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Hunter frowned.
That voice.
He crouched in the brush and quieted his breathing. He strained to hear. More than one person. Boys.
They were coming in his direction, skirting the zeke field.
He could see them now, dark silhouettes. Four of them. He could see them through stalks of weed and tangles of bramble. Stumbling around because they didn’t know how to move like Hunter. Stumbling under the weight of heavy packs.
And that voice…
“…what he wants. That’s the problem with mutant freaks like him, you can never trust a word they say.”
That voice…
Hunter had heard that voice before. He’d heard that voice crying out to a bloodthirsty mob.
This mutant, this nonhuman scum here, this freak Hunter, this chud deliberately murdered my best friend, Harry.
He’s a killer!
Take him! Take him, the murdering mutant scum!
That voice…
Hunter touched his neck, feeling again the scrape of the rough rope.
He’d been hurt so bad. Head beaten. Blood running in his eyes. And his words not working…
Mind not…
Brain confused…so afraid…
Grab on to the rope!
That voice had urged, pitch rising, bellowing, the mob of kids shrieking and giddy, and the rope had tightened around Hunter’s neck and pulled and pulled and he couldn’t breathe, Oh God, gasping for air but no air…
Grab on to the rope!
They had. They had grabbed on to the rope and pulled and Hunter’s neck had stretched and his feet lifted, kicking in the air, kicking and wanting to scream and his head pounding and pounding and eyes going dark…
Zil!
Zil and his friends.
And here they were. They didn’t even know Hunter was there. They didn’t see him. They weren’t hunters.
Hunter crept closer. Moving to intersect their path. His powers didn’t usually reach more than fifty paces or so. He had to be closer.
“…think you’re right, Leader,” one of the others was saying.
“Can we take a rest?” a third voice whined. “This stuff weighs a ton.”
“We should have gone back when it was still light so we could see,” Antoine griped.
“Idiot. We waited until dark for a reason,” Zil snapped. “You want Sam or Brianna to catch us out in the open?”
“We have guns now.”
