“I can’t talk now.” Mama Lou waved her hand. “The kids. We have to protect the kids.” Mama Lou raised her voice again to make sure the children were listening. “Now be quiet and answer all his questions. And smile.”
She took a deep breath and opened the door. Afana looked annoyed, and Peter widened his eyes as if to say, What the hell took so long?
“Children, please give Afana a warm welcome.” The kids clapped their hands to welcome their master, but the clapping quickly stopped when they saw Afana. They’d never seen anything like him, and they began to cry.
Afana looked around the room at the fear on the kids’ faces. They made him feel like the monster he’d become, so he quickly exited. He didn’t want to be down there anymore.
“Find Terrier,” he told Peter. Then Afana retreated to his perch on Level One, away from the children.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sergei, Pavel, and Yegor had followed Afana’s orders and were looking for Ryder’s trail. Sergei was looking forward to chopping off that smug prick’s head.
The men were walking through the forest outside the bunker. Sergei was leading, trying to keep them moving quickly. He didn’t want Afana to brand him a traitor as well.
The other two hunters were behind him, keeping pace. They’d heard Afana’s warning, too, and they also wanted to keep their heads.
Yegor ducked to avoid a low-hanging branch. “I wonder where the hell Nestor went?”.
Pavel shook his head in annoyance. “I didn’t see him in any of the rooms on Level Six. Lucky bastard gets to stay out of the heat while we’re doing this bullshit for Afana.”
“Did you see the size of Afana’s arms?” Yegor asked in amazement. “Fuck the size! Did you see the shape? Totally overgrown muscles.”
“He has muscles on his muscles,” Pavel said.
“Shut up, you fools,” Sergei growled. “We’re supposed to be hunting. Ryder could be anywhere. Do you want arrows in the backs of your heads? Let’s take care of this bullshit and be done with it.”
Yegor and Pavel cheered at that, and the pack of hunters did what they did best. They went hunting.
Ryder’s heart was pounding. Carter hadn’t been lying when he said the settlement was five minutes away. Now that she could see it ahead of them, she was nervous. She really hoped they wouldn’t give her any shit, but the chances of avoiding that were low.
The wolf walked beside her. He was no longer scared that she’d try to kill him. He liked the way that she stroked his fur, but he didn’t like it when she called him Fluffy. At some point, he was going to have to reveal his true nature, but he had no idea how or when. The longer he stayed in wolf form, the weirder it would be for him to transform for her.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Carter asked.
The kids had already run ahead to the settlement. It was made up of wooden shacks. There was a central fire blazing and a pig cooking over it. Ryder wanted some of that. She was starving.
“I’m sure.” Ryder knew that she couldn’t get Terrier out of the bunker on her own.
“They’re not as welcoming as me. Last chance to turn back.”
Ryder pulled up her collar as much as she could to hide her bunker tattoo and walked toward the settlement. “I’m not turning back.”
Her mouth was dry, and she wanted some water, but that wouldn’t be the best idea. She needed a clear head.
People were going about their business as if Ryder weren’t there. The kids were running around, having fun. I’d like to live here, or in a place like this, one day.
Carter smiled at some people and said hello to others. When they noticed Ryder, they looked at her fondly, like Carter. Makes sense. They don’t know me. Then people started to talk to one another in whispers and raised voices came from behind them.
“It’s one of Afana’s men.”
Fuck. I did a shit job of covering up my tattoo. The voices got louder, and the kids were pulled into the wooden shacks by terrified parents. Ryder had seen that look on her own mother’s face. They were right to fear Afana’s men.
Fluffy started to growl, but Ryder’s hand stroked his spine, calming him down. They couldn’t afford to scare someone and start a fight.
A smaller man planted himself in front of them. His face was covered in wrinkles, lines of wisdom; he looked like the leader here. “Stop there. What the fuck are you doing, moron?”
Carter flashed the man an innocent grin. “Maxwell, it isn’t what it looks like. He needs our help.”
Maxwell told some of the other men to check if there were more of Afana’s men around, and they darted in every direction to scout around.
“So, you’re telling me you didn’t just bring one of Afana’s men to our settlement? After the nightmare we went through yesterday?” Maxwell’s face was a mask of fury and disbelief.
“The timing does suck,” Carter said. “And, well, maybe it is what it looks like.”
Ryder turned and looked at Carter. He sucks at this! If he keeps going like that, he’s going to get me killed. He is a moron!
“Maxwell, I mean you no harm.” Ryder raised her hands. “I want to free some people from Afana’s bunker. Some of those people are from this settlement.”
“You’re as stupid as Carter. There is no way we can get them out of the bunker.” Maxwell moved closer to Ryder with some larger men at his side.
“There is a way,” she insisted. “I can show you. I can help us get in.” Ryder’s eyes pleaded with him. She was a fighter and knew she could escape, but that wasn’t the plan. She needed their help.
Maxwell began to laugh from the pit of his stomach. “You can help us? Do you really think we’re idiots? Afana sends one of his men here to lead us into a trap.”
Ryder didn’t like
