Setting Traps

Reid hears Ashley’s footfalls before he sees her, his focus sharpening down the trail. With quiet deliberation, he unfolds his knife as the tall, slim girl appears through the canopy, running hard, her sneakers barely making a sound as she flies along the path, auburn hair streaming out behind her.

She glances up. Their eyes meet and she pumps a fist, fear written all over her face but a wild exultation there, too. She doesn’t stop but continues on, while a flicker behind her draws Reid’s attention to the hunter pursuing her up the trail.

Reid is tired of running, tired of hiding. It’s time to take the fight to the enemy. No more picking the kids off one by one, wearing them down with terror and starvation. He is ready to act and so are his friends. But something is changing inside Reid, an effect of the strange dust the hunters dissolve into when they die, and he worries he is turning into one of the very creatures he despises.

Lost Underground

“There’s no way out,” Milo says like it’s a death sentence. As far as they all know it could be. Everyone falls so silent Reid can hear the buzzing of the light bulb as it flickers its life away.

“You heard him,” Marcus says. “Time to move on. You,” he points at Cole and the boy perks, “keep an eye on that line.” He jerks his thumb at the electric cable. Like it’s going anywhere.

Laughter bubbles up in Reid’s chest but he manages to hold it back. Somehow he doesn’t think Marcus would appreciate it. And not that Reid really cares but he’s too tired and wrung out to do anything about it if the other guy finally decides to challenge him.

Reid isn’t sure if he’s grateful to be alive. He’s managed to save a small group of kids from the hunters, but only by trapping them all underground without food or water or a way out. If starvation doesn’t kill them, thirst will. Still, they are out of the hunter’s reach and that’s something. Reid refuses to stop trying, even when the kids find out they aren’t alone in the mine after all.