Revelations of a Grey Coat Hunter

5

     By some miracle, the two Hunters got through the night without killing each other. But they were apparently now giving each other the silent treatment. Turned out, long miles of nothing but silent resentment wasn't much better than listening to the two Hunters bicker at each other. Arthur's t-shirt today read, fittingly enough, "I'm not arguing. I'm just explaining why I'm right." The twins put their headphones on in self-defense after a time. That helped a little.

     Of course, nothing helped when the car suddenly swerved and pulled over, coming to an abrupt stop amid a spray of gravel and blaring horns from upset motorists. Caught completely by surprise, the twins were thrown forward, stopped by their seat belts and the backs of the front seats.

     "What the hell?" Monty sputtered.

     "For real, you made me lose my headphones!" Maddy picked up her headphones, frowning at the men in the front seats.

     Neither had moved. The two were oddly silent and still, sitting in their seats as if frozen. Maddy's frown deepened. "Guys, what's going on? Um, guys?" Maddy poked at Conrad, who was taking a turn behind the wheel and sitting directly in front of her.

     Conrad didn't move. He'd gone stiff, staring blankly ahead. Next to him, Arthur was doing the same. Alarmed, Maddy reached up and placed two fingers on Conrad's neck, feeling for a pulse.

     Conrad suddenly gasped and grabbed her hand, twisting her arm painfully. Maddy yelped, and Monty lunged forward. "Hey! Let her go, asshole!"

     It wasn't until he successfully freed his sister's arm that he saw the pistol Conrad was pointing back over the seat. "Whoa!" Monty leaned back, raising his hands. "Easy, cheetah, put the gun away."

     For a long moment, Monty honestly believed Conrad would shoot him. The green eyes were hard. There wasn't a trace of humanity in them as Conrad stared at him. But then the Hunter blinked, and somehow Conrad was back. "Not smart," he growled, replacing the pistol. "Don't ever touch me like that again."

     "Hey asshole, I was checking your pulse and you twisted my arm," Maddy defended, irritated. "Monty was trying to help me. What was that all about, anyway? You suddenly went off the road, and then you two completely spaced out. We thought you'd had strokes or something."

     Conrad was scowling as he got the vehicle back on the road. But Arthur explained. "We've just been given a mission. Normally, we wouldn't be bothered before we finished this, but apparently, there's a Class One involved somehow, and we're the closest Hunters."

     "Class One?" Maddy asked.

     "A Class One human," Arthur explained. "Humans are divided into four classes, one through four. Class Ones are Foundation associated. Before we can protect anyone else, we have to protect our own. So, Class One humans would be employees of the Foundation, their families, or anyone that can be used as leverage against them. Then Class Two humans are your basic folk, those who work and have houses and kids and dogs and pay taxes, you know, standard people. Next, Class Three humans are the ones no one misses. Those would be the homeless, sex workers, drug addicts, you get the picture. And finally, Class Four humans are the scum of society. That's murderers, rapists, pimps, drug dealers..."

     "You categorize humans? You actually categorize human beings!" Maddy shook her head in disbelief. "Ok, that's already sickening, but I'll bite. What's the point of the categories? So you know who gets help first?"

     "Yes, you could say that," Arthur replied. "Listen, there's one thing you realize fast in this job - you can't save everyone. When there's a disaster, doctors triage people so that they can utilize their limited resources where they'll do the most good. The Foundation has to do the same. The Board of Overseers designates classes in order to make that decision simple in the field."