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source of that light.
Still hunting.

“ J
ESUS
M
URPHY
,
boy! ” Morley Orris lowered his shotgun,
recognizing one of his best new customers. “What in the hell are you doin’, runnin’ at me like that? I nearly plugged you!”
     
“ Please! ” Thomas was shivering. He looked over his shoulder. “There’s something following me!”
    “Yeah, but I doubt he’d mean you any harm,” Orris groused, hefting his gun and peering warily into the darkness. “We’re closer to my greenhouse than my truck. C’mon, we’ll hole up there until it’s light. It’ll be dawn in a few minutes.”
    “I don’t want to stay here!” Thomas dug his heels in, tugging Orris’s arm. “P-please let’s go to your truck and get the fuck out of here!”
    They both heard something dry snap underfoot in the forest behind them. “Huh, now that’s strange; usually he don’t come too close to folks,” Orris noted. But there was one other possibility, and that definitely gave him a cold chill when he remembered the dead raccoon and the warning before his last push for more money. “C’mon, let’s head for my clearing!” He shoved Thomas ahead and trained his shotgun on their back trail. Just his luck the fool boy had come running to him for help. But at least he was someone who could be counted on not to blab about Orris’s crop to the Chief.
A branch swayed a few feet behind them, and Orris had a sudden, bad feeling—
    “ Run, boy! ” he yelled.
L
EAPING over rocks and fallen logs, gasping for breath, Orris kept the flashlight trained on the ground in front of them. Thomas was in the lead with Orris behind him, one impatient hand shoving him forward as they sprinted for the meadow.
    And then they could see the little structure through the woods, Orris’s green grow lights casting an eerie beacon, the generator humming, the sound both prosaic and reassuring.
    “ Almost there! ” Orris gasped in triumph from behind him. “Door’s unlocked, just—”
Thomas snatched the thin plywood door and it creaked open triumphantly. Safe. They were—
    The flashlight went out. Thomas didn’t want to look back, but he couldn’t help himself, head turning, looking out of the corner of his eye.
    “H-hey, Orris?” he whispered.
Boom! Boom!
He fell back inside the greenhouse, slamming the wooden door
    shut.
A choked off scream, sound like… wet paper tearing—
    Thomas waited, his heart beating in his ears, huddled on the greenhouse floor, hands around his knees. He heard something moving around outside .
    “Mister?” he called softly.
Something scratched at the door, as if searching for the latch.
Please… please…. He wasn’t sure whom he was begging as he trembled in the darkness.
     
I’m safe. Nothing’s out there. I’m safe. He said the mantra over and over again in his head.
     
Then the door was thrown open, and he screamed—

“ S
HIT ! ” Kell was over the rise like a big cat. He could see a faint
light coming through the trees where the gunshots and the scream had come from—
     
Alec pulled out his shotgun and ran beside him, eyes wide and dark as he tracked the woods around them.
    T
HEIR feet hit a path only as wide as a single man could run. Kell took point, trusting Alec to get his back since they’d served together in the Rangers. Suddenly, they exploded into a clearing as the sun prickled through the bottom of the trees, lighting the grass and a greenhouse in the center.
    Instinctively Kell fell back on training, knowing Alec would also remember. He held up his fist and then made a familiar hand sign: cover this area.
    Gliding opposite Kell, Alec circled, his eyes showing white as he peered around warily. Kell took the other side, keeping the hut and Alec in his line of vision.
    Nothing.
Then Alec gestured, come.
    Kell sprinted across the meadow to his deputy’s side. Alec pointed. More crushed brush, like something had rolled… or been dragged….
Kell knelt, touching one of the leaves. “Blood,”