Page 6 of Treasured By the Hunter

“Tell me, female,” I said. “Why are you alone?”

Realizing I’d called her bluff, she lowered the weapon. “I’m not alone. My friends are following behind.”

It was only a half-truth. There was a group following her, but they were not her friends. I’d been watching from my shuttle as she evaded her pursuers. She knew this area well, and that had helped keep her one step ahead. She also had a small two-wheeled travel aid that let her zoom down paved roads.

Her pursuers had a larger electric vehicle. We’d been seeing more of those around recently. And by we, I meant my hunter group and the humans who worked with us. It used to be that only those working with hunters could continue powering their electric vehicles; they’d modified their technology to work with ours. But humans were ingenious in ways our kind was not, and now many groups, friend or foe, had means of transport.

“They are not your friends. Why are they chasing you?”

I’d listened in to the other group’s conversation, trying to see if it was because she’d stolen from them or had wronged them in any way. But all I’d gotten from them was that they believed she was traveling toward a human settlement called Sanctuary, which was located in a city that used to be called Albuquerque. Except, Sanctuary was back the way she came.

One of our human members, Heather, had lived there. Kan’n, a hunter in our group, had also stayed there, albeit as a prisoner.

“That’s none of your business.”

“It is my business, because I need to know you are not a thief before I bring you home to my people.”

She narrowed her eyes at me, and anger flashed in their gray depths. “I’ll have you know, Har-pig, I’m no thief.”

I grimaced at her atrocious pronunciation of my name. Humans usually have difficulty pronouncing our words, just like we had difficulty pronouncing theirs, but that was beyond bad.

“It’s Harb’k,” I said slowly.

“Listen, Harr-Pig,” she said clearly and deliberately. “I’m not interested in going home with you. And I ain’t meeting your people.”

Now, it was my turn to narrow my eyes. She’d mispronounced my name on purpose.

“Why are you alone?” I tried again. “Even the human males in our group forage and explore in pairs or groups. You were not alone before.”

“That’s also none of your business.” She shoved aside the low table in front of the couch, almost smashing my shin with it, before she lifted the carpet and wiggled free one of the floorboards. Inside were about a dozen bottles of water lined up neatly and a handful of what the humans called granola bars. They were not nearly as nutritionally dense as our food bars, but it was food.

She grabbed a handful and shoved them into her pack along with several bottles of water.

“Welp, this is the only reason why I’m here.” She gestured dramatically to the rest of the house. “Enjoy your stay.”

She strapped her backpack on and started toward the side door.

“You are not going back out there!” I leaped up from the couch to stop her. “The flyers are active now.”

She rolled her eyes and gave me a “Well, duh” look. “Look, buddy, I’ve been surviving in this for years. I know high noon isdangerous. As you so clearly mentioned, there are people after me. They can’t move right now, which means if I want to get ahead, I have to skedaddle.”

Ske-what? That was a new word for me. I ignored it and said, “My hunter group works with other humans. I can bring you to them.”

“I’m not interested.”

“Stay until the flyers thin out.”

“Well, I wasgoingto, butsomebody”—she stared at me intently—“blew the door off so all the bugs can come right on in.”

I leaned over and peered at the doorway and didn’t see any new scourge outside. “I have removed the threat. If we are quiet, they will not find this location.” But just as I said the words, the sound of scuttler feet against the gravel outside had both of us on high alert.

“I will eliminate the threat and keep you safe.”

I stepped outside, found the straggling scuttler, and beheaded it. It only took a minute, but the female was gone by the time I stepped back into the house, having snuck out the back door.

Krux!

I considered hopping into my shuttle and following her to ensure she was safe but decided it would be better for me to travel in the opposite direction, uncloaked, to lure any flyers away from her instead.

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