was wrong before they reached their destination. The noise coming from the mess hall sounded like a riot. Pushing open the double doors, it looked like one too.
There seemed to be two crowds, but Lexia couldn’t understand what had split them. She was used to the elite fighting with the other hunters but as she scanned the crowd, she noticed elite on both sides. Derrick as always was in the middle trying to calm them, arms stretched wide to delay the inevitable fight.
“What is going on?” Lexia yelled, tapping into as much of her power as possible. She wanted them to see Maura’s cold gold eyes when they looked at her.
However, there was no need for them to answer. As she neared, Lexia saw the cause of this argument. Someone had pinned a list to the wall, a list comprising of those Lucy had chosen to feed; the hunters not on the list would receive adequate substance.
“Adequate substance, is she for real?” Lexia muttered. “Fighting about this will solve nothing,” Lexia said, raising her voice so all could hear.
“You would say that. You’re on the list,” someone behind her spat.
Lexia spun around but couldn’t place the voice. More shouting erupted and within seconds, hunters started pushing and shoving each other. Punches were thrown; weapons drawn. Stumbling away as someone knocked into her, Lexia pushed her way through and out of the crowd.
Seconds later, Derrick made his way to her side, then Belinda, Marcus and Alice.
“How did I make it on that list when I can’t fight for shit?” Alice asked.
“Because you’re my friend,” Lexia answered.
“I thought you spoke to Lucy,” Derrick pointed out.
“I did. Not that it did much good. She basically said she’d taken care of those who mattered. Evidently, everyone on that list.”
“And the rest?” Belinda asked.
“She doesn’t give a damn about them.”
“So do we just let them kill each other? Less mouths to feed,” laughed Alice.
Lexia watched the hunters and how quickly they turned savage. Lucy called shifters animals, yet looking at the race Lucy Hunter created, Lexia thought she was wrong. The hunters were animals, wild, senseless, beasts, who turned without a second thought.
“She’s testing me,” Lexia observed.
“How so?” Derrick asked.
“Lucy said everyone is replaceable. I called them her people and she laughed in my face. I could easily sway them to revolt. My next move determines if I’m with her or against her.”
“So are you with her or against her?” Belinda asked.
“Against her, always, but I’m not ready for them to join me. Lucy needs to believe I’m playing the good daughter until everything is in place; otherwise, we risk missing a piece of the puzzle, and in another ten, twenty years, someone else will be in our position.”
“How are we solving this problem then?” Derrick asked.
“Like this,” Lexia said, stepping into the crowd. She pushed the hunters out of her way, sending them toppling to the floor, bringing down others like a line of dominoes. A member of the elite rushed her, his fist aiming for Lexia’s face. Dodging the fist at the last second, she struck out with her own, clipping the side of his jaw and followed with an upper cut, sending him like a sack of potatoes to the floor.
Reaching the wall, Lexia ripped the list from the wall; waving it above her head, she shouted, “See this list?” She ripped it down the middle, then again in half. As the crowd grew quiet, all that could be heard was the tearing of paper. “It’s gone. You have nothing to fight for anymore.”
“Just because you’ve ripped it up doesn’t mean we are getting fed,” called a voice.
“You’ll get fed, every single one of you. I’ll make sure of it.”
“How you going to accomplish that then?” someone asked with a disbelieving laugh.
How am I going to accomplish that? Lexia stood silent, her brain working overtime for an answer. “I’ll…hunt,” she said a little unsure.
“Hunt? You’re going to hunt for food?” came a reply.
“Yes, we’re surrounded by miles of forest, full of animals,” Lexia replied, her voice sounding surer.
“I’m not eating shifter,” someone laughed. “Can you even hunt animals? Thought you were only good for killing people,” another shouted.
“Laugh all you want, but there will be no more fighting between yourselves. There are shifters on our door, killing us off one by one, and if we fall apart and start killing each other, we might as well open the front gate and let them in. Now, it’s lunch time. I suggest everyone eat