Chapter 48

Hunter

“Hey. Easy, easy, we don’t want Hunter here dying on us already. I’ve got a few things I want to talk over with him first. You alive, boy? Hey! I’m talking to you, you piece of shit.”

I could hear the old man walking toward me as I started to come to. I opened my eyes just in time to see his brown dress shoe come flying at me and connect with my mouth, snapping my head back violently.

“Stand this ungrateful fuck up. Hunter, Hunter? You with me boy, or did we hit your dumb ass too hard with that fucking bat?”

I was suddenly being pulled to my knees by two sets of arms. I felt boots go down on the backs of my legs as I was held there. I spat blood and saw it mix with the dirt in front of me. I was used to blood being spilled, it just wasn’t generally mine.

I looked up and smiled at the old man. I could feel the blood on my teeth and taste it on my tongue. I spit more onto the ground.

“Hey there, pops,” I breathed out. “What took you so fucking long? You a Sunday driver now, old man?”

He just stood there and laughed, all the while keeping a hand on Lucas’s mouth and the tip of a blade against his skin. He looked around at the crew he had brought with him. I didn’t recognize any faces. Maybe he cleaned house trying to figure out if anyone had helped me or if I’d acted alone. He should have fucking known better.

“Am I fucking crazy, boys? I’m actually happy to see this fucking puke. Look at him. What a fucking beast. It’s a goddamn shame you’ve got to go out like this, Hunter, but you have no one to blame but yourself, son.”

I stared back at him as the two fucks behind me dug their heels into my hamstrings. He was pathetic. Thinning slicked back hair, doughy body, wearing a fucking overcoat and dress shoes in the middle of the mountains. I hated him before, and I wanted to carve his goddamned heart out now. He hadn’t been able to beat on me since I was Luke’s age, and I guess the fucker was happy to see me because now he finally got his chance. He had to bring a couple of goons to do the dirty work for him, but that was par for the course with the bastard. All the evil, none of the goddamn strength. I would have felt bad for him, if I wasn’t fantasizing about pulling his teeth out with a pair of pliers.

“So, Hunter. My wayward fucking son. You care to enlighten me on how we have landed ourselves in this horrendous fucking situation here?”

I stared back at him and laughed.

“Go fuck yourself. You’re not my fucking family. Enlightened enough for you?”

“Oh, see, now that’s not going to get us anywhere. Crying like a little bitch and bleeding. I’m going to kill you, Hunter. You fucking know that. You’re an ape, but you know how this aspect of my business works. I want to hear some sort of explanation as to why you fucking felt the need to smoke one of my employees and then bolt with a sizable amount of my money. If I get that, maybe I’ll just put a bullet in your little friend’s head here instead of slicing his throat and making you watch him bleed out.”

He shook Lucas and pressed the blade closer to his neck.

I lunged forward but the two cunts behind me dug their boots in deeper and I couldn’t move.

“Well? What the fuck, Hunter? Do I have to go get your little lady from inside as well? Do I have to get her before you’ll talk? What’s her name again? Now, isn’t that awful? I can’t even remember the name of the piece of pussy. What’s her name again, kid?”

I just glared back at the old man with daggers flying from my eyes.

“I have no idea what you’re fucking talking about.”

He clenched his teeth and pushed the blade closer to Lucas’s neck.

“Don’t you fucking lie to me, you little puke. I know that bitch is up there. I know she’s this kid’s fucking sister. I know you’ve been playing house in this goddamn town. I know she’s in there, Hunter. Now call her out or I go in and bring her out by her fucking tits.”

I looked back at him and just smiled.

“I think this is the most I’ve ever seen you smile, Hunter. She must suck your dick pretty fucking good, hey?”

I kept smiling at him, trying to piss him off, trying to buy myself some time as I racked my brain for a way to get to the blade on my leg. The old fuck kept rambling.

“I know this house has been used for diddling kids for many a year now. The old fuck who lived here, he had a partner in crime. The partner is dead now too, but he was the worst of all. He even locked his own kid in the basement with a pack of pit bulls. Funniest shit I ever heard of. Fucking locked the kid up with fighting dogs. I don’t remember how that turned out, but I’d bet it didn’t go too well for the fucking boy.”

I just spat on the ground in front of his feet.

“Now where is your fucking bitch, Hunter? If you think for two fucking seconds that I believe that you are out here alone with this kid, you’re even dumber than I thought. Now, I’m going to ask one more time, where is your piece of pussy?”

Hearing him refer to her like that, the words sliding between his greasy fucking lips, made me lose it. I was seeing red and I ripped one of my arms away from the grip behind me. Before I could launch myself after the old man, I felt a pair of brass knuckles come crashing down on my jaw, making my entire body go limp. As I lifted my head I saw a thick string of my blood drop to the dirt.

“Where’s that whore of yours, Kelly?” the old man said.

How in the fuck did he know her name? How did he know that Lucas was her kid brother?

I barely found this shit out until yesterday and now he was fucking standing there knowing everything I did. Worse than that, he had a goddamn leg up on me.

“I’m going to kill you slow, pop. I’m going to make you watch as I pull your fucking guts out. Then I’m going to let you bleed. You’ll bleed slow, you miserable old prick.”

I spit toward him and watched it spray in front of my face. I was going to kill the old fucker. I didn’t know how, but I was going to watch him bleed. I looked into his black eyes and could tell that he knew too. He had me. He had us. But he was fucking afraid.

You should be, you cocksucker. Enjoy this moment. The last minutes of your miserable life are going to be brutal agony and you are going to have to look me in the eye as you take your last breath. You are going to know that I am ending you.

He shook himself away from my stare and laughed his sick, phony laugh.

“Well, Hunter, normally I would bet on you, son. But those days are over. You aren’t worth the fucking dirt I’m about to slaughter you and your little friends on. All right, boys. Bring out the bitch.”

Some of his henchmen entered the house, and I could hear Kelly scream and fight as she was carried down the porch steps.

“Let me go. Let me go. Stop. Just let go. Hunter. Hunter, help.”

I could hear her pain as she called my name. I felt her fear as I had to kneel there, fucking bleeding, as she got manhandled. My body started to shake uncontrollably and I felt a mixture of saliva and blood spraying from my mouth with every labored exhalation of my breath. I ripped my arms back and forth, throwing the bodies that held them from side to side. I was getting out of this and I was going to murder each and every one of these motherfuckers, leaving the old man for last. This was it. My vision trembled and all sound around me cut in and out as I swung and twisted my way free.

And that’s when I felt it.

The cool blade sunk into my shoulder and the painful heat came as the blood began to flow out and down my back. I let out a primal scream that goddamn should have been heard the next town over. I lost my momentum and felt the two pukes behind me get their grip again. The old man just laughed.

I was going to fucking feed him his heart.