New Species 02 Slade (15 page)

guessing he’d torn out some of her hair. She looked at

Sully in shock when she could see him past the tears.

He had his gun pointed at the tent. “Pat? Call out

now.”

Trisha shifted her attention to the tent when no one

answered. The tent door had been zipped closed. Sully

inched forward and leaned down. He unzipped the tent

flaps and jumped back, shotgun pointed inside as he

eased back a little more.

“Pat? I want you to call out now.”

Silence.

“Bill? Tom? Call out now,” Sully roared.

“Here, sir,” Tom yelled. He stepped out of the

woods about twenty feet from where Trisha and Sully

were.

Another man, in his forties, balding, with a pot belly,

stepped out from the woods across the camp. Trisha

guessed that had to be Bill. He nodded at Sully. The

three men glared at the tent. Sully nodded to Tom and

jerked his head at the tent, keeping his shotgun trained

on the opening.

Tom moved forward, shoved his handgun into his

shoulder holster, and unfastened the large hunting knife

on his thigh. He gripped it firmly and crouched to the

side of the tent. He reached out with his left hand and

jerked up the zipper, opening the flap to peer inside.

“He’s gone.” Tom gasped.

“Didn’t you raise him on the radio?” Sully sounded

pissed.

“No, sir. He didn’t answer. I thought maybe he was

sleeping or taking a shit. He can still get around pretty

good even with his arm all busted.”

Sully spun to point his gun at Trisha. “When did the

animal abandon you?”

She swallowed. “He took off sometime during the

night. I fell asleep with him there but when I woke right

before the sun rose he’d abandoned me.”

“He’s far from here.” Bill had a deep voice with an

accent that hinted at him being Texan or maybe Southern.

It was hard to nail down. “As soon as he stopped

carrying her he would have taken off like the wind. They

can move, Sully. He’s probably put ten miles on us by

now. Another team will get him for sure though.”

“Son of a bitch.” Sully lowered the gun he held.

“Let’s spread out and find Pat. Think he’s delirious? He

had a fever this morning.”

Bill nodded. “Could be. I told you one of us should

Bill nodded. “Could be. I told you one of us should

stay with him. We’ve been gone since dawn and he could

have made some time. One of us will have to stay here

with the woman and she can work on him when we find

him.”

“We should have carried him out,” Tom muttered. “I

told you he could die. What if he gets himself killed out

there?”

“I ain’t going to blow that fifty-thousand-dollar

reward because Pat is a fool who couldn’t watch where

he was going.” Sully’s tone came out harsh.

Bill nodded as he stared at Trisha were she remained

sitting on ground. “I’ll stay with the woman while you

two split up and search for Pat. I’d guess he would go

downhill since it’s easier to travel that way. Maybe he

panicked and is hunting for another team, thinking

someone will pack him out or maybe he thought he

could head to the highway to flag down a motorist.”

“Fuck!” Sully yelled. “Why don’t we just forget him,

kill the bitch, and go track our animal? I want that fifty-

thousand-dollar reward for one of those animal

bastards.”

Trisha kept quiet but reeled from shock. Someone paid

a fifty-thousand-dollar bounty on Slade? Who would do that?

Why? She swallowed. She hoped they would forget she

existed. She hated Sully for wanting to just kill her

outright.

“You forget,” Bill sighed, “Pat is Thomas’ son. If we

don’t go find that asshole, he’ll never give us any reward

money for one of those bastards. We need to keep the

woman alive until she can patch him up. We have to find

that asshole and catch the animal. The animal has been

using the ravines and he’ll keep to pattern. We’ll catch

up to him along the ridges. Look how much time we’ve

gained on him.”

“But he had the bitch slowing him.” Sully ground his

teeth together and uttered a curse. “Okay. Let’s do this.

Bill and I will split up. You head toward the highway in

case Pat headed there. I’ll head after the animal to see if I

can catch him. Hopefully he’ll stay low and I can gain on

him using high ground. Tom can stay here with the

bitch.”

Bill shook his head. “Look at the jerk. He can’t keep

from staring at her tits.”

Trisha turned her head toward Tom. He stood there

holding his knife, gawking at her breasts again. He

grinned.

“I’ll be happy to stay with her.”

“See?” Bill cursed. “We want her alive, dumbass. I’ll

stay with the woman while you two split up to search.

Tom, head for the highway.”

“Fine,” Sully agreed, shooting a glare at Tom. “You

better find his ass though. I’ll hit the ridge to the west to

catch the animal faster.”

“But I want to stay with her.” Tom wasn’t happy and

it sounded in his high-pitched protest.

Sully pumped the shotgun. “That wasn’t you

refusing to take an order, was it? I fucking hate whiners.

Your daddy isn’t the moneyman on this deal and nobody

gives a rat’s ass if you get shot.”

Fear settled on Tom’s baby-face features. He shook

his head vigorously. “I’ll head out now.”

Trisha watched Sully and Tom pack light supplies

and then both men took off in different directions. That

left Bill to guard her. Trisha studied the man who stared

at her. He sighed loudly.

“Hungry? Thirsty?”

“Please,” Trisha urged softly.

Bill stormed to the tent and quickly returned. He

carried a soda and a plastic zip-lock baggy containing

some kind of sandwich. Bill stopped a few feet from her.

“Catch.”

She held out her hands. He tossed her the soda

carefully. Trisha caught it and set it on the ground next to

her knees. She held up her hands again and he threw the

sandwich. She gave him a grateful look.

“Thank you so much.”

“Shut up,” he ordered. “I hate it when I get to know

things I have to kill later on. Just eat and be quiet.”

Trisha hated peanut butter sandwiches but she didn’t

complain as she chewed. She was starving and was too

hungry to care what she ate. She popped the top of the

soda and took long sips. She tried not to scarf her food.

She knew Bill had taken a seat on the ground about

ten feet from her and silently watched her every move.

She finished her sandwich and tried to save some of her

soda. She didn’t want to drink it all in case Bill wasn’t

generous later.

“Damn it,” Slade growled softly, watching the males

from beneath some brush where he hid. His sense of

hearing came in handy as he listened to them make their

plans. They had Trisha. Rage gripped him and he fought

back the urge to leap into the camp to kill them all.

They weren’t the same men who’d run them off the

road. That meant more humans had joined in the search

for him and the doc. It worried him not knowing their

numbers. The camp setup alarmed him as well. They’d

made a base of it in a short time, it meant they were

organized, and the danger increased exponentially.

“Calm,” he ordered his mind aloud in a soft whisper.

They outnumbered him, had more weapons than he

had, and the gun he had acquired wouldn’t be of much

use if one of the humans used Trisha as a hostage to

make him throw down his weapon and it would work.

No way would he allow them to shoot her without trying

to prevent it. Even if it meant tossing away his weapon

and walking right up to them.

He couldn’t reach her in time to assure he took out

all the threats. Her safety was paramount to him. He’d

have to use his skills and kill them one by one. Attacking

the camp with all of them around her would be a last

resort. He’d die to try to save her regardless of the bad

odds in his favor if they decided to kill her. It would be

suicide for them both. A last resort.

He listened as the men planned to go find their

missing injured human and track him. A plan began to

form. The man with lustful eyes would die first if the

other males left him alone with his woman. Slade knew

the man would try to touch the doc. It wouldn’t happen.

Not as long as he drew breath.

They wouldn’t find the human they sought. A smirk

twisted his lips when they decided the man couldn’t be

trusted not to molest Trisha. That showed they had some

intelligence. When two men left the camp he lifted up,

ready to attack, but then paused, watching the scene

below.

The male guarding Trisha gave her food and a drink.

He didn’t appear threatening. They needed her alive, her

skills as a doctor believed to be needed, and she might

be safer there than at his side while he took out the

threats.

Indecision tore at him. He sniffed the air but didn’t

scent any foreign humans in the area. It didn’t mean they

weren’t near though and could show up soon. The wind

played hell on his nose with the dust.

His gaze locked on Trisha. She calmly ate and drank.

The guy guarding her wasn’t threatening or staring at her

body in a way that indicated lustful intentions. He

seemed smart enough to know that hurting her when

they needed her doctoring skills would be detrimental.

The asshole who’d pulled her hair would pay dearly for

hurting her. He wanted to kill him first for that offense.

The sooner, the better.

For now she seemed safe and if other humans

returned to that camp, the male guarding her knew her

value. It would be a while before they realized they

didn’t need her doctoring skills. He couldn’t hide her

somewhere, leave her to track the males who’d become a

threat to her, and not worry that she’d be discovered

again. He glared at the male watching the doc.

The guy seemed bored but he didn’t appear eager to

move either. Slade slid back in the dirt, carefully kept

low as he started to follow the older male who’d dared

pull the doc’s hair, and his blood boiled with rage. The

male would pay for causing her pain. Pay dearly.

* * * * *

whispered in the wind. Trisha heard birds in the

distance. She sat under the hot sun wishing for shade.

She also needed to use the bathroom. When her bladder

was ready to burst she turned her head and looked at

Bill.

“I have to use the restroom, please.”

He blinked. “Fine. You’re too pale to be in that sun

anyway. It’s too easy to get dehydrated if your skin

burns bad. I was thinking of moving you.”

“I can get up then?”

He nodded. “See the tree by the tent? Go behind it.

I’ll break your legs if you try to run away from me. It

isn’t an idle threat. You don’t need them to patch up Pat.

You go behind the tree, do your biz, and you can be on

this side of the tree under it in the shade. Is that clear

enough?”

“Crystal clear. Thank you.” Trisha pushed to her feet.

Her body had become numb in places that painfully

awoke as she remembered to limp toward the tree. She

had to duck under one of the lower branches and there

wasn’t much privacy but she didn’t have a choice. She

unfastened her pants, bent, and quickly did her business

before straightening. She walked back around the tree.

Bill stood in her path.

She hadn’t heard him moving toward her. She looked

up at him. Bill was a beefy man who stood at about five-

foot-nine. He had harsh lines on his face from too many

years in the sun and his skin was a weathered, soft

brown. He frowned.

“I’m tired. I didn’t get much sleep last night so this is

what we’re going to do. Back up to that tree. I want your

back to it.”

Trisha stared at him with fear. What is he going to do?

She had a sinking feeling that it would be really bad.

“I’m going to tie you to the tree so I can rest. That’s

all. I’ll sleep a few feet from you to be able to hear every

sound you make. You just ate, used the bathroom, and

had something to drink. You will be in the shade and it