Hunter (15 page)

           
I
could feel him staring at me, but started walking deeper into the woods,
trusting he’d follow. He muttered a curse under his breath and followed,
apparently not convinced I agreed with him. It didn’t matter anyway. In the
past, there were moments I wanted to kill someone so badly I could taste it.

           
Now
was no different.

THIRTY-EIGHT

Sam

           
When
my mother disappeared—presumed dead from drug use—and left me with my father
and brother, I’d been excited. Living with mom had never been enjoyable. She’d
spent most of the time high or drunk, and was rarely home unless it was with an
“uncle of the week” as I'd dubbed her many boyfriends. She was never overtly
cruel, but was definitely not mother material. Forgiving her for leaving Jason
with our father was nearly impossible. I’d been very young when my mother and I
left, but even then I knew Jason wasn’t safe with our father.

           
There
was one piece of advice she gave me that I still held on to: no matter what
life throws at you, make sure you remain true to yourself. Since discovering
the ability to sense my brother’s emotions, a lot of my time was spent
separating my own feelings from his. Sometimes, it was hard to be sure how
successful I was.

           
It
was especially hard to tell, now that there were two other personalities
clashing with my own. Although I knew some of what I was doing—as good as it
felt—was not true to my own personality. Messing with Hunter in order to get
him to fear Jason and potentially make a costly mistake while dealing with him
was definitely me. I wanted my brother to have every possible advantage when
facing this monster.

           
But
enjoying driving Jason to desperation? That was not something I would normally
get pleasure from. The amusement from earlier faded, and I wondered if part of
Hunter’s personality had made its presence known. He liked to play games with
people, and make them feel afraid. So raising Jason’s anxiety levels, instead
of trying to raise his confidence, was definitely Hunter.

           
Telling
myself it was only Hunter’s influence causing me to enjoy my brother’s
suffering was necessary. The… lie? half-truth? …was needed to avoid my guilt
about manipulating him and liking it. Although the ability to influence
emotions was fun, it might be necessary to avoid affecting my brother until I
knew for sure it was my own personality taking the wheel.

           
Hunter
left me alone hours ago, and I could still sense him. His emotions weren’t as
overwhelming now as when he was in the house, so I was pretty certain that my
own personality was in charge right now.

           
One
positive came from my mind tricks; I managed to make Hunter care enough about
my welfare to pad the chain that held me and give me pain relief for my
headache. My recently freed wrist was throbbing, but not nearly as badly as it
had while chained. And Hunter did an awesome job padding the manacle when he
put it on my right hand. He wrapped the padding around the whole wrist piece,
so no hard edges poked through. It was still uncomfortable being chained, but
it didn’t come with the soreness and aching it had for the last couple days.
Without the pain as a distraction, I was able to think more clearly.

           
Staring
at the ceiling, thoughts of home and spending time with my brother began to
take over. The desire to see the friends I’d struggled with on the streets, and
Alice and Hannah who welcomed us as family, also hit me. When this was over, it
was time to go home. This place, as much as Jason wanted it to be, was not
home. We had a house, I went to school, and he went to work. But we had no
family here. I made some friends, but none of the kids here knew anything about
what Jason and I went through, so I was set apart. Heck, most of them didn’t
even know I lived only with my brother. They all just assumed my parents were
around somewhere.

           
Fighting
back the tears threatening to escape, I finally began to feel afraid. There was
always the possibility Hunter would tire of his game with Jason, and simply
kill him. Or me. I might never see my brother or other family again, and the
sense of loss paralyzed me. The tears escaped, and I rubbed at my cheeks
angrily.

           
No!
This man would not succeed where so many others had failed. I would see my
family again. I would use Hunter’s fears against him, and try to build up
Jason’s confidence and anger during his inevitable fight with the other man.
And when we were reunited, I would tell my brother everything I could do, and
what I had done to him. “I’m sorry, Jason.” My voice came out as a whisper. “I
know you’re sensitive about being manipulated, especially since Kindred, but I
don’t see an alternative. Hope you can forgive me.” This apology I would repeat
to him in person, once I told him everything I had done.

           
All
I could do was pray he could accept the apology after what I was about to do.

THIRTY-NINE

Hunter

           
My
parents had always worried about me during my childhood. They worried that I never
got along with other children. They worried about my violent experimentation on
living animals. They worried when I experimented with drugs. It was only when I
became good at hiding my strange interests that they were able to stop
worrying. I hid my violence behind a love of hunting. If I shot an animal
several times in places that would cause it more pain; it wasn’t sadistic or
evil, it was bad aim. The drugs weren’t much of an issue, so it was easy to
stop using. Pretending to get along with other kids became easier with time,
and I joined in pick-up games of basketball or baseball. Any injuries during
such games were usually attributed to ‘accidental’ collisions on the court or
at the bases.

           
Now
my parents are
oh so proud
of their
only son. Not only had I managed to grow up without ending up in prison, but I
also married a nice girl and got a regular job. They never realized just how
horrifying and chafing this life felt to me, and would be terrified to know the
truth. My tension released only when I was able to escape to my refuge and hunt.

           
Their
pride was tested now. My wife had called them to tell them she was leaving me.
They called me shortly after I ignored all the calls from the woman, and
wondered why she decided to leave. Of course I played innocent, claiming to not
know why she would leave when all I wanted was to find a more interesting job,
and to spend a couple days or weeks at the cabin to relax before going job
hunting again. In honesty, I never anticipated
her
leaving
me
. I
always thought it would be the other way around.

           
The
messages my wife left shed a bit of light on it. Apparently, she couldn’t
handle my distancing myself from her, and she somehow discovered my affair with
a coworker. Fine. If she wanted to leave, that made things easier for me. I
called her, leaving a message that I’d be by for my things sometime in the next
few weeks, and she was welcome to have the divorce papers drawn up. I would
sign them when she sent them to me at the cabin.

           
All
of my family drama was happening while I sat in my car across the street from
the police station, waiting for Jason and his two new friends to come out. It
was bad enough when he was working with the lead detective on my case, but the
two new arrivals were unknown entities. Obviously they were involved in law
enforcement somehow, but how did he know them?

           
It
wasn’t until almost six o’clock when they came out again, minus the detective.
They had a discussion outside the precinct before the two men left, and the
young woman went in the opposite direction. She was heading toward the diner.
Torn for a moment, I watched in the fading twilight as the three people I
wanted to follow separated. The girl was alone. Jason had been so happy to see
her. She must be someone who could help him find me, and, by extension, his
brother.

           
This
girl knew Jason, and might be able to tell me more about him. She could also be
a cause of more distraction for him next time I faced him. I followed her down
the street, seeing the long blonde hair shining whenever the sunshine hit it.
She was tall and athletic. Beautiful and strong. No wonder Jason seemed to like
her. I didn’t usually take women, but she could be interesting. By now the
apprehension I felt at the thought of my next encounter with Jason did not
surprise me. The possibility of throwing him off by taking another person he
cared about was too good to pass up.

           
My
new target made it to the diner, so I waited down the street for her to come
out. When she did, I used a slightly different tactic to get her into the car.
I wanted to speak to her right away, so having her unconscious would be
inconvenient. She walked past my car, and I opened the door. “You’re a friend
of Jason’s, right?” I asked when she glanced at me.

           
Green
eyes narrowed suspiciously, and she nodded slowly. “How ‘bout his little brother,
you care about him too?”

           
“I
care about both of them,” she said. “Who are you? Do you know them?”

           
“Yes,”
I said, pulling out my pistol. “I know them quite well. Now, if you don’t want
to be the reason I shoot little Sammy, you’ll come with me quietly. If you
scream or run away, I won’t chase you, but I’ll go back to where I have him and
put a bullet into him. What do you say?”

           
She
wanted to yell for help. The desire was clear in the way her green eyes darted
around, searching for assistance. Seeing none, she didn’t fight when I took her
by the arm with the gun jabbed into her side. We walked back to my car. “There,
see? That wasn’t so hard.” When she was in the back seat, I handed her a pair
of handcuffs. “Cuff yourself behind your back, please.”

           
Glaring
at me, she did as she was told. Once she clipped the cuffs closed, I double
checked them to make sure they were tight. Climbing into the driver’s seat, I
started driving back to the house. “I have some questions about who you are.” I
spoke casually, unwilling to let her know how thrown I felt by the arrival of
the other man and herself. “But the main thing I want to know right now is
where Jason was going with that other guy. Also, who is he?” Knowing the people
Jason was with could be important if I went to meet them.

           
When
she remained silent, I reminded her, “I can cause all kinds of pain for little
Sammy. Do you think Jason would be pleased to hear his little brother got hurt
because his girlfriend wouldn’t answer a couple questions?”

           
“Jason
would be pleased to put a bullet between your eyes!” She snapped angrily.

           
“I
doubt that,” I said with a slight smile and shake of my head. “I think a man
with his abilities would probably come up with something a little more creative
than a bullet to the head. Maybe something more along the lines of a slow,
painful death by suffocation in a spontaneously created mud pit, don’t you
think?”

           
“You…
I don’t…”

           
“Yeah.
I know a little more about your boyfriend than you thought, huh? Now, why don’t
you just tell me where he went, and who was with him.”

           
It
took her a few minutes to decide to answer, but she finally said, “He’s in the
woods looking for you. The man with him is an FBI agent named Mark Jones.”

           
“Thank
you. Who exactly is Mark Jones? Not just some random FBI agent, I think. Jason
seemed awfully pleased to see him for that.”

           
“He’s
a friend. They haven’t seen each other in a while. I’d imagine, with Sam
missing, Jason would be very happy to see Mark.”

           
An
FBI agent friend. There was more to that story, but now wasn’t the time. A
flash of fear went through me when I heard the FBI was involved in my case, but
I hid my nerves before the girl noticed. “What’s your name?”

           
“Why
do you care?” she snapped. “I’m a hostage you think will help you gain leverage
against Jason. Why do you need to know my name?”

           
I
shrugged. “Why not? My knowing, or not knowing, your name won’t help you in any
way. If it makes you feel better, you can just tell me your first name.
Besides, do you really find it wise to annoy the man who could hurt you and
Sam?” I parked the car in the garage, and shut off the engine as I finished
speaking.

           
“Fine.
My name is Hannah. And Jason’s gonna kick your butt for this, you know that?
You claim to know about him, so you should know that he’s not one to take
threats to his loved ones lying down. He’ll come for you.”

           
Opening
the door, I leaned in to drag her out of the car. “That’s the idea.”