Search (SEEK book 1)

The Hunt

SEEK

Out of seven billion people, there's only one thing we all have in common.

We search for what eludes us.

We evade what causes us sorrow.

We extract what doesn't suit our needs.

And we kill to get what we want.

WE SEEK.

In the time it takes you to read this, two lives will be revoked and one spared.

Some call it divine intervention, others say natural selection decides,

but no one really knows for sure.

EXCEPT ME.

My name is Keira, and this is how I saved you.

*** The Hunt***

They say one bad decision can haunt you for the rest of your life. It was my bad decision that brought me here.

In the heart of the Daniel Boone Forest, shadows of mist and vapor prowl the perimeter. They're called Khayal and I work for SEEK, a covert government agency that is tasked with destroying the Khayal, or at least stopping the Episteme Brotherhood from getting a hold of them. The Brotherhood, a twisted group who actually uses the Khayal, is growing rapidly. Our government is worried the Brotherhood will use them against humanity in an effort to control the world.

"Time?" my partner, Tom Corduroy, barks.

"Half past a monkey's ass and quarter to his..." Jackson bellows, spit-shining his Ruger with his sleeve.

"Dude! Really? In front of the girls?" Cord coughs.

"Girls? I'll give you Martin, but Donavan? She's no girl, she's a machine." Jackson roars, pounding a fist into my shoulder. "How many kills you get yesterday, Donavan?"

"Twenty-seven. Now can we get back to work? I've felt at least a dozen slip by." I rub my arm.

"Damn girl, you need to chill. You're making the rest of us look lazy." Jackson points to his partner Jenny Martin, when she isn't looking.

"It's like talking to a rock," I mutter to the tree beside me.

"Wow, sorry I missed the high-kicks. Are we here to hunt or kiss Donovan's ass?" Martin glares at me, marring her perfect makeup-enhanced features.

"Hey, I didn't ask to be good at my job." I'm as surprised as you, I think, knocking into Martin's shoulder. The scent of blue spruce grows stronger as I storm up the trail.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll wipe her dead first." Cord catches up alongside me.

I glance back just as Martin flings her freshly-fluffed hair over her shoulder and stalks after Jackson in the opposite direction. "I'll never understand how a prissy Barbie like Martin got into SEEK in the first place."

Cord hocks-up a mouthful of saliva and launches it into the shrubbery. "Who cares? You're only here for one reason, remember?"

Cord's right. I'm here for my sister, Lindy. And like a switch, my focus turns to the forest, its gruesome secrets creeping silently undetected through the trees. The Khayal. I shudder sensing their presence.

Cord marches at my heels, sensing them too. The Khayal are close. I slide into the thicket, careful not to disturb even a twig. Cord's right hand slides to his holster as I string an arrow, navigating the thorny underbrush.