Hunted (Dark Secrets Book 1) (5 page)

I fell to my hands and knees and scurried away from their melee. Before the Taker had any chance to recover, Theron plowed his right elbow into the side of the Taker's neck. As the Taker fell closer to the ground, Theron drove a full front kick between the back of the Taker's shoulder blades, crumpling him forward into the grass.

Theron ran toward me.

"Behind you!" I screamed at him.

"Get out of here!" he shouted back at me.

I maneuvered between the groups of people fighting with Takers, got myself behind a car parked at the curb and crouched down.

Theron grabbed a Taker who had come up behind him and flipped him over his shoulder onto the concrete sidewalk, knocking him breathless. Another Taker, seeing Theron's fighting abilities, came to the aid of his comrade. Theron caught the Taker's advance in his peripheral vision and leveled him with a double kick. The first kick was to his abdomen; then he sprung his leg back and drove it into the Taker's face, which brought him to the ground.

Two more Takers disappeared, along with their captives. A young boy wearing a black skull-printed sweatshirt was struggling to escape his Taker. Theron pulled a throwing blade from his jacket and sent it sailing skillfully. The blade sliced through the air and sunk in to the hilt between the Taker's shoulder and chest. The Taker threw the boy to the ground and wheeled vehemently in Theron's direction.

"Get on with it!" Theron shouted at the Taker.

The Taker pulled the blade from his shoulder and threw it with great speed at Theron, but Theron just stood still with his legs apart in a battle stance and watched the trajectory of the knife.

By now I had my Take Down set up and loaded. But Theron's audacity was numbing. I shook myself.

With his right hand, Theron caught the knife and returned it into the top of the Taker's boot. It stuck straight up through his foot. The Taker screamed and stooped to the knife, then vanished. Meanwhile, the boy ran away.

At that moment I saw a woman in her sixties with long silver hair scream as a Taker scooped her into his arms. A police siren wailed in the distance.

"I don't think so!" I said with renewed bravery. My first bolt planted itself into the Taker's bicep. The woman he was holding saw it and pushed him off balance enough to get out of his grasp.

He whipped around, spying for the source of the arrow and then, in a fury, grabbed the person nearest to him
—a slightly out of shape middle-aged father who had been beating another Taker off of his young daughter. Although his daughter and the Taker hadn't disappeared yet, the man was obviously losing.

I let a second bolt fly. It lodged into the soft flesh at the back of the furious Taker's knee. I figured there wouldn't be any armor there. I was right. The Taker dropped.

The father, now freed, lunged at the Taker who still held his daughter. She screamed as the three of them crashed to the ground. Her father pushed her away from himself and the fighting Taker. She rolled into the grass and caught herself. She couldn't have been older than eleven. Tears streaked her cheeks as she yelled, "Daddy! Daddy!"

Her father and the Taker evaporated in front of her eyes as police cars surrounded the area with their sirens wailing.

In the mess of people, I lost sight of Theron.

"Theron!" I screamed.

Then I spied him. He left the Taker he had in a choke hold to crumple into the grass and bolted toward my cry.

I jumped out from behind the car. He met me there.

"Police!" I cried. "We have to get out of here!"

Without hesitation, he took my hand and we sprinted across the street and between two buildings. I turned my head back to the scene we were running away from. All of the Takers had vanished, leaving only the baffled police, distraught onlookers and traumatized victims who had just watched their loved ones and friends being consumed by an unknown force.

Theron and I ran from the scene at breakneck speed.

"Were those the same guys from the bookstore?" Theron asked as we bolted through an alley.

"They were Takers!"

"Why are we running from the police? Aren't they the good guys?" he asked.

"What are you doing here?" My voice rose. I felt angry, scared and confused all at the same time.

"Saving you, obviously!"

We kept running and rounded several corners and soon found ourselves in a beaten-down residential section. Small rusted chain-linked fences served as boundaries between faded, decrepit homes, their tiny square patches of lawn strewn with garbage and broken toys. The street was littered with empty cans, liquor bottles, shattered glass and other trash.

We ran past a closed, boarded-up old corner store. Theron pulled me around to the back of the abandoned building. I leaned my back against the cool brick wall as I tried to catch my breath. Theron paced back and forth in front of me. His face was hard as stone.

"What do they want with you, Freya?" he demanded.

"I don't know!" I spat. "I didn't take the time to ask them!"

"Why were you there?" His voice was harsh.

"Why were you following me?" I accused. "
How
did you follow me?"

"I couldn't shake the feeling you needed help." He added, "And you did."

"I didn't ask for your help!" I cried. But I could still feel the Taker's grasp on my arms and the hatred in his breath on my face. I shivered.

"Maybe I want to give it to you." His tone softened just a little.

"You can't be here, Theron! Don't you see? All of these people are being taken because of me!" I raged.

"Why?" Theron's voice was tainted with concern.

"I don't know." I slipped down the wall and sat on the blacktop, hugging my knees to my chest, trying to fold myself into the smallest ball possible. "I know they keep stealing all of these other people… but they always show up where I've been—always! And the worst thing is that they're closing in on me. They used to be weeks behind me, but now… " My voice trailed off. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"Long story," he said. "Freya, you saved my life the other day
—"

I interrupted, "So you felt like you owed me? Well, you just saved mine so now we're even. You can go your own way."

"Why do you want to get rid of me so badly?" he asked.

"Because, I'm hazardous to bystanders' health," I replied softly, my voice pained.

"You're not hazardous to my health," he said assuredly.

"Yeah, if I knew you could fight like that when we were hiding in the lean-to, I would have let you go out to do the perimeter check."

He laughed just a little. After a moment he asked, "Where were you going on the bus?"

"New Orleans," I replied.

"Why?"

"Long story."

"What's there?" he asked, not willing to give up.

"My friend Scarlett and the Underground," I answered vaguely.

"Let me bring you," he offered.

I shook my head. "I can't go now. The Takers are way too close to me," I said sadly. "I'd just lead them straight to New Orleans and more people would get hurt."

"What do you want to do then?" he asked softly.

"I have to hide," I spoke painfully, exposing my true emotions.

"Where?"

"The forest. The Takers have never found me there." Of that I was sure.

"You've hidden there before, then?" He searched my face.

"My entire life."

"Let me come with you… I could help you."

"It's not easy surviving in the forest's back country, and I have been doing this a long, long time all by myself." I couldn't meet his eyes. "It would be easier for both of us if you didn't." I paused.

"You didn't say no," he realized.

Slowly, I looked up into his earthy eyes, which seemed grounded, stable and strong.

I found myself daring to say yes.

"We've got to change these clothes before we keep going
… they've seen us now," Theron explained.

That surprised me. He was thinking like me. "Good idea," I muttered.

We both opened our packs and pulled out different outfits. I unraveled my braids, leaving my hair loose and wavy. I started pulling my sweatshirt over my head when I realized Theron was staring at me, almost mesmerized.

"Um," I started, "would you like to
… " I twirled my index finger in a wide circle indicating for him to turn around.

He hitched in a breath, "Yes
… of course!" he said, sounding embarrassed as he quickly turned in the opposite direction.

I stripped down then stepped into a pair of denim jeans and pulled a white thermal long sleeved shirt and a soft green tee over my frame.

"Done," I announced as I switched from my hiking boots to my running shoes. I crammed my other clothes into the pack and was thankful for the warmer Mississippi weather.

Theron turned back around. "Red hair looks good on you."

I sat back down onto the blacktop and looked up at him. "Thanks, but now that I've been made with it, I'll have to change it again."

I waited for a moment for him to change his clothes and then asked him, "What are you waiting for?"

He cocked one eyebrow and twirled his index finger just as I had. I rolled my eyes and swiveled to face the bricks.

"You were brave, Freya," Theron said. "You saved lives today."

I felt a blush steal across my cheekbones. "You too." I studied the ridges and cracks in the wall. "I thought I was dead for sure. You just… pummeled that Taker. You should have seen the look on his face, he was so surprised. Then you saved those others. They're alive because of you." I paused. "Thank you."

"Done," Theron said. I turned back toward him. He was in a dark pair of Levi's, a white T-shirt and a dark blue button-up. "You're welcome." He extended his hand to help me to my feet. A dark look crossed his eyes. "Do you forgive me for following you?"

"For stalking me?" I reworded his phrase. "Yes."

A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "How far is the forest?"

"Homochitto National Forest is a little less than two hours south."

"I don't want to risk you after what happened today
—no hitching, no buses, no running or walking. You've been through more than enough and need to rest," Theron said decidedly. He was right, I felt completely drained. "I saw a ride a couple of blocks over, back in the business district." He picked up our packs and said, "Come on."

~

"A Suzuki GSX-R 1000?" I asked incredulously after we walked a few blocks and into a long term parking garage for commuters going from Canton into Jackson. Theron had just lifted the soft cover off of the sleek midnight black power bike.

"What's the closest town we'll be going through to get there?' Theron asked.

"Um… " I pulled out my map and unfolded it. "Brookhaven is right off 55, then we go west to Meadville and into the national forest."

"Is there an alternate route that isn't a main highway?" Theron asked.

I checked over the map. "55 South to 49 South. Then we could access Highway 43 West to Brookhaven."

"That's our route then." Theron removed a piece of paper and pen from his pack and wrote a note to the person who owned the bike and then wrapped it up into the cover. Then he ran his hands over the engine, looked over at me, popped the engine lid and fiddled with the inner workings for less than a minute before the powerhouse roared to life.

"What did you write?" I asked.

"Sorry, bro, to borrow your Lady. Had an emergency. You can pick her up in Brookhaven at the hospital. Everything's okay, I'll explain it to you in a couple days."

Theron passed me the only helmet. "Put this on."

"Good note," I started. "Believable." But I wasn't sure if he could really hear me over the engine.

"Hold on!" he shouted to me over his shoulder.

I pressed up against his back, wrapped my arms around his waist and linked my hands together in the front of him. Suddenly, I was very aware of our proximity and the hardness of his frame. I had never been so close to a boy before. I couldn't tell if it was the situation or the wind that took my breath away. I tucked my head between his shoulder blades and held on.

We made it to Brookhaven in record time. Theron used the Suzuki's built in GPS feature to find the hospital. He pulled past the parking lot once to scope it out and make sure there was no police presence before he pulled the bike in and parked it by itself on the far side of the lot.

He reached back and helped me off the bike first. His face held an expression I couldn't read. His eyes locked with mine just long enough to be noticeable, then his face became emotionless.

"I'm starving!" he said getting off the bike. "You?"

"Famished," I answered unnerved.

I looked at my watch. "It's already five o'clock and it'll be dusk soon." I scanned the area and spied a Piggly Wiggly grocery store a couple blocks down on the right. "That way," I pointed.

"I have to make a couple of phone calls to check in with friends. Do you want to go in and pick out something to eat?" I asked once we were out front of the store.

"I think it would be safer if we stayed together," he answered.

"Yeah, I guess that's a good idea." I retrieved my calling card from my wallet inside my pack. I dialed the code then Jodi's number. It rang three times.

"Hi, this is Jodi," the cheerful voice sing-songed over the line.

"Jodi! You're okay?" I cried out in relief.

"Freya! Yes, I'm fine. I escaped out the side delivery door and got out of there fast. Where are you? Are you all right?" she pressed.

"I am completely fine and safe. But I'm going to be off the grid for a while," I explained.

"Okay, just—take care of yourself. That bout with the Takers was nasty," Jodi said sadly. "The whole bookstore burnt to the ground."

"I'm so sorry."

"Thanks." Then Jodi added, "I heard that hot guy who caught you in the store was in the van with your group when the Taker's chased you. Is it true?"

"He drove the van and got us away. He's actually pretty cool
… " my voice trailed off.

"Oh Lord!
Is he with you?
" She was so loud that I whipped my head around to see if Theron could hear her. He was still watching our surroundings. "I knew it! He was totally interested in you!" She thought for a moment then shrieked, "
Is he going off the grid with you?!
"

"I have to go, Jodi. I promise I'll call again as soon as I can." As I hung up I could still hear her shouting, "I knew it!"

Piper was next on my list but I only got her answering machine. I left a message that everything was okay, that I'd try to get ahold of her again in a few weeks and that I loved her. I hung the pay phone receiver back onto its hook and turned to Theron.

"Anyone you need to call? You can use my calling card," I offered.

"I'm set. Let's get something to eat," he replied.

We grabbed a shopping cart and walked into the grocery store, through the double glass sliding doors and into the produce section. Mountains of fruit were stacked in high peaks, each in their individual colors in the grocery stands. Deep red apples, fragrant sun-touched oranges, earth toned Bosc pears, bright yellow bananas, round green heads of broccoli, bouquets of white cauliflower and piles of sugar snap peas were among the store's offerings.

"What do you like?" I asked.

Theron answered, "I don't really know."

"What do you mean?" How could he not know what fruit or veggies he liked?

"I've never eaten this type of food before." His eyes flashed with a strange expression, perhaps rewinding to an unpleasant memory. "Why don't you show me what you like?" he spoke with a brighter tone.

"I don't understand," I answered honestly, somewhat taken aback.

"How about I explain it to you later?"

People were crowding around us, picking up pieces of fruit from their stacks. Of course we shouldn't be standing here talking.
Okay, how to handle this,
I wondered.

I quickly grabbed several transparent produce bags and plucked up a bunch of different stuff: pears, oranges, red delicious apples, dried apricots and mangoes. I bagged a bunch of broccoli, a head of cauliflower and handfuls of snap peas that caught my eye along the way. I led us to the natural foods section in aisle five and threw boxes of several different flavors of nutritional bars into the basket. Then I moved to aisle seven, where the canned goods were kept, and put a bunch of canned soups and stews in the cart for bad hunting days.

"Come on." I brought him into the deli and bakery sections and scooped up a fresh roasted herb chicken, potato and egg salad and fresh crusty rolls.

"It smells good over here," Theron exclaimed.

I agreed and grabbed some of baked goods and a small personal strawberry cheesecake we could share.

I took a half-gallon of chocolate soymilk and two blueberry yogurts out of the refrigerated section, then swept down the beauty supply aisle for some new hair color (light brown) and made a beeline to the checkout. Night would be upon us soon.

"I'm guessing I'm the pack mule?" Theron said with a smile.

"You can't say something like what you said in produce and not expect repercussions," I said back. "We'll divvy up the load and eat some of it before we trek out."

I placed the food on the conveyor belt. Theron took a black leather wallet from his back pocket. "My turn," he stated firmly.

"All right," I conceded, and Theron paid for the items.

He lugged out our two big bags, one long arm curled around each one. We continued a few blocks west then set the bags down to eat and distribute the rest into our packs.

"Perishables are first," I began. I opened the carton of chocolate soymilk and handed it to him. "Taste."

He sniffed at its contents suspiciously then brought the opening to his mouth. He took a swig, rolled it around his tongue and looked at me with wide eyes. "This stuff is awesome!" He smiled.

"Chug," I insisted. He did. He must have guzzled over half the container before he came up for air.

He looked at me guiltily, "I probably drank too much."

"You're fine. Now try this." I scooped up a plastic spoonful of the strawberry cheesecake and he closed his mouth around it.

"Ah! I think that's the best thing I've ever tasted," he marveled.

I took a bite and passed it to him. "You finish it, it's small."

He saved the last bite for me.

I divided the heavy fruits and veggies between our packs and slipped my hair dye and the extra nutritional bars into mine, leaving out two to eat on the way. I left the yogurt, chicken, the potato-egg salad and rolls in the bag to carry by hand.

I tossed Theron a couple of different flavored nutritional bars and started on one myself. He devoured his two before I even finished my first one.

"It'll take us around seven hours to walk the thirty miles to Meadville," I said.

"We'll walk and hitch when it feels right," Theron said, passing me the last sip of soymilk.

"Thanks," I said with joking sarcasm as I shook the drops at the bottom of the carton. We both laughed lightly.

After walking a good twenty minutes, a farm truck came toward us. Theron put up his thumb. The farmer driving was probably in his early twenties and wore a ragged De Walt cap. He pulled the muscled-up white Dodge Ram to the side of the road and yelled, "Hop in the back!"

Theron lifted me into the truck bed before he climbed into it himself. We sat amidst the square bales of hay.

"Thanks!" Theron shouted back.

The farmer gave us a thumbs-up and tore off down the road.

A few miles up, the guy slid open the small glass window in the back. "Where y'all headed?"

"Homochitto," I replied.

"My farm borders it," he announced.

Cool,
I thought.
A ride the entire way there!

It was dusk when the farmer turned into his farm's dirt driveway and stopped. Theron leaped out of the truck and then helped me down.

"Forest entrance is right around the bend," the farmer said. "Have fun."

We passed the Homochitto National Forest sign, written in the signature script of the National Parks and Forest system. It felt like home.

"It's going to be quite a long trek into the heart of the forest, but we won't make it all the way tonight, so we'll just go in a little ways and find a good place to sleep and eat our dinner," I said.

"Lead the way," Theron said with a small artful bow in my direction. I pulled out my compass and we followed it west. The tall pines were fragrant in the crisp spring air. They smelled fresh and alive and green, filled with new life. It would be fun to forage for wild plants and foods.