He could only hope some strange alien species had laid eggs inside Manuel as he examined the black continuing to seep throughout the man’s body.
“What happened to him after he was injected?” he asked.
“At first, his hand was on his throat, but then he went down. The Savages took off, and we picked Manuel up and ran with him back to the car. He woke up a couple of times in the car, murmured something and trying to fight us, but it wasn’t until we were carrying him in here that hereallystarted fighting us.”
The door opened again, and the hunter who had left rushed back inside. “Here’s some rope!”
Logan took the rope from him. “I think we’re going to need something a lot stronger than this.”
“What’s the matter with him?” Elena asked.
“I don’t know,” Logan said, “but I don’t like it. He’s extremely strong, so we’ll need chains or a place to lock him up until we figure out what is going on.”
“We can’t lock up a wounded man,” Elena protested.
Under normal circumstances, Logan would completely agree with her, but these weren’t normal circumstances. This man was far stronger than he should be for a hunter.
“He’s more than wounded,” Logan murmured.
“What do you mean?” one of the other hunters inquired.
Logan knelt so he was at eye level with the hunter. He examined the rise and fall of Manuel’s chest before lifting the hunter’s arm and turning it over. The black had crept through all of Manuel’s visible veins as far as he could tell and now pulsed throughout his bloodstream.
Releasing the hunter’s arm, he rose to stand beside the cot. He grasped the man’s cheeks and carefully turned his head back and forth. His nose was swelling from Logan’s punch, but he appeared otherwise uninjured.
“I’ll get some chains,” one of the hunters offered.
Logan didn’t look back as the door opened and closed again. With care, he took the rope and draped it over the hunter’s body. It wouldn’t do much if Manuel woke again, but he would feel marginally better if the man was tied down.
One of the other hunters helped him wrap the rope around the table before cinching it tight. When they finished, they’d pinned Manuel’s arms against his sides and strapped his legs down, but it didn’t make Logan feel any better. In fact, he was starting to feel worse about this whole mess.
Elena stared at Manuel as she willed him to open his eyes and tell them this was all a sick prank. She’d never known the hunters to be a bunch of pranksters, but she kept willing it to happen.
Then, she looked to Logan, and though his attention remained focused on Manuel, the unease on his face only made her alarm grow. The hunter Manuel hit held the side of his face as he sagged onto another cot.
“I’ll get the doctor,” she offered.
Logan nodded, but the others didn’t acknowledge her as Elena slipped out the door and ran for the doctor’s house.
* * *
Logan remainedinside the medical building throughout the night and the next day. He sat in the corner, watching the hunter, who was now chained to the cot and heavily sedated. The man’s wife sat at his side, weeping while she held his hand and rested her forehead against his arm. Their son was in a playpen nearby, shaking his rattle.
Elena had left an hour ago to speak with her mother and hadn’t returned yet. He hoped she stayed away for a while. She shouldn’t be here to see this. It was far too depressing.
Juan had also left about an hour ago. He had a compound to run, but he’d asked the doctor to call him if anything changed and told Logan he would send over someone else to take over the watch soon. Logan had asked for and received a couple more hours with the man.
Manuel hadn’t moved so much as an inch since Logan knocked him out. The doctor had him hooked up to machines, all of which revealed his vitals to be relatively normal. His heartbeat was a little sluggish, but that was probably because of the vast amount of drugs in his system.
The door squeaked as it opened, and Asher stepped inside. He closed the door behind him and glided over to where Logan sat.
“Did you talk to Ronan?” Logan inquired.
“Yeah,” Asher said. “He wants us to stay and keep him informed on what’s happening here.”
“Has he seen anything like this?”
“No.”
