Page 3 of Treasured By the Hunter

He hadn’t tried to steal me away in his shuttle. I mean, with muscles like that, I wouldn’t be completely against visiting his shuttle, but not if it meant giving up my freedom. Maybe he already had a woman. I wondered if he knew the warrior who stole the woman from Sanctuary.

“We’re not waiting for Corey,” Connor said. “It has become very clear that he doesn’t belong here with us. I won’t let the family I was born with endanger the family I’ve chosen.”

That must have been a hard decision for him. It was what made him a good leader.

“Aww, shucks, Connor.” Riley gave the stoic older man a hug.

“Does that mean I can call you Pops?” Tomas asked.

“Hell, no!”

Chapter 2: Zoey

I woke up to chaos, screaming, and Diego shoving my pack into my hand. “Go with Riley. Get out of here. I’ll hold them back.”

I blinked, still mostly out of it. There was screaming from the other room, and somewhere in the bar we used as a safe house, gunshots went off.

My first thought was,Fuck! That’ll draw the bugs!

I looked toward the door, and Connor’s lifeless eyes stared back at me from the floor just outside in the hallway.

What the—

Diego shoved at me, breaking my line of sight with the macabre image. “Go!”

“What’s going on?” Riley asked from beside me.

I hadn’t even realized she was there.

“Corey came back with friends. They attacked us in our sleep. Connor’s dead. So’s Jenny. Dean and I are going to hold them off. Go.”

I was fully awake now, adrenaline pumping through my veins. “What about Tomas?” I asked as I pulled on my boots and my coat.

Diego shook his head as another shot rang out.

“Go before the bugs come. Take the scooters. Get to Sanctuary. They know you. They will take you in.Go!” He shoved us out the back door.

It was a moonless night, and the only light was from our scooters. The sounds of the wheels on the pavement and the blood pumping in my ears were oddly loud, and I worried they’d drown out the sounds of scuttler feet, but as we rounded the corner, we heard them.

Shit!

The bugs were least active at night, but it was also our most vulnerable time. I could only see what was illuminated directly in front of me, and paranoia meant I heard bugs coming from all sides. But our scooters were fast, and unless I had the unfortunate luck of running directly into a pack, we’d make it to the garage.

It was just down the street, and while it wasn’t an official safe house, we knew it was secure. We looped around the back, flung open the door, ran inside, and slid down with our backs against the door. There was a moment of silence before scratching came from the other side of the door.

“Riley?” My voice sounded much too loud.

“Yeah?” she replied between pants.

“What are we going to do?”

Another loud gunshot rang out, and the scratching stopped as the bugs were drawn away from our location.

“God! Why didn’t we fight back? We should go back and…” I closed my eyes and saw Connor’s lifeless eyes. “Connor’s dead. I saw him.”

“Me too. But we can’t go back there now. The bugs. I heard Corey. They wanted to keep the two of us and offer us as gifts to the New Earth Militia. They’re going to find that shuttle the motherfucker keeps talking about and fly there. Diego and Dean, they…” She trailed off.

She didn’t need to finish. I know what she meant. They did this for us. If we went back there now, it would be like they gave up everything for nothing.

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