jameson was frowning fiercely. “How long has she been in there?”

“It’s hard to tell.” North shrugged. “My best guess is a month or so.”

“H-help.”

The small voice made me swivel.

North shot to his feet. “Hudson?”

“Yes. I am…here.”

I shifted my shoulder, my flashlight shining against the far wall. I spotted a small cocoon. It was moving. “North, look.”

We raced over. I saw the boy was only partially covered by the sticky substance. His face was still half visible.

North carefully cut into the sticky web with his knife. “Hey, Hudson. I’m North. We’re here to take you home.”

The boy gave a hiccupping sob. “You’re…Hunter Squad.”

“That’s right,” North replied.

“I told Joe you’d come for us. When the…thing took us.” His voice cracked. “Joe. Is he okay?”

“We found him. He’s safe. He’s more worried about you.”

“He’s my best friend.”

North cut Hudson free, and the boy slid out with a cry.

“Careful.” North eased him onto his back. “It looks like your arm’s broken. Let me take a look at you.” With quick movements, North pulled his backpack open.

“North…the thing.” Hudson’s voice lowered to a whisper. “It’s still here.”

Shit . I whipped my carbine up. Jameson and Kai moved in with me, and we scanned the cave.

I half listened to North talking with the boy, using that calm, steady voice. Hudson’s panicked tone evened out, and his voice got stronger. He was reacting to North’s calming influence.

Then in the depths of the cave, a shadow moved. “Three o’clock,” I murmured.

“I see it,” Kai said.

The monster roared and charged.

The beams of light caught it. It had a tall, almost emaciated body, with dark, spongy black skin. There wasn’t any fat on it, and the skin was stretched tight over corded muscles. There were no eyes, or mouth, just a smooth, eerie face that ended in a long snout.

I had no idea what animals they’d been created from. It looked like pure monster.

The three of us lit it up.

The creature screeched and its snout flared open like petals on a deadly flower.

Laser fire made the cave as bright as day. I kept my finger on the trigger, aiming at the creature’s torso.

Soon, the monster fell. It landed on its knees, and let out a garbled roar, then it collapsed forward and didn’t get up.

I stopped firing. I watched its body twitching.

Jameson strode up to it, then kicked the monster over onto its back. He fired right into its eyeless face.

“What the hell was that?” Kai said.

Jameson shook his head. “Haven’t seen anything like it before. Jess?”

“No.” It didn’t resemble anything I’d seen.

“Call Colbie.” North carefully wrapped Hudson’s arm, pinning it to his chest. “We need to get him out of here.”

Jameson touched his ear. “Sasha, we have the boy. He’s alive. Send Colbie to get us.”

“Were there any other people here?” North asked.

The boy shook his head. “No, just the monster. It got kind of blurry. Then when I woke up, I was stuck in that stuff.” He shuddered.

“You’re safe now.” North ran a hand over the boy’s mussed, dirty hair.

“I had Echo with me. I wasn’t alone.”

I frowned. “Echo?”

With his good arm, he fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a robot the same shape as the one Joe had. This one was white with blue stripes.

“He kept me safe. Me and Joe both have them.”

“Kai, we need to bag the woman’s body,” Jameson said quietly. “Jess, take some pictures of these cocoon things.”

I nodded. “I’ll grab a sample of the stuff as well.” I pulled my small science kit off my belt.

North kept Hudson occupied while the men slid the desiccated body into a body bag. I took photos and samples, then nodded at Jameson.

North lifted Hudson into his arms. “You ready to go home, buddy?”

The little boy nodded. “Yes, please.”