The Newcomers

Chapter 7 THE HUNT

The Survivors had picked Thomas, Minho, Brenda and her siblings, and Jorge.
"Figures," Thomas muttered under his breath.
Their small party was to leave at dawn with food, an axe, and makeshift spears for everyone except Olivia, who got a makeshift bow and arrows. They had stuck leaves to their clothes using sap from a maple tree at their camp.
"One last question about the Hunters: do they poison you like grievers?" Minho asked Isaac.
"Kinda. It doesn't poison poison you like Grievers. But the shots apply excrutiating pain on contact," Isaac responded.
"Ohhh... Ouch," said Minho back.
They had barely walked for what seemed like an hour before they saw one. Brenda was right, they looked almost exactly the same as a Griever, except it was a robotic spider with a gun barrel atrached to the top of it's head. Thomas didn't want to know what that did. The Hunter sensed them immediately. It pointed it's gun barrel straight at Minho and fired. Fortuneately, Minho saw it coming and dodged it easily.
"You're gonna have to try harder than that, you stupid robot spider!" He yelled.
"Minho, slim it. We don't need more trouble," Thomas loudly whispered to him.
"Good that," Minho whispered back and then shut up. Olivia had already had drawn the bow and shot several times. Only one had connected, but it hit the Hunter's side. It seemed Brenda's siblings had dealt with Hunters several times, because Ian, Isaac, and Gina already were flanking the thing. The Hunter was about to fire at Olivia and there was no way she could dodge it. But at the last minute, Ian, Gina, and Isaac shoved their spears into the Hunter's face at the same time. The Hunter lay dead.
"And that, my friends, is how to kill a Hunter," Gina concluded the fight with that comment.
"We don't have time for sarcasm right now. There could be more Hunters on their way," Minho said to Gina.
"A 'no sarcasm' comment? From you, Minho? I must be dreaming," remarked Thomas.
"Shuck it," Minho shot back.
"If I remember right, twenty Hunters escaped the explosion. Two are dead," Ian said, changing the subject.
"How are two dead? Did you guys kill one on the way to our camp?" Asked Thomas.
"Oh, I forgot to mention... WICKED designed the Hunters and their abilities, so they can do some pretty Sci-Fi-ish stuff," Gina said.
"Like what, raise the dead or something?" Minho joked.
"I thought you turned into No-Sarcasm-Man. But anyway, they actually can raise the dead if their heart or brain still works," Ian told Minho.
"Oh, crap," Minho commented.
As the party made their way through the Woods, Minho commented on the scenery, "Hey... I think... I think I know this place. Just keep going straight forward. I wanna see something," he said. Almost as if on cue, the Woods opened up into the clearing.
"It looks... exactly like the Glade. Except for where the Homestead's supposed to be," Thomas said amazed.
"Did WICKED just, like, copy and paste this piece of land and threw in the Box, Homestead, and Maze?" Minho inquired.
"I don't know, but based on what I've seen them do, I wouldn't be surprised," Thomas responded.
"Well, this was the military's lab that had built the Hunters," Ian started.
"Before WICKED blew it up,"
Finished Thomas.
"Let me guess. It's where the Hunters live, isn't it?" Minho asked.