Hunter
When Hunter saw the door open, Jeremy startled, Vanessa bound to the chair, with dead and bleeding men all around him, he felt every bit the hit man he was meant to be. He’d come to save and protect those he loved, and no one would stop him.
They weren’t alone in the room, though. Vanessa and Jeremy were there, but so was Opal and another of Jeremy’s thugs. The thug pulled out his gun, but Jeremy picked up a needle. He wasn’t sure for a moment what was going to happen, until Jeremy turned to Vanessa with a frantic look in his eyes and injected her with whatever concoction he’d prepared.
Hunter could play this any number of ways. Shoot Jeremy, but he was close to Vanessa and if he missed, it would hit her. Shoot the assassin seemed obvious, but he was close to Opal. And the worst part, Opal was watching Hunter like a hawk. And he didn’t want her to see any of this. It was also the least expected move.
He dashed across the bed. Not toward the obvious threats of Jeremy or the thug, but toward Opal. He crashed into the chair she was tied to and half caught her as she hit the floor. The chair broke, and she was free of it.
“Get under the bed,” he hissed at her. “Hide your face.”
That way she wouldn’t see what he was about to do, or what anyone else might do. She’d already seen far too much. That poor little girl would need years of counseling to get over all of this. Lord knows, Hunter needed it and never had it, and it messed him up big time.
He had a unique position on the floor. The element of surprise was already fading, though, and he needed to make his next move quickly. The men in the other rooms were all either dead or severely injured. The chances of one of them getting up or someone new coming in were slim, so it didn’t matter too much if he put his back to the door. It was still a place of possible vulnerability and if nothing else, he should shut it so he didn’t have to think too much about it.
The thug was closest. He was worried about Jeremy killing Vanessa while he fought the other man, but he could only focus on one at a time. If he put his attention on Jeremy primarily, that would leave the thug wide open to do whatever he liked. It seemed like Jeremy wasn’t too good with a gun, or he wouldn’t have hired so many killers to do his work for him. That made things clear.
Hunter lunged forward from his position on the ground. He grabbed the leg of the thug and sent him crashing to the ground. He didn’t drop his gun like Hunter hoped. Hunter crawled over the man and wrestled with him, trying to get the gun. But this guy was better trained than most of the others he’d fought.
Hunter’s knee pressed in the man’s groin, but the man turned and bucked him off, then punched him in the jaw. Hunter shook away the pain and rolled on top of the man’s gun.
He put his full weight on his shoulder, using the hard bones there to press into the man’s wrist, causing him to loosen his grip. The man let go of the gun, but positioned himself on top of Hunter.
With two free hands, he started quickly pummeling Hunter with punches. His jaw, his cheeks, his stomach. It didn’t take long for Hunter to push the man off, though. He reached up and punched him in the throat. The man gasped for air and in the second it took him to put his hand to his throat, Hunter tackled him.
The gun that had been on the floor was now in Hunter’s hand. He pressed it against the thug’s head and squeezed the trigger. His body jerked when the bullet tore through, then lay still. Hunter got up, gun still in hand, and turned to Jeremy.
Jeremy stared back, horrified. Hunter hoped he realized what a predicament he was in. That the man he’d hired to kill his wife was now turning on him, and all the other thugs he’d hired to protect him and go after Opal and Vanessa were now also dead. Hunter glanced at the bed. He couldn’t see Opal, so she must still be under there. Vanessa was in the chair, slumped over, but still breathing and moving. Now was his chance to take out all the anger he felt toward Jeremy for what he’d done.
He walked past him and kicked the door shut. Jeremy was frozen. Hunter pulled out his gun and shot him in the foot. Jeremy screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground.
Hunter stood over him, looking down with an evil smile. “You’ve hurt Vanessa for a long time, in a lot of ways. Now, it’s time for payback.”
Jeremy looked up at Hunter with real fear in his eyes. The look sent a thrill through Hunter to know he would make Jeremy suffer like he’d made the woman he loved suffer. He wanted to enjoy this as much as possible and make it hurt as badly as it could.
Hunter took out his knife. Jeremy wasn’t going anywhere with an injury like that. He could barely even fight back. Hunter made several long slashes across his chest, arms, and face. With each one, Jeremy cried out in pain and tried to hide from Hunter’s knife, only to receive another slash.
“What’s the matter? You don’t like it when people mistreat you?” Hunter kicked him several times in the ribs, making sure to hit hard enough to break them.
The slashing started to bore him, so Hunter pointed his gun at Jeremy’s knee. He pressed the gun directly against his knee cap and fired. Jeremy screamed again and Hunter immediately shot out his other knee cap.
“Stop, please,” Jeremy begged, whimpering and crying, clutching at his knees.
“Did you stop when Vanessa begged you to?” Hunter kicked him in the jaw. Blood dribbled from his mouth and he turned his head to spit out a tooth.
“Did you?” He kicked him again.
In the moment Hunter was deciding which way to hurt Jeremy next, he heard Vanessa make a noise. He looked over at her and froze. She was still slumped over, but she didn’t look good. Spittle dribbled from her mouth and her eyes were rolling back in her head.
She needed him more than Jeremy needed to be tortured. Hunter stuck his gun at Jeremy’s temple and pulled the trigger. Blood exploded over the floor. He turned to Vanessa. She fell to the side, her and the chair crashing to the ground.
# # #
The drugs hit Vanessa like hot butter being poured over her body. Her head immediately drooped forward and she couldn’t keep it up or straight. Her mouth felt loose. She’d never done drugs. The occasional pain killer from the dentist was about all the experience she had. This felt very wrong and very scary, but very good all at the same time. She was warm and pain-free and felt like everything was going to be okay.
She thought back to her happiest times. Meeting Hunter and how she’d been unsure of him at first. That made her smile. To think she almost walked away from the best thing that ever happened to her. Silly. But the way he was with Opal from even the beginning, winning her the bear at the fair. He was good guy.
She grinned widely and thought of their first date, how it’d been a little awkward, but she was so attracted to him. And of course, that made her think of their first kiss and first time together. She thought a little too much of that and it got her all warm and excited. She wanted him. Where had he gone, anyway?
She tried to pick up her head to see him, or turn, but it was difficult. Her head weighed a hundred pounds. But she heard gunfire. He must be killing someone, then. Oh good. She saw the side of him come into view and heard him ask Jeremy a question. Something about how he hurt her. Aww, he was defending her. Hunter was so great.
No wonder she’d fallen in love with him. She thought of the conversations where he’d said he wanted to kill Jeremy for her and that he’d do anything to protect her and her daughter. Oh. Where was Opal anyway? Oh well, she was fine, surely. Hunter would make sure she was okay because that’s just what he did. He took care of them. He was there and he protected them. No wonder she loved him. She was lucky he loved her back. He could be like Jeremy and decide that she was no good. And that would be no good because she really liked—no loved—Hunter. Maybe, when this was all over, she’d even marry him.
As she pictured their wedding, she was seeing it bathed in bright white light, shining from above, like heaven calling to her. She started to let herself drift toward the light, but had a vivid realization. If she went to the light, that meant she was dying. She couldn’t be dying. Not now. Not yet.
Suddenly, she was panicking. Where was Opal? What was happening to her? Jeremy had been about to murder her. Had he succeeded? Jeremy had Opal. Jeremy had her. Jeremy had injected her with something. Something that might be killing her. And if she wasn’t dying, she might face a worse situation being alive if her daughter was dead. No, she couldn’t go toward heaven. She needed to face this hell happening on earth. She had to be here for Opal.
Where was Opal? She tried to see her. Tried to squint through the light blinding her, tried to keep her eyelids open. She called for her, but it came out like a weak groaning sound. Not an audible word at all. She had to wake up.
Vanessa tried to will herself awake. To pick up her head, to open her eyes fully. I have to save my daughter! she screamed in her mind. No matter what she did, nothing seemed to help her. Her head grew heavier still, her eyelids wouldn’t open, and now she couldn’t swallow.
Her saliva bubbled up, spilling over her lips. Her tongue wouldn’t work. The light started to fade to darkness. She felt herself falling, but she wasn’t sure where she was going or where she would stop.
Before she hit the ground and lay still, she heard Hunter’s voice, loud and frantic, calling out her name.