Apex

Chapter 5: Hunted

Chapter 5: Hunted

When Lex awoke, she was groggy and still hovering on the edge of consciousness. There were unintelligible voices and blurry faces, but she was in too much pain to take notice. Her arms and legs had been tied to restrain her and the wound that had been made by the shard of glass was in much more pain than before. From the cacophony of voices, she could make out but a few words and sentences.

“…like that again, I’ll kill you myself…”

“What were…don’t give me that!”

“Little help over…what…? Damn it, get the boss, he…”

“…but she’s still bleeding…bandages and a needle.” Restrained and in pain, she fell unconscious once more as the wound in her side continued to bleed. Some time later, she woke once more to the sound of birds singing nearby. There was a light breeze on her face. Her eyes pried themselves open and her vision focused. She saw trees. A forested area surrounded her. The pain through her back and side could not be described. The fall she had taken earlier had definitely injured her spine. As she sat up, she could feel something soft against her skin beneath her tank top. She lifted the bloodstained fabric to reveal bandages wrapped around her lower abdomen. Somebody had cleaned her wound. They had also left her without any weapons. As she looked to the left, she saw three side-by-side rows of fence. At fifteen feet in height and lined with barbed wire, there was no way she could climb over even one row of those fences. Definitely not in her condition. There was a sign, though, a sign that read Darkwood Wildlife Park in faded letters.

Lex knew this place. She also knew that it was around four or five square miles in size. She awkwardly clambered to her feet and started off towards the south of the park. There was a ranger station there. If she would find weapons anywhere, it would be at one of the three stations throughout the park. The forest was dense and the particular route Lex was taking let in little light, giving a sense of claustrophobia. The surrounding trees and darkness made it seem as though she were in a cave. If the owners of the voices Lex had heard when she awoke before had truly bandaged her wound, why had they left her in the forest, unarmed and unable to leave? She needed to make her way back to the outpost, back to Jake and Natalie. They would surely have come looking for her when she didn’t return. She hoped they hadn’t been attacked by the same person responsible for the fall that caused her injury.

The ranger station was in plain sight now, covered in overgrowth and lichen, the door ajar. Upon entering, she saw the body of a man. He was wearing camouflage pants with a pair of dog tags around his neck. This was surely one of the soldiers from the outpost. Lex lifted his bloody shirt, revealing a deep gash in his stomach. It had been made by a knife, and it was not as fresh as the body. The man had died from his injury some time after being stabbed. Lex closed his dead, staring eyes out of respect before surveying the inside of the ranger station. It actually only consisted of one room with several shelves that had once held ammunition and weapons. All that was left, however, was a bowie knife and a ranger’s hat. Lex took the knife. It was better than nothing.

Leaving the dead soldier and tucking the knife into her jeans, Lex re-entered the forest once more. If she could make it to the main gate of the park without running into trouble, she could leave without being noticed. Finding out who had brought her here could wait, she needed to return to the outpost. The pain in her side was not subsiding. With each step she took, it sent waves of pain through her torso. As it happened, the main gate was closer than she thought. The problem was that two men stood in her way, hunting rifles in hand. Lex remained low to the ground, hiding amongst the underbrush. With her knife, she had no way of getting rid of them. Crawling ever so slowly, she peeled the leaves in front of her aside to get a better look. The action did not go unnoticed. One of the men pointed in her direction as he screamed orders at his unseen allies. Lex shot to her feet immediately and took off in the other direction as fast as she could, scratching marks into the trees as she moved. They would surely help her to return here later.

Several shots were fired in her direction, just barely missing her as she darted between the trees. It seemed as though she had lost them. Assuming they were the men that bandaged her wound, it made no sense that they sought to kill her now. She dropped down from the plateau she was on to land next to a stream. Something grabbed her from behind before she had time to react. A hand covered her mouth as the unseen person dragged her into a sort of cave. The words she heard next stayed her hand as she prepared to fight back.

“Goddamn. That you, girlie?” Linus released his hold on her as she turned to face him.

“Linus?!” Lex exclaimed. She had several questions. His presence here suggested some unpleasant things. “What on earth?” She instinctively hugged him on impulse. It was good to see his face.

“Bastards got you too, then,” he breathed as he released her. “Your friends?”

“I don’t know,” Lex admitted. While she hoped Jake and Natalie were safe, it was possible that whoever had taken her hostage had done so to her companions as well. Though they would have put up much more of a fight than her at the Outpost. “Last time I saw them they were safe.”

“It’s possible they’re here,” he told her chillingly.

“What about your group? The Railroaders?”

“Long gone, I’m afraid,” Linus told her with sadness in his voice. “We made it to the city. Place was a wasteland. There was no getting in there without becoming infected. The sick guy I was helping…Adrian…he didn’t survive. I left them shortly after. Thought it was time to move on. What a mistake that was. I was attacked just yesterday. Woke up here a few hours ago.”

“Any idea who’s in charge of these clowns?” Lex asked. Linus chuckled.

“None, I’m afraid,” he admitted. “The two that tackled me weren’t the leader type. Just a pair of goons doing someone else’s dirty work.”

“Lex!” came a voice from outside the cave. Natalie appeared moments later. That didn’t bode well for Jake. Lex rushed forward and hugged her friend.

“God, Nat, they got you as well.”

“Unfortunately,” Natalie growled.

“Jake?”

“He got away,” she told them. “They came to the Outpost, Lex, in trucks. Shot the place to s**t. Me and Jake were making a run for it and I got grabbed.” It was then that they heard shots being fired. It sounded like they were coming from the entrance. Without a word, they rushed towards the gates. They stood open, the guards firing at some unseen threat. Lex spotted Jake then as he popped up from behind a fallen tree and shot dead the two guards. He rushed to meet them.

“Come on, we don’t got much time!” he called. On their way out, Lex stopped at the door to what appeared to be a bunker. The door was open and three guards lay dead inside, presumably killed by Jake. “Lex, we need to move.”

“They might have our things in here,” she protested, quickly entering and grabbing her rifle. Linus spotted his crossbow, snatching it up and holding it at the ready and Nat grabbed her sniper rifle. What they saw next was quite disturbing. Behind a wire fence, several human carcasses hung from great steel hooks.

“Jesus,” Natalie muttered. “They’re cannibals?!” That shed some more light on why these strangers kidnapped Lex and her friends only to release them in the Wildlife Park. These men were hunting them like animals.

“Christ!” Linus spat, disgusted at what he saw. The mere sight made his stomach uneasy. Tearing their gaze from the bodies in the bunker, they left swiftly at Jake’s request. They hopped into one of the trucks belonging to their kidnappers, speeding off in the other direction.

“Good f*****g Jesus!” Natalie screamed as the fence of the park disappeared behind them. “That was not how I pictured today going.”

“You said it,” Linus agreed. Jake was the one driving, apparently having the best idea of how to get back to the Outpost.

“Where the f**k do we go from here?” Jake asked once they had all calmed down.

“What do you mean?” asked Lex. As far as she was concerned, they needed to return home and see what they could salvage.

“I assume these cannibals are gonna be back,” Jake surmised. “We need to be ready for that.”

“I agree,” Nat piped up. “And they know where we live.”

“You with us now, boxing man?” Jake asked Linus. Considering the former Railroader had no home of his own and he was in much the same situation as them, it only made sense that he stick with them for a while.

“I suppose,” Linus said. “If I’m welcome.”

“Welcome?” Natalie asked. “Hell, we need all the manpower we can get if those fuckers come after us again.” It was decided, then. Jake pulled up beside a lake on their way home.

“I don’t know about you three but I need to wash the death off myself,” he told them before exiting the truck.

“Any excuse to get clean is fine by me,” Natalie concurred. The four of them stripped off and waded out into the lake. The water was rather cold. Still, it didn’t bother them. None of them had washed themselves properly in a while. The lake was as good as any shower these days. Lex used a rag from the truck to wipe herself down. It felt good to relax after the stress of the last week or so. As Lex rinsed her hair, she noticed Linus quickly look away. These days, people were more than comfortable losing their clothes in front of one another, especially while washing themselves. Still, the look Linus gave her moments earlier was unmistakable. He was checking her out. The thought made her smile. He wasn’t bad to look at himself.

“Oh, what a view.” All four of them shot around to see Bruno, the man they sent on his way over a week ago. Lex knew there was something off about him. With his handgun raised, he would not hesitate to shoot any of them if they moved. “I should have killed you all on the train tracks that day.”

“What the f**k do you want?” Jake called. Bruno smiled maliciously.

“I have a score to settle with all of you,” Bruno told them. “That stunt back at the Wildlife Park? That was really something…”

“So you’re their leader, then,” Lex concluded.

“Took you that long to figure it out? It was stupid to leave your group alive. I thought we could handle you. We’ve hunted far worse than you four. Alexis, is it? You really are something.” They weren’t sure what to make of this. Clearly, Bruno’s cannibalistic group had done this to others in the past. That was more than likely what happened to the previous residents of the Outpost. “Come on out. Get dressed.” They all started towards the shore before Bruno whistled in warning. “No, no, no…just Alexis. Come on, now.” Lex did as she was told. As she stepped up out of the water, she noticed three men crouched down by the truck, guns at the ready. Of course it would be too much to hope that Bruno had come here alone. Lex dressed herself and waited to hear what these Hunters had to say.

“You’re just going to take her?!” Jake yelled shrilly. “You’re really doing this, dickhead?”

“It’s alright, Jake,” Lex assured him. “We’ll handle this. The usual way.” The glare she gave Bruno was beyond threatening.

“Don’t count on it,” Bruno warned her. “In the truck.” Once Lex and the Hunters were in the truck, Bruno pointed his gun to the sky and let off a shot. “That ought to bring any Titans in the area here. Have fun, you three.” With a sickening laugh, the leader of these Hunters hopped into the truck and took off. Lex had two burly men on either side of her, both pointing guns to her head. There was not much chance of escaping here. Lex assumed she would be taken back to the park. Instead, the truck pulled up outside a walled compound. Lex was taken inside quickly. There were easily twenty-five men and women patrolling the compound and surely many more inside. Bruno muttered something to his men in another language, prompting them to leave. He brought Lex to a warehouse at the back of the compound. Inside, she was forced to sit across from Bruno as he studied her. There was little light in here save for a small lantern that hung from the ceiling.

“That was a stupid thing you did,” Bruno began. “Killing my men. Taking my truck. It was a stupid move messing with me.” He had a constant smirk on his face as he spoke.

“Your men attacked us first,” Lex reminded him. “We did nothing to you.” Bruno simply shrugged.

“Man’s gotta eat,” he told her. “I’ll admit, it would be a shame to kill such a…fine specimen of a woman like you. Still, when you’re hungry enough…”He paused momentarily before rising from his chair. Grabbing a chain from a nearby table, he chained Lex to her seat and went to the door. “Don’t go anywhere.” As he left, one of the Hunters came in to watch her. She needed to find a way out of here. She could hear Bruno talking to his men outside. The language they spoke sounded like it might be Arabic or Modern Hebrew. She sat chained to her chair for several hours under the careful watch of her guard. Her moment to strike came late when there was a commotion from outside. This clearly distracted the guard as he turned to look towards the door. The time to escape was now. Lex swayed forward, up onto her feet and swung her chair to catch the Hunter across the temple, knocking him out. She proceeded to wiggle her way out of the loosely tied chains. As she exited the warehouse, chain in hand, she noticed Bruno alone. He was taking cover behind one of the trucks. His underlings hurried around the courtyard, rushing toward the main gate. Lex went to Bruno then, wrapping the chain around his neck and holding it tightly to his throat.

“You were right,” she told him. “You should have killed us.” Before she had time to react, he sent his elbow into her healing wound. The pain caused her to drop the chain and fall to her knees as Bruno whipped around and kicked her to her back. He would have beaten her senseless was it not for the sound of the main gates being crashed in. Lex’s group had driven the parked truck into the compound. While the Hunters fired at them, Lex took out as many as she could with a pistol she took from Bruno before jumping into the vehicle. Jake reversed from the compound as fast as he could and sped off in the opposite direction.

“Everyone okay?!” he asked panicked.

“I’m hit but it’s nothing serious,” Natalie told them as she put pressure on the wound in her shoulder.

“Thanks for that,” Lex said to nobody in particular.

“You alright, girlie?” Linus asked as he handed her rifle to her. “He do anything to you in there?”

“Talked a lot of s**t,” she told them. “Nothing else, really.” As if their luck wasn’t bad enough already, they returned to the Outpost to find the walls blown to smithereens and more than half of their supplies taken.

“Well, s**t,” grumbled Jake as he exited the truck. “This is just what we needed. What the f**k do we do now?” No one had any suggestions. They were all in too bad a mood right now to even care.

“We should move on,” Lex said finally. “Take as many supplies as we can carry, load up the truck and drive.” As expected, their other vehicles had either been taken or blown up. This was not a good day. Left without any options, they packed the truck full of food, ammo and gas before leaving the Outpost behind them for good. They would not come back here, not with Bruno nearby. They needed to get away from this place for good if they ever hoped to be safe from the Hunters. They drove at a steady pace with no real destination in mind. At this rate, they were likely still too close to where Bruno made his home. Preferably, Lex would have them drive to the other side of the state altogether. But that would take time and fuel they would rather not spend. It was a terrible blow to lose the Outpost so soon after finding it. That had affected Lex more than she let on. She really believed they could have made something for themselves there. They could have had some semblance of a life. Still, after all these years it was always the same. Good things never lasted and there was always somebody out there eager to take what you had for themselves.

They pulled in on the side of the road that night. There was no sign of life around them, no lights or campfires. They were deep in the countryside now. Jake deduced they had travelled sixty miles from the Outpost. It still didn’t even seem like enough. After her less than comfortable encounter with Bruno, Lex wanted to put herself as far from him as possible. She did not sleep that night. Instead, several thoughts ran through her head. She was what passed for the leader of this small group. Though none of them had stated it outright, they all looked to her for guidance and approval. Her word was essentially law. As their leader, it was her responsibility to start thinking about where they were headed. She needed to provide a safe place for them. Sure, a life on the road could work if they were careful and well stocked. Still, it wasn’t desirable. A single defendable location was what they needed, somewhere like the Outpost or Bruno’s Compound. Lex was tired of drifting from place to place, struggling to survive. It was time to change the way they lived. It was time to settle down and provide for themselves.

“That must be a hell of a thought, girlie,” Linus whispered. Natalie and Jake were fast asleep ten feet away. “You can’t sleep either, I take it?” Lex smirked as she rolled over to face him. The ground was bumpy and uncomfortable but it was better than the four of them being squashed into the truck.

“What gave me away?” Lex asked in mock surprise. “The blank staring or heavy breathing?” Her mind was troubled, unable to focus on any one thought. What she probably needed was sleep but it didn’t look like she was going to get any tonight.

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” Linus told her. That was quite unexpected.

“Oh? How’s that?” she asked, obvious disagreement in her voice. “By my understanding, we had our arses torn off and handed to us on a plate earlier today. I’d say that’s cause for worry.”

“And you don’t think there’s any chance we can fix this?” he asked her firmly. “Take a look around. We have the makings of a community.” That was an interesting thought. Lex had never considered their group as a community. If they did settle down, it was likely their situation would attract other survivors seeking shelter. If they invited others in, they would have a post-apocalyptic town to look after. Not to mention that they would have many more armed allies by their sides. One of the problems with their current situation was a drastic lack of numbers. While each of them were ferocious in their own way, they could not hope to stand up to a group like the Hunters anytime soon with just four of them.

“We do?” Lex questioned him. “You think we could handle that responsibility? The lives of several others?”

“Of course,” Linus assured her. “We’ve got you, our leader. You’re smart, capable, calculating. Then there’s Natalie. I don’t know her that well, but she seems like a second-in-command type, someone you can delegate your duties to. Then there’s Jake. I don’t think there’s any denying that he’s clearly the muscle. A soldier you can use to teach others to protect themselves. It all fits.”

“And you?” she asked him. He cleared his throat nervously.

“Well, I don’t like to brag but I see myself as an advisor of sorts.” Though she laughed at that, Lex agreed with him. She valued his counsel, his ideas. If she had any concerns during the coming days, she would likely turn to him for advice.

“That’s true enough,” she admitted. Funnily, that conversation put her at ease. She rested easier knowing they had some sort of a plan, a goal to work towards. Things only improved the next day. As they drove through the country aimlessly, the unmistakable cluster of buildings in the distance caught Lex’s eye. There was a town over there. Though cities and towns were usually more dangerous than most other places, it would also make a good spot to settle down. People would be deterred by the thought of Titans and their campfires would not be seen in the distance. “Take a right up here.”

“I see it,” Jake told her, willing to investigate the town for danger. The best they could hope for was that there were few Titans there. If they could get up high, they could spend a while taking the beasts out. As it happened, the place seemed utterly deserted. Making their way to the town square and pulling in at the bus depot there, they exited the truck.

“This ain’t too bad at all,” Natalie piped up. She was in a foul mood about the Outpost and hadn’t spoken all that much since then.

“Jake and Linus, can you two scout out the surrounding streets?” Lex asked the two men. “Just the streets, don’t venture further out towards the outskirts.” They nodded and took off to scout.

“What are you thinking, Lex?” Natalie asked, sniper rifle in hand.

“I’m thinking this square is a perfect spot for us to fortify. There are six streets leading out of here. If we wall this square off, we could start to build here.”

“Build what exactly?” Lex turned to look her friend in the eyes.

“A town. Community. We could raise the walls just outside the boundaries of some of these houses. That way, people could stay there.” The expression on Nat’s face was surprised but hopeful.

“You think we could manage a town?” she asked. “Keep it safe?” Lex nodded. She truly believed that with some time and the resources, this place could be quite the fortress.

“That depot…I’m guessing there’s still buses in there,” she surmised. Judging by the closed garage door, she was right. In the panic and rush of the outbreak, people would have left many vehicles behind, especially public transport. “We could use those to block off the streets. With some reinforcements on the windows, obviously.”

“You know what? That’s not the craziest idea in the world,” Nat concluded. “We could fill the gaps in the street with our own walls. Wooden pallets, maybe. Link them all on the outside with wire fencing.”

“Good idea!” Lex exclaimed. “Sentries could stand on the buses. Or the buildings.”

“I hear that right?” Jake asked as he returned with Linus in tow. “We’re doing this, then?”

“We are,” Lex confirmed. “We’re building this place from the ground up.”