Chapter 4 Hunter

I missed Zane.

My stupidity and paranoia was what got him killed. I had seen several crews of men in dark suits around campus, and I had Zane make me a device to receive all comms. Just a week later he was one of the first to die in the Louisville massacre.

I also missed Jade. She actually managed to escape the Yankees. I wasn’t so lucky. I’d been in a work camp for the last year and a half, where the admin were slowly starving us as we produced their drones.

I’d been planning on escape for months now, determined to escape and find my sweet Jade again. It was tough though, being the entire complex swarmed in drones, watching our every movement. I’d finally managed to smuggle in some wiring. I picked at my shackles quietly, and said to Reyes, my bunk mate, “We’re springing this joint.”

“What?” He asked grogily.

“We, are gonna get out of here.”

Reyes blinked at me, his sunken eyes catching the faint moonlight that filtered through the grimy barracks window. “Are you out of your damn mind?” he whispered harshly, sitting up on his creaking bunk. His voice was low, but the panic was clear. “You know what they do to runners. To us if we fail.”

“If we don’t try, we’re already dead. It’s only a matter of time before the hunger or the cold gets us.”

He glanced at the other bunks, the silhouettes of sleeping prisoners barely moving. Some of them wouldn’t wake up tomorrow. Maybe they’d given up. Maybe they’d decided dying here was better than risking the guards’ wrath. But I couldn’t let that be my fate. I couldn’t let it be his, either.

“You’re serious,” Reyes muttered, running a hand over his face. His scarred cheek caught the dim light as he watched me, his expression wavering between disbelief and reluctant hope.

“I wouldn’t be picking these damn things if I wasn’t,” I shot back, keeping my voice low. My shackles clicked open with a soft snap. I tugged them off, wincing as the cold metal scraped against my raw wrists. “Here.” I gave Reyes the wire.

“If this gets us killed, I’m haunting your ass.”

I smirked, though the gesture felt foreign after months of misery. “Deal.”

The plan wasn’t perfect—hell, it barely qualified as a plan—but it was all we had. The work camp’s drones were a constant threat, their cold, mechanical eyes scanning the yard, the barracks, the factory floor. But they were predictable. Patterns emerged if you watched closely enough. And I’d been watching for a long time.

“We’ll go during the shift change,” I whispered as Reyes worked on his shackles. “That’s when the guards get lazy, and the drones re-calibrate their routes. There’s a blind spot by the west gate—small, but it’s there. We make for the fence, cut through, and disappear into the woods.”

“You’re forgetting the part where they hunt us down and shoot us,” Reyes muttered, his shackles finally clicking open. He flexed his hands, wincing at the marks the cuffs had left.

“We’ll worry about that later. For now we have to get to the fence.”

Reyes gave me a long, searching look. “You really think she’s out there, don’t you?”

The question hit me harder than I expected. My throat tightened, and for a moment, I couldn’t speak. Finally, I nodded. “I have to believe that.”

He sighed, shaking his head. “You’re a damn fool, Hunter.”

“Maybe,” I said. “But I’m not dying here. Not like this.”

We had to wait just 2 more hours for the shift change.

When the time came, we picked our lock and slipped out of our cell. We took off toward the woods, avoiding the outdated drones that the Northerners were stuck with. We managed to get all the way to the edge of the woods before a drone caught us and sounded the alarm.

“Fuck, they know.”

“I just need a minute.” I grabbed the wire cutter’s i’d hidden months ago for such a task, and began cutting a man-sized hole, coming through and dragging Reyes with me. We took off into the woods, and after a couple hours made a makeshift fort.

Now we needed to leave the state.

Ophelia Dusk

The woods were dark as can be that night. I’d been slowly making my way south as i’d deserted the Northern military. I now scrounged and stayed in empty homes and where people would house me.

I left after the massacre at WKU just a couple months prior. A student’s dog was shot leading to a massive protest and subsequent massacre. My former comrades killed almost a hundred students. I did not shoot any people, I simply walked away.

I was hiking south when 2 college aged guys ran into me. I leveled my rifle at them “Identify yourselves. And give me a reason not to kill you.”

“Shit!” the shorter one said, startled.

“Hunter, Hunter Rowan. This is Mike Reyes.”

I jabbed my rifle in his direction, “Who are you.”

“Alright alright. We’re, oh wait. Dammit you're a yankee.”

“Not no more. Go on.”

“Alright. I worked at Louisville for about 2 months and my best friend, Jade Frost, had started going to school up there. Her brother Jane was a genius, so when i was paranoid and seeing loads of black trucks and black suited men pouring into the city, i had him create a device to intercept all communication.”

“And?” I lowered my rifle a little. Still pointing it at them.

“They murdered him at the beginning of the war. They captured me and Reyes and killed anyone in their way. That was a week after the mass shooter in Louisville.”

“Oh. Just now escaped i assume?”

“Yeah. Got drones on our tails.” Reyes said.

“Those dont track so far out. You’re safe.”

“Now who do you happen to be?” Hunter asked.

“Ophelia Dusk. Former sergeant of the Northern army. I left after the massacre at WKU.”

“Shit. Well do you have anywhere where we can get clothes and shit? We didnt exactly walk out as free men.” Hunter asked.

I gave a slight smile. “As a matter of fact I do.”