The Hunted
Authors: Matt De La Peña
Ball Don't Lie
Mexican WhiteBoy
We Were Here
I Will Save You
The Living
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2015 by Matt de la Peña
Cover art © 2015 by Philip Straub
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
de la Peña, Matt.
The hunted / Matt de la Peña. â First edition.
pages cm
Sequel to: The living.
Summary: After surviving the earthquake and tsunami, Shy manages to make it back to land but he is far from safe because a secret his cruise ship co-worker, Addie, shared with him is one that people have killed for, and now that Shy knows, he has become a moving target.
ISBN 978-0-385-74122-4 (hardback) â ISBN 978-0-375-98436-5 (el)
ISBN 978-0-375-98992-6 (glb)
[1.
SurvivalâFiction.
2. Natural
disastersâFiction.
3.
DiseasesâFiction.
4. Cruise shipsâFiction. 5. Mexican
AmericansâFiction.]
I. Title.
PZ7.P3725Hun 2015
[Fic]âdc23
2014036148
eBook ISBNâ9780375984365
Random House Children's Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v4.0
ep
For my old man, who showed me how to see the world
MAN:
â¦but I'm not lost like that no more. I got a purpose. My family. [
Coughing.
] When everything crumbled around me that night, and I was almost burned to death in that fireâ¦I guess you could say it's when I was born.
DJ DAN:
It changed everyone. We're talking about the worst disaster in our country's history. [
Pause.
] My listeners are more interested in why you're here today. The warning you have. Why don't you start by giving us your name?
MAN:
Already told you, mister. I'm not going there. Last thing I need is for this to finally come to an end and they turn around and throw me in jail. Just for spreading a message. Let's leave it at this: I'm part of the Suzuki Gang. That's what you all call us, right?
DJ DAN:
You ride around on the same type of motorcycle acting like you have some type of authority.
MAN:
Look, I know you don't spend all your time sitting in this little box. You've been out in the world. You've seen it. Folks are bleeding out of their eyes. Little kids, even. They're scratching off their own skin. Bodies are piled in the streets, rotting.
DJ DAN:
Of course I've seen it. I started this radio program as a direct response to the things I've seen.
MAN:
I remember hearing this one story a few weeks back, not long after the earthquakes. These two young parents were carrying their sick daughter through the streets of West Hollywood. She was in bad shape, I guess. A man guarding the entrance of an elementary school felt sorry for them and opened the gate, gave them food and water. Said he could only let them stay, though, if they kept to a shed off the soccer field, clear across the school from everyone else. But it didn't matter. A week later every single person staying in that school was either dead or dying. Over six hundred, I was told. That's how quickly this disease spreads. All of them wiped off the face of the earth because some dummy had a soft spot in his heart.
DJ DAN:
But what does this have to do withâ
MAN:
I'm not done yet. [
Coughing.
] See, mister, that was back when things were mostly new. When none of us really understood shit, and everyone still had hope. But it's different now. Just yesterday I witnessed a similar situation. [
Coughing
.] A mom was wheeling her sick kid in a grocery cart, and she stopped in front of a community center in Silver Lake. She turned to look at all the faces watching her through the windows and she crumpled to her knees, sobbing and pleading for help.
DJ DAN:
Let me guess, no one came out this time.
MAN:
Shit, they came out, all right. Two men in dry suits. Dragged the mom and kid out of view by their shirts and hair and shot 'em in the street. Two bullets each, in the back of the head. Like it wasn't nothing. Another guy came out and torched the bodies. Left their charred remains as a warning to anyone else who wandered by.
DJ DAN:
Jesus.
MAN:
[
Scoffing.
] Call his name all you want, mister, but he ain't answered not one of us yet. [
Loud fit of coughing.
] This cough, by the way. It's not 'cause I got that disease. It's all the smoke I inhaled. I burned my lungs, I think.
DJ DAN:
That's reassuring.
MAN:
Point is, things are different now. We can agree on that much, I hope. And while most folks are still sitting around waiting on some savior from the other side to come riding in on a white ponyâ¦me and the guys, we've decided to get out there and do shit for ourselves, try and help our fellow man.
DJ DAN:
Look, it's true, none of us know how much we can trust the government at this pointâ
MAN:
Can't trust 'em at all.
DJ DAN
:âbut you're going about this all wrong. Take this interview, for example. There's absolutely no reason to be waving a gun in my face.
[
Sound of a gun being cocked.
]
MAN:
Why, mister? Does it make you uncomfortable?
DJ DAN:
What do
you
think?
MAN:
In my experience, people are at their best when they're uncomfortable. See this burn across the side of my face? [
Pause.
] Shit's ugly. I know it is. But it's also a symbol of my rebirth. I never felt so humbled in my life as when I woke up on fire that night.
DJ DAN:
Do you
honestly
think I need a gun in my face to feel fear? [
Sound of hand slapping desk.
] Fear is finding your wife crushed underneath your living room ceiling. Fear is witnessing your six-year-old daughter getting run over by a truck. Right outside the Sony lots. We're all scared, asshole. Every minute of every day.
MAN:
Careful, mister. [
Pause.
] Here's what you don't get. I'm not just aiming this gun at you. I'm aiming it at everyone out there listening, too. Like I told you from the beginning, I've been sent here to issue a warning.
[
Rustling sound of the mike being grabbed.
]
Listen up. All of you. Doesn't matter if you're sick or healthy, man or woman, grown person or childâ¦you need to stay where you are. No more traveling from zone to zone. For any reason. Or there will be consequences. Understand? [
Coughing.
] And I'm also looking for a kidâ
DJ DAN:
What consequences?
MAN:
Hang on. [
Rustling.
] The kid's name is Shy Espinoza. Seventeen, with short brown hair and brown skin. Sort of tall and thin. Anyone can give me information on this boy's whereabouts, there'll be a reward. Just get in touch with DJ Dan here, and I'll keep checking back.
DJ DAN:
What are the consequences for moving from zone to zone? And who will issue these consequences?
MAN:
Us, man. We're out patrolling the streets, like you said. There's hundreds of us now, up and down the coast. And from this point on, if we catch your ass wandering aroundâ¦we reserve the right to shoot you dead. No questions asked.
DJ DAN:
Don't you hear what you're saying? You're talking about killing innocent human beings.
MAN:
No, mister, I'm talking about saving them. If we don't do something to contain this disease, starting from right this second, it's gonna infect every last one of us. And then what? Huh, Mr. DJ Dan? Who would listen to your radio show then?