The Hunt #2
“No.” I covered my mouth and stepped back. “No no no. No, no, no, no no…” I covered my nose to block the smell of blood. The overwhelming stench that was burning my eyes. “What did I do… What the fuck did I just do…” I closed my eyes and opened them again, but everything was still there.
The body was spread. All over. Arms, legs, a head, both feet. Everything. Laying every which way. Nothing was intact. She was disfigured. Torn apart. Ripped to fucking pieces.
Blood was running down the walls and pooling at my feet. A mass of hair lay yards from her head. Her skin was peeling off, raw and bloody.
“Your first unnecessary kill…” Dennis was standing near the edge of the building, watching me with no trace of amusement.
“You saw that?” I took a shaky step back as reality hit.
I was trying to get away from the body, but it was so scattered that I bumped into a mangled calf.
I nearly screamed and stumbled away from it.
“You saw that… Why did you have to see that?” I looked at him with teary eyes as he came closer. I kept backing away.
“Who cares. I’ve seen you kill people before.”
“No! What she said, you heard every fucking word she said! You weren’t supposed to hear any of that.
No one’s ever supposed to hear any of that.
” I jerked away from the bloody wall. Tears started pouring.
“I hate her. I hate her so much. I hate her so fucking much and I thought I was done with her!” I kicked a piece of her body, then balked and collided with Dennis.
I stepped on another limb and shrank against him. I couldn’t get away from it.
“It doesn’t matter. She’s dead now. I doubt she’s coming back.” He held on while I tried to fight away. “Where are you trying to go?”
“Why didn’t you stop me?” I shrieked, clawing at his arms. “If you were right there, why didn’t you fucking stop me?”
“You did it before I could. But if you hadn’t killed her, I would’ve done it for you.
It would’ve been a lot worse than what you did.
” He held tight while I sank toward the ground.
I stopped clawing and stared. Stared at every piece of the girl I’d killed.
Every limb I’d ripped off and every stream of blood running past us.
“I see why you tried to run her over,” Dennis said. “That’s the one, right?”
I nodded as he carefully let me down. I fell to my knees. “What’re we gonna do with the body?” My eyes barely moved as he walked about to examine it.
He stood in the middle and looked around. At the blood and the body—the pieces of body. The mess I created. The life I took. My stomach churned as he gathered it.
“Will you be okay here for a minute?” he asked.
I nodded. He seemed torn about leaving, but he eventually walked away. I numbly stood and walked to the wall, where blood was smeared and dripping. I stood still for who knows how long, then slowly sank against it. I pulled my knees to my chest and stared.
The sound of chains jarred me out of a trance. My eyes rose to see Dennis back with a few things. There was no trace of the body, but his skin and shirt glistened with blood. Her blood.
“Did you touch anything?” he asked. I shook my head. He set the supplies down and poured some chemicals on the ground, letting the blood run thinner before he wiped it up. He dusted some powder over the ground and let that sit while he moved to the walls.
I closed my eyes and tried to block everything out. I heard scrubbing and liquids. I could smell something toxic taking away the stench of blood. I could hear the chemicals and water running across pavement, his spikes and chains while he worked, the sound of his heartbeat compared to mine.
Mine was still racing—almost the speed of a human’s—but his was so calm. It was almost soothing. Until I remembered everything that happened and opened my eyes. I stared at him for a few seconds until my vision blurred and tears began to fall.
“Where were you all day?” My voice was barely there, but he heard and looked up.
“I’ll tell you later. You’re not…” he trailed off. “I need to clean this up.”
I went silent again while he poured more chemicals. Some time passed before he gathered everything and stood. “What’d you do with it?” I met his eyes; he knew what I meant.
“Scattered and buried her in the woods. I’ll bury these further out.” He held up the drenched rag and a couple of empty bottles. “I’ll be right back. Stay here and don’t touch anything.”
My eyes drifted as he walked away. The girl was gone. The blood was gone. I covered my ears and squeezed my eyes, trying to block out her screams.
“Stop it,” I begged. “Stop, get out, please—”
They kept going. Her screams and wordless shrieks echoed in my mind. Over and over, painfully loud, my nails on her skin and her blood running down my arms. My eyes shot open at the sound of footsteps.
“Are you okay?” Dennis squatted and gently pulled my hands down. “What are you telling to get out?”
“Her screaming.” My voice shook as I covered my ears again. “She won’t stop screaming. It’s so loud. It’s hurting my ears and it won’t stop. She never stops. She’s never gonna leave me alone—”
“Covering your ears won’t stop it. We should go.” He tugged my arms and lifted, catching me when I staggered forward.
“We can’t leave.” I stared over his shoulder. “What if—”
“There are no ifs, we have to go. I cleaned the evidence and the DNA, but if someone finds the body and traces it back to this area and remembers seeing us, we might become suspects. I don’t care for myself, but that’s not happening with you.”
I kept staring at the place she’d been. At the spotless walls and the flawless cement. The lack of any proof we’d been here. It was like she never existed. Dennis wrapped an arm around my waist and led me away. I couldn’t stop staring.
“Stop.” He turned my head so I wasn’t looking. “If someone passes we can’t look suspicious.” I nodded and kept my gaze forward. “We should move fast.”
“No,” I resisted when he tried to speed up, “I need a minute. Please.”
He didn’t seem happy, but he didn’t argue or force it.
Instead, he carefully brought me closer, like I might shatter if he did much more.
We walked in silence for a couple of minutes.
I bit my lip and wrapped my arm through his, trying hard not to cry.
My throat hurt, my eyes were stinging, and I was fighting the overwhelming urge to break down. I had to stay calm.
“Thank you.”
“For what?” He looked at me when I stopped walking and let go.
“For taking care of the body. And for Kiro yesterday.” I stared ahead as he took my hand.
“You’re welcome.” He started pulling again but I didn’t move. I kept staring, then slowly turned around. “Vixen, we need to go.”
“We can’t leave.” I stumbled backward as he pulled harder. “I have to take it back. There has to be a way to take it back.”
“Stop thinking about it.”
“I’m gonna have to tell Ari…” I couldn’t keep things from her and she would know something was wrong. “I’m gonna have to tell Ari,” I repeated. I tried to fight away from Dennis to go somewhere else—anywhere else—but he wouldn’t let go.
“There’s nothing you can do.” He took my shoulders and looked me in the eye. “Stop freaking out. I’ll take care of it. You can tell Ari if you want, but you have to stop panicking.”
Everything in my mind was going numb. Thoughts of the murder were drowning out his words, and her screaming was beginning to drown out the thoughts.
I looked at Dennis with unfocused eyes. He was saying something but I couldn’t process a single word.
It kept repeating in my head, over and over: loud screams, deafening shrieks, the thought that I killed her. My eyes drifted to Dennis as he took my arm, towing me down the nightmarish street.