Regeneration

Chapter 42 - My Brother

I immediately reached for the gun behind me only to remember I unloaded for Reya.

Shit. What did I get myself into?

I grabbed the magazine from my pocket, but with a forceful elbow, Reya knocked it out of my hand. My eyes followed the magazine as it slid towards the hunter's feet.

My gaze traveled up from it's feet to its face. The dark pulsating veins around it's eyes contrasted with it's pale complexion. I immediately noticed the uncanny stillness of this hunter. It was calmer than any hunter I had seen before. It stood there staring at the scene before it. It's chest rising and dropping rapidly as it took quick breaths. It looked like it was studying us.

"Hailey, just hear me out okay."

My eyes shifted back to Reya.

She gripped my forearms tightly, turning me towards her, "Remember, open mind." There was a desperate look in her eyes.

My face contorted in confusion, "What's there to hear Reya?" I shook out of her grip, "That thing needs to die."

"That thing is my brother." Tears brimmed her eyes, "I know you already see that he's different from the others."

She looked at the hunter, "I think this is what they're becoming."

She sounded distant as I thought back to the hunter that spoke, it had been stalking us rather than erratically attacking.

Her voice pulled me back into the room when I heard her say, "He's not going to hurt us."

A wave of anxiety hit me as I watched her walk toward the hunter, standing less than a foot away from it. My stomach turned-sure that it would kill her right then, but it doesn't. My eyes widen in amazement.

I looked to the shackles that bonded it's wrists and ankles.

"So why the chains?" I asked trying to keep my composure-I needed to find a way out of this.

Both I and the hunter observed Reya as she yanked on the heavy chains that were holding it, displaying its integrity.

"Just a precaution," she answered.

The longer she stayed within it's reach, the more my anxiety heightened.

"He's getting better," Her expression turned serious again as she walked back to me.

Reya's words weren't making any sense to me and my thoughts felt more jumbled as she went on.

"You people are crazy," I took a step back from her.

Her eyebrows furrowed and she looked at me as if I was the one telling her something crazy.

"No, my father doesn't know, he thinks Ryan is dead," she spoke, "It happened right after we found this place."

"Reya, none of this makes any sen-"

"We were looting a precinct not far from here, we ran out of ammo getting here," she cut my sentence short, "It was late and already getting dark. We should have just found somewhere safe for the night." Her voice cracked as regret etched onto her face.

. . .

The low afternoon glow streched inside from broken windows lighting the precinct, the group didn't need to turn their flashlights on yet.

They quietly made their way down the maze of hallways, being as quiet as possible.

"Wait," Ryan said as he stopped near a bulletin board.

Different colored thumbnails were used to pin flyers and announcements to it.

At the centre of the board, a floorplan was displayed. "Says we're here," Ryan tapped on the spot with his index finger, "I'm putting my money on one of those unlabeled rooms being the armory."