Hidden (To Love A Killer #1) (8 page)

              Hunter paused, almost forgetting to hand Twitch the roll of toilet paper. She was blown away that anyone else had made it out.

              “That’s why they’re here,” Twitch went on. “They’re not just after you. They’re after all of us.”

              Ash rose to his feet once he had cleaned most of the blood off of his friends’ face and head. He locked eyes with Twitch, anticipating Hunter’s next question, and stared sharply at Twitch in hopes of conveying the importance of their loyalty to one another. This was not the time for Hunter to learn about how Ash knew Twitch, how they had met, and why they were friends. It would open a giant can of worms that no one was prepared to deal with. Twitch stared up at Ash, pursed his lips into a hard line, and gave a slight nod, imperceptible to Hunter.

              “Carolyn,” Hunter began, but Twitch interrupted her.

              “I go by Twitch now,” he said. “You can call me that. And you can think of me as a guy, because that’s what I am.”

              Hunter indicated she understood. She wasn’t about to judge how others chose to recover from the horrors of the farmhouse. It was possible Carolyn genuinely felt like a boy, and Hunter was sure that if hr said he was gay then he was, no question. But Hunter also knew that the human mind, a child’s mind, could come up with all sorts of beliefs in order to survive what was happening to them in that barn. It made sense, after those long nights of being violently raped, that a little girl would suddenly begin to think of herself as a boy, as a gender less vulnerable to that kind of assault. Hunter herself had believed she was a dog, a sad attempt to distance herself from the body that was being so viciously abused.

              “Twitch,” Hunter echoed. “I like that. It’s a good name for you.”

              Twitch smiled, “Thanks.”

              Hunter remembered her original question and got back on track. “How do you two know each other?”

              It was exactly what Ash didn’t need right now.

              “From the streets,” said Twitch matter-of-factly. “It’s a small world, girl. Case in point.” Twitch pointed between himself and Hunter, alluding to the fact that they were here in the same room and neither would’ve ever thought that was possible.

              Hunter seemed to be satisfied with that as far as Ash could tell. He watched her pluck his pack of cigarettes off the wooden table, which wobbled in response to the shift in weight.

              Hunter lit a smoke and offered the pack to both of them, but they declined.

              “Why were you in the alley outside?” She asked.

              “Looking for food. It’s hard out there,” said Twitch, lying. He was now growing nervous that Hunter was about to tally the coincidences and realize it all added up to a much bigger picture. Twitch felt Ash’s eyes on him, and he didn’t like the vibe he was getting.

              Ash needed to hear from Twitch everything he had learned from the men. He didn’t necessarily need Hunter to be involved in this, but the fact of the matter was that Hunter had become inextricably entangled in it all. He wasn’t sure it would be a good use of his mental energy to exclude her, feeding her half truths and hoping she wouldn’t connect the dots. But just before Ash was about to ask Twitch everything he needed to know, Hunter spoke up and did the asking for him.

              “What did the men from New Hampshire say? Did they tell you anything? Who came down here? How many of them are there?” The questions wouldn’t stop, but Hunter realized they needed to in order for Twitch to respond.

              It was a stroke of good luck for Ash that Hunter had taken the reigns like this. It helped him to stay hidden. It helped to conceal his true motivations. If she learned the truth, it would ruin anything they had. Ash would do anything to avoid destroying his relationship with Hunter. It had only just begun.

              Ash couldn’t help but smirk as it occurred to him that this girl was more perfect for him that he could’ve ever imagined. She was fitting in, like his other half, and she didn’t even know it.

              Hunter pulled on her cigarette. The smoke filled her lungs. As she exhaled, she felt the nicotine hit her blood stream, making her jumpy, but clearheaded and on point. She wanted to ride this, learn everything she could. If the men from New Hampshire were in New York City, Hunter might have a shot at tracking them down and taking them out, one by one. She knew it was ambitious and far beyond anything she might be capable of. She knew it would be nothing but danger. Even Twitch almost lost his life when the men had caught up with him, but Hunter had to try. If there was one thing she had wanted to do since the day she left the farmhouse, if there was one thing she had been praying for ever since escaping the tortures of the barn, it was that the men would die. It was time now to hunt and kill. Meeting Ash had been the best coincidence in her life.

              “Take it easy,” said Twitch, whose voice sounded hoarse by now. He swallowed hard, eyeing Ash for silent instructions either to answer or stay quiet. Ash narrowed his gaze on Twitch, which told him to proceed, but to choose his words carefully. Twitch could also see in Ash’s eyes that he too wanted to know the real deal. So Twitch began to answer as best he could. “There were two guys. They drove a dark sedan, but I didn’t catch the make. It had New Hampshire plates, though. Not too many of those around.”

              “Who were the guys?” Hunter asked, nearly jumping down his throat.

              Twitch held her gaze for a long moment, then responded, “Dale and Travis.”

              Hunter’s breath clipped in her throat, remembering those men, remembering the dark and heinous things they had done to her in the barn. She realized she was grinding her teeth, grimacing with disgust.

              “They were looking for Thomas,” Twitch went on. “That’s why they beat me. They thought I knew where he was.”

              “He’s dead,” said Hunter with an edge of satisfaction. “He broke into my apartment. I was going to shoot him, but Ash got to him first. But he’s dead. They should all be dead,” Hunter directed that last part to Ash.

              “Did they say anything else?” she asked again eager to know everything as soon as possible. “Did they say where they were staying?”

              “No,” said Twitch.

              Hunter had begun to pace. She felt agitated, on edge. She sucked on her cigarette, drawing in puff after puff almost without exhaling.

              “Hunter, you need to calm down,” said Ash in a concerned tone.

              “Don’t tell me to calm down,” she snapped. “They need to die, Ash. All of them need to die.”

              “No one disagrees,” said Twitch. “but they could be halfway home by now. We don’t know where they are, Hunter.”

              “They’re not headed home,” she said, almost to herself. “They’re still here. I can feel it. They’re going to take me if we don’t do something.”

              “I’m not going to let that happen,” said Ash who grabbed her shoulders, preventing her from pacing further. She was making him nervous. “But we can’t go off half cocked.”

              “They know where I live. They’ll be back here,” said Hunter, thinking out loud. “Should we wait for them? Ambush them the next time they come?”

              Ash took a deep breath, considering it. He knew that even though Hunter’s apartment was covered with traces of the murder, there was no way the landlord would go inside. And since the men were from New Hampshire and not New York, no one would file a missing person’s report on Thomas, least of all Dale and Travis who were breaking the law left and right anyway. But Ash wasn’t sure that would be the best course of action. Her apartment and his were the least safe places in the city. And after what had happened to Twitch, the way he had been left for dead in the East River, Ash wasn’t willing to take any risks.

              “Well?” Hunter asked. “Does that sound like a plan?”

              Ash said nothing.

              “Is it too passive?” She asked. “How many other girls are here in the city?”

              Twitch lifted his gaze, squinting through his swollen eyes. “Five or so. They run with some street kids around the Gowanus, but I don’t exactly know where they are staying. They move around a lot. They’re pretty scared.”

              It made sense to Hunter that any of the girls who made it down this far would wind up in the Gowanus. That’s where she had gone. She had slept in the sugar factory for a good long while. She understood the feeling of never feeling safe. She understood why the girls would keep on the move. As rough as Brooklyn was, nothing compared to the wrath of the men from the farmhouse. When Hunter had been living on the streets, she would’ve preferred to get attacked by street thugs and stay hidden than she would to get caught and brought back up north.

              “Do you think the men will go looking for them?” asked Hunter.

              “Yeah,” said Ash. “They couldn’t find you here. Maybe they think you joined the other girls.”

              “Wouldn’t they still be looking for Thomas?” she asked.

              “I don’t think so,” said Twitch. “Thomas was a pawn. I’m not sure they cared about him. They only wanted to find him because they thought it would lead to you.” Twitch paused for a long moment, then asked,“Why are they gunning for you, Hunter? They want you more than anyone else. They don’t give a shit about me, or that I’m down here, escaped. They don’t want you dead, Hunter. They want you alive. They want you to go back. Why?”

              Hunter’s heart stopped beating. A memory flooded through her mind. Then with a hard pound, her heart started racing uncontrollably in her chest. Flashes of the farmhouse swirled through her head, images of the barn spinning in and out of her mind. She could still hear the cries, see the blood. Her stomach lurched, churning with raw disgust.

              “Because,” she said, “they caught me once.” Her voice trailed off, as her vision softened, losing focus.

              It was as if Hunter was slipping away before his very eyes.

              “Caught you doing what?” Twitch asked in a low whisper, already terrified to hear the answer.

              “A mercy killing.”

              It was sweltering. The sun was high in the sky overhead. There was no escaping the heat. No matter which side of the street Molly walked on, the sun’s burning rays beat down on her. She hadn’t showered in days, and the oily scent of her hair was overwhelmingly foul. The smell seemed to thrive in the heat, festering in the sunlight. As soon as she found food and reconnected with Devon and the girls, she would pool resources and find a way to get a shower. Living like this wasn’t working anymore. She hated the way she stank.

              Molly pulled her ratty blond hair up into a ponytail to alleviate her damp neck from the unnecessary hot mop of hair that had covered it all afternoon. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t thought of that sooner. As soon as she secured the ponytail, she felt considerably better.

              She caught sight of her hands after lowering them from her head. Her skin was dirty. It was as though soot and grease had stained deeply into each pore. Her fingernails were black. She knew she looked dingy. It was impossible to stay clean out here, rummaging through trash barrels, hoping to find something to eat.

              She hooked a right, turning down a side street that arched over a canal just ahead. These canals were creepy. Whenever Molly walked over the streets that bridged above the water, she couldn’t help but look down. She didn’t know how deep the canal was, how many feet of water. She hoped very deep. Judging by the water’s surface, which was black and slick with oil, the canal should be well over twenty feet. But what if it wasn’t? What if it was only a few feet? That would mean the water was nothing but sludge. For a split second she envisioned a hand bursting through its surface, reaching up for dear life. But it was only her imagination. She had turned dark ever since moving here. Grotesque images often filled her mind. She couldn’t help it.

              She got moving again, and soon crossed over to the intersection and hooked another right, this time down a side alley. The alleys were where dumpsters were located. The dumpsters were their greatest hope for food.

              Her jeans clung mercilessly to her legs. She wished she had a way of cutting them into shorts, but Devon had said it would be best if she didn’t. At least the jeans would protect her from life on the streets, sparing her the superficial cuts and lacerations that would surely come from dumpster diving barelegged.

              Molly had hated New Hampshire, but in a lot of ways roughing it in the Gowanus was no improvement, except that she had her freedom. But how free was she really? Some nights when she and Devon had nearly starved with hunger, she had gone off with a man for money. It always seemed easy enough. She had done it a million times. But still, she wasn’t sure she had really made it out of the farmhouse. She was still living like she had when she was there.

              Devon didn’t see it that way, which both annoyed and inspired Molly. Her friend kept reminding her that life on the street was temporary. Soon they would have a little money saved and get an apartment together. They would get some kind of job, something simple, like working as maids at a hotel, or as bussers in a restaurant, anything. If there was one thing Devon was good at, it was keeping their spirits high. Molly wouldn’t have made it this far without her.

              The dumpsters were straight ahead. Devon had promised to meet up after doing some trades at the sugar factory a few blocks down. Molly didn’t love being separated from Devon, but they had worked out a system of reconnecting without too much of a headache. It always boiled down to not moving, staying put, no matter how long she had to wait. Devon would eventually come.

              For some reason, Molly had a strange feeling today that something would go terribly wrong.

              She lifted the lid up from the first dumpster, pushing it back hard until it banged against the brick building behind it. Molly paused a second to make sure the lid wasn’t about to slap back down. The last thing she needed was to get hit in the head and knocked unconscious in a dumpster. But the lid seemed to stay, so she hoisted herself up and climbed in.

              The stench was putrid, sour, and seemed to cling to her nostrils. Breathing through her mouth didn’t help, in fact it caused her stomach to twist, churning with disgust. Molly tore a garbage bag open and began rifling through. It contained mostly papers and waste commonly found in the bathroom. She moved on to the next bag, this time getting lucky. She plucked out half eaten protein bars and a few muffins that seemed mostly untouched. After tossing the morsels into her canvas bag, she climbed out of the dumpster, careful not to catch her jeans or tee-shirt on its sharp lip.

              Molly was smiling to herself. Devon would be thrilled with this. The muffins didn’t look too stale. She was so excited about her findings that she forgot to stay cautious, alert to her surroundings. Molly turned, coming face to face with Travis, one of the worst men from the farmhouse.

              Panic sliced through her as she stood, staring wide-eyed in disbelief that he was there.

              Travis was grinning menacingly down at her. The creases in his face cracked, furrowing deeper, as his mouth twisted up in a wicked smirk.

              She couldn’t believe he had found her. Her mind began racing a mile a minute and her heart pounded hard in her chest. A voice in her head kept telling her to run, but Molly couldn’t. She was petrified and unable to move as dread rose up inside her. She realized she was trembling. Finally she took a step backwards, but immediately struck the dumpster. If she ran, he would easily grab her. If she fought, he would quickly win.

              “Leave us alone,” she said, praying that she had sounded strong, but her cracking voice betrayed her.

              “Where’s Hunter?” he asked coldly, his eyes turning dark, clouding over with soulless hatred.

              “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know anything about Hunter. None of us do. Now leave me alone.”

              Travis began to laugh in a low chuckle saturated with ridicule for Molly’s precarious position.

              “No one wants you, Molly,” he said after his dark laughter died down. “You’re too old. You disgust people. And you’re too weak to be of use. We want Hunter, but we’ll take you until we get her. Now, do you want to be taken? Or do you want to tell me where she is?”

              Molly pressed her mouth into a hard line. She wasn’t going to play into his sick logic. She wasn’t going to buy into his proposition either. She had already answered him and nothing more could be added.

              “We have Devon,” he said.

              The information hit Molly like a ton of bricks. She could feel her expression sink into a frown, even though she begged herself to keep it together, pleaded with herself not to cry, not to give him the satisfaction. Her thoughts were racing, but she tried to remind herself that he could be lying, trying to get a rise out of her.

              “I’ll kill her if you don’t help us, Molly, and you’ll be next.”

              “I told you,” she said yelling through tears that sprang uncontrollably from her eyes. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen Hunter since the farmhouse.”

              Travis grabbed Molly, violently yanking her thin body towards his. He was huge by comparison. His grip was threatening. “I’m only going to ask you once more, and then you’re going to sink to the bottom of the river. Where is Hunter?”

              Molly screamed, clawing at Travis’s face, and kicking wildly.

              “Molly!”

              It was Devon. Molly knew that voice anywhere. She turned and saw her friend struggling against the tight grip of Dale, who held her by the arms from behind.

              “You lied,” screamed Molly.

              “It’s only a matter of time,” he said. “She will be dead.”

              “Let her go!” shouted Molly. “We don’t know anything! I would give Hunter up if I knew where she was! I don’t give a shit about her! But we don’t know anything! Let Devon go!”

              “Where’s Thomas?” Travis yelled in her face as he held her in his stone grip.

              “I haven’t seen anyone!” she screamed.

              Without warning, Travis began dragging her down the alley. It was no use resisting, though Molly tried. Dale dragged Devon in the same manner until the men had brought them to a dark sedan. The men dragged the girls around to the trunk.

              when Travis popped the trunk lid open, black dread erupted through Molly, claiming every ounce of her sanity,

              “Get inside.”

*              *              *

              It was unmistakable even from a hundred yards away, even from across the intersecting street. In the back alley past Smith Street, far across the way, Travis was wrestling Molly and Devon into the trunk of a car, as Dale stomped around front and climbed in the driver’s seat.

              The girls gripped each other’s hands, gasping breathlessly in shock as their friends got taken in broad daylight right before their very eyes.             

              “What the fuck? What should we do?” asked Jenna in a panic, as she tugged on Andy’s arm.

              Andy squinted, eyes glued to the dark sedan. “I don’t know,” she said,“Why the fuck are they here?”

              “Everything must be falling apart up there,” offered Margot. “Maybe too many of us escaped. Maybe they’re coming back for us.”

              “Don’t even think that,” said Andy authoritatively. But Andy had already been thinking it herself, and the thought made her blood run cold. She took a deep breath, and sensing her friends were terrified, reminded them that their only objective was to stay alive. “Remember the second rule,” she said.

              “Never give up on a girl,” said Margot.

              “But we don’t even know where they’re taking them, Andy, or what they’re planning on doing to Molly and Devon,” said Jenna.

              “Don’t focus on that,” said Andy. “Don’t give up on Molly and Devon. They’ll survive, and we’ll find them. We will.”

              But Andy didn’t know if the shadow house rules applied here on the streets of the Gowanus like they did up north in New Hampshire at the farmhouse. She had no way of knowing if a child’s rules for staying safe in the camps could save them now or if death was fast approaching.

*              *              *

              The girls walked towards the alley, carefully crossing Smith Street. They would comb the area for any clues as to where their friends could’ve been taken. It seemed like a futile effort, but they had to do something.

              Jenna spotted Molly’s canvas bag lying on the pavement. She ran to it and picked it up, discovering the muffins.

              “Eat,” she said to Margot and Andy as she passed them the muffins. The girls devoured the food, taking huge bites and not bothering to chew. There had been so many sleepless nights of starvation. Andy couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a whole muffin.

              “Andy?” said a woman’s voice. Andy didn’t quite recognize it.

              She looked up and immediately identified who had called her name. Jenna and Margot turned as well, lowering their muffins in shock at who was there.

              It was Hunter.

              She walked towards them.

              The girls froze, unable to chew or swallow their food. Jenna and Margot looked to Andy, unsure of how to respond. Andy had become their leader in a sense. They stepped back, allowing Andy to speak to the woman they had hoped they’d never run into.

              “What do you want?” asked Andy. Her voice was raspy and confrontational.

              Hunter widened her arms, outstretching them to invite a hug, but the girl turned cross and threw her arm up, blocking Hunter’s effort.

              “I asked you what you wanted,” said Andy in a harsher tone.

              “Are you girls okay?” asked Hunter, confused by Andy’s reaction.

              “If we’re not, are you going to kill us? Put us out of our misery?” she said in a dark and challenging tone.

              The statement was shocking, and Hunter was immediately taken aback.

              “We don’t want any trouble, Hunter,” said Jenna. “The city’s big enough for all of us. We just want to be safe, that’s all. Please don’t make us leave.”

              Hunter grew confused. Why would they think she would ever want them to leave? She looked from one girl to the next, searching their expressions for any sign that this reunion meant something, but all she saw in their eyes was fear. It was heartbreaking.

              “I would never want you to leave,” said Hunter. “I missed you guys.”

              “We’re not stupid,” said Andy. “We know what you did.”

              Hunter lowered her gaze as shame washed over her. “It was hell up there,” she whispered. “No one can judge me for how I reacted. They broke me. They broke all of us.”

              Jenna and Margot exchanged a glance. Their eyebrows raised with a hint of sympathy, but Andy wasn’t buying it. She never thought she’d run into Hunter again. She never thought she’d see the day when Hunter would look her dead in the eye and act like murdering one of their own wasn’t her fault.