The Hunted.
1291 Words
“The boy is compatible for the vessel,” a voice crackled over the intercom, cold and clinical. “But the other... he won’t survive the process.”
“What are your orders?”
“Dispose of the other. We only need one.”
---
Kevin jerked awake, gasping like a drowning man breaching water. The air was damp, metallic—filled with the sharp sting of bleach and blood. He tried to move but his wrists were bound to the cold steel of the chair. He blinked rapidly, but the room was a suffocating blackness.
Then—
A brush against his hand.
He flinched violently.
“Shhh…” came a whisper from behind, so close he felt the heat of it on his ear. “Stay still. Don’t speak. Your lecturer sent me. I’m here to get you out.”
The voice was tense but calm—female. He felt clicks and metal snaps around his wrists, the bindings loosening.
Kevin turned his head frantically. “My friend. Where’s my friend?!”
A ragged groan came from the darkness.
“I’m here, Kevin... ugh. My face. It feels like it’s on fire,” his friend gasped, the sound wet, dripping onto the floor.
Kevin’s breath seized. He blinked hard to adjust. He saw a dark stain spreading beneath his friend’s chair.
“Friend! Please—are you okay?!” he cried, voice cracking.
A wheezy chuckle. “Told you before... call me by my name, idiot...” he coughed again, a wet rattle.
Click. Snap. Kevin’s cuffs fell away. The stranger’s hand grabbed his arm.
“Done. Come on.”
She yanked him free and they sprinted through the gloom, their footfalls echoing off tile and steel. Kevin tried to twist back, reaching desperately.
“Let me go—I can’t leave him! We have to save him! Please!”
“Shut up!” she hissed, dragging him harder. “You’ll get us both killed. Quiet—you’ll attract them.”
“Attract who?!”
“Those that lurk here. But listen—I swear I’ll come back for your friend if there’s time—”
Her voice faltered.
“They’re coming.”
A low growl rose behind them, like chains scraping concrete.
“Who is coming?!” Kevin yelled, voice cracking in terror.
She spun, grabbing his hand with iron strength. “Hold on. Tight.”
They burst through a shattered window, glass raining down like knives. Kevin screamed as they plunged two stories. He clenched his eyes shut, breath punched from his lungs as they landed hard in wet mud.
Rain hammered down in icy sheets. He lay gasping, blinking up at the storm. The air was cold and soaked his clothes instantly. He twisted his head, heart thundering, to see the building they’d escaped from.
Lightning lit it up—a concrete monolith, covered in rusted security bars and broken windows. Familiar shape...
“Our... our school?” he whispered, voice shaking.
The girl—her face shadowed by the rain—tugged him up. “Move.”
He dug his heels in. “No—no! My friend is still in there!”
She didn’t look back at him. “You can’t even stand. You think you can fight them? You’ll last seconds.”
A scream cut through the night from inside. High. Ragged. Hopeless.
Kevin recoiled. His knees buckled in the mud.
“See?” she said, voice cracking. “It’s too late. Now come or you die too.” She thrust out her hand.
Kevin’s shoulders shook as he sobbed once. He stared at the looming school building. At her outstretched hand.
Finally, he swallowed and nodded, taking it.
They ran, splashing through puddles, leaving the nightmare behind.
---
Inside the School Building
Kolade stood rigid, face pale under the flickering fluorescent lights. The corridor stank of disinfectant and blood. Men with assault rifles flanked a steel door.
It swung open with a hiss.
“The boss will see you now, Mr. Kolade,” croaked an old woman in a hooded robe, her voice dry as paper.
Kolade bowed stiffly and entered.
The room beyond was cavernous, walls lined with old chalkboards covered in occult symbols and chemical equations. At its center sat a man in an expensive charcoal suit on a high-backed chair that was half throne, half surgical seat. He lounged, legs crossed, a wine glass of something black in his hand.
“Ah. Kolade,” the boss drawled. “You said you wanted an audience. Is there... a problem?”
Kolade dropped to his knees so hard his breath left him. He pressed his forehead to the dirty tile.
“Sir—you promised. No children from my school. You said—”
The boss turned to the old woman. “Did I promise that?”
She shrugged. “No, my lord. We promised nothing. We merely... selected them for the vessel.”
Kolade’s fists clenched on the floor. “They have exams tomorrow! They’re kids! At least let them finish, let them—”
“And then what, Kolade?” the boss sneered. “We have no time left. None. Don’t act as though you haven’t delivered us other students before. Yours are no different.”
Kolade sagged, shoulders trembling. His forehead remained pressed to the ground.
“Mister Kolade,” the boss sighed. “Stop groveling. It’s unbecoming. Stand up.”
Kolade jerked upright, breath ragged.
“You will obey. The boy is our only chance at success. And so are you.” The boss’s eyes glittered in the low light. “We’ll call when we need you.”
Kolade swallowed hard, turned, and shuffled out, eyes damp.
He paused in the hall, whispering to himself. “I failed them. I failed them both.” Then, even softer: “Be careful, Oyin.”
---
Hours Later – Abandoned Building
Rain battered broken windows. The concrete walls dripped with mildew. Kevin sat slumped against the wall, shivering, mud and blood caked to his uniform.
The girl—Oyin—kept watch at a shattered doorway, her eyes scanning the shadows.
“My friend... is he alive?” Kevin rasped.
She glanced back at him, then away. “I don’t know.”
He let out a strangled sound. “His parents. The market...”
Oyin’s voice was flat. “Did the ground c***k open? Did buildings collapse? No? Then it’s fine. They’ll clean it up by morning. It’ll be like nothing happened.”
Kevin’s eyes widened, blood draining from his face. “Clean it up? You mean they'll erase it?”
She nodded.
Kevin buried his face in his hands. “This is a nightmare. It has to be. I’ll wake up soon. It’s just shock. Just—”
“It’s not a dream, Kevin,” she said quietly, walking toward him. She crouched so her eyes were level with his. “This is real. And you’re not waking up. Not until you’re dead.”
Kevin’s mouth worked soundlessly.
Oyin slowly peeled off her wet mask. Her face was drawn, eyes tired.
“Yes. I’m Mr. Kolade’s daughter,” she said. “And yes—I’m a graduate from your school. I know exactly what they do.”
Kevin’s eyes widened in recognition. “Oyin...”
But then—
CLAP. CLAP. CLAP.
A slow, mocking applause from the doorway.
“Touching,” drawled a deep voice. “Senior Oyin, risking everything for her precious junior.”
A hulking man stepped into the dim light, water sluicing from his broad shoulders, arms folded, mouth twisted in a cruel grin. His eyes glowed faintly purple.
Kevin’s heart stopped.
Oyin slipped her mask back on, voice low and dangerous. “Kevin. Don’t move.”
- Writer
