The Hunt (Forgotten #1)

Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

A cool breeze brushed her cheeks and the chill of the wind slowly brought Kaliah back to consciousness. Slowly she opened her eyes and she realized she was outside.

And it was nightfall. The only light was the a quarter moon illuminating the starless sky.

“She’s awake,” someone whispered. “I thought she was dead.”

She wasn’t alone!

Kaliah sat up and took in her surroundings. She was in what appeared to be a large jail cell in the middle of the forest. There were five other people with her. One of them was Brianna who was sitting in the corner with her knees pulled up against her chest.

Everything suddenly came back to her. The car had broken down. They were brought to Serenity Falls where they met a nice lady at a B&B…who drugged her.

Trudy mentioned something about a rabbit hunt and now that Kaliah was able to think with more clarity, she remembered, they were the rabbits.

She attempted to stand but her knees buckled causing her to fall on her ass.

“There’s no point in trying to get out of this cage. It’s locked and the bars seem pretty solid. There’s no escape.”

Kaliah recognized the voice she’d heard from earlier. A redhead woman huddled in one of the corners nodded in her direction.

“I don’t care what the rest of you losers say, I’m getting out of here,” said a short bald man, leaning against the bars. She couldn’t make out his face but she didn’t need to in order to tell he was pissed.

Ignoring him, she made another attempt to stand. This time she was successful. She didn’t know any of the other people here so she headed to the one familiar face. They may have had their differences but this was the kind of life or death situation that called for them to put those pretty grievances aside.

She knelt down next to Brianna who appeared to be in a state of shock. Kaliah gently touched the woman’s shoulder.

Brianna jumped and flinched away before looking up. “You’re not dead. I thought you were gone.”

A gasp escaped Kaliah’s lips when she noticed a big bloody ‘R’ carved into Brianna’s forehead. Her hand flew to her own head to see if she’d received the same fate.

Her forehead felt smooth. Had Trudy done this? “No, I’m still alive. For now. But do you remember what happened? Where’s Sasha and Nicole?”

Brianna’s eyes were swollen and it was obvious she’d been crying. She sniffed. “I don’t know. The last thing I remember is that old bitch taking me to the hallway and then I felt something hard at the back of my head. I guess she knocked me out. I woke up in this cage with these people. You were hunched over in the corner, barely breathing and I thought… Oh, God, what’s going to happen to us?” She burst into loud tears.

Her cries were met with distant howls in the night.

Kaliah was no animal expert but that didn’t sound like any ordinary wolves she’d seen in the movies. This was something more sinister, something monstrous.

Fear gripped her, but she kept herself as calm as possible. She saw no point in them both losing it.

She looked around at the other people in the cage. “Does anyone else know what’s going on? Why are we here?”

The man who’d spoken before clutched the bars with both of his hands and shouted, “Let me out of here you bastards! Do you know who I am? When they come looking for me, I’m going to expose this town and make sure it gets nuked! Do you fucking hear me? I will destroy this town!”

“Give it up, Peter. What makes you think you’re different from the rest of us? We’re all going to die.” Another man in the middle of the cage spoke.

Kaliah couldn’t make his face out because he had a full beard and his unruly dark curls nearly covered his eyes. His clothing was torn and stained as if he’d gotten into a tussle with a bear.

“What the hell do you know?” Peter shot back. “Just because no one cares about you, it doesn’t mean I’m in the same boat. I’m an important man. People will notice I’m gone.”

Beardy chuckled. “We’ve been here for over a week and no one has come for us yet. And no one will. There’s a reason this place is off the grid.”

“Fuck you, Anderson.” Peter turned his back to them.

“Ignore him. He’s still in denial. Name’s Gary Anderson by the way. Not that it really matters much,” he spoke to Kaliah.

“I don’t want to die!” Brianna cried. “I wanna go home!”

Kaliah’s heart seized within her chest. Though she’d decided to sever ties with this woman, her natural empathy wouldn’t allow her to ignore Brianna’s pain.

“We don’t know if we’re going to die or not. Trudy mentioned something about a hunt. So that means they’ll have to let us out of the cage eventually. Which also means there’s a chance to escape.”

Gary chuckled. “I like your optimism. But nope, we’re goners.”

The redhead woman whimpered. Two other people who had yet to speak, an older couple huddled closely together, remained silent.

Kaliah glared at Gary. “You don’t know that. You’re a prisoner like the rest of us.”

The howling sounds seemed closer making Kaliah jump. Was it her imagination or did it get darker?

Gary shrugged. “Do you hear that? It means they’re coming.”

“Who is they?” Kaliah demanded.

“The monsters,” the redhead answered.

Gary unfolded his legs and pulled himself off the ground. “You probably think I’m being a gloomy mother fucker but I’m being realistic here. Besides, I’ve been here for nearly a week and I’ve heard things and whenever one of the residents in this town came to feed me, I’d ask questions. Some of them didn’t give much away but others were quite talkative.”

“What did you learn?” Kaliah asked hesitantly, fearful to learn the truth but needing to know it at the same time.

“Most of the people in this town aren’t human and each year they have an annual hunt for fresh meat. And apparently, we’re the meat,” Gary explained.

Brianna released an ear shattering scream.

Peter turned around with balled fists. “Would someone shut this bitch up?”

The redhead started crying in earnest and the older couple held on to each other tighter.

Kaliah remembered what Trudy had said before she passed out. So this was a town full of cannibals.

“Oh god,” she muttered under her breath trying to hold on to her sanity. Just when she thought she’d figured her life out it turned out she was about to become someone’s meal.

The one called Peter turned to face them and for the first time, Kaliah noticed he also had an R carved into his forehead. “I’m not going to let them get me. I’ll find a way out of here.”

“Sure Peter.” Gary laughed.

“How can you be so calm?” Kaliah asked.

Gary shrugged. “I’ve lived my life on my own terms and if tonight is the night I die so be it. I’m not saying I’ll go out without a fight but if I am taken out I hope my death is quick and as painless as possible because there’s far worse things than death.”

“What does that even mean?” Brianna screeched. “What’s worse than being mauled by monsters?”

Gary smirked. “They could decide to keep you.”