Hunter Read Free

caused lasting damage to my already scarred brother, I
agreed. Jason still struggled with the idea that it was so easy to kill with
his abilities, but I wasn’t sure he’d change how he'd escaped if he had to do
it again.
           Although he
probably would have tried to do it without allowing Kindred to escape; Jeremiah
Mason, the formerly law-abiding cousin of Trevor Mason, had been tortured to
the point of not remembering who he was. It was the same treatment Mason had
been giving my brother, in the attempt to make him use his powers for whatever
Mason wanted. Jeremiah had become an assassin, killing anyone who stood in
Mason’s way.
           Jason had become
a killer. But he’d only killed Mason and one of the bodyguards. I knew he had
mixed feelings about Jeremiah, because in the end, the man formerly known as
Kindred or the Ghost, had sacrificed himself to save my brother. Was that
enough to make up for several years of forced killings? Who knows? I’m thirteen
years old. Who am I to figure out what constitutes as penance for those kinds
of wrongs. In my mind, I still have a brother because of him. But he’d also
left emotional damage in his wake.
           I sighed and
rubbed my hand over my eyes. So much for concentrating. Homework was much
easier when Jason’s emotions didn’t flare out of control, causing me to think
about past traumas.
           The ringing of
our phone shook me out of my thoughts. “Hello?”
           “Sammy?” Jason’s
voice came in, sounding a little distracted, but otherwise not too stressed or
worried. “I’m gonna be a little late. I caught a case. There should be food in
the freezer you can heat up.”
           I forced a
light-hearted tone into my voice. “Sure, no problem. Everything going all right?”
           “Yeah, it’s a
missing person, and I’m following his mother to the scene now. It’s been a
week, I don’t know if there will be any echoes left, but I’ll try.”
           He sounded
determined, and from what I could tell, his powers had been steadily getting
stronger, including his ability to read people’s footsteps, and the echoes or
vibrations they left behind. I couldn’t pretend to know what it was like having
his ability, and not for the first time I wondered if I was doing the right
thing in not telling him about my own. “Good luck,” I said sincerely, hoping
he’d be successful.
    Anyone with caring parents deserved
to get back to them.

THREE
    Hunter

 
 
           “Thanks for calling, have a great
day.” I spoke into the phone with a fake polite tone and hung up. That was the
fifth irate caller of the day. Rubbing my forehead I couldn’t shake the sheer
boredom of life in a cubical. I’d figured out everyone around me ages ago.
Sharon had affairs with anyone who could walk, because it made her feel good to
be wanted. Matt lived with his mother and was a total geek, but he was an
insufferable know-it-all because he read anything he could get his hands on, so
of course that made him an expert.
           Boring.
Everything was boring. Even hunting had lost its appeal. The prey couldn’t
fight back, so it wasn’t much of a sport. There were so many ways to cheat;
planting trail cameras, putting out corn or other treats, etc. But the animals
still couldn’t fight back when the person after them had a gun. I’d spiced it
up a bit with a new kind of prey who could fight back, but even that was
beginning to bore me.
           So many just gave
up once they were taken. They lost the will to fight because they had no
confidence that they’d be able to get away. But the thrill was still there for
a moment when they finally did try. They took the weapon I gave them and tried
to get away.
           Inevitably, they
would fail. And the game would be over. “You have another caller,” Keith, my
manager, called irately. The line had been blinking.
           I waved a hand at
him in