Posted by PK on October 16, 2002 at 16:06:42:
"If Ed finds me..."
"Play scared and pathetic.. Shouldn't be hard. Let him think he's got you, then stick the knife
in him."
Karen touched the knife Alanna had insisted she carry, strapped to her leg. "I don't know
how.." she fretted.
Alanna sighed theatrically. Actually, neither did she. "Just distract him, then stick the pointed
end in wherever you can," she said. "Try for the crotch, you might get the femoral artery.
Anywhere soft. Don't try to stab him in the back if he's facing you, you won't have any
leverage and it's armoured with muscle. You won't hit anything vital."
"You do this a lot?"
"No, I just read up on it."
"And if Amanda gets me first?"
"The same."
"You think that will work with her?"
"Not likely. It's just that or lie down with your paws in the air and your belly up."
Karen took a breath. She seemed a little better somehow. Probably because of watching Ed
discomfited. "Okay. Thanks for the help, I really mean that."
I tried to help, Alanna thought, and I've probably got her killed. I could have taken her outside
and explained that she could win against Ed. Regrets were futile. "You're welcome," she said.
Nothing else would help.
Karen must have sensed something amiss. "What do you really think will happen?" she
asked.
Alanna heard a line from a film in her head. You want the truth? You can't handle the
truth...something like that. To hell with it. "Okay," she said. "Here's what I think. You might
survive but I wouldn't bet on it. Amanda will almost certainly get one of us, maybe both.
She's taken a liking to you. That means she'll probably be eating your tender bits before
you're much older. You might have been better off with Ed. You might have been able to kill
or evade him. You don't have a cat in hell's chance fighting her. Neither do I. I've tried."
Walking to the edge of the woods, Alanna gave Karen as much advice as she could. Once
there, she said, "This is where we part company."
Karen looked unhappy. "Couldn't we stay together? Join forces?"
Alanna shook her head. "We'd just make an easier target. Bigger trail, more noise. We'd feel
more relaxed, be tempted to talk. Ganging up won't help, I doubt if both of us together would
give Ed much trouble in a straight fight. He's a big guy, we're just chicks. As for Amanda..."
she shrugged. It went without saying.
Karen hugged her. Alanna was embarrassed, but patted her on the back. A stray hair tickled
her nose. "I'm going," Karen said. "Thanks for everything." She broke the embrace and left,
walking. Alanna watched her go. She felt empty and sick. Not panicky, she suddenly realised.
Stop moping, girl, she told herself. You did all you could. Okay, she's probably going to end
up in Amanda's belly. So what? Left to herself, she'd have been too demoralised to have
survived Ed.
Ed. What to do about him? Be nice if she could kill him, but without a plan it would be
tantamount to suicide to attack him. Hold on that. Concentrate. How to survive. First of all,
she had time to use. She'd been in the park before, she knew some of the territory. Not all. It
might be a good idea to explore a bit. Amanda probably knew all of it, she couldn't expect to
know more than her, but it might still be useful to have more potential hiding places than the
ones Amanda knew that she knew. If it came down to a chase, it would help to know where
she was going. She still had the quarry's advantage: avoiding contact was a win for her.
And if she lost? No point denying the possibility. Okay.
If I lose, if Amanda catches me, she'll kill me. The end. Nothing there I haven't thought about
before. Picture it for a minute. Feel the adrenalin hit the guts, ride out the heart flutter.
Breathe. Put it away. Move.
Amanda entered the lounge and ordered a glass of grapefruit juice. Ed was sitting at a table
with a pint of beer in front of him.
"Mind if I join you?" she asked.
Ed glowered at her. "What's on your mind, Blake?"
Amanda sat down. "Oh, nothing much. Just thought a bit of idle chatter might wile away the
time. Pleasantries, light banter, you know."
"Very funny. Think you're pretty clever, don't you?"
"Me?" Amanda contrived a blatantly false look of innocence. "What did I do to upset you? Do
tell me, and I'll be pathetically glad to apologise."
"Don't think for a minute you've got me fooled. You think you're going to get to my girlie first.
You won't. The black girl is a ringer, she's working with you. That's dirty, Blake. If I see her
cross my path, she's dead meat."
Amanda's faux-innocent smile masked her ferocious delight. Should she confess? Of course
not, a denial was so much more convincing. "Not at all," she said. "I came here intending to
hunt her down and eat her."
"And it's just an accident that you're after Karen too?"
"Oh, Alanna talked me into that." For a moment, Amanda considered the possibility that
Alanna had done it to increase her own chances of survival. She frowned slightly. Let it ride.
"Yeah, right." Heavy sarcasm. "Maybe I'll take her out first. How does that grab you?"
Amanda smiled brightly. "That would be interesting. Jack tried that. Remember him?"
Ed's face froze. Jack was one of the few hunters who'd been killed in a hunt, quite recently.
He didn't know the details. It was assumed he'd been killed by a runner, nobody knew who.
Nobody except the people who'd been there at the time, and they weren't talking.
"Buried sans testicles," Amanda went on. "Eunuch for all eternity, according to some
traditions. So sad."
"Accidents happen," Ed snarled. "One of these days you'll go too far. Don't think I don't see
what you're doing. Maybe an accident to you..."
"You're quite right, of course," Amanda admitted. "I'm bullshitting you. Well, almost." She
shrugged apologetically. Then she leaned forward and whispered confidentially. "Alanna
wants to kill you. It's a plot. If she does that, she thinks I'll let her go. Karen's just the goat. It's
only fair to warn you. Watch yourself."
She glanced at her watch. "Got to go, sorry." On the way to the armoury she reviewed what
she'd said. None of it was quite untrue. Hunt time soon. And then...
It really would be fun if Alanna got Ed, but she doubted the girl could do it, brave though she
was. Not sure she couldn't, though. She was as clever as she was scrumptious, it would be a
rare pleasure to eat her. And maybe soft little Karen-kitten for dessert. The scent of her
lingered in her nostrils. It was all just too delightful for words.
I'm going to get drenched, Karen thought. She sat on a mossy rock and shivered.
Thunderstorm coming, she could hear it, feel it in her bones. I'm sitting on a rock in the wild
woods, the hunters are coming for me and I'm going to get rained on too. Not fair. It was
almost funny. How long before I'm roasting over a nice cosy fire?
Alanna watched the approaching storm with interest and hope. Of course, she realised,
Amanda wouldn't be bothered by the weather. It wasn't going to get cold enought to slow her
down, but it would make tracking difficult.
Amanda stood outside the lodge, waiting for the time to come. Five minutes more and the
runners would be in season. She breathed the air, waiting for the rain. This was going to be
difficult. Wonderful.
Ed emerged dressed for the chase. Waterproof gear, armed to the teeth. Well, he had the
usual complement of edged weapons and a crossbow. "You going to get dressed? Or just
stand around looking like..."
Amanda smiled at him. "Looking...?"
Ed couldn't find a word for it. Like prey? Amanda was wearing a sleeveless denim jacket over
a halter, cotton briefs and moccasins. She had the same knife sheath on her thigh that the
quarry were allowed. No other weapons.
"Oh, the jacket. De trop? Last year's thing?" She shrugged. "Cutesy, you've got me there.
But it's got pockets and I have *things* in them.." She narrowed her eyes theatrically.
"Blake, don't think you can fuck with me...."
"I wouldn't even dream of it," Amanda said. "Trust me on that." She leaned forward, putting
her right hand on his shoulder. "I'll just eat your liver with a pint of Old Peculier after Alanna
kills you. No offense."
Ed tried to throw Amanda's arm away but it wasn't there any more.
"Toodle pip," Amanda said. She headed for the deep, dark woods. Tasty people in there. Get
them. Eat them.
Logical Amanda, supplemental to her primary persona, advised her. Thunderstorm coming.
That will confuse hearing, wash out trails, flood the scents. Probability of catching anything
minimal.
Amanda's lip curled. She bared her teeth in defiance. She ran on.
Alanna welcomed the thunderstorm. Briefly, she wished that Sajida could be here to help her.
Well, she wasn't. Too bad. She would face Amanda alone. She would run, fight, and probably
die here. And if Ed crossed her....she fingered the knife. The sudden onslaught of rain didn't
bother her at all. She was dressed for the weather, in nothing inessential. Bare skin is
impervious to rain. Her doeskin halter and shoes repelled it. It wasn't really cold. She lifted
her head and opened her mouth. Breathed. Energy flooded her. Sajida, she invoked, be with
me. Not in person, but in spirit. Drink the archetype. Remember and make it yours. Her lips
parted in a savage smile. It's a savage business, Amanda had said. So it was. Nice, polite,
beautiful Amanda. So strong. Invincible. Kill the bitch.
Probablity is, she'll kill me. She'll enjoy it more if I fight. Can't help that. Don't want to give
her the satisfaction, but what else can I do? Go down whining? Give up?
"Fuck that," she said aloud in a passable Yorkshire accent. Not her own.
Karen? Can't think about that too much. Amanda will get her.
Crouching in a copse, watching through the pouring rain, she did anyway. Amanda will
gobble her up. Just like Chloe, except I never knew her.
Oh, fun, Amanda thought. It was pissing it down. No scents, no trails. No chance. She sat
down on a fallen log. Mossy and nettled. Green scents. Maybe luck is with her, she thought.
She tricked me. Deferred the hunt to a better time. Could she have known?
Logically, of course not. Alanna couldn't have anticipated this. She reached out for Alanna,
hoping for a sense of where she was, what she might be doing. Thunder cracked over her
head. Nothing. She couldn't reach her at all. This was going to be as difficult as hunting
Rachel. Amanda started to smile and then laughed out loud in sheer joy.
"Alanna," she spoke as a spell, "It is going to be a pleasure and a privilege to eat you."
And, she admitted to herself, I might not. The thought did not displease her. Suddenly, she
had a flash of Karen roasting. Distraction. Two minutes, she allowed herself to indulge.
Sweet and juicy. Alanna *had* distracted her. Deliberately? No. This could not have been
contrived. Alanna could win, she'd gone out of the box.
Stop that, she admonished herself. No fair letting her win. It's disrespectful. Besides, that way
I won't get to eat her.
Alanna was getting bored.
She vaguely recalled having read about this somewhere, and it was probably a seriously bad
thing. It was happening anyway. She was tired of hiding, tired of pretending not to be scared.
She wanted to DO something. Anything. Okay, she challenged herself. Do what exactly? Kill
Ed. That would be fun. How? Realistically, she had no chance against Ed in a fight. He was
bigger, stronger, better armed. Hmm. Taking him on would be suicide. On the other hand, he
might find her anyway. It wasn't likely, but it was possible. How could she prepare for that?
Well, a gun might help. Shoot the bastard. Ho bloody ho.
That only happened on TV shows. She'd never fired a gun, never killed anybody or even
tried to. Besides, she hadn't got one. Why had she thought of that? Backstep:
Never tried to? When she'd fought Amanda before, would she have killed her if she could
have?
Yes. Maybe. She hadn't really expected to win.
The storm seemed to be blowing over. Soon the weather would favour the hunters again.
She had to find a way to use that. So, back to basics. Weapons and tactics. Stratagems and
spoils. Don't think like a victim. Take the initiative. She looked around.
Suicide, her old self told her. Confrontation favours the hunters. A line from an old joke
popped into her head. "It's not a bacon tree it's..."