Hungry Independents (Book 2) (13 page)

“How about you just tell me what I need to
know?”

“I can’t. It’s against the rules.” She nodded
in the direction of the howling coming from the police station.
“Let’s check the prisoners.”

Hunter shuddered at the idea. Going to see
those crazy kids had all the appeal of spending a day plucking
chickens. “I’d rather bite off my tongue and eat it.”

“I just want to make sure there really isn’t
anything I can do for them before we leave. I mean, if I could save
one then I have to try.”

The other kids were milling around outside of
the bus now, looking for water. Their nervous behavior floated
around like a contagion. Wes and Carissa were the closest, and
although Wes appeared healthy after his possession, he still seemed
a little shaken ever since Tommy and his gang had appeared.

Hunter rotated his bad shoulder, feeling the
dull ache that would not quit. “Why do you need me there?”

“Backup.”

“Backup for what?”

“If I can save one, then I need you to hold
off the others while I work to reverse whatever that kid did to
them.”

Hunter considered the task before him and
wished he’d left when he had the chance. His hand trembled as he
gripped the broomstick. He patted his pocket for the reassuring
weight of his lock blade knife. He wanted to be prepared for last
resorts.

“Why can’t you just zap them all and then
check them out?”

Barbie rolled her eyes like he was stupid.
“They have to be awake. That’s why I couldn’t do it when we dragged
them into the jail. Any more questions?”

Hunter shouldered the stick and headed for
the screams. “Will I make it home alive?”

Barbie followed. “Sure, if you remember to
say your prayers.”

They hit the street and were halfway across
when they noticed the shuffling of a crowd following. Hunter turned
to find every kid out of the bus and on their heels.

The horrible howling continued without pause,
like an angry wolf pack caged in an undersized kennel. Hunter
imagined how terrifying it would be inside and his knees
jittered.

“Uh, you guys don’t have to come in there
with us,” Hunter told the crowd.

Carissa took a step forward. “We feel safer
with you guys. Is it okay if we wait in the lobby?” She nodded her
head toward the rest of her group to find out if that would be okay
with them as well. They seemed pretty happy with the idea.

Hunter waved them on. “Let’s go. The more the
merrier, right?”

“They’re not a very merry crowd,” Barbie said
to him.

“It’s an expression.”

Hunter pushed open the door, stepping onto
the tile flooring. Light flowed through the glass doors and front
windows. The place had been gutted, leaving the counter and a dark
entrance where the noise continued to grow like a cold wind.

“How the heck did you see to get them back
there?” Hunter asked.

From the counter, Wes retrieved a Coleman
lantern that burned white gas. He pumped the primer before igniting
the mantles with a disposable lighter. “I’ll hold the lamp for you
guys.”

Carissa stood next to her brother. “Then I’m
coming too.” She held his free hand and together they walked toward
the darkness.

Hunter tapped the broomstick on the ground to
make sure it wouldn’t break, and then he followed the light. “Let’s
go play with the crazy kids.”

Darkness fell on top of them as they moved
farther away from the comfort of daylight. The lantern only worked
to draw their eyes into a tight circle. What might lay beyond that
circle made Hunter nervous. The howling grew louder until they
stood in front of a closed door that separated the hallway from the
nightmare. Wes walked past the door and held up the light.

“Are you going in?” Hunter shouted the
question over the cacophony and Wes flinched. Hunter tried to smile
but the screaming was working on his nerves, making simple facial
expressions tricky. He held out his hand. “Give me the lamp. You
follow.”

Handing the lantern to Hunter, Wes produced a
shaky, but grateful, smile. Carissa cowered behind her brother, but
at least she’d come this far. If Wes went through the door, Hunter
knew she’d be right with him.

Barbie stared at the entrance, her face
strained at the rising tone from the hungry, flesh-eating children
beyond.

Hunter nudged her. “Are you all set?”

Still staring at the door, she held up a
handful of crackling electricity. At least Hunter thought it
crackled. It certainly sparkled. The white light enhanced the
illumination from the yellow glow of the lantern.

Hunter stretched out trembling fingers and
pulled on the door handle. The wailing stopped. The lantern shook
in his other hand, bouncing crazy shadows around the walls. Hunter
tried to decide which he preferred—the howling or the silence.

Barbie stepped past him with more
determination than Hunter was willing to muster. Wes surprised him
by going next, with Carissa so close they could have been attached
at the hip.

Hunter waited a heartbeat, took a deep
breath, and then he brought in the light.

Four cells stretched down another corridor,
with the wall on the right and bars on the left. Six sets of dark
pupils stared back. Hands gripped the bars and every one of the
cannibal children’s mouths glistened with saliva. They panted like
caged animals, and the sound became the next level of terror as
Hunter’s feet glued themselves to the floor. The only direction he
wanted to go was back. Nothing could be saved in here, especially
these tiny creatures of death.

Barbie moved to the first cell, both hands
dripping tendrils of white fire, and faced the little girl locked
inside. The girl hissed, swatting between the bars at Barbie, who
remained unflinchingly out of reach. The girl grew more frantic in
her attempts to rip into Barbie, becoming a blur of motion as she
raked her black nails through the air and screeched. The others
chattered in shrieks and snarls, anxious to be free.

Like a lightning strike, Barbie caught the
girl by her wrists. She pulled the child’s arms down and drew her
near now that she had control, staring into her face.

Fear broke through the fierceness of the
girl’s features, her dark eyes looking around desperately. She
buried her teeth into her bottom lip and bright blood trickled down
her chin. Barbie’s energy channeled through the child’s arms with a
jolt. The girl straightened like a rod and the light shined in her
eyes.

Hunter watched, unable to do anything but
hold the lantern and the broomstick. Wes and Carissa pressed their
bodies against the wall like they were trying to pass through to
the other side.

Barbie released the little girl and stepped
away. The child hissed and retreated to the shadows at the back of
her cell. The others down the corridor screeched defiance.

“What happened?” Hunter asked over the
noise.

Barbie shook her head. “She cannot be
helped.”

Barbie stepped over to the next cell where
two girls had been contained together. They hissed and snarled and
swatted out towards her like the first one, but they also
frequently traded places, pacing and stalking back and forth in
their cage like two young tigers learning how to use their
claws.

“This is where I need your help,” Barbie
said.

“What? You’re crazy. I’m not going anywhere
near those girls.”

“Don’t be scared. I just need you to hold one
off while I test the first.”

“I’m not scared.” Hunter’s knees shook so bad
he figured she heard them knocking. “I just don’t want to be
eaten.”

“I’ll be real quick this time—”

Hunter didn’t catch the last part because the
howling rose again. “What’d you say?”

“I know what I’m looking for now.” Barbie
turned to finish testing the others.

Barbie held the second girl’s wrists through
the bars. Hunter concentrated on the free girl in the cell who kept
trying to come over the top and around the sides at Barbie. Each
time the girl did, she got poked in the face with the stick. Hunter
used the blunt end—he wasn’t cruel—but he didn’t discriminate where
the stick whacked her either. Her right eye took a beating, which
probably made her even with Hunter’s depth perception.

Barbie’s lightning power transferred into the
captured girl’s eyes then she released her. The girl whimpered and
ran to the back of the cell. Hunter allowed the one with the bad
eye into the spot at the bars. Barbie clasped on like before and
after thirty seconds the process was over; the girl screeched,
running away to join the other.

“Can we save one of them?” Hunter asked.

Barbie tilted her head and peered into the
darkened cell at the cowering pair. “Let’s check the boys
first.”

The boys were just as feisty, clawing,
hissing and screaming guttural nonsense. Two boys were caged
together in the third cell. Luckily it was the smaller boys, but
they were quick. Hunter worked hard to keep the one off Barbie
while she inspected the first. The child ducked and weaved, having
learned something from what he could see of Hunter’s treatment of
the girl. Instead of a poke, Hunter smacked the kid’s hands every
time one crossed the bars.

Barbie finished in a hurry then switched
partners and inspected the second. They went to the last cell
together. Hunter whistled at Wes and motioned him to move closer
with the lantern. Wes and Carissa hugged the wall as they came
after them. The girls leapt at the bars as they passed, smashing
against the iron. Wes and Carissa focused on Hunter. When the light
rounded the corner of the last cell, they found a solitary boy
sitting peacefully on the bench in the back.

He gazed up at them with signature large
pupils, pointy teeth and spittle. His hands rested on his
knees.

“He doesn’t seem that bad.” Hunter knocked on
the bar of the cell like he was delivering a pizza. “Think he’s
worth saving?”

Barbie punched him in the shoulder and Hunter
winced. “’They’re all worth saving. The question is can we save
him?” She gazed into the cell.

The boy smiled.

“No. He’s too far gone to be saved.” She
stepped up to the bars and hung her hands over the center rail,
tempting the child to come try a bite.

He didn’t move.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Hunter
said.

Barbie stood back and dug her hand in her
pocket. She pulled out the keys to the cell. She selected one and
nodded. “Follow me and be ready.” Without further discussion,
Barbie stepped down the cell corridor.

Hunter jumped after her. “Wait a minute! What
are we doing?”

“I have to make a choice and I’ve made it. I
can only save one of these kids.”

They stopped in front of the cell with the
two girls. The girls rushed forward and hissed a warning at them,
but they didn’t cross the bars this time.

“Which one?” Hunter asked.

“I’ll grab the one I’m going to save. You
hold the other one back until I’m done.” Barbie bowed her head for
a brief moment then she brought up her fist with a ball of circling
electricity. The two girls backed away, staring at the white
energy.

“That’s not much of a fucking plan,” Hunter
said.

The girls fell silent inside the cell. Barbie
jammed the key in the lock and there was an audible click when she
turned. “I told you to stop using that word.” She slid the cell
door aside and entered the tiger den. Both girls leapt at her, but
she quickly selected the one she wanted, grabbing her wrists, and
spun away. Hunter charged through the door with his stick and
pinned the unoccupied girl to the wall. The small cell exploded
with white light and popping energy fused the air, making it hard
to breath. The girl Hunter had trapped stared at Barbie, petrified
at the display of power. She shifted her non-swollen eye back to
Hunter.

“Don’t try it,” Hunter told her.

“Steven’s going after the keys!” Wesley
yelled.

One of the smaller cannibal boys in the next
cell had squeezed between the bars as far as he could, stretching
his fingers toward the keys still hanging in the lock. Wesley swung
the lantern back and forth at him.

Hunter’s moment of distraction ended with the
girl snapping her teeth at him and clawing his arms. He shoved the
stick harder and higher. With her bare feet scrambling, she climbed
Hunter like a stepladder, but he pushed the stick even higher until
it was against her throat. He feared pushing too hard and breaking
her neck. Instead he hoped she would choke out.

Now that the stick had moved up, her arms
were free to lash out with her claws. She gouged her nails into
Hunter’s arms then his cheeks. Hunter extended his arms, scared he
might lose sight in his remaining eye. The girl’s attacks lessened
and he stepped back. She flopped to the floor, letting Hunter catch
his breath in darkness.

“Where’s the light?” he asked with panic
rising in his chest.

There was a jangling and Hunter froze.

“They have the keys,” Wes said from nearby.
“I dropped the lantern.”

“We got to go! We got to go!” Carissa
said.

“Barbie?”

She did not respond. Barbie’s electrical
power had winked out, leaving black unknown shapes in the fearful
cell block

“Wes, get your sister out of here, now!”

Hunter held his hand out in front and
shuffled until he touched Wes’s head. The boy yelped and shook with
terror. He grabbed Wes and found Carissa shivering next to him.
Hunter guided them from the cell and faced them toward the hall.
“Run, and get everyone out of here. I’ll hold them off as long as I
can.”

A pair of howls rang out like they were
inside Hunter’s ears, and the door to the next cell crashed open.
Hunter turned, swinging his broomstick wildly, determined to buy
Wes and his sister some time.