Page 49 - Hunter - The Vigil

Flesh Trade Pt II

by Mike Lee

Street.
th
The van’s bald tires squealed as Raimundo took a hard right onto South 6
He clipped the curb with a heart-stopping thud, and for a moment Vince thought the van
was going to roll over, but the gang leader cut the wheel left at the last second and
got the vehicle back under control. Horns blared in their wake; Vince barely heard them
over Andrea’s agonized shouts. She lay in the back of the van, the heels of her athletic
shoes beating a ragged rhythm against the van’s rusting fl oor.
“I shot the thing,” Andrea growled through clenched teeth. Her eyes were fever bright,
and her breath was coming in shallow gasps. “It just reared up out of the darkness, right
in front of me. I couldn’t possibly have missed — we were close enough to touch. But it
didn’t even notice. It just…it just bit down…”
“Andrea,” Vince snapped. “Get it together, okay? This isn’t over yet.”
The gang leader looked suspiciously at Gabreski. “What do you mean, this ain’t over?”
“I mean Darnell was still alive when he went down that hole,” Vince said. “I don’t
care what took him. We’re going to go and get him back.”
“We?” Raimundo exclaimed. “No way, motherfucker. You heard what your girl just said.
And there wasn’t just one of them.” He swallowed hard. “There was, like, a whole pack of
them, grabbing people and corpses and dragging them back to that hole. They were devils,
man. You hear what I’m saying? Maybe you didn’t see what one of them did to Manuel, but
I did.” The gang leader took a swig from his glass. His dark eyes were haunted. “He got
between me and one of them, and it ripped him to pieces.”
“So you’ve got as much reason to go after these bastards as I do,” Vince said. “Blood

for blood, right?”
“What am I supposed to do, man?” Raimundo shot back. “Guns don’t hurt ’em.”
“Then we get bigger guns,” Vince replied. “Or dynamite. We’ll fi nd a way.” He took a
threatening step forward. “Don’t punk out on me now, Raimundo. You’ve got to stand up and

help me deal with this.” p C mon,
“Then let me take her to the HUP, man,” the gang leader said. “She’s tore up! C’mon,
it’s just a few blocks.”