Hunted Ch. 08

I couldn't remember anything when I regained consciousness. I was once again tied to a tree, but I had no idea where I was. My vision was blurry as fuck, but I could make out another figure tied to a tree, also unconscious, presumably Liv. I looked around as best I could, and noticed our attacker carrying a body over to another tree and tying it up. Gradually, my vision cleared and I could see properly. I tried to adjust my seating position, but an intense pain shot through my chest as I moved, probably fractured or broken ribs. I cried out in pain, and the guy looked over. He gave an evil smile and approached me. "Well well, we are in trouble now, aren't we?"

"Why are you doing this to us?" I asked.

"Because I can. I enjoy death. Do you have any idea what it feels like to determine another man's fate? I love having that power."

I shook my head in disgust. "Unbelievable. Were you dropped on your head as a kid?"

His face grew red in anger and he reached down and punched me in the ribs, making the pain even worse. I yelled in agony and writhed helplessly.

My screams must've woken up the others, because they stirred and opened their eyes. Both gasped in horror on taking in what they saw.

He turned away and looked at them, then back at me. "My name is lieutenant Harry Abrams. I escaped from a mental hospital. No one knows yet. My cell guard is currently floating at the bottom of a lake with a knife in his chest. I served with the SEAL teams in Afghanistan and Iraq. I enjoyed killing a little too much. Killing terrorists wasn't enough, so I wiped out my whole team, which got the NCIS involved and led to me being dishonorably discharged and incarcerated at a mental hospital. My life went downhill from there. My wife left me. My kids don't wanna see me. I was pissed. I broke out of the hospital last week. I needed food, and could hardly just walk into McDonald's dressed like this, so I broke into a store and stole weapons and supplies and came out here to hunt animals for food. And I stumbled upon you. Remember that weird glint you saw on the way here? That was me. I considered picking off the guy driving the truck, but I wanted to wait until your means of escape had left. And I've been out here ever since, stalking you." He turned to Cody and added, "It was me that hit you back on the first day. I wanted to knock you out and kidnap you. I obviously didn't hit hard enough."

Cody gave him a disgusted look and said, "That really fucking hurt, you son of a bitch!"

Abrams paused and took a breath and went on. "The fat kid had no chance. He tried to run, but my dogs caught him, and I finished him. I prefer to use a knife if I can. I like it up close and personal. I want to see their eyes glaze over as they die. And the girl, she never saw it coming. She fell asleep, so I took her knife and slashed her throat. But there's one thing that still puzzles me. There was another, the tall kid. What happened to him?"

I spat, "You bastard. It's none of your fucking business how my best friend died. Why don't you untie me and fight me like a man?"

He laughed. "You? Fight? Don't make me laugh. I can kill you with my bare hands in dozens of ways. You wouldn't last 5 seconds!"

"Why don't you prove it then? If you're gonna kill me, you're gonna do it like a man."

"You want a fair fight do you? Fine." He grabbed a knife and started cutting the rope binding me.

I stopped him. "Wait. Let them go first. That's my one condition."

"You're in no position to bargain, but ok. I'll catch them later, once you're out of the way."

Neither Cody or Liv had said a word. They were probably too scared! He went over and cut them loose. Liv looked terrified and just sat there. Cody gasped in pain as the rope fell away. I saw why. The rope had been cutting into the gash on his arm and reopened it, making it bleed.

I stared at them incredulously. "Well? Go! Get the fuck out while you can!"

Cody looked up. "I'm not gonna run away and save my own life while you die. I'm staying. I'll either die with you or help kill this asshole."

On hearing this, the guy walked over and stood over him, holding his .45. Cody stared right back without a sign of fear. "Yeah, big man with that gun aren't you? I feel sorry for your wife; I bet the bullets are bigger than your cock, aren't they?"

He replied by pistol whipping him. Cody quickly recovered, his lip bleeding. He spat blood at the guy and laughed. "Come on, you fucking wimp, you call that pain? Hit me!" Abrams obliged, directly on the cut on his arm. Cody yelled in pain and grabbed his arm, "AWWWW, FUCK!!!"

The guy turned back to me. "I lied. I'm not gonna untie you yet. I'm gonna gut your girlfriend as you watch helplessly. You must accept that this is beyond your control. Say goodbye!" He unsheathed his machete and took a step toward Liv. Then he stopped and said to me, "But first, give me your phone. And don't bullshit me that you don't have it. I saw you using it. Do this, and I just might let her live."

"Why?" I asked, preparing for the worst and trying to subtly free myself from the ropes.

He snapped, "Don't move!" He paused and went on, "I want you to call the guy that drove you here. What was his name? Coach....Kay, was it? I intend to kill him too and steal his truck. I need transportation."

It was my turn to laugh. "So that's it? That's my deal? Die now, or help you, and die later. It's a tough call, but you know what pal? I'll take die now."

He turned red and placed the machete blade against Liv's face and said, "GODDAMMIT! I am making you a fair offer! Do it! Come on, do it now and she might even be in one piece." Liv was crying with fear now.

Cody said, "Don't do it, Matt!"

I froze, unsure what to do. I couldn't give him my phone. I didn't even have it on me! But I didn't want him to kill Liv either. Fuck! This wasn't fair. Then a thought sprang into my head. My phone doesn't have batteries. But he doesn't know that..... I sighed, pretending to give in. "Alright, dickhead. You win."

He grinned and lowered the machete. "Good. Now, give me that phone." Liv calmed down a little, but still sat there sobbing quietly.

I had to stall him. "Well now, you told me not to move. Looks like you're gonna have to come get it."

"Ohhhh....." he started, trying to think of something to call me. He bent down and reached into my pockets, coming up empty handed. "Ok smartass, where is it?"

"I never said I had it on me. I don't know where it is. So go fuck yourself!"

He turned away, thinking. Then with lightning speed, he turned and backhanded me. "You fucker! It's at your camp isn't it?"

I recoiled in pain. "I don't know. I lost it. I just hope it still works! That was an expensive phone."

"Well, we're gonna go find it. Take me to your camp."

Cody spoke up. "Suck a nut. We're not going anywhere!"

"Oh, yes you are. Or the girl gets it!" he pulled out his machete and walked over to Liv.

She screamed and tried to shrink away from him. He put the blade to her throat and pressed down. She started crying again. "Please! Don't!"

He ignored her and said to Cody and I, "You've got 5 seconds, otherwise the girl dies."

It wasn't even a question at this point. I said quickly, "Alright, alright. We'll go. All of us."

He nodded and walked over. He proceeded to cut us loose, one at a time, and retie our hands. We walked in front. He followed, holding the .45 and watching us. Naturally, we were talking and trying to come up with a plan. The problem was, none of us knew what to do. The odds were definitely stacked against us. We were unarmed and bound. The lunatic was armed to the fucking teeth and had one of the dogs trailing him.

But where was the other one? I thought. Then I remembered Cody taking on one of the dogs while the other chased Liv and I. Cody must've killed it earlier. The odds just improved. I whispered to Cody, "Where's the other dog?"

He gestured with his head in the opposite general direction. "All over there. I fucking tore it apart."

"That's a slight improvement." I tried to smile, but failed.

Liv turned to me, looking terrified. Her eyes were all red and puffy.

I tried to reassure her. "Hang in there, baby. I'm gonna get you through this. I swear. You'll be alright."

We arrived at our original camp about a minute later. Bre's body was still lying there. Liv took one look and gasped in horror. She buried her head in my shoulder and started crying hysterically yet again. I put my arms around her as best I could.

The guy, who had been following us this whole time, shouted. "Hey! Let go of her!"

Something inside me snapped. I turned to him and shouted right back, "I'll tell you what, asshole. Why don't you come over here and try and stop me, eh!?"

There was a pause, followed by a machete being unsheathed and footsteps. Then a pair of hands grabbed me from behind and tore me off of Liv. I spun around and kicked him as hard as I could, directly in the balls. He groaned and collapsed, dropping the machete. Cody went for it, sawing through the ropes around his wrists, almost cutting himself. Then he cut us free.

The guy was just getting up, still in agony. Cody stepped up and raised the machete, about to decapitate him. That's when he whipped out his .45, and Cody was soon staring down the barrel of it.

"Nice try, now drop it. I mean it!" he paused and cocked the gun, putting it to Cody's head. The remaining dog had paused and was sniffing around, but came running over, snarling. Cody stared at it with hatred and probably wanted nothing more than to impale it, before complying.

Abrams spoke. "Smart boy. Now, all of you, start searching. We're not leaving 'til we find the phone. Now that your hands are untied, you should do a better job. Go!"

We had no choice. We split up. None of us were making an effort, obviously. It had started to rain again, and within minutes it was pouring and we were soaked through. Ten minutes passed, and he was getting impatient. Until Liv found it. It was in the lean-to we had shared, and almost fucked in. She gestured for me and Cody to come over. Careful not to let him see us, we snuck over to her.

"What do I do with it?" she asked, dripping rainwater.

I took it and stuck it in my pocket. "Nothing. We'll just say we couldn't find it. And we need to get away from him. And kill that damn dog."

Cody said, "You're right. But how?"

The guy noticed us and walked over. "Find it?"

"No," we all said simultaneously, a little too quickly.

His eyes narrowed through the mask. "Bullshit. It's in your pocket. I can see the outline."

I replied, being a smartass, "No, that's just my dick. It's huge isn't it? The girls love it. Unlike you, I actually use this thing."

"Shut up. And give me the phone."

"No. If you want it, come take it off me. I can't just give you it knowing Coach Kay will die."

He sighed. "Very well." He whistled, and the dog came running, leaping and sinking its teeth into my arm.

"Aaahhh! Fuck!" I yelled, punching the dog repeatedly. It held on and shook its head.

Cody and Liv were freaking out, trying to get it off me. The guy came over and snatched the phone, but I didn't care. I had more pressing matters at hand!

Cody finally literally ripped the dog off me. He held it by the neck, strangling it. It tried to fight back, but eventually died. Cody threw its body at the guy's feet with disgust.

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed in pain, grabbing my arm, now with both a bullet wound and a bite wound.

Liv started freaking out even more over me. Then we all did when we remembered he had the phone.

Smiling in triumph and completely ignoring the body of his dog, he held my phone and hit the power button. Nothing happened. He hit it again, still nothing. Cursing, he opened the battery compartment. And swore even louder. "You little shit!"

"Hey, calm down, dickhead. I never said it had batteries."

Harry smiled again. "Well, lucky for you, I do." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his own phone (which happened to be the exact same one), removed the battery and put it into my phone. It powered on, much to our displeasure. He shielded it from the rain and started scrolling through my contacts list, looking for Coach Kay's cell number. I didn't have it, luckily. He finally noticed and muttered to himself, "For fuck's sake, this is proving to be more trouble than it's probably worth." He looked at me quickly and continued scrolling through my contacts, and asked, "What's his number?"

Cody and Liv stared at me. I knew it, but I was hardly about to tell him. "Why would we tell you, Harry?"

He stopped scrolling and looked up at me.

I continued, "You're just gonna shoot us."

He had no response. Except to headbutt me and tackle me into the mud and start punching me, probably trying to beat it out of me. This went on for a while until Cody bent down and ripped the .45 out of Abrams' holster and placed it to Abrams' head, and said, "Get off him. Now!"

Abrams complied. Cody kept the .45 aimed at him. Liv helped me up. I spat blood at him, and hit him square in the face, much to my pleasure and said with a laugh, "You can hit me all you want. But I am never, ever going to give you Kay's number. Which means you're stuck out here. And all the wolves and bears and whatever the fuck else is out here will hunt you down and tear you apart while you're still breathing. We'll see how tough you are then, trying to take on a snarling, pissed off grizzly."

"Oh, but you are SO wrong! You have no idea what I'm capable of!"

Cody laughed and said, "Oh please. You're outnumbered and I have the gun. So shut up."

Abrams looked at Cody and smirked. "But I have the training and reflexes." Without warning, he shoved the gun aside and punched Cody. He doubled over, winded, but kept his finger on the trigger. The gun went off, narrowly missing Liv. She screamed and started running away. Soon Cody and I followed, with Abrams hauling ass behind us, brandishing the machete.

None of us knew where we were going, just that we wanted to get away from him. He was a persistent son of a bitch, never slowing down or stopping. Liv was tearing ahead, being an avid soccer player and track runner.

But before we knew it, we stumbled onto our old booby trapped campsite. We stopped running, trying to catch our breath and praying that we lost him. We formed a triangle, facing out, each watching a different direction. Cody still had the gun, and ejected the mag to check the ammo level. It had 12 shots. He quickly reloaded and pointed it in the direction he was watching.

There was complete silence until he yelled and fired several times. Liv and I jumped and spun around. Abrams was dodging the rounds and zigzagging towards us, machete in hand. Cody missed every time and before we knew it, he was on us.

With a yell, he swung the machete, which we all dodged, stepping backwards out of the way. I felt my leg catch on something, but I ignored it, trying to avoid being gutted. Big mistake. It occurred to me what I'd just done a split second after I did it. I had triggered one of the traps! It came hurtling towards us, a giant log, like the one that hit Nate.

I stared in horror and yelled, "HEADS UP!" Abrams followed my gaze and dived out of the way. We didn't have time to.

It slammed into us. Nate was right. It really did feel like a fucking train! The last thing I remembered was flying through the air and slamming into a tree.

To be concluded in part 9, the finale......