Ion Hunter by E. L. Strife

Author:E. L. Strife [Strife, E. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0BSB12RSG
Goodreads: 77177749
Published: 2023-04-14T06:00:00+00:00

Hunting

A week passes or more; I don’t know. I make friends with other Hunters as much as people with little energy to talk can. It's mostly visual communication, following lines of sight to critical switches, guard posts, and exits.

We’re planning a mass exodus. We don’t have a plan to deal with the Hunters on the outside who were just like me a week or more ago—unaware. I suggest raiding the Hunter’s storage room. It will be us against our own.

I wonder if Sadi is okay and if she betrayed me.

Aereva says Decker lied.

Doubt is a powerful thing.

I run for several hours, bike for more, and rest for half of what they promised. Hunters don’t get nutrient packs. We have to deal with eating while we exercise. It’s not unfamiliar to me. Small bites of rations over time help sustain performance, but nausea makes me slow down every now and then. I think it's part of their torture.

A guard spins his baton, charging it. He stops beside a Hunter and zaps him. Norwan cries out and stumbles.

I wish the guards picked me more often.

The short guard walks to Lucina. She’s petite for a Hunter.

“Hey, mini buns!” I shout.

The guard angrily whips around.

“Yeah, you with the tiny banana.” I know it will hurt, but she can’t take what I can. I think the short guard harasses her because he’s finally bigger than someone else.

When he jabs the electric end into my side, it burns away a little more guilt.

As I get back on my feet, I see a familiar silhouette in the hallway. Sadi is a comforting sight, even if I'm uncertain of our standing.

“Who’s that?” Aereva asks. She’s beside me today, one person to the right.

“My partner. Where’s yours?”

“On your left.”

I glance and note the lean man trudging on beside me. “Got you both?”

“We investigated like you,” he says. “I tried to take the fall, but they detained Aereva anyway.”

I check the hallway again and see Sadi stop at a window. She rests a hand on the glass and the other on her mouth. I think she’s crying.

I don’t want Sadi to get stuck in here with us, but our plan to escape has one weakness. The power we generate keeps us in here and tied to the treadmills. All the locks are electric. We can't access the main cutoff switch, and we need a total shut down, a reset.

I direct Sadi to it with my eyes. She looks. After a shallow nod, she disappears.

Days pass, I think. I’m losing weight. My circadian rhythm has gone to shit.

“We tried to all stop running one day,” Aereva’s partner, Holloy, says. “Guards rushed us. People sprinted out of fear. Flight response, you know.”

All I want to know is where Sadi is. I’m starting to think she betrayed me.

The lights go out. The rush of treadmills and bikes quiets.

“What are you waiting for?” Aereva shouts. “Move!”

The cavern thunders with dropped wrist locks and footsteps. We created an exit strategy to keep people in line as they ran for the doors.

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