Hunter (The Hero Rebellion 0.5) by Belinda Crawford (important books to read .TXT) 📕

shoulder. He looked at her, but his gaze was fuzzy, unfocused, as a river of red ran through his fingers.

Subria's knees wobbled. The shakes traveling up her legs, turning her thighs to jelly, making her stomach jump, skittering down her arms. The pistol wobbled, dipped, the weight of it dragging her down. Not just her arms but every muscle drooping as endorphins replaced adrenalin, relief replaced panic.

It was over.

She hit the floor, not feeling the jolt or the cool surface through her pants.

Over.

Except it wasn't.

A rush of air, the sour smell of old meat and rage, the hot musk of fur.

A scream. Blood gushing across her face.

Her dad. Dying.

There was fog in her brain and she was losing it, the now, the here, losing it to old nightmares. But she was able to lift the pistol, to fire, before she went under.

She was back in the park, the lab a half-forgotten dream buried under the weight of memory, of the night a ruc-pard tore her dad apart.

The 'pard scenting the air, his black pitiless gaze turning towards the bench she knelt behind. The heavy thud, unheard and unfelt but in her imagination as loud as a shuttle landing on her head. The way the 'pard appeared to see through the holo-cloak, to see her kneeling in the old loam, still waiting for her HUD to confirm the warrant. Still waiting for her rifle to unlock.

The roar that rattled her bones. The charge.

All of that great, lumbering darkness rushing towards her, a cargo train pushing the scent of old blood and rotting meat ahead of it. Pushing terror.

'The warrant's not confirming, Daddy.' There was a waver in her voice, one that matched the shakes in her legs. 'Daddy!'

'Hold, little tiger.' There was something in her dad's voice, a thread of steel under the usual practiced calm. 'I have you.'

She clutched her rifle, hands sweating. Heart beating hard. Eyes half-focussed on the scan still running over the 'pard, the rest of her... the rest of her fighting not to get up from her crouch and run. Run. Run. Except there was nowhere to run, nowhere close enough, safe enough. No way to outrun the fury and bloodlust getting bigger and bigger in her scope.

Daddy had her.

Daddy had her.

Daddy had her.

A slice of the night screamed out of the trees, diving for the 'pard with talons and teeth. Erebos.

The 'pard swiped at the flyer, sending him barrelling into a tree.

Another slice of darkness, landing with a light thud and crouching atop the bench. Uniform sucking in the light, the glow of his HUD highlighting sharp cheekbones, gleaming off midnight hair. A pistol in his hand.

Daddy.

'Run,' he said.

What? The word wanted to explode out of her chest, but shock held it still.

'Run!' He yelled it this time, anger in his words, in his eyes, in the lines of his face.

She stumbled upright, took two shaky steps backward as her daddy turned to the 'pard. Started firing.

The 'pard kept coming, the shots from her dad's pistol sinking into the dark fur of its chest, but not slowing it. It was only metres from them now, a few bounds.

Daddy was rising, jumping off the bench, moving backwards, never taking his eyes off the killing machine hurtling towards them.

But he took a moment to glance at her. 'Subria!'

She ran.

The boundary of the park was ahead, a high wall separating dead grass from the landing pad and their shuttle.

If she could get there, she could get the other weapons, the ones that weren't—

A roar. A scream.

Subria spun back around.

The 'pard threw her dad in the air.

He tumbled, arms and legs spinning. Slammed into the ground.

Didn't move.

No. Please God, no.

'Dad!'

The 'pard roared again. Pounced.

Her HUD picked out the white flash of its claws, the spray of blood. Found the chip in the beast's ruined shoulder.

Another scream. Her dad flipped on his belly. Crawling.

The rifle was still in her hands.

The warrant blinked blue. Kill warrant approved, it said.

She was on one knee, the other steadying the rifle as she raised and sighted down the barrel.

The 'pard looked up. Saw her. Roared.

Her HUD screamed warnings in her ears, flashed them across the visor, bright glaring red as the animal charged.

She squeezed the trigger.

She didn't remember the 'pard falling mid-leap, its momentum carrying it through the dirt to rest half a metre from her knees. She didn't remember it twitching, or the burning hole between its eyes. She only remembered stumbling through the dark, lifting her dad into her arms, praying for him to live as the blood ran over his chest.

'I got you, Daddy.'

He smiled.

CHAPTER SIX

There was something in her face, the heavy scent of fish crawling up her nose and down her throat. She turned away, but the smell followed her, tickled her cheeks, and—

The long line of warmth, rough enough to remove skin, jerked her awake.

She was scuttling backwards before her eyes were open, her back smacking up against something hard, head following.

Stars burst in her eyes, made it difficult to focus on the shadow looming over her, but she was already darting sideways, scrambling for her pistol—

'Easy, recruit.' Instructor Bayard's voice rang from somewhere in the mess of lights and shadows fogging her vision. 'It's done.'

Subria blinked, squinted against the lights silhouetting the... Not Bayard, unless the instructor had grown a snout and another four legs since she'd last seen her.

The blue-grey 'pard licked her cheek again.

Subria shoved the animal's snout away, or tried to. Instead she was caught in the 'pard's black gaze, falling, falling, falling all the way to that quiet place. Peace soaked through her pores and into her marrow, while that space behind her heart opened, filling with the scent of rain, the brush of fur and a sense of belonging. Of completeness.

The 'pard rumbled, the sound rising from her chest, filling the air with all of the things Subria could feel in her heart, with a… connection.

Slowly, the hand raised to push the strider away turned, stretched to