“Where are we going?” Raphael whispered, a little too loudly. “How are we going to get out of here?”
“Shh,” I nudged him in the ribs. “Bane knows the way.”
Raphael helped his father up, slung his only arm around his shoulder. He was mumbling something inaudible, his eyes wide and disoriented.
My mother gripped my arm tight. “We’re getting out of here, baby,” she said to me.
“We are,” I nodded reassuringly.
“This way,” Bane ushered us out of the cellar, towards the stairs. “Go upstairs, turn left, and go through the first door you see. Understand? I’ll be right behind you.”
Raphael went first, and scooped his father up in his arms. I watched them disappear up the stairs. “Your turn,” Bane turned to me.
“You first,” I said. “I’ll be behind you.”
“You sure?” Bane seemed to look a little surprised.
“Yes,” I nodded. “Go,” I gave him a light shove.
I stood there, watching them as they went up the stairs. Should I listen to Bane? Did I trust this man? What if he was leading us to our doom?
Maybe I was being paranoid, but what if…
“Jared?” Bane called my name from the top of the stairs. “What are you doing? Hurry up, I found a way out.”
“I’m coming,” I said after a moment. Screw it, if Bane was lying to us, I would kill him for real this time.
I followed Bane, ignoring the feeling in my gut that somebody was watching us, that somebody was going to come after us sooner or later.
“They’re already outside,” Bane pointed out. “Hurry up, or we’ll be left behind.”
I picked up my pace as we moved through a tunnel leading to somewhere behind the house. There was another flight of stairs, and I saw the bags of rubbish dumped below. I caught sight of a dried up carcass of a raccoon. Someone had probably sprayed a chemical substance all over the place, because although I had an acute sense of smell, I couldn’t even catch a whiff of the dead raccoon from where I was.
And then something caught my attention- there was something sticking out from between two rubbish bags. Was that a foot?
“Bane,” I said. He stopped, turned to look at me.
“What’s up with you, man? Let’s get going!” he looked annoyed.
“Look,” I pointed. “There’s somebody there.”
“What?” he followed my gaze, and muttered a curse under his breath. “Sh-. Do you think…”
“Let’s go check it out,” I suggested.
“But they-
I was already edging slowly towards the foot. “Hell,” I said when I saw the body. It was a man, in his late thirties, lying on his back, with multiple injuries to his body. I counted ten gunshot wounds-seven in his torso, and three in his abdomen. His blood-soaked shirt looked black under the dim light. Whoever this was, he had died a gruesome, untimely death.
“Why ten times?” Bane had an astonished look on his face. “I mean, isn’t one or two bullets enough to kill a human?”
“Unless he’s not human,” I said. “Probably ten bullets were needed to put him down.”
“What the…No way, it can’t be. Maybe his killer wanted to make sure he was dead.”
“You know what? He is one of us. See that? The panther tattoo on his arm. I’m sure we’re the only ones who can see it.”
YOU ARE READING
HUNT, OR BE HUNTED
Mystery / ThrillerHe was always blacking out, always confused, losing control of his actions. And when he did, he would have no memory of it. What he didn't know was that there was a monster inside him, a monster that he couldn't control. Once it took over, not a sin...
