ground tomorrow at first light, find them, and kill them. I didn’t come out here to bullshit and insult each other. I want the reward.”
“I’m not mounting that head on my hunting wall.” The blond shuddered. “They look freaky and just plain ugly. Of course it would be cool just for a conversation piece.
I could charge admission and show it off.”
Slade had heard enough. He wasn’t about to allow those men to leave the camp.
They were too close to Trisha and they were looking for sheltered places. He eased around the camp and waited until the men began preparing to sleep. The blond stood, stretched and walked into the darkness to take a leak.
The man never heard Slade come up behind him until his hands were on him. The smaller man only gasped when a palm slapped over his mouth, he was jerked off his feet, and the knife on his thigh was yanked free and pressed to his throat.
“Be quiet,” Slade ordered.
The blond panted but didn’t try to cry out.
“Are there more of you nearby?”
The guy hesitated before he slowly nodded.
“More than the other three at your camp?”
The blond nodded again. The news angered Slade. He needed to find the other camps, take out the threat to Trisha, and get hold of their cell phones. Hopefully one would work. He could call Homeland to help them locate Trisha faster. She needed to be taken out of this dangerous mess quickly.
“I’m going to tie you up and go after your friends. If you don’t fight I won’t kill you. I’ll secure you until my people come. Do you understand me?”
The blond nodded. Slade wanted the humans dead but he wasn’t at Homeland. He wasn’t sure where he stood on the law. Self defense was one thing but the man he gripped posed no current threat. He hated them but he wasn’t a cold-blooded killer despite their low opinion of Species.
He loosened his hold and the blond suddenly struck. The guy tried to twist out of his hold and twisted his head. He gasped in air to give the alarm but Slade was faster.
He snapped the man’s neck. The sound of the bone breaking sickened him as he allowed the body to slump to the ground. He turned to face the camp but suddenly spotted movement. Another human came at him. The guy didn’t seem to see him in the darkness until the last second.
The human’s shock was apparent as he frantically grabbed for the handgun strapped to his chest in a holster. Slade threw the blade in his hand and lunged forward to grip the man’s arm and throat. The human went down without putting up too much of a fight. He lowered the dying body to the ground, staring into his enemy’s eyes.
“We’re going to kill you and that bitch who owns you,” the man hissed before he died.
93
Slade released him, his rage heightened by the stench of blood and death. His instincts gripped him hard.
His gaze drifted toward the camp as he stealthily moved forward. The humans would die but Trisha wouldn’t. He’d make certain of that regardless of how many he had to kill.
* * * * *
It was light outside when Trisha woke next. She inched to the entrance on her stomach, gripping the binoculars to scan the area. She was careful to go slowly and tried to use a grid pattern not to miss any sections. She didn’t see anyone or anything.
She finally gave up after an hour and tried to get some rest on the sleeping bag again.
She drank half a soda, saved the rest, and ate one more breakfast bar.
She worried that Slade might not return to her, knowing he could have been killed.
She lay there with her eyes closed, his image haunting her thoughts. She wasn’t sure what kind of relationship they’d have if they survived. Did they even have one? He’d called her his.
A sound jerked her from a light sleep a little while later. Trisha listened until she heard the noise again. She sat up, her heart hammered, realizing it sounded similar to…she wasn’t sure, but it was familiar for some reason. The noise came again.
She crawled toward the opening on her belly to peer down and jerked back hard when she saw someone move below her. She moved backward, still on her belly, and grabbed one of the rifles too. She fought down fear and inched forward to reach the opening.