The Hunters

Chapter 7

We were sitting on the ground of the cold, damp forest floor when I heard a sound that sounded like barking.

“Guys, listen.” I said hushing them.

“What?” Asked Maddie

“Oh, I hear it too.” Said Jessie as he leaned in closer to hear well.

“What is that?” asked Drew.

As if on cue a five, snarling dogs on leashes showed up. Connected to the leashes was a tall, scary looking man. With a thick British accent he hollered “Go!”

The dogs broke from there leashes and started to chase us. We all ran, jumping and tripping over tree roots and rocks.

“Ireland!” yelled Jessie. A dog caught his leg and was dragging him toward the scary man. I ran and grabbed his hand just to be bitten by another dog. I fell and the dog started to take me away I was trying to hit the dog but the more I tried the farther away the dog felt. I stopped trying to think of a better way to get away from the snarling beast but I hit my head really hard on a rock. Soon everything faded away into blackness.

“Ireland! Ireland!” I wake up to Jessie shaking me. I sit up and everyone is around my bed.

“What! What happened?” I ask

“You were screaming your head off. We thought something was wrong.” He said. I look around the room to find my blankets are on the floor and the lamp beside my bed was knocked over.

“Oh.” I said not really sure what to say.

“Are you okay?” asked Maddie

“Yeah … yeah I’m fine.”

“You sure Peirce?” Said Jessie

“No really I’m fine … just a bad dream is all.” I said

“Okay, well see you in the morning. Troy,” He said trying to grab Troy’s attention away from Maddie.

“Oh, right. See you tomorrow.” He said as Jessie dragged him way.

When they left I looked at Maddie and her eyes looked dazed. I stood up.

“Maddie?” I said as a clapped in front of her face. “Earth to Maddie.”

“What? Oh, yah sorry.” She said. I laughed and laid back down.

  The next day marked day fourteen at the hero protection program and Troy still hasn’t found his powers. Not to worry though because Maddie is always nearby if he’s having a tough time … always. Anyway we are doing the final initiation today and I’m really nervous. I got dressed and grabbed the backpack that had a gun, grenades, a couple more shirts, pants, and water. From the 13 days of hard-core training I have sore muscles in places I didn’t even know I had muscles.

“Okay, listen up!” said Major Sims. “Today we will be doing the final initiation. I don’t want to hear any complaints about how sore you are. You are here to become a full hero and if you are babied it is pointless. So to put in simple terms, suck it up. Got it?” There were some mumbled yeses. “What?” he asked,

“Yes Major Sims.” Everyone corrected themselves. “Everyone grab a gun and a belt.” Everyone went and grabbed a gun. “Follow me.” He said as he started to walk out of the room. We walked down the hallway and went into a small room that looked out into a room with green, brick walls.

“Now this is a transportation device. It will take you out to the real world. You may be surprised in what you see, but just remember you must do whatever you can to survive.” Said Major Sims, pushing and switching buttons on the complicated, looking control center.  I looked at Jessie and we all walked through the door and down the metal staircase. As we were walking down I was praying I wouldn’t mess up. I couldn’t stop thinking of five thousand different scenarios that I fail and get laughed at. Major Sims dimmed the lights and pushed a button that started a countdown.

“10,” said a computer voice.

“You nervous Peirce.” Said Jessie as he squeezed my hand. I was so deep in thought that I didn’t notice he grabbed it.

“9,”

“Uh, no?” I said

“8,”

“You sound like you’re asking.” He said

“7,”

“That’s because I am.” I said. He laughed. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.” Once the countdown was done I opened my eyes and a bell rang. Everything was quiet … too quite. Sorry I had to, I’ve always wanted to say that. Anyway, I thought I would open my eyes to see that we were in a basketball court. What are we doing at a basketball court?

“This way,” said Jessie as he led us out of the two double doors, the more we ran through the ransacked hallways I noticed where we were. We were at Liberty View and it looks like a bomb squad was practicing on the building.  We traveled farther into the school until I heard a laugh. It wasn’t like a nice laugh like one you would here if someone told a joke but like a twisted almost mentally insane laugh.

“Wait.” I said as I stopped everyone.

“What is it?” asked Troy. Another laugh came and it was louder.

“I hear it.” Said Drew

“Yah me too.” Said Santana

That’s when we all turned around to see an army of teenagers walking toward us looking and acting like they were just in a pep-rally. But they weren’t normal, they had some sort of writing in red on thier wrists and their eyes were glowing green. Most of them were covered in blood and their clothes were ragged. 

“Jessie?” I said.

“Yes Ireland?”

“Run.” We started running and the teens started to chase us. We sprinted down the hallway.

“Split up!” I yelled. Jessie, Troy, Maddie, and I went down a different hallway than the others.

“Troy!” yelled Maddie. We looked back and a teen had her on the ground. Then Troy looked at his hands and a ball of fire formed. He threw it at the teen and picked up Maddie. We kept running until we were outside and sure we lost them we stopped by a door.

“You … okay?” panted Troy. Maddie sat down and lifted up the leg of her pants. She had a cut that stretched from her knee to almost her ankle. I sat down next to her and examined the cut.

“We need to clean it.” I said. She took a deep breath.

“Okay.” She said. I put out my hand and dripped some water onto the cut. She squeezed Troy’s hand and Jessie handed me one of his t-shirts. I dried it off and tired the t-shirt around it.

A couple minutes later Noah, Drew, and Kate came out.

“Where are the others?” Asked Maddie

“We couldn’t find them … we looked everywhere … even the basement.” Drew said taking a breath between each phrase.