Page 5 of Hunter's Valentine

The building wasn’t too tall, six or seven stories at most, but it was the tallest one in this area. Once we were safely on the roof he continued walking, taking huge strides toward the opposite side where there was a garret. This must have been his temporary hideout while he set up his traps, because the door was open and the place looked lived in.

He released me when we were by the entrance, but my eyes weren’t on his hideout anymore. Instead, they were on the traps he’d set. I walked over to the edge of the roof to take a better look.

He’d used the entire courtyard as his battlefield and wow, he hadn’t been kidding when he said it had taken him a while to set up. He’d used found objects, fences, barricades, nets and cables, containers, and anything else you would find in an abandoned town to make his traps.

I pictured the scourge coming in through two of the buildings, funneled there by the barriers he put in place, then being split into different groups. One group would climb a ramp only to be dumped into a giant hole that would be hard to escape. Others would get stuck in a makeshift oversized wildlife trap, the metal grates slamming down to lock them in.

There was a large X in the middle of the courtyard.

“What’s that for?” I asked.

“My net launcher. After most of the scourge are stuck in the traps, I will throw food at the center and draw them to the X before shooting my net. There will still be a few loose, but I’lltake care of them when they try to flee the fire. They’ll try to leave the way they came in, and I will be waiting.”

I nodded. “Impressive,” I admitted. “I wouldn’t have thought it possible to kill the entire swarm of bugs I saw earlier in one shot, but this might actually do it.”

“Of course it will.” The hunter sounded peeved that I’d only saidmight.

“Well,” I said, slowly making my way back to the fire escape, “you don’t need me around for that. Call them in tomorrow morning and try again.”

“Why, so you can mess it up for a second time?” He moved so fast it was barely a blur, and I was lifted off my feet once more. “You will stay right here until the hunt is over tomorrow. I’m not going to let you spoil it again—”

He moved suddenly, covering my mouth with his palm.

“Humans,” he said quietly. Interestingly enough, his translator also managed to whisper. “I hear one of their vehicles.”

Ididn’t, because our electric cars were quiet enough not to draw the attention of bugs or hostiles. We didn’t use them often since charging them was a challenge, especially since someone had stolen some of the solar panels from the roof early on in the bugpocalypse.

That had been our bunker’s first major emergency, actually. So we’d gone out in the evening, as soon as the flyers had returned to their nest, to relocate the remaining panels to a less conspicuous position in the back yard behind an overgrown garden. Even though we had to clear the growth off it occasionally it was a much better location, because most human survivors wouldn’t think to search there. One look at our roofand the empty panel mounts and they would leave, thinking the entire place was completely looted.

Would they take the vehicles out to look for me? Not if they simply thought I was gone. They’d rejoice. There’d be more for everyone else! But if they realized I’d taken some of the supplies, using the SUV was probably worth it.

Maybe it was best if I stayed here after all. The last thing I wanted was to deal with those ungrateful assholes again. Imagine if Mrs. Willis found out I had been caught by a hunter when I hadn’t even left the town limits. The horror!

Also, this whole getting cornered by a swarm of bugs, fighting my way out, getting human-napped by a warrior who was angry because I’d messed up his hunt thing had taken time. Too much time. Even now I could see flyers on the horizon, and I didn’t mean the two that had come with the group earlier, but a whole slew of them. It would be far too dangerous to travel any time soon unless I wanted to risk being bug chow.

I let the hunter guide me back into the garret, which had a large window facing the courtyard, a plan forming. I’d hide here during the noon hours when the bugs were most active, enjoying some sexy purple eye candy. Then later, when he was occupied with his hunt, I’d escape, recover my supplies, and head merrily on my way.

Perfect.

Chapter 4: Mur’k

The female’s name was Sara. It was a common human name and I’d heard it before, but that didn’t make it any easier to pronounce. The sibilant sound at the beginning wasn’t one we had in our language, and although we had something similar it still came out sounding wrong, no matter how many times I tried.

Sara had just as much difficulty pronouncing my name.

Currently, she glared at me like I’d been the one to ruin her hunt and not the other way around. I had to admit, it felt good when she called my setup impressive. But of course it was! I took great care with my work, and despite not being the best fighter in my contingent, I was one of the best hunters.

Hunting the scourge wasn’t always about strength and power, though I had plenty of that as well.

I had hunted in this area before, although it wasn’t my usual hunting grounds. That was why I didn’t know much about Sara and the people she lived with. I assumed she came from the underground dwelling at the top of the hill. That meant this was her territory, and she’d stay in the area if I let her go, possibly getting in the way when I tried to call the scourge in again tomorrow morning.

I’d brought her up here so she’d be out of my way. Now I regretted it because her scent was filling up the tiny space, making it difficult to think. It was a distraction I didn’t need.

She’d found a map of the area, drawn on a large piece of paper instead of conveniently condensed onto a screen, and had spread it out on the floor. As she concentrated, analyzing the map, she chewed on her bottom lip.

I doubted the map was accurate, considering the changes that had been made to the landscape since the scourge had arrived. Their towns and cities no longer looked the same. And even if the roads were still there, many were blocked by stationary vehicles or other barriers placed there to stop the scourge.

Sara must be traveling on foot, since I didn’t see a vehicle. But how she managed to get from the underground shelter to this location by this time of day, I did not know. Perhaps she’d traveled during the night, but humans had atrocious night vision, so it was doubtful.

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