Matt Archer: Monster Hunter (Matt Archer Series, Book 1)

Chapters 11 and 12

Chapter Eleven

Will threw up a second time and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His breath came in rasps. I'd pulled him up and dragged him away after I took out the Bear. Now he sat against a massive juniper twenty yards from the carcass. He closed his eyes, wheezing harder, pulling at his hair while he rocked back and forth. Each time he did, his back banged against the tree trunk. He was so messed up, I didn't have time to think about what I'd just done.

I knelt next to him, worried he'd hyperventilate. "Dude, calm down. Everything's gonna be okay now. It's dead. I killed it."

Will's eyes flew open. He scrambled away from me and threw up again. I rocked back into a squat. "Major, he looks pretty bad. We need to get him out of here."

Mike came over to squat with me, bringing the first-aid kit. He pulled the first piece of gauze off his ear without saying anything. The gash had cut a jagged tear through his earlobe. Had to hurt like heck, but Mike slapped a fresh piece of gauze against it without flinching.

"Maybe," he said. He watched Will for a moment, then his face went from concerned to cast-iron. "Will, get your butt off the ground. Matt, you, too. We have work to do."

At the sound of the "Fort Carson bark," I jumped up. "Sir, yes, sir."

Will shrank lower, shaking his head. Mike stood and jerked him to his feet. "The only way to get over a shock like this is to get busy. Now can you walk, or are you a total pansy?"

Will cringed and threw me a horrified look. It hurt me to do it, but I met his gaze and snapped, "Do as the major says. Move it."

He swallowed hard. "Okay. Where are we going?"

I strode into the woods without looking back. "To get rid of the body."

* * *

We stood over the dead beast, listening to the pine trees whip in the breeze. The monster lay in a pool of blood with one arm flung askew. Its eyes were bugged out, as if it still couldn't believe it had been stabbed. I'd done that. My knees shook. I'd felt so brave in the heat of the moment, but now that it was all over, I couldn't believe it was real. I had to keep it together, though; I couldn't freak. If I was going to do this job, it meant focusing on the task at hand without thinking too much about it.

Mike moved us upwind, because the thing reeked. "Let's find a ditch or a dense clump of brush. It'll take some effort, but you've got to hide the body well enough that it won't be found." He punched Will in the shoulder. "You with me, Cruessan? Once it's hidden, Matt knows what to do."

"I call Colonel Black and they send a team out for retrieval and disposal," I said. "We have to make sure it's hidden because it might be a few days before he can get enough personnel assembled to make the trip from Colorado. And I need to mark down the GPS coordinates of the dump site, so the team can find the body."

"Retrieval....and disposal?" Will stared at me like he'd never seen me before. A stranger—who he'd known since first grade. "Who are you people?"

"I'm your best friend, Matt." I glanced at Mike to see if I could say more. He gave me a brief nod. "Remember when I asked about weight training and you wondered why? Well, this is why. I'm a monster-hunter." I gave Will a once over; he still looked like crap. "I'm betting you wish you hadn't followed us, huh?"

Will jerked nervously. "Oh, yeah."

"Why did you follow us?" Mike asked, with a hint of a growl.