Page 3 of Hunt Me

I steel myself and then step out, a light rain coating my exposed skin. I tuck the hat I’m wearing a little lower on my head and bunch my shoulders. Maybe if I act less like Glimmer Dear, then they won’t know who’s sneaking out the back.

If anyone is watching at all.

My fingers clench tightly against my palm, and I know they won’t loosen until I’m safe at home.

My legs pick up the pace, one of them landing in a puddle, but there’s no time to lament that. I just want to get out of this damn alley safely. To a place I can breathe.

Suddenly, I see it, a flash of light behind me. Purposeful. Loud.

I shouldn’t do it, but I can’t help but turn around. What if it was Rene trying to get my attention? What if someone needs me?

As I crane my neck over my shoulder, my heart thumps in my chest, that tingling sensation moving up my back.

And then I’m knocked sideways, my body falling into the brick wall at my side.

I let out a small wheeze and blink at the hooded figure standing there, watching me.

My vision goes white, pure terror pulsing through me. I should run, should scream, but I’m suddenly unable to do anything but stand there. Normally, I carry a can of glitter-pepper spray with me, but I don’t have my bag, and even if I did, my arms feel oddly weak.

The hooded figure takes a step toward me, and another, and then they rush forward. My mouth opens in a desperate shout, but I don’t know if it’s even loud. It could be nothing more than a wisp of air exhaling from my lungs.

Hands move around my neck, squeezing.

My hands grapple for purchase, but I can’t do anything but slump forward, my vision going in and out. This is it. I didn’t imagine someone watching me in the crowd. Like I said, my gut is never wrong. I should have left sooner, but I didn’t, and now I’m being strangled in an alleyway.

Will they find my body in the morning?

What will I look like when they do?

Suddenly, something warm and wet hits my face, those hands slipping from my throat.

The man who was trying to kill me slumps to the side, and I blink up at another man looming just in front of me. Big, tall, muscular.

I hold up a shaking hand to my throat as he steps closer to me.

For some reason, I don’t feel unsafe with him.

He reaches behind him and pulls his shirt off, exposing his ripped chest, and gently reaches out. I don’t even flinch as he gently wipes off whatever landed on my face.

It’s not until he pulls the shirt away that I see the stain of blood.

Oh my god. Blood.

I blink, and he cocks his head, turning to look at the man scrambling across the alley floor, trying to escape.

For a moment, I think he’s going to go after him, but he only shrugs and turns back to me and leans in. I lick my lips, and his eyes track the motion and then he grazes his mouth on mine. It’s a ghost of a kiss, a whisper, a promise of something more, but instead of giving that to me, he steps back.

‘You okay?’

It takes me a moment to realize he’s signing with a fluency that isn’t Deaf but also isn’t an early learner either. I take a breath and nod, even though that’s a complete lie.

I lift my hands to say something, but I get lost in his eyes. They’re so…dark. Everything about him should be terrifying—the breadth of his shoulders, the scar on his face—but it’s not.

Who is this guy?

‘Name?’

He smiles but doesn’t answer. I go to repeat myself, but he takes another step back, heaves a breath, then turns on his heel and walks off.