Chapter 2

The Hunt

Thankfully the weather wasn’t to disappoint for both travelling and possibly causing some bloodbath as much as he was reluctant to do so. It wasn’t a long journey but Reid wanted some time to pace himself so he was both physically and mentally prepared for what would happen soon. Hence, the reason he took some time to finally arrive at the designated meeting spot. An abandoned rugged building downtown in Kansas City. There weren’t any other buildings near the area, and it was a somewhat safe space that was away from the common community. The more privacy for it he supposes and a somewhat shield and trap just in case for any upcoming monsters unless they were able to demolish the building along with his team. He stood right outside the building, staring at it, then staring at the door before he glanced around for anyone else in sight.

“I’m not sure if this was better than the alley that he chose the other time. The leak and the smell of the trash, thank heavens I chose to include a mask in my suit otherwise I would have died from that instead of the monster’s claws.” Reid thought.

It was a loud silence. After all these years, he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing which meant the people would be in hiding and preserving their lives or…a terrible thing…where a large chunk of the population was brutally massacred. It seemed as if it was neither in this part of the city but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t uncomfortable. Nonetheless, Reid took a deep breath to brace himself for the next few hours. His gloved hand grabbed the once metallic handle and opened the rusty door carefully, minimizing as much squeak as possible to not alert his position. 

Once he was in, he shut the metal door carefully, grabbed out a flashlight to look around the building so that he would be able to locate the pathway to them. The message mentioned that they would be at one of the top floors. That meant he had to get through those dusty and possibly life-threatening stairs. On the bright side for his sanity, the place didn’t reek as much as he expected and there were nearly no signs of life around other than the light on the top floor that he noticed from where he was. 

“For the sake of peace, I guess…” Reid mumbled disapprovingly. “Couldn’t we have met up in somewhere more decent? Okay this is more decent than previous…hopefully the next one is a better upgrade than a downgrade.” 

Reid made his way to the stairs and carefully stepped on the first step. Seeing that nothing had happened, no cracks or signs of traps and the cement were still sturdy enough other than the bugs running around. Grimacing, Reid quickly pushed the thought away and sprinted up the stairs to finally reach the top floor where his team members were. By the time he made it, he was a little out of breath, but it was nothing compared to the horror of killing, chasing, and running away from the monsters. The one important skill he required. Any other brute strength that was needed can be counted on his team members…if they lived that is. And of course, his team of 5, including himself were already there waiting for him.

His leader, Chris Chambers, stood in front of the others and noticed Reid arrived at long last, gesturing him to join in.

“Took you some time Reid Larkin. Hope you didn’t slam your skinny self on the stairs before we even swipe our blades at those monsters. Get over here I’m about to brief over the instructions for everyone.” Reid merely nodded.

Chris Chambers, one could say that he was built like a roman statue with an elegantly lengthy hair he managed to grow, solid beard and to fill the symbolism of a statue, his eyes were soulless. Might be a reason why he was chosen as the leader and was miraculously alive at this point. Well Reid was one to say that since he was still breathing after all those massacres. It was probably a compliment though if one requires to go against those brutal creatures. Despite being a decent leader, he was usurpingly power-hungry, and his cockiness can get out of hand at times, annoying the rest of the team. Aside that, unlike Reid’s weapon which was a claymore from the monster’s skin, Chris uses guns with bullets created from those skins as well along with a dagger just in case he ran out of it. He also carried a regular handgun for any emergencies that Reid was amused to find out how he managed to recognize one to another. Well, he supposes the weapons were like their own children or pets, something around that line.

Reid glanced at Chris as he walked towards Melissa, a redhead who was holding her weapon close to her while waiting for Chris’ instructions. Her face had a glimpse of vexation which may be the result of Chris from earlier before he arrived. And it looked like he wasn’t the only one who was sweating.

“What gives this time?” Reid whispered to Melissa.

Llyod, one of his other team members decided to answer that question. “Lucky you, first he decided the meeting was on the ground floor, so we had to run back down. Then he said it was better on tip due to the so-called privacy we’d get. The best thing was that he was still up there, or it was only us travelling up and down those vile stairs.”

“Hm, he never changed, I guess. Did he bully the newbie too?” 

“Oh, you should have seen the amount of ‘extra trainings’ Chris dumped on him and the different survival stimulations he had to go through. Poor guy it’s his first day on the field.” Melissa nodded in agreement to Llyod. “Hey at least Chris told us it would be an easy monster so…guess the freshie got it lucky for his first-time committing bloodshed. 

“Right…an easy one huh…” Reid mumbled. Due to his ability after reading that text…only he knew it wasn’t going to be an easy one. He neither has any intention to ruin the hopes of his team members nor indirectly humiliate Chris based on the information given. He was about to ask about Eric’s opinion before Melissa lightly nudged his side when Chris called for their attention.

“Alright enough chattering. Reid meets Eric. Eric, Reid.” The fastest introduction ever from Chris. “Now, I’m sure all of you know your positions very well. Get your weapons ready, be always alert. Melissa and Llyod, you two at the side. I’ll be up front with Eric and Reid will be at the back. I’m sure you all heard about the news at the market right here in Missouri. The massacre was brutal…” As Chris goes on, Reid’s hands gripped the handle of the claymore tightly. His feet lightly shuffled on the ground, and he was licking and biting his lips beneath his mask. Relistening to every brutal event would naturally make one’s blood either squirm or boil and for Reid’s blood, it was squirming more in disgust and agony instead the more Chris continued. 

“You all saw, how bodies are smashed into an unrecognizable pile of flesh, blood, and bones. Heads that were decapitated with its veins and spinal cords hanging out. Limbs covering every corner of the street that it mixed up entirely with the fresh beef that were supposed to be sold. Children crying, families fleeing, and some even went suicidal seeing their loved ones turned into ground beef.” Chris continued while clenching his fists as if gathering his anger energy into it. 

Reid glanced at his team, some of them were grimacing while the others share the similar expression to Chris. Their faces turning red, eyebrows furrowing and their fists clenching their individual weapons. He knew it was a tactic Chris used to ensure that they were focused on causing the same bloodshed on the monsters who did so on the people. 

But if they were to completely wipe of the monsters…then they wouldn’t get any intel about them. Such as why did they appear, where and when did they appear in their lands. Why would they cause such a bloodbath, and would there be more and more of them?

“That isn’t the only main issue. At least not for most of you who chose to participate in this. You all should also have known this by now that the government issued high rewards for those monsters. Dead or Alive.”

If there wasn’t a reward system, this hunter system wouldn’t have had that many volunteers. Only some either purely righteous or suicidal people would gladly sacrifice themselves to get rid of the monsters. Unfortunately, some of us still need to the money to carry on without lives whether it was in fear or not. 

‘It was just a common survival sense.’ Reid thought before listening to Chris once again who wasn’t finish with his speech. But he was interrupted with a question from Eric since Eric was a new member of their team.

“What’s the higher reward? When they’re dead or alive?” 

Hearing that question, Reid noticed how Chris had a smirk on his face. Unlike the rest, Chris himself doesn’t wear a mask since he once mentioned that he never found the need too. 

“Well, the rewards are higher if they are brought back alive. But my preference is dead. Why should we let them live? What if they are unable to keep them confined and they caused harm than anyone could ever imagine? Don’t you think that it would be more satisfied to watch them writhe under our hands?”

This was when Reid decided to interfere.

“I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. Wouldn’t bringing them back alive and injured allow us to receive more intel about their species, their reasons behind this and especially why have they emerged for the first time in the last 4 years ago? Who knows if we’ll even receive more information about them that can be used against them in a flash?” Reid boldly questioned.

Reid stood on his opinion for years. They only managed to kill those monsters that were relatively smaller than harmless than the bigger ones or the one that cause…the first massacre…how were they going to fight against that if all their weakness that they know was to use the monsters against themselves? Reid firmly believes that there was more than what meets the eyes. There was something missing that they could have known about, that would have helped them. That would have saved humanity. 

However, for Chris, hearing the same old thing coming out of Reid’s mouth cause him to scoff out of annoyance while his eyebrows furrowed, glaring directly at Reid. After years of having Reid as one of the team members that he had to look over, Chris was deeply irked at their different opinion. Having an opinion is alright but insisting on it especially if it’s a new route that would risk everyone when they could easily slaughter most of the monsters now? Every single time, there wouldn’t be one or two missions where Reid would bring up about those issues. He didn’t see a problem about it with the other teams and his team members, so he wondered why Reid was so persistent about this idea. If he wanted more rewards, then that was negotiable, but he wanted to understand these…these vile creatures!? Besides, isn’t the lust for revenge to give those monsters the most brutal ending of their lives more satisfying?

What was he a Disney princess or something?

Sure, he was the leader of the team. But imagine the frustration of listening to another nag about the so-called better way to handle the situation that no one wanted to be in. He believed that his logic of killing those monsters instantly instead of allowing them to live was more beneficial than Reid’s heroic dream idea.  

“Reid.” Chris’ eyes narrowed further as if he was about to drill two holes in Reid’s eyes. “We. Okay, we have gone through this. I don’t want to keep count of the number of times of you bringing this up.”

“Then don’t. I’m not pushing this aside until you see the benefit-,”

“What benefit!?” Chris challenged. “More innocents to perish in a brutal way till heaven can’t recognize them no more!? More chances for the government to slip up and use one of the hunters’ teams as a scapegoat? Tell me Reid, what do you think, what made you nerdy brain think that the government is able to lock these fiends?”

Red opened his mouth to retort back but was quickly interrupted by Chris as usual.

“If they had been able to, they would have done it for the past 4 years but have they!? Answer me, Reid.” 

“Why don’t you tell me. Are they any other hunters who were willing to let one survive? I’m not even talking about letting them live freely or whatever you were thinking about. I meant keeping them barely alive that would be enough for us to get something out of them other than turning them into weapons! What war are we winning if we don’t learn their side while they learn about us and overtake us as and when they can? Maybe we can even find out a weakness?”

“The only weakness we need is knowing that their skin and flesh are the only weapons to be used against them! By doing what we’re doing, lesser innocents will die the faster we finish them off! What’s so hard about taking their lives too?”

“Oh, we are so puny humans can take on those who are a hundred times our size!? Very smart of you Chris!”

The banter between Chris and Reid were getting even more intense than before that even the rest of the teammates were unsure of what to do. They didn’t know how they were supposed to break them up, and whether if doing so would indicate that they were siding with one over the other. Chris indeed was their leader and they had to respect him, but Reid was bringing up reasonable points. But aside their opinions, the safety of both civilians and they were on the line. 

Every action has its consequence.

Chris and Reid knew that all too well. 

As much as it was a debatable topic, they knew that time is wasted over this banter that could have been conducted on the day where they need not demolish those monsters. The team looked at each other in full reluctance before glancing back at Reid and Chris who were still against each other’s throats.

“Like I said, we will be able to improve ourselves, our weapons, our strategies if we knew unless you enjoy the murder-,” 

BANG

Echoed through the abandoned building. 

It caused everyone’s hearts to jump faster than the presences of the monster, standing back away from what caused it. 

Chris stood there firmly, his wrist and fingers grasped the gun tightly that was aimed to the floor. The barrel of the gun was still hot and there was a faint smoke coming out of it just like his ears. His breath was heavy, as if he was trying to maintain to patience from finishing off what was in front of him. If looks could kill, Chris’ death glare at Reid would have been the new massacre indebted to the work of the monsters. His gun was tilted at an angle where it would have shot Reid if it wasn’t for the floor. The little action from Chris and the way he stood made him tower over Reid, reminding him well and clear about who was the leader among them.

And that gunshot impact caused Reid to stumble back. His eyes were wide, and his pupils contracted. Like the others, his heart was racing at the thought of nearly being shot by his own leader. Chris did seem to enjoy bulling his teammates, but Reid didn’t think he would ever take it that far. Thankfully he wasn’t hurt…at least not physically for now. Reid licked his lips again behind his mask, taking a deep breath as he was trying to regulate his poor heart rate again. His eyes blinked rapidly as he slowly glanced up to meet Chris’ glaring ones.

“We are going to kill that monster… and that’s final. I’m not asking for any objections. And you…you better get out of my way if you don’t want that bullet to kiss your body.” Chris spat out firmly.

Reid silently gulped, his eyes trying to meet his teammates for a little support…assurance, something but none of them reciprocated. Of course, why was he not surprised. Looking at Chris’ strength and role, none of them wanted to upset him. It was bad enough that he was persistent of killing those monsters and soon him, how much further would he willingly go then? If that was the case.

“I take your silence as a yes.” Chris pulled the gun away and shoved it back into its designated spot of his vest. He adjusted his gloved and brought out the other gun that was meant for the monsters. He couldn’t waste those precious bullets over a human who could die from anything once their fragility was shown. 

“Get up. It’s time for us to move. I’m not wasting any more time on this. We finish this, you all can go home. Fair enough right. Now get moving.” Chris demanded before he made his way out where the rest of the team followed checking through their weapons and gear once more time. 

At this moment, there was no point in arguing with a hardhead like Chris. How unfortunate that he was their leader. Nonetheless, Reid reluctantly got on his feet, trying not to stumble as much. He brushed off the ugly dust before reluctantly following behind his team and hoping there wouldn’t be as much bloodbath as before.