Page 4 of The Hunt

Headlights!

For a moment, she contemplated whether she should flag the car down. It could very well be a psychopath behind the wheel. But when the fury of the strengthening wind blasted her face, she threw her misgivings away. Stranger Danger be damned, either way, they were screwed if she didn’t find help soon. And this was the first vehicle she’d seen in over an hour.

She waved her arms in the air, hoping they wouldn’t drive past her. As the car got closer, she noticed it was a battered old pick-up truck. The driver appeared to be an older man in a blue baseball cap but she couldn’t make out his face.

To her relief and fear, the vehicle slowed down until coming to a complete stop in the middle of the road. Her heart sped up as the window eased down.

“You’re a long way from home aren’t you?”

Several age lines were finely etched into the old man’s face, placing him somewhere around seventy by her estimation. He seemed pretty harmless but looks were often deceiving. Seeing she didn’t have much of a choice, Kaliah approached the truck. She clutched her purse close to her, ready to swing it if necessary.

“Ugh, yes. Me and my frie— traveling companions got into a bit of a fender bender a couple miles back and now the car won’t start. We haven’t been able to get any phone service soI’m hoping there’s an exit nearby so I can get us some roadside assistant.”

The old man chuckled. “Good luck with that, my dear. Like I said, you’re a long way from home. There aren’t any exits nearby. The closest one is a half-hour by car and by foot….well, you’d be walking all night.”

Kaliah groaned at the thought of walking several more miles when the temperature was bound to drop.

“Is there any chance I could get a ride with you? Maybe it would put me closer to an exit?” she asked hoping she wasn’t making the biggest mistake of her life.

The old man cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes slightly as if to size her up. Maybe he was trying to determine is she was a danger to him.

“Hmm, these er—ugh, traveling buddies of yours, how many are there?”

“There are four of us, Sir.”

“Are you all around the same age? How old are you by the way?”

Kaliah frowned. Why their ages mattered didn’t make sense but maybe this was his way of determining if he could trust her. “I’m 28, Sir. The other ladies are 28 and 29.”

He gave her another long stare. As the silence stretched, Kaliah grew more uncomfortable. She understood that the old man probably felt he was taking as much of a risk as her but she couldn’t look that much of a threat. Could she?

She was only 5’4, 145 pounds. That wasn’t intimidating by most people’s standards.

“I was actually just going for a drive. Didn’t have any plans to drive near any exits, but I’ll tell you what I can do. If two of your friends don’t mind riding in bed, I can swing by where you broke down and take you four into town.”

Kaliah glanced around her, only seeing darkness and trees? “That’s a town around here? I didn’t see any signs.”

“Oh…wind must have knocked it down. You four can stay at the bed and breakfast. I believe they have some vacancies. We got a mechanic that can come by in the morning and tow your vehicle to the shop.”

This sounded like as good an offer as any. She didn’t have much of a choice.

“Okay, thank you, I really appreciate, Sir.”

He grinned to reveal to coffee stained teeth. “Name’s Otis by the way, you don’t have to be so formal with me. At Serenity Falls, we’re all happy to meet ya.”

CHAPTER 3

Colt took a deep breath to calm himself before entering the bar, hoping his brothers hadn’t completely wrecked the place this time. Pushing the door open, he stepped inside, expecting the worse and that’s exactly what he got.

Glasses, chairs, and even tables were being tossed in the air. Fists freely flew and patrons scratched, clawed and bit each other, some going for the kill. There would definitely be casualties by the end of the night.

And standing in the center of the melee were his two idiot brothers. Leland had two patrons in headlocks, one under each arm. He squeezed so hard, their eyes practically bulged from their sockets.

Zeke stood on the bar, chugging from a massive glass beer mug. Once the contents were empty, he brought it down on the head of a male charging him. The glass exploded against the man’s head, causing a massive gush of blood.

But Zeke wasn’t finished. He hopped off the bar, lifted the injured man and tossed him down the length of the bar as if his adversary were nothing more than a rag doll.

Colt spotted the bartender, hiding behind the bar, shielding himself from the flying debris. Their eyes connected and thepoor guy shot him a pleading stare which clearly said, do something.

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