Hunter's Alpha (gxg) ✓

47. Ambush

For the rest of the story, we're going to rotate between Hunter and Jude, so heads up!

JUDE

Hunter is here.

The radio crackles in my hand, my mother's voice still echoing in my ears.

Hello, Jude.

"I thought you were dead!" I say, and maybe I should feel relieved. Or grateful. Or amazed.

But all of those words are reserved for people who don't have mothers that faked their deaths.

Because it's clear now—that is what she did.

My mother knew that by signing the note with Mom, I would be suspicious. I would eventually lead myself to the Wolves, and maybe she knew . . . maybe she knew I'd come to the conclusion Anise had pointed me towards.

That she was dead.

"Jude, I missed you," says my mother.

"I don't understand. I don't understand, Mom."

"I did what was best for you," she says, and it sounds like she is almost . . . upset. "I did what I had to!"

"How was making me believe you were dead for the best?" I snarl into the radio.

I hear a faint static—a crackle—over the radio.

"Because I—" The sound cuts. Fuzzy. "I—want you to know—I made a deal—Yakuza—before you were born—when your turn twenty-two—"

The radio goes silent.

"No!" I scream. Shaking it. "No! Mom! No!"

It is no use. I am talking to a void—to the storm and the sky.

The rain is falling hard now, and I squint through the water towards the dock. I can barely see anything except for the silhouettes of people.

Is Hunter there? Is she looking for me?

There is a fog rising. The wind that sweeps over the ship is cold and bitter, and my teeth begin to chatter.

"There's nothing we can do now," says Alistair harshly. "We can only wait."

"There has to be something," I shout. "Our hands are free! We're not helpless. We can—"

"What?" says Alisa, her bright eyes devoid of warmth. "Jump out? Swim? With a tide like that in a storm like this?"

Daniel has finally woken, his hollow eyes feverish.

"What about steering this thing ourselves? We can—"

"No," Alistair says. "They never meant for this ship to come back from the harbor."

And he points to the starboard. Showing us that the steering wheel and the controls have been entirely removed.

We're going to die aboard this ship, I think.