Scavengers {#Wattys2016}

Chapter Seventeen

The Hunter stood quietly. He watched staring at the burning city as he stood among-st the rubble. He stared without a word. A slight breeze fluttered his heavy robes making them flap to the left. He put his hand on the cement ground kneeling on one knee. 

Here was where the soldier had been strangled, then shot by an unknown individual. The Hunter sniffed. Genetically enhanced to hunt, stalk, and trained to kill. He had no name. He had always been referred to as --The Hunter. 

Same as his twin sister--The Seer was what she was called. It was what she had always been called and it as the only thing he could remember calling her. 

The Seer had been modified to be able to see the world differently. She could see a great distance. Though The Hunter's eyes were also well crafted he could not see as far as her nor in detail either. The Seer herself did not know how far she could see. 

What she did know was that she saw things in a centered haze. Everything was brighter. All the colors were sharper and the lights were more distinct that at times if she stared too long with intense focus she would blind herself temporarily. But she was not allow to remove the metal sheet over her eyes. It was too dangerous. 

The experts claimed that it was too delicate and her mind wouldn't be able to handle the direct sight of the natural and real world around her. If she took them off they claimed that it would  burn her eyes and mind and she would go blind. 

The Hunter on the other hand could not speak, he had been told by the experts that if he tried then his vocal cords would tear along with his entire throat. Then he would not be able to utter even his growls that he now could only manage.

The Repeater on the other had stood a ways off. There were at the moment three of him. He could create a total of 10 copies or clones of himself by splitting himself apart. He was not a relative of The Hunter or The Seer. In fact he didn't get along well with them either. 

He was just another experiment like all the others. He had been told by the experts that he could not have more than 10 feet of separation from each clone. As well he couldn't take off the slick shiny suit which was tight on him. They warned him if he did his body would tear itself apart limb from limb due to the strains of splitting copies from his cells. The Repeater relied on creating stem cells at an incredible rate to make actual images of himself. 

While The Hunter relied on animal mutations and enhancements which came from multiple creatures. The Hunter did not know form which creatures but he knew where his mutation came from. 

The Seer on the other hand, has her eyes mechanically enhanced with cybernetics wired into her brain and accelerated her nerves which relayed messages from her eyes to her brain. Every few months she had to go in and get them upgraded and tests had to be run. The same goes for The Hunter and The Repeater. There was always more for the experts to do. 

They always had something new to test. 

"They went that way", said The Seer pointing towards the horizon.

She could see the former figures of the group running out and wandering through the landscape. But she stopped blinking under her metal shield. She couldn't focus for very long. It was difficult under such conditions when there was so much to take in. Blocking the surroundings out was a tough task when her eyes were supposed to catch everything near and far. 

"Are you sure?", tested the Repeater annoyed. 

He was leaned against a wall with crossed arms. He hated working with these two. Especially because they were related. 

The Hunter growled, "Yeah, yeah, moan and groan all you want", scoffed the Repeater back sticking out his tongue.

 The Repeater wanted to get this over with. It was so annoying that normal humans couldn't deal with a bunch of rogue low lives. He always had to clean up their messes and mistakes. He who was genetically enhanced and stronger, smarter, and had a gift.

Yet still he was the janitor and the subordinate of a normal Pure Citizen. 

The Hunter stood. He gave a simple nod. He could not say a word. It was too dangerous. 

The Hunter simply stared at the horizon line. They had gone that way. The Seer was right. He could smell their traces. Small and tiny. Distant and faint. 

They would catch up soon though....The Hunter would hunt them down. 

All of them.