Matt Archer: Monster Hunter (Matt Archer #1) (14 page)

“What?” I asked, not wanting any more surprises. Mutant,
evolving monsters and my decrepit love life were enough to go on for the
moment.

“The knife. It does something to you.”

“What are you talking about?” I rubbed my eyes with my
fists, ready to get what little sleep I could before we had to get up for
school.

For the fortieth time, Will crawled off his bed to make sure
Millicent wasn’t listening at the door. “You change. Stronger, faster, scarier.
Dude, I watched you and the Bear facing off, crouched on the ground. You were
completely steady—so calm you could’ve performed brain surgery. When it ran at
you, you rolled out of the way and leapt onto its back as if you did it every
day.” Will shuddered. “You scared the crap out of me.”

“It was just an endorphin rush,” I said. “It happens in
tense situations. Besides, you know I’m fast, right? All that crap about being
wiry a few months ago.”

Will crossed his arms and stood up taller. “No, this was
different. Tell me something, have you noticed how quick you’re packing on
muscle these days? Or that thing with Carter—when you stared him down like he
was a cockroach annoying you? This isn’t the training. There’s more to it than
that. Something’s giving you extra power.”

My backpack was parked next to the futon I used when I slept
over. Right after Will said the bit about “extra power,” the front pocket
flashed with a blue glow. I jumped in surprise. The knife hadn’t ever reacted
when I wasn’t touching it.

Maybe Davis had been right. Maybe there was more to the
knife than we thought.

Will and I staggered into algebra the next morning on too
little sleep and too much of everything else. I’d barely had the energy to
wrestle myself into a pair of track pants and an old long-sleeved t-shirt I’d
inherited from Brent. The Ponytail Gang, dressed in the exact same style of jeans
and variations on scoop-neck t-shirts, made some really rude remarks about my
attire as I walked to my desk. After killing an nine-foot tall monster, I felt
pretty secure in my manhood and didn’t feel compelled to respond.

That confidence died as soon as I saw Ella. Her cheeks were
flushed and she stared at her math book, not meeting my eyes.

Gathering what courage I had left, I whispered, “Hey, sorry
I had to leave yesterday. A little emergency came up.”

Ella glanced at me over her shoulder. “I understand. It
wasn’t all that important, what I wanted to say. Just…thanks. For trashing
Jenna.”

“My pleasure.” Ugh, that was smooth. My pleasure? Dork.

She smiled, though. I spent part of homeroom devising a plan
to walk Ella to her next class, using the rest of the hour to thoroughly
observe how hot she looked in her tight, blue sweater. But when the bell rang,
Ella gave me another small smile, swept her books from her desk, and left
before I could say a word.

“Dude, everything okay?” Will asked.

“Don’t guess so.” My gut clenched at the thought the whole
meet-after-school thing had been just to say thanks.

“Give her some time. See you at lunch.” He lumbered off for
second period.

The morning dragged. I was so dang tired, I could barely
keep my head off my desk, let alone diagram sentences in English class. Science
was even worse.

“So, you see, Galileo discovered….”

My science teacher, Mr. Todd, would drone on in a monotone
for three hours if the bell didn’t stop him. He was worse than Specialist
Davis. I wiggled in my seat, trying to stay awake. Only ten more minutes, then
lunch.

“…stood on the nugget of solid matter at Jupiter’s core, you
would be flatter than a pancake….”

Seven more minutes.

“…Obey gravity—it’s the law….”

This guy was a total bore. My eyes got really heavy.

Wandering
through a jungle. Mist and the call of birds. Can’t find my way out. Footsteps
to my right. A man, speaking: “Hurry. The armies approach.”

My head jerked up. Several students giggled, having caught
me napping. Face burning, I glanced at Mr. Todd. He lectured on, with no clue
that I’d fallen asleep. Luckily the bell rang, and I headed for the cafeteria.
The voice in the dream belonged to no one—it had come out of some fog in my
brain. That didn’t make it any less freaky, though.

“Hey, you look like death warmed over,” Will said, joining
me in the cafeteria line.

He didn’t look much better, sporting big, purple bags under
his eyes. “We’ve got to figure out how to survive the day after a hunt.” I
yawned until my jaw popped. “I fell asleep in science, dude. Being this tired
is making me crack.”

I told him about the voice in my dream and Will said,
“That’s not as weird as the dream I had in history just now…lots of
bikini-wearing cheerleaders were throwing confetti at me.”

“Were you naked?” I asked, grinning.

Will pondered that. “Yeah, actually, I think I was…”

We got our food and sat at our usual table by the wall. I
watched Ella find a seat with some girls at the far side of the lunchroom. She
pulled a sandwich out of her pink, flower-print lunch bag, but after she
unwrapped it, she didn’t eat. Even from here, I could see her face was pale.
Her friends were gathered around her, talking. All of them wore somber
expressions more like what you’d see in a funeral home than a high school
cafeteria. Was she still upset because of Carter, or was it about me this time?

Will caught me gawking. “Just a thank you? That was all she
wanted to say?”

“Yeah. It’s weird. I feel like I missed out on something
crucial, and I have no clue what it was.” I stabbed at my chicken patty. “I
don’t know what to do next.”

“You wait.” When I looked at him with my eyebrows raised,
Will went on, “You missed ‘the moment.’”

I leaned back in my chair, wondering why my best friend
sounded like a
Lifetime
movie all of a sudden. “’The moment?’ Will, what the heck are you talking
about?”

“Remember last year, when I was all hot for Kelsey?”

“How could I forget?” I snickered. “You were worse about her
than I am about Ella.”

“Don’t think that’s even possible, but whatever. You have any
idea how long it took me to ask her to go to the movies with me?” he asked.

I stared at him. This wasn’t something we’d discussed
before. “No. I just remember you followed her around like a puppy, then all of
a sudden you were holding hands and walking her to every class.”

Being a third wheel for two months had sucked, but at least
he’d been happy. Well, until she’d dumped him for her older brother’s best
friend.

“It took me four weeks. Once I decided to ask her, I never
found a good time. Her friends were around, or I was running late for football
practice, or…well, something always got in the way. Finally, I caught her at
her locker after school and I just knew it was the right time.” He pointed at
me with a french-fry. “Be patient.”

I glanced across the room. Ella turned and our eyes locked.
She blinked first, looking away with a torn look on her face. Will was right.

I could wait.

* * *

The last two weeks of school before the holiday break
trudged by without me ever finding the “moment.” I decided my New Year’s
resolution would be to ask Ella out, and called the fall semester a bust. The
holidays were kind of a bust, too. Christmas passed without a card or call from
Dad, and with only two short video conferences with Uncle Mike. He looked fit
and stern–Major Tannen had taken over full-time. In a way, I found that
comforting. Seeing him acting totally military made me believe he’d stay sharp
overseas and keep safe.

Right before he left for Afghanistan, Mike called to talk
about the monster program. Mamie was back to watching me like a hawk, so I took
the call in my room, away from prying ears.

“So the first hunt went okay, but the knife is acting
weird,” I said. “Do you…do you think it might have some kind of power over me?
Like, maybe it’s making me faster or stronger?”

“Chief, I don’t think the knife is changing you physically,”
Mike said. “You’ve been training hard. It’s just a coincidence.”

“Uncle Mike, did the knife ever hum randomly for you?” I
tried to keep the annoyance out of my voice, but I was pissed that he dismissed
my concerns so fast. “When you weren’t holding it?”

Mike was quiet a long time. “No.”

“Well, it did for me.”

After another pause, Mike said, “Why don’t you write down
every unusual thing the knife does. Then I’ll email the other wielders. Maybe
they’ve seen something like that.”

“Thanks.” I flopped back on my bed, stalling. I didn’t want
to say goodbye; Mike would be out of contact for several days while traveling
and getting settled at HQ. “Have a safe trip.”

“I will, kid. You be careful in the woods. Give my love to
everybody.” And with that, he was gone.

I spent the rest of the holidays staring at the sat-phone,
hoping Colonel Black would call. A hunt would have broken the boredom, but he
didn’t contact me. I probably should’ve wondered about the lack of activity,
but I was too upset about Mike leaving to worry about it.

On the Friday night before school started back up, I was
minding my own business, watching
Mythbusters
upstairs in the game room. Will had just come
back from a week-long trip to Aspen—his parents’ idea of a good fifteenth
birthday present—and we planned to take the ATV into the woods just for fun on
Saturday. I was ready to get out of the house and a breakneck ride through the
forest sounded great.

Then the sat-phone rang.

I ran to my room. “Archer, here, sir.”

“We need you to roll tonight. Multiple reports of ‘Bigfoot’
sightings have come into the ranger station in your woods—three today alone,”
Colonel Black said. “The hikers saw it during the day.”

“It came out during the day?” Nocturnal beasts roaming in
daylight couldn’t be good.

“Yes,” he replied. “Thank goodness no one got a clean
picture of the beast. We’ve managed to convince the media that what the hikers
saw was a hoax, some college kid pranking folks by wearing a Sasquatch suit.”
The colonel sighed. “Don’t know how much longer we can keep a lid on the Bears.
So far, the only person to get video was one of the victims. The FBI gave us
the camera. The Bureau’s been great about locking down the crime scenes for us,
misleading the media, but we’re running out of time.”

“Then Will and I need to get to work,” I said, stressed that
we might not hunt down all the monsters before someone took a cell phone
picture of one and posted it on the internet. “Where was it sighted?”

The colonel filled me in. “When can you get going?”

It was already nine-thirty. “I may need a bit. But don’t
worry, we’ll be running in the next two hours.”

“Good. Report when you get back.” Colonel Black rang off.

I called Will. “You up for a hunt?”

“Are you kidding? I’ve been bored out of my skull the last
week. I’ll have everything ready by the time you get here.” Will was so excited
he practically shouted over the phone.

“Good. I’ll grab my stuff and be there in twenty.” I hung up
and dug into my closet. I’d gotten one of those plastic storage tubs to store
my gear, telling Mom it was for shoes and crap. Hiding things in plain sight
worked all the time.

The backpack stayed packed, and I’d charged up the GPS and
the phone that morning, just in case. The knife was safely tucked into the
front pocket of my bag. Good to go. I pulled my GOR-TEX coveralls out of the
tub to get dressed, but someone knocked. I shoved the coveralls back in the
closet and called, “Yeah?”

Mamie peeked in. “Were you just talking to someone?”

“Will called.” I smiled, trying not to look like I was up to
something.

“Hmm,” she said. Her eyebrows drew together. “Well, I’m
going to read a while. Mom said not to stay up too late.”

I nodded fast. “You bet. I’ll…I’ll go to bed in a little
bit. Good night.”

“Good night, Matt.” With a suspicious glance, she shut the
door.

Hoping that was the only obstacle I’d hit, I pulled the
coveralls over my jeans and sweatshirt. After putting on two pairs of wool
socks and my hiking boots, I turned out my bedroom light and opened the door.
Mamie’s door was closed, but the light was on. I crept past her room and down
the stairs. Mom’s office was at the front of the house, by the foot of the
stairs, overlooking the front yard. When her chair creaked, I stood on the
bottom step, hardly daring to breathe.

A sound, kinda like a cat being strangled, warbled from the
office. Ah—Mom was singing along to Coldplay on her iPod. She hadn’t heard me,
then. Heck, an elephant could run through the entry and she’d miss it. I
rounded the post, headed for the living room, when headlights swept across the
front windows. Brent was home. Mom’s chair squeaked again.

I ran through the living room, into the kitchen, then down
the little utility hallway to the mudroom, home of dirt-caked cleats, sweaty
workout clothes, the washer and dryer and anything else Mom didn’t want in the
rest of the house. After climbing onto the washing machine, I opened the
window, then threw my backpack out before shimmying onto the threshold. With a lurch,
I dropped into the snow drift against the side of the house. I left the window
cracked open to be sure I could get back in.

Nobody went into our backyard shed during the winter, so I’d
hidden my bike there. The door groaned when I forced it open, but no one looked
out the kitchen windows as I wheeled the bike around front. Even with snow on
the ground, the streets were mostly clear. The plows had come through early in
the day, and we hadn’t gotten a new layer yet. I sped down the road, the wind
freezing my eyelids and cheeks, covering the mile to Will’s in five minutes.

He was watching for me and yanked the side-door to the
garage open when I pushed through his bushes. “Mom and Dad are at a stupid
party until who knows when, so this is good timing. Get in here.”

We packed up in a hurry and pushed the ATV across the
sprawling yard. Not easy in six-inch deep snow—we were huffing by the time we
got far enough from the house to fire up the engine. But we’d wised up from the
last trip. Before we got rolling, we turned off our ringers, checked the
zippers on the packs, and put black ski-masks on under our helmets. This time,
things would run like clockwork.

* * *

“Dude, does that one look different to you?” Will peered at
the Bear through my night-vision goggles. “Something about its body.”

I took the goggles to have a look and got a surprise.
“Yeah…are those…?”

“Boobs? Looks like it.” Will smothered a laugh. “I think it
may be a girl.”

It was hard to tell from our hiding spot behind a log a
hundred yards away, but this Bear appeared smaller than the first few I’d
hunted. Its arms and legs weren’t as thick and its fur was longer. I could see
the strands blowing in the wind. Its profile was bumpy, too. Like Will said,
the thing had boobs.

“That’s not something you see every day.” I zoomed in and
watched her pick a bone clean with precise bites. “Wait, what’s she eating?
Those don’t look like animal bones.”

I refocused the scope to get a better look. In the weird,
green light of the goggles, I saw a pile of rags lying next to a torn up hiking
boot. A boot with a piece of bone sticking out of it. I gagged and covered my
mouth.