James Hunt - Broken Ties

Mike slowly moved his hand from Billy’s mouth. Billy didn’t scream.

“Where are they?” Mike asked.

“My mom put them in the storm shelter,” Billy said.

“Show me.”

The three of them snuck back down the stairs quietly. On their way out, Billy opened one of the drawers, grabbing the spare key to the shelter.

Billy led them out the back door into the fields. Mike looked around for Sam, but didn’t see him anywhere.

“Over here,” Billy said.

The storm cellar was underground, covered by overgrown grass and bushes; it was meant to be hidden. Billy unlocked the latch and pulled the door open.

When Mike looked inside, it was completely empty.

“Where are they?” Nelson asked.

Mike grabbed Billy by the throat and slammed him to the ground.

“Is this some kind of joke?”

Billy struggled for breath.

“No! They were here! I helped my mother put them here!”

Mike let go. Billy coughed, catching his breath. Mike paced around the shelter, looking in all directions, searching for any sign of his family, but there were none to be seen. Was this how he was going to lose them? Was this how it would end for him?

“Mike,” Nelson said.

Nelson was staring at the ground to the left of the shelter. When Mike went over, he could see several foot prints in the dirt. There were a lot of them.

“They’re still alive,” Mike said.

“Oh God,” Billy said.

“What?” Mike asked.

“My dad. He must have come and got them after we went to bed.”

“Do you know where he’s taking them?” Nelson asked.

“Hunting,” Billy said.

Kalen leaned up against the trunk of a tree. Her mind wandered. Everything felt like a haze. She could see, but she couldn’t understand. She couldn’t comprehend what happened. It was too much. All of it was too much.

She could still see Jake’s face, his blood pouring from the bullet hole in his head. When she squeezed she felt nothing. She saw him. She was angry. She killed him.

The progression of her thoughts that led her to that point was fast, unmerciful. Whatever satisfaction she thought she’d receive never came. It was nothing more than an illusion.

That emptiness she felt inside her, the fear and void that she replaced with anger, didn’t fade away. It simply grew.

She traded all of her pain for more pain, but this was different than before. There wasn’t a numbness. This had more clarity to it. She had an unexplainable need for more.

“Kalen,” Mary said.

“What?”

Mary moved to her quickly. She pointed behind Kalen, her eyes fixed on something in the distance.

When Kalen turned around she could see her mother and brother walking through the forest. Behind them were Mary’s sisters and Fay.

Mary started to run to them, but Kalen pulled her back down.

“Look,” Kalen said.

Just behind their family members, Ken watched them with his rifle aimed at the back of their heads, marching them forward.

Kalen could feel that burning inside her grow. Her hand went to the pistol her dad left her. When she pulled it out of her pocket, Mary grabbed her wrist.

“No. If you miss, he might hurt them,” Mary said.

“If we hesitate, he’ll kill them before we have a chance to do anything,” Kalen replied.

“We need to go and get your dad.”

Kalen tossed Mary’s arm off her.

“We don’t have time.”

Before Mary could stop her, Kalen was chasing after them. Kalen knew from what her father had said that Ken was a skilled hunter. She felt a slight thrill run through her. The void was filling up again. This is what she needed. She needed to hunt.

Ken snuck out of bed, and headed downstairs. It was still dark out, so he knew he had time, but needed to act fast.

The promise of waiting to kill those people was a lie. He knew that even if Mike made it back there wouldn’t be any bargaining, not after this.

If the rest of his family was kept alive, then his family would be outnumbered, and he knew it would only be a matter of time before they were killed. He didn’t care what type of good intentions Mike would spit out. In the end it would be either him or Mike, and Ken wasn’t about to lie down.

The looks on their faces when Ken opened that cellar were tired. They hadn’t slept all night, and when they saw him with the rifle, he could tell they knew what was coming.

“Please,” Anne said. “Don’t do this.”

“Everyone out,” Ken replied.

He marched them off to the woods. There was a place he would take them, his hunting spot deep within the forest. It was far enough away from the farm and town that Mike would never find their bodies. It was a spot that you couldn’t get to unless you knew where it was.

Ken found his eyes falling onto Freddy and Sean. His mind went back to the fawn he killed as a boy, and the scolding his father gave him.

It wouldn’t be any different than anyone else he’d killed. All he had to do was pull the trigger.

None of them cried or begged on their march. He was impressed by it actually. He could never understand the sniveling characteristics of a beggar. All anyone had to do in life was figure out what they wanted and then take it. It was that simple. It was exactly what he was doing now.

He had enough bullets for all of them, but for some reason, he felt exposed. It was a feeling he couldn’t shake. Something was off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

Then when the first shot rang out, he realized that it wasn’t the dread of killing these people that he was feeling, but that he was being followed.

When Mike heard the shots, Billy and Nelson had a hard time keeping up with him. It was a burst of energy that came out of nowhere, a primal surge that coursed through his veins.

The firing was going back and forth. It grew louder the closer he moved. Screams echoed in between the shots. He just couldn’t tell whose screams it was.

Mike finally saw Sam up ahead, firing and ducking behind a tree. Bullets whizzed past. Mike dropped behind a log next to Sam.

“I thought I had a clear shot. I tripped on a goddamn rock,” Sam said, reloading a magazine into his rifle.

“Who were you shooting at?” Mike asked.

“The guy who had the rifle pointing at your family.”

Mike glanced over the log, and he could see people running toward him. Katie had Sean with her, but he couldn’t see Fay, Anne, or Freddy.

“Where’d they go?” Mike asked.

“He ran north,” Sam said.

“He’s heading to his hunting spot,” Billy said. “It’s where he takes his game to gut and clean before he brings it home.”

“Show me,” Mike said.

They were on foot for a few more minutes before they came across Fay, scanning the woods.

“Mike?” Fay asked.

“You all right?”

“I’m sorry, Mike. I’m so sorry.”

“Where’s Ann? Where’s Freddy?”

“Ken grabbed Freddy, and Anne and I started chasing after him, but I got turned around. I don’t know where they went.”

“It’s not much farther,” Billy said. “C’mon.”

As Billy brought them closer to Ken’s spot they came across Anne’s body. She was unconscious on the ground, but still alive.

“Fay, Nelson, you two make sure she’s okay. Billy, Sam, you two with me,” Mike said.

Billy slowed down once they were close. He gathered Mike and Sam around him.

“It’s just beyond those trees. My dad can smell an ambush coming, and right now we’re downwind. He’ll know we’re coming, so we have to be careful,” Billy said.

Mike shoved Billy out of the way, marching forward in stubborn persistence.