Free THEM (Season 1): Episode 1 by M.D. Massey Page A

Gabby.”
    “Gabriella is a beautiful name. Gabriel was the messenger of God in the Bible. It’s a good name.” I could hear her quiet breathing in the dark, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “I’m not going to hurt you, Gabby. I hunt monsters, not people. Now, get some sleep.”
    I only dozed off after hearing her breathing slow into the steady cadence of deep sleep that comes from knowing you’re safe. I expected it had been a while since she felt completely safe from whatever things, man or creature, had been hunting her since she lost her uncle. Poor kid. I’d have to figure out what to do with her in the morning.
    - - -

[7 ]

FOUL
    I woke before Gabby did, and waited to hear her stir to see what she’d do. After getting dressed in the dark, she waited without a sound for me to wake. Truth be told, I’d wanted to get a move on earlier, but I hated to wake the kid, figuring this was the first good rest she’d had in a while. Plus, I needed to see if she’d try to bolt with any of my stuff. Trust was a hard thing to come by out here, and even though she’d saved my hide yesterday, I wasn’t going to assume any deep loyalties from her.
    “I’m already up, Gabby,” I said as I turned my flashlight on. I’d already gotten my gear together in the dark while she was sleeping, and was ready go to before she awoke. She was covering her eyes from the sudden glare as I looked over at her. She appeared ready to go, another indication that she’d been living the hunter’s life for a while.
    Curious, I decided to find out more. “Your uncle—how long had he been a hunter?”
    She shrugged. “As long as I can remember. My parents died in the War, so he raised me. He—wasn’t a very nice man before the War, at least that’s what he told me. He was good at killing Them, and I think that’s why, because of what he did before. He taught me how to be a hunter, too.”
    I paused and waited. It was the most I’d heard out of her since we’d saved each other’s bacon, and I needed to hear more before I decided what to do with her. Without any prodding, she continued. “I guess my uncle had been a soldier before the War, for the Mexican army. He did things that were against the law when he got out of the army, working for people who sold drugs. He found me in one of the camps after the bombs fell and my parents were killed. When the camps started getting overrun, he took me away to live outside of the cities.”
    She paused and took a sip of water, then continued. “About three weeks ago, we were hunting a revenant for a small settlement about thirty miles north and east of here. They were living pretty close to the Corridor, which my tío said was stupid, but we needed the work.”
    “You helped him hunt?”
    “Yeah, but mostly just during the day. He’d leave me in safe houses or in the settlements at night when he was out.” She wiped something out of her eye and turned away from me, rustling around in her bag as a pretense for hiding her face. “This time, he just never came back.”
    “The men in the settlement—did they hurt you, Gabby?”
    She took a moment before answering. “No, I didn’t let them. When it was clear that my tío wasn’t coming back, I split when they weren’t paying attention and went out to look for him. All I found was some of his gear, and some big footprints, like a dog almost. I got scared and ran.”
    I handed her a little jerky and bread, and let her eat for a minute or two. “Gabby, I know this is probably a lot to ask, but do you think you can take me to where your uncle disappeared?”
    She looked up at me with fear and uncertainty in her eyes. Then something snapped into place within her, like the bolt sliding forward on an assault rifle to feed a new round. I could see on her face that she wanted to find her uncle, dead or alive. She nodded once, and continued eating. Tough kid.
    I took a little sustenance myself, and then topped off our water bottles and