Chapter two
She had been unresponsive for the past 20-minutes. I made her put the training she had been putting herself through these last few months to work. It was exhilarating, but I was also very aware of the dogs barking at our heels. We had walked into a nest of serial killers. It was almost comical. We had paid for an experience to remember and we were getting more than we bargained for.
“Stephanie, I need you to come back to me. I can’t carry your weight and protect us at the same time.” In my hand was a hunting knife and I turned it several times to see the gleaming steel glint in the sun.
“He…he killed him without even flinching. It happened so quick that I didn’t have time to process it. What the hell are we going to do? We were informed from the very beginning that there was no cell coverage in the area. Calling for help isn’t an option. I don’t want to die this way.” She was speaking to the choir.
“We paid them money to hunt us like animals. They admitted they have been doing this for over five years. Nobody has caught them. They go back to their lives after everything is said and done like nothing happened. Returning to the scene of the crime every year is sick and demented. They don’t have any conscience.” I had a compass, but it couldn’t tell me what direction to go to find civilization.
We were one step away from being dead and gone. I felt like crawling into a hole and dying. The more I thought about it the more I understood there was no way that I could look back. I was trying to see the light by pushing the darkness back, but it wasn’t easy when the threat of death was looming over my head.
I searched my many pockets in my cargo pants and cargo vest. I had the means to make a fire, but that would only attract their attention. I’d done my research on the area to know the temperatures dipped below freezing at night during this time of year.
“How can they do this to another human being? They have the advantage. We don’t know the area.” I knew enough to know there was a stream running through the mountains.
Montana was a labyrinth of different bicycle paths and hiking trails. I tried to remember what I had read on the map. I should have known something was wrong by how Peter was quite adamant that they knew where they were going. He didn’t want me to have any forewarned knowledge about the area in question.
“We can’t stay here and debate this. Our best line of defense is to keep moving and not look back. We stay away from the river. It’s the first place they are going to think to look for us. Making it easy on them is going to turn us into the frightened prey they want. I have this knife, but I can only use it if we can get close enough to pick them off one at a time.” I didn’t consider myself a fighter, but I was learning the hard way what I was capable of when push came to shove.
“I don’t have anything to defend myself. I’m guessing you don’t have another one of those knives.” I shook my head and I really didn’t think that I was going to have an occasion to use it during the trip.
It was mostly a crutch to give me a false sense of security. Those three men were not the only problem we had to deal with. The wildlife in the area could be unforgiving to strangers. Testing our limits by tackling a bear was going to make us into its breakfast.
“Nobody really knows what they are going to do until a certain situation reveals itself.” Stephanie was scared and it was up to me to push her past her endurance.
“I certainly wasn’t expecting to be a hero in this story. We are going to have to fight whether we want to or not. They are going to find that killing us is going to be a challenge.” I imagined what the knife would look like plunged deeply into Peter’s chest
I wanted to see the look of stunned surprise that he had seen on his first victim.
The driving force to survive was to see him on his knees begging for his life. Peter was the instigator and like a pied piper had brought together those of like mind into his close-knit group of friends. He was blurring the lines of what it meant to be a hunter. He probably found no challenge in something that couldn’t fight back.
“I’m through with this pity party. You’re not the only one that is going to rise up over their oppressors. We will do this together. It would be nice to get my hands on one of their weapons. I can shoot with the expertise of a marksman. I just need a target and it appears I have three of them.” The shock had worn off and was replaced by this defiant fire in her eyes.
I heard a gunshot and it was closer than I would have liked. It was tempting to go back and render aid to anybody that was fighting for their lives. I couldn’t put myself in their sights without having a plan. I had this fever burning up inside of me for revenge. This bloodlust to see them suffer was hard to ignore. I could see that Stephanie was suffering from the same affliction.
We didn’t follow any set path and crashed through the foliage trying to stay one step ahead of them. I could feel the branches slapping against my face cutting my cheek and fueling my rage even more.
“We both know what that noise meant. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I can say with some degree of certainty that I’m not going to beg for my life. They will find me spitting in their face before I admit defeat.” I was using my words to feed Stephanie the necessary motivation to keep going.
It was a good thing we were in shape. There were still moments where we had to stop and catch our second wind. I had already hit the wall and gone through to the other side. The stitch in my side was gone replaced with marathon endurance.
“They don’t want to capture us alive for any kind of ransom. They want the pleasure of seeing us cower in fear. They probably would have gotten their wish had you not been around to shake some sense into me.” Stephanie was stronger then she gave herself credit for, but I was happy to do my part to give her the necessary strength to carry on.
I was building up this immunity from the fear running through my veins. I was never going to give them the satisfaction of acting like a damsel in distress. Running wasn’t the answer. It was exactly what we were expected to do. I needed some time to orchestrate some kind of attack. I stood to lose my life, but I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
Vultures were circling overhead obviously waiting for their supper to stop breathing. They were giving away our position. One look skyward and the hunters would know where to find us. It would’ve been nice to fire off a shot to scare them, but we didn’t have that luxury.
“I don’t know where this came from, but I like this newfound strength inside of me.” It wouldn’t surprise me to learn they were master trackers, but that meant that we had to keep moving.
Slowing down for any length of time was going to end badly for the both of us. I grabbed her chin with my two fingers and made her look at me. I didn’t have to say one word and she understood staying in one place was a detriment to our health.
“I don’t think that I could have done this without you. I know myself better than anybody. I would have pleaded for mercy and appealed to their humanity. They would have laughed in my face.” I wondered if killing us was the first thing they would do.
We were the only two females in the group making us vulnerable to a different sort of attack. They were brutes and would probably treat us like possessed cattle. Bending to their will would have broken us. They wouldn’t get the chance. I would gnash at their skin and tear at their face with my fingernails making my death quick.
The sun was going down, but I was foolish to think that the darkness and shadows were going to be our friends. We needed to find shelter and somewhere we could regain our composure.
We forged ahead, but it felt like somebody was watching us. It was probably paranoia setting in. I looked around and found nothing to indicate somebody else was in the vicinity. It didn’t mean that there wasn’t anyone.
“I don’t know if this means anything, but I haven’t heard anything in quite some time. There were eight of us in total. Counting the one that was shot as an example; I would say that we have the numbers on our side. It’s too bad the others weren’t thinking with the analytical side of their brains.” I had many regrets in my life, but my friendship with Stephanie wasn’t one of them.
We had met at a company function. I couldn’t get over how flirtatious she could be with the opposite sex. I found myself gravitating to her. I wanted to learn at the feet of the master how to manipulate a man with words and brief glimpses of flesh. We had many things in common including a childhood that was born from bullying.
They broke the mold when they made her. It was liberating to show off my natural beauty. The makeup she put on me was a battle cry to warn the other ladies that we were coming out to paint the town red. That was the time for them to lock up their boyfriends and husbands.
“That only means they haven’t used their guns. They might find it more sporting to sneak up on their quarry and slice their throats. I can’t even believe those words are coming out of my mouth. I have no interest in dying drowning in my own blood.” She did give me pause for thought.
“This whole thing has been far more shocking than anything I’ve ever known before. I don’t want to think about those unfortunate souls that have already lost their lives.” I wasn’t going to let them intimidate me, but then I heard the unmistakable sound of a twig snapping behind me.
“It looks like I’ve found myself a couple of little birds.” The voice wasn’t coming from behind us, but from the backpack over my shoulder.
They knew where we were at any given time because they had planted something in the backpack to keep us from getting too far away.
“You are conniving bastards. I was under the impression this was going to be sporting. Imagine my surprise that you have been waiting for the right time to strike. You should be ashamed of your actions. What would your mother say if she could see you now?” I realized my mistake too late and heard the bullet coming out of the chamber.
My words had always been more powerful, but this time they had an unintended side effect. Stephanie fell to her knees and she looked at me before she collapsed in a pool of her own blood.
“My mother is a saint. You shouldn’t have used her name in vain. I was going to have a bit of fun with you, but killing you slowly is better.” The first shot spun me around with the impact to my shoulder.
I was going to die because I didn’t think of everything.