Page 255 - Hunter - The Vigil

Flesh Trade Pt V

by Mike Lee

The howls fi lled Vince’s ears and turned his blood to ice. In his mind, he was back
in that darkened warehouse, watching Darnell writhe in the grip of something that had
no right to exist. A shudder wracked his body; his hand tightened on the grip of his
pistol, and he realized he was taking aim at an eight-year-old boy. A child with bloody

hands and a snarling, fanged mouth.
He screamed, torn between fear and disgust. The grandmother squalled something in
a language he didn’t understand, and the kids scattered, weaving among the tattered
furniture as they fl ed deeper into the room.
A gun boomed over Vince’s shoulder, punching a hole in the wall opposite the doorway.
Vince ducked, cursing, and the old woman leapt at him with a feral snarl.
“Get the fuck back!” Gabreski shouted, leveling his pistol at the woman’s face, but
the hag didn’t even fl inch. She reached for his throat with her clawed hands, hissing
like a snake, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to shoot. Someone screamed a warning
behind him — it might have been Andrea, or maybe Raimundo, but it was the touch of
those ragged nails against his skin that fi nally shocked Vince into action. He lashed
out with a left fi st, striking the woman in the cheek and smashing her backwards onto

a tattered sofa.
Dean jostled past Vince, forcing his way into the room. “Go, go!” Jack yelled in
Gabreski’s ear, and the detective started moving. A quick glance behind him showed
Andrea dashing through the doorway with Raimundo on her heels.
Jack took the lead, rushing off in the direction the kids had gone. Vince followed,
swinging farther out to the left. There was an open doorway along the wall to the right
and a gaping hole torn in the wall immediately ahead — the Russians appeared to be in
the process of opening up the adjacent apartments as well.
The howling of the children had faded off to the right, joined by angry shouts and
frightened, almost bestial cries. Vince’s skin crawled at the sound.