In Between Seasons (The Fall) (25 page)

The realization that I knew everything I could learn in order to kill showed that despite everything I
had become a secret weapon
.
  I knew that
Hunter had always had a secret weapon that no one else had. It was a weapon that made him impossible to beat—he had a soul when the w
orld around us was soulless. I was a secret weapon because
he had helped me find
mine. So why was I running
and
what from
?
My feet were stumbling again, like before I had met Hunter, struggling to find the right footing. The woods were moving too quickly around me
,
and
there was a feeling in the pit of my stomach that made me want to vomit
. Then I saw the
dark shadow
that was
slowly beginning
to move in
to
the corner of my vision. I found my footing
and
lurched forward even faster. The woo
ds became a blur
,
but
the
shadow of a person still moved slowly to the side of me. It moved slower than me
,
but
still
managed to
conquer my speed
. As it moved into the light in front of me t
he features became lucid
.
It was all I could do to keep from screaming at the face dripping with blood.

Trevor cocked his head at me,
“Running again? I knew it would
n’t be long before you did
.”

“I’m
not running away from anything,” I snapped
with
my hands in fists as I fought against the gravity that was pulling me towards him.

The look on his fa
ce was of absolute satisfaction,
“Come on Kate. You were always running scared. You never had the balls to really do anything despite the fact you saw it all too clear.”

“I’m not scared of you,” I hissed,
digging my feet into the ground.

“Of course not—I’m dead. You
know you’re not running from me,
”
Trevor’s voice mocked me
.

“I’
m not running,” I repeated as I slammed
my fists against the wall of air behind me.

In a movement
that
I was unable to
comprehend
Trevor was behind me
with
his
cold breath wafting into my ear,
“Yes, you are.”

“What
am I running from then?” I demanded
with
my voice clipped.

“T
he truth, love—t
he truth you’
ve always known,
”
Trevor’s voice echoed in the thick of the air.

His hands grabbed me
and
spun me around to face him
,
but
instead there she was.
Now I couldn’t escape the scream that grew from my lungs, up my throat and out of my mouth. It woke me, but I found that I wasn’t screaming anymore. I knew what was coming; what had come.

“
Sara
,” I said out loud as I sat up, and
the chenille blanket fell
to the ground. I stood
and
went to the library window
with
my chest feeling as though it might explode. I could see shadows moving among the trees
,
but
the darkness wasn’t enough to cover her arrogant swagger that I had never understood until now.
In a patriarchal society what was the b
est secret weapon? A matriarch
—
a
woman who was as skilled as a man at killing
and
even better if that was possible
. T
hat was the secret weapon.  I kn
ew why my father had chosen her. S
he was easy to brain
wash;
to make feel like she was number one. The epiphany had caught me off guard
,
and
I realized why she was here—
why they were here. They weren’t supposed to be here.

“Where’s
Hunter?” I yelled
as I went into the common room
with
my hands tangled in my hair.

“In the gym downstairs,
” Amy replied
,
looking over the couch
with
her black eyebrows perked
and
her lips pursed.

Mara’s eyes met mine
and
she jumped over the couch,
rushing past me
and
down the stairs to her room.

I stumbled down the stairs into
basement yanking the gym door open
.
I was still screaming,
“Hunter!
”

He looked up from the bench
that
he was sitting at
and
stood immediately,
“What’s wrong?”

“It’s
Sara
,” I explained
and
he shook his head confused,
“She’s the secret weapon.”

Just then an alarm echoed o
ff the concrete walls
.
It was the third time that noise had jarred into my brain, and this time I felt it was our last chance.

“And she’s here,” I managed to yell over the siren.

Hunter’s eyes flashed as he saw wha
t was happening.

“Shit,” h
e swore
as he rushed
past me
and
up the stairs.

I followed him up as women rushed past me into the basement. Amy grabbed at a spot in the wall that I would never have realized was a door.
By the time I had gotten up
the stairs Hunter was standing in front of the men sending them out the front door.

“Hunter,” I whispered,
and
he spun on his heel.

“Hide Kate,” h
e insisted
,
his eyes flashing across my face.

Gun shots were starting to echo through the air as Hunter pushed me down into the basement.
He shook his head before turning
and
rushing out the front door.
I watched him go and everything in my body went numb. There was no way I was going to let him do this alone. There was no way I was going to hide and wait to see if he came out alive.  I needed a plan, but I had no clue where to start. I looked over my shoulder down the stairs, and
Amy was still holding the door open
with her face flushed in a
fear that I wasn’t feeling.
I was determined to survive.

“What’s in ther
e?” I asked
,
pointing to a door acro
ss from
Amy.

“Get in—
otherwise I’m closing the door,” s
he
snapped
with her whole body shaking.

“What’s in there?”
I pushed
.

“I don’t know, now are you getting in here or not?”
Amy replied panicked
.

I hurried down the stairs
and
jiggled the knob of the door to find it was locked. When I turned around the door w
h
ere Amy had been had vanished into the wall. I stood back
and
kicked the locked door once
. T
he wood cracked allowing it
to swing open, and
I reached for the light cord dangling in my face
and
pulled. The room in front of me was filled to the brim with artillery. I grabbed two guns that loo
ked
powerfu
l
,
but
I had no idea what ammunition matched
.
It would have to do for now.
I knew there was one thing
Sara
wasn’t countin
g on—me. This was our
way out if we could
survive long enough to leave.
When I reached the open f
ront door I couldn’t hear any
guns going off
and
despite what it had sounded like there wasn’t many fallen
.  W
hen my gun shot rang through
the air all eyes turned to me, and
I jumped down off
the porch
and
landed like a panther
ten feet behind Hunter. O
ur eyes met
and
I tossed him one of the
gun
s
as I took a running start towards him. I had the advantage of distraction as he turned
and
shot his current assailant.

“Where’s
Sara
?” I asked
.

Hunter pointed to the side of him as he spoke,
“I told you to hide.”

“Since when do I
listen?” I replied
,
running in the direction he had point
ed. My eyes met
Sara
’s
,
and
I
saw the shock register as I picked off the people who had once been a part of my tribe.

I was within feet of her now
and
she wasn’t running.
She didn’t think I would do it, and I knew I would.

“You wouldn’t shoot your own s
ister would you?” s
he asked
,
her hands on her hips.

“That’s what you’re here to do isn’t it?”
I snapped
.

“I’m here to save you,” she answered
,
but
the glitter in her eyes said otherwise
,
and
I had been gone long enough to know better.

“Bullshit,
” I retorted
as I pulled
the trigger on the gun
,
but
all it did was make a hollow
noise. I threw it to the ground,
“I guess I’ll just have to kill you with my bare hands.”

The laugh that echoed from her lips was gruesome
and
it made me stop dead,
“Sure y
ou will. Better chance that I’
ll kill
you before you even figure out how to fight me.
”

“So Dad sent you?
”
I asked
.

“Dad?
” she
smirk
ed
, “Ha, no he’
s just a pawn in the game. Mom is the one who sent me—she’s the one who gives the orders. Dad just barks them because the men respect him more.”

It all made sense now
,
and
I could see
it
in her eyes that she thought her words would hurt me. She thought she was playing mind games
,
but
I knew better than to be emotional during a fight.

I shrugged keeping space between us in case
she chose to attack at my words,
“
That d
oesn’t surprise me
,
but
you know why she’ll fail? Because she’s too emo
tional;
she’s too much of a woman.”

Sara
’s hands dropped from their defensive position as her face froze in confusion at my words.

“She showed all the signs
that
you’d come. Sending Trevor
was an ill thought out plan. She thought h
e would inflict the most damage
even if he didn’t kill me becau
se it would hurt me emotionally,”
I shrugged
again,
“It
didn’t work. She miscalculated my feelings for him
,
and
she did the same by sending you—”

“
Why is that?
” s
he asked
,
and
before she could react I had kicked her legs out from under her.

“I have a secret weapon too,” I explained,
grabbing her hair
and
slamming her head into the ground.

“What?”

“Me.”