Read Hungry Independents (Book 2) for Free Online

pulling out the tangles without answering the question. Her eyes
     grew big and she pointed behind the small assembly. “Lookie,
     lookie!”
    Everyone followed her excitement and turned.
     The first rays of sunlight found the hellhounds. Their bodies
     smoked, a dark purple swirl drifting in the sun’s rays. The skin
     under their fur bubbled and boiled and the reek from their bodies
     smelled like Brittany’s the morning after chili night. Daylight cut
     a bright path through the end of nighttime. The dogs popped with a
     concussive blast, and a blinding flash made everyone cover their
     eyes. When it was safe to look again, they found four piles of
     purple ash sitting on the ground, topped by wisps of smoke.
    “What about the dog we threw in the hole?”
     Scout asked.
    “Hellhound,” Catherine corrected him. “Will
     the sun hit it?”
    “I kind of doubt it,” Samuel said. “I guess
     we could just bury that one.”
    Catherine shook her head. “No good. Once the
     sun goes down it will just claw its way out and go hunting again.
     You better drag it out into the sunshine.”
    Scout turned to finish the gruesome task. “I
     should have stayed in bed.”

 
Seven
Hunter
     
    Hunter’s weary eye burned when the first rays
     of sunshine shot over the east. Thankfully he sat facing south on
     top of the grain elevator with his back against the metal building,
     staring at Interstate 80 running parallel to the muddy Platte
     River.
    Barbie stirred under his arm where she slept
     after exorcising the demon from the little boy. Hunter stayed up
     all night watching over them both, half afraid that the demon would
     return. That thought alone was enough to keep him up, but he
     couldn’t stop thinking about his new special ability.
    Was he truly invincible? And how did one test
     the extent of invincibility without carrying it too far? The demon
     thought the hundred foot drop from the grain elevator wouldn’t kill
     Hunter. And how the hell did the demon know that?
    The little boy lay on the concrete with his
     face to the sky. The same position he was in when the demon was
     ripped out and dissolved in a screaming fit as it was sent back to
     wherever. Hell? Hunter never used to believe in Heaven and Hell,
     but too many unexplainable things had happened in the past year for
     him to ignore the possibilities.
    Hunter worked free of Barbie and laid her
     against the sheet metal wall, making sure she wouldn’t fall over.
     He draped his jacket, now full of holes, over her and she continued
     sleeping huddled inside. Hunter stretched his back. He walked
     around stiffly, trying to jumpstart the feeling in his legs. His
     shoulder ached, but that was no surprise.
    Sunshine crept over the tower’s edge,
     illuminating the little boy. His eyes popped open and he hollered,
     “I’m me!” He burst up and lifted his arms towards the blue sky.
     “I’m me again, I’m me! Yippee!”
    Hunter smiled. You didn’t see a lot of
     ecstatic joy these days in the Big Bad. If Hunter didn’t feel like
     hell, he’d consider sharing the boy’s excitement by jumping around
     and giving his own shouts of jubilation.
    The boy raced around the grain elevator,
     sprinting back and forth while steering clear of the edge. He
     passed Hunter a couple of times before giving him any notice and
     slid to a stop. He flashed Hunter an innocent smile that looked
     very different from the soulless milky eyes and the pointy teeth
     that tore into his shoulder earlier.
    “Who are you?”
    “I’m Hunter. We helped you out of your…
     trouble.”
    The boy grabbed his hand with his two tiny
     ones and pumped it like he was airing up a flat. “Thank you so
     very, very much!” The child pulled hard and wrapped his arms around
     Hunter, giving a tight hug that reminded him of another little
     kid.
    “Who’s giving out the hugs?”
    Barbie stood and held out her arms. The boy
     broke from Hunter and rushed over to greet her.
    “Hunter