Prey
Disclaimer:See chapter 1
Previously in Prey...
"So now, we just have to wait until the guides come back", Troy says. "They should be back soon; I think our time's almost up."
Before anyone can respond, a loud clicking noise comes from behind them and everyone turns to see three people standing there with the large man in the middle casually aiming a rifle right at them.
"That's where you got it wrong, boy", a deep male voice drawls out in a slow southern accent. "Your time is jest beginnin'."
Chapter 3: The Challenge
Troy looks over at the one who spoke and sees a middle-aged man with shortly cropped, salt and pepper hair. He is tall, easily over six feet, but his large frame and barrel chest make him seem even larger. He's wearing camouflage hunting clothes, an oiled leather Akubrahat with a band of, what looks like, crocodile teeth on his head and flamboyant light tan boots on his feet. The boots have pebbled bumps on them indicative of ostrich skin. The Hunter is standing casually holding a bolt-action rifle equipped with a scope. However, the intense gaze in his eyes makes Troy think that his casual stance is just an act made to give them a false sense of security. Troy isn't feeling very secure at all right now.
"Wow, that's a Weatherby Mark V", remarks Ryan from his position on the ground. He's referring to the rifle that the older man is holding.
"Shhh", hisses Sharpay sharply to her brother.
"What's that, boy?", The Hunter says as his eyes narrow on Ryan.
Sharpay speaks up. "He said you look like Crocodile Dundee."
The younger man standing on The Hunter's right steps forward.
"Watch your mouth little girl. Might be dangerous to your health", he says a heavy cocky accent. He is a short, platinum haired man, wearing a long black leather duster, black jeans, red t-shirt and black, steel-toed Doc Marten boots.
Sharpay raises her eyebrows while she tries to place him. Gabriella beats her to it.
"Jake? Is that you?", she asks in bewilderment.
"Right on the first try, luv."
"I knew she was the smart one, Jakey", the woman on the other side of The Hunter pops up. She is also speaking in an English accent. "Miss Edith told me so."
Sharpay does a double-take when she looks at the woman. She is pencil-thin and has long flowing black hair which, draped next to her skin further accents the paleness of her face. She is wearing a dark purple, vintage-looking calf-length dress with a high, tight bodice. On her feet are black knee length Manolo Blahnik designer boots.
"Do they look familiar to you, Ry?", Sharpay whispers.
"Of course they do, Sharpay", Gabriella says pompously. "That's Jake and Eve. They've just changed clothes."
"I know that", Sharpay snaps back. "It's something else. They remind me of someone else."
"Excuse me!", commands The Hunter. "So sorry for interrupting you two, but we've got some business to discuss."
"Of course, you do", Sharpay says calmly. "We've been through this before. Right, Ryan?" At Ryan's nod, she continues. "And it's not a problem because we're fully insured. Just tell Daddy how much you want and he'll deliver, no questions asked."
"What are you talking about?"
"The ransom money, of course. Now the last guys who took Ryan didn't feed him for two days and let me tell you when Daddy's men finally found them, they were none too nice. So I suggest that you treat us well. And puleeze ... no blindfolds. They reek havoc with my hair."
Troy implores to her anxiously, "Please, Sharpay. Don't do anything to get herself hurt."
"I didn't know you cared."
Troy is about to reply when their attention is drawn back to the big man with the rifle.
The Hunter leans over to Jake and says, "Is this the best you could find? She's nuttier than your girlfriend."
"I knew she'd say that. The pixies in my head whispered it to me", Eve volunteers to no one in particular in an eerie, sing-song voice.
The Hunter just rolls his eyes, but instantly regains his composure and continues talking to the teenagers.
"I'm not kidnapping you, young lady. It's something much more interesting than that. You see, I'm a big game hunter. I've hunted all over the world ... from the jungles of South America to the grasslands of Africa and it's become ... boring. I need a challenge ... something ... or someone who can match wits with me.
"Jake and Eve, here, of course, that's not their real names. They were supposed to find two challenging individuals to alleviate my boredom. Unfortunately, those two people were your real wilderness experts and my over-anxious henchmen, here, killed them by mistake." Gabriella and Ryan let out an involuntary gasps. Jake and Eve look embarrassed at their faux pas.
"I hope it doesn't insult you too much to find out that you're second string." Troy flinches when he hears that. "But here's my proposition ... I will hunt ... two of you. To make it a little more interesting, Jake and Eve will stay here and guard the other two. The two runners will be given a destination, a base, if you will. So it's like a game. If you make it to base in 24 hours, the other two will be released and you all go home. If not, Jake and Eve will kill them. If I kill the two runners, Jake and Even will also kill the other two."
The four teenagers stare back at him in astonishment. Gabriella starts to visibly shake and Troy gathers her into his arms to comfort her.
"Now", The Hunter continues. "How do we decide who runs and who stays?"
"Well, Ryan sprained his ankle, so I think you should pick those two", Sharpay says, pointing to Troy and Gabriella.
"Hey! Great way to stick together", Troy exclaims sarcastically. "Besides, Gabriella can barely walk herself. She has blisters all over her feet."
"Then it's decided. It'll be Blondie and Pretty-Boy, there", The Hunter says, looking first to Sharpay and then, to Troy. Sharpay's eyes narrow to tiny slits. Troy's eyes grow wide. Gabriella trembles even more. And Ryan looks insulted that he wasn't the one called Pretty-Boy.
"I'm not an unreasonable man. I'll give you water and food, plus a map, of course, which will lead you to base. We'll need to take your cellphones, of course, and any weapons you have. Jake..."
Jake and Eve move quickly over to the teenagers and start roughly searching them and their backpacks for the contraband items while The Hunter keeps an eye and a trigger aimed steadily on them.
Jake lets out a low whistle when he pulls Ryan's cellphone out of his bag. "I've hit the motherload here, Eve. It's an iPhone ... always wanted one of these."
"She's got one too", Eve coos when she finds Sharpay's bright pink, jewel-encrusted iPhone. She hands the phone over to Jake.
"Hey, boss. These things have a better signal strength than ours do. This is just ... neat!"
"Great, just what every hoodlum and evildoer needs: a bright pink telephone", The Hunter drolls.
"Hey! Give that back! You ... you, Darbus wannabe!", shouts Sharpay.
"Look, pet. I don't know what a Darbus is, but you'd better watch that mouth before I do something you'll regret", Jake says in a low, menacing voice.
"You don't scare me, Jakey. And you do know you're wearing a woman's coat, right?" At his confused look, she adds, "The buttons are on the left side, genius."
"Well, I found it on the clearance rack."
Sharpay wrinkles her nose in disgust --- buying something on clearance is much worse than cross-dressing. Then, her eyes suddenly light up.
"I know who you remind me of", Sharpay says triumphantly. "You look like Spike and Drusilla ..."
"Yeah...", Troy agrees, nodding in agreement. "...from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I loved that show."
"Me, too", Sharpay says, nodding to Troy with a genuine smile on her face.
"Hey, that Spike guy stole my look", Jake explains indignantly.
Troy and Sharpay look skeptical.
Gabriella whispers to Troy. "I can't believe you liked that vampire show. It was gross."
"Yeah", agrees Ryan. "Sharpay's always liked that blood and guts stuff. I just think it's nasty."
"Alright, people. I want to kill someone, so either we get this show on the road or I'm jest gonna start firin'."
Jake hands The Hunter a cellphone and keeps one for himself. Then, he and Jake give Troy and Sharpay water bottles, some trail bars and a map with 'base' clearly marked on it.
"Your destination is a large rock formation called Table Rock. It's about 15 miles from here. It's 3:00 p.m. now, so you have until 3:00 p.m. tomorrow to get there. Best of luck to you and may the best man win --- who is, of course, ... me."
Troy and Sharpay are still standing there staring at him, not moving.
"Well, what are you waiting for? I'll give you a one hour head start ... so git!"
Sharpay turns anxiously to Ryan who is lying propped up against a tree with his leg still elevated with a sleeping bag.
"I'll be back, Ryan. We'll make it and everything will be fine", she chokes out as she grabs his hand tightly. "You're my baby brother and I'm not going to let you down."
"Only by three minutes, Shar."
"It still counts", she says quickly and with a small smile.
Troy walks over and starts to pull Gabriella into a hug when The Hunter's sharp voice stops him.
"Do you want to me to kill them now? I said git!"
Troy reluctantly steps back and nods solemnly to Sharpay and they take off together up the trail and further into the forest.
"It's already after four", Troy says. "If we're going to make it we're going to have to move fast." He's studying the map as he walks at a quick clip.
"You're right", Sharpay agrees as she widens her steps to keep up.
"Can you keep up?"
"Of course I can, Bolton. Question is ... can you?" Before waiting for an answer, she takes off at a steady jog and Troy moves quickly to run beside her.
An hour later, they take a well deserved break and Troy reaches into the small backpack to retrieve his water bottle. He opens the bottle with a shaky, sweaty hand and lifts it to his mouth.
"No!", Sharpay shrieks and quickly swats the bottle out of his hand. The bottle crashes to the ground and water starts to slowly leak out into the dirt.
"What the hell did you do that for?", Troy shouts angrily.
Sharpay takes a calming breath and says slowly, "It's too dangerous to drink that."
"What are you talking about?"
"It's not a sealed bottle, so you can't be sure it wasn't tampered with." He looks at her quizzically. "I'm a girl. We notice things like that. I never drink anything that I didn't pour myself or open brand new."
Understanding finally dawns on him and he starts to laugh at her. "You're kidding me. You actually think they'd try to slip us roofies?"
"Can you be sure they wouldn't?"
He thinks about it a minute and has to concede her point.
"Then, what do we drink?"
"The water in the streams around here is safe to drink. We can wash out the bottles and refill them when we find a stream."
Troy looks at her thoughtfully and then finally asks the question he's been wanting to ask the whole time. "How do you know all this stuff anyway? Were you in some play that dealt with survival? Or were you a girl scout or something?"
"That's a long story..."
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"Well, their hour's almost up. Guess I should go put them out of their misery", The Hunter says slowly as he rechecks his ammunition and supplies.
"No need to hurry, boss", Jake tells him. He has just finished handcuffing Gabriella's left hand to Ryan's right hand and then Ryan's left hand to a tent spike and since Ryan can't walk, he's reasonably sure that they won't run off.
"What are you talking about, Jake?"
"Let's just say I tilted the odds in your direction a little. Added a litel som'hin' ta their water."
"You what?!", The Hunter booms angrily.
Nervously, Jake explains, "I added roofies to their water bottles, sir. So's they wouldn't give you too much trouble, ya' know."
"You stupid idiot. If you've ruined my fun, I'll be hunting you soon ... boy."
Then, he turns and stalks out of the camp in the direction of Troy and Sharpay.
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They find a stream not five minutes walk from where they had stopped. It was easy to spot, according to Sharpay, because of the lush vegetation that was sprouting up near by. The young, abundant growth is a sure indication of a nearby water source.
"It's all my mother's fault, actually. She's this rapid, tree-hugging, Vegan who insists that we come with her every summer for two weeks of primitive camping so we can commune with nature, meditate through tenon snapping yoga exercises and in the process, lose ten pounds. But the weight lose isn't on purpose, it's because the food she forces us to eat is so nasty we can barely stomach it. She's been bringing Ryan and me here for as long as we can remember", Sharpay finally explains when she has her bottle sufficiently rinsed out and refilled with fresh spring water.
"Wow, you'd never guess that by looking at you." Troy's lying back on the softy mossy ground after having sated his thirst.
"I may know how to survive out here, but that doesn't mean I like it."
"Well, we'll probably never know if that water was spiked or not, but I think it's a good idea to be on the safe side. And we probably shouldn't eat the energy bars either."
"I agree", she says reluctantly, "but I'm already starting to get hungry."
"Let's not think about that now. And we'd better get going; he's probably already started hunting us."
"You're right and we're taking a chance by staying on the trail, but we'll make much better time here, rather than in the woods, so it's a calculated risk."
Troy stands up slowly and stretches.
"Let's stay on the trail until it starts to get dark, then we'll move off the trail. We've only got about one more hour 'til we lose the light", Troy suggests.
He casually reaches down and offers his hand to Sharpay. She takes it and pops up more quickly than she realizes and finds herself much closer to Troy Bolton than she intended.
"Good idea", she whispers breathlessly.
He inhales sharply and takes in the sweet smell of ... "What kind of perfume are you wearing? It's nice --- much better than what you used in the summer."
"I'm not wearing any", she replies in a barely audible whisper. "It's not good to come in the forest with perfume on. It attracts all sorts of unwanted ... interest." She's standing so close to him that she can feel his heart pounding in his chest.
Troy shakes his head to clear it and steps back suddenly. "Sorry", he mumbles, "I didn't mean..."
"Oh, you didn't ...", she mumbles back. "I mean ... we'd better get moving again."
"Yeah, you're right."
They get back on the trail at their steady jog, but this time they're unconsciously running closer to each other.
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The Hunter reaches sees where his prey's trail veers off the trail and follows it to a small stream a few minutes away. The grass is dented down and he surmises that they must have taken a break here.
"Good; hopefully, they didn't drink any of the drugged water", he says to himself. "Maybe they're smarter than I thought." A small smile crosses his face.
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"The Big Bad is back!", shouts Jake as he tosses two bags towards Ryan and Gabriella.
They look suspiciously at the McDonald's bags lying on the ground next to them.
"Oh, come on. What do you take me for?"
"Oh, you know", Gabriella says with more courage than she has. "A kidnapper, a killer, an evil minion? You pick? We heard you tell your boss about the drugs in the water."
"For the luv of...", Jake starts and then, he stomps over to the two teenagers causing Ryan to lift himself up and try to shield Gabriella. However, Jake just grabs one of the bags, removes the burger and tries a big bite. "See? It's perfectly safe. Not all that good, mind you? But perfectly safe. Personally, I'd prefer some good ole bangers and mash. Itin that right, Eve?"
"Mmmm, love those bangers, Jakey", Eve coos seductively, making him think she's not actually talking about sausages.
"Right. You two eat or not. I don't really care, but Eve and me got some business to take care of, right luv?"
Jake and Eve disappear into the woods, making them believe that Sharpay was probably right about that hidden RV, after all. Gabriella reaches forward and is just able to grab the two bags. She passes one to Ryan and opens her own, wrinkling her nose at having to eat a burger that that disgusting man bit.
"I'll take that one", offers Ryan. "I don't mind, really."
She smiles at him a little. "It's okay. You're already injured. That would be like double-dipping on the martyr list."
They eat in silence for a while before Ryan sighs suddenly and says what they're both thinking. "I wonder what's happening out there. I wonder if they're still...", but he can't bring himself to voice the words, so he falls silent again.
Gabriella reaches over to hold his hand and says quietly, "Me, too."
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The sun is starting to drop in the west when Troy and Sharpay stop to take another break. The trail is so narrow at this point, that there's no where to rest in the thick forest on either side. Therefore, they're forced to just lie down flat on their backs on the rough trail itself. They take long drags on their water bottles and fall silent --- their own deep breaths, as they try to slow their racing hearts, is the only sound. Until Troy breaks that blessed silence...
"God! I'm so hungry. I'd give my left nut for a double cheeseburger", he exclaims passionately.
Sharpay, to her credit, doesn't blink an eye. Instead, she boosts herself up on her elbow and she says in a matter-of-fact manner, "Why? What's wrong with it?"
"What's wrong with what?"
"Your left nut. I mean why are guys always willing to sacrifice their left nuts. Is it not as good as the right one? Do you not like it as much?", she asks seriously.
"What! There's nothing wrong with either one of them and I value both of them, immensely. Believe me." He unconsciously reaches down and cups his hands over himself in a protective gesture.
"Oh, I do", she replies wryly.
"I can't believe we're having this discussion."
"Neither do I", says a deep voice.
Troy and Sharpay immediately jump to their feet when see The Hunter standing only 15 feet from them. They're so stunned that their feet are rooted to the ground and they can't move. The Hunter slowly raises his rifle and takes aim at Sharpay. Troy bravely steps in front of her and stands trembling before the crazed man.
The Hunter, seeing that they aren't going to run, decides to take things slow and do it right. He takes a deep breath and lets it out; he takes a second breath and lets out half of it and holds the rest. He knows that deep breathing will provide his blood with oxygen which will help steady his hand, clear his vision and calm his nerves. Holding the last breath will keep his aim steady since his chest is not moving.
Next, is the hardest part. He will have to do his best to relax and not let himself get caught up in the excitement. He needs to focus on calming himself and relaxing so his sights don't dance around as much.
He lifts the scope to his eyes and makes sure his vision through the scope is clear and bright with no half-moon shadows on the left, right, top, or bottom. A common mistake at this stage is to grip the rifle too tightly. He takes up the slack in his trigger pull. Once he has taken the slack out of the trigger pull, he's ready to fire.
Now it's time to squeeze the trigger. He knows he must avoid flinching. Flinching will cause him to jerk the rifle and he'll miss.
Sharpay, realizing that there's nowhere for them to run, wraps her arms around Troy from behind and buries her head in his back. Troy, as brave as he is, squeezes his eyes shut and waits. Then, The Hunter squeezes the trigger and ... nothing happens. The rifle misfires.
"Dud", grumbles The Hunter.
Troy slowly peeks one eye open and sees The Hunter staring at his rifle in disbelief. Then, he snarls and pulls a pistol out of the belt. Troy realizes they've been given a second chance. He quickly turns around, grabs Sharpay's hand and blasts off up the trail.
The trail slopes steeply up for about a hundred more yards where it reaches the top of a hill. Over their own ragged breaths and pounding hearts, they can hear The Hunter cursing behind them and a shot ricochets off a nearby branch.
They reach the crest of the hill and stop short. They're both staring down in disbelief at a raging river 25 feet below.
"Oh God, where's the bridge?", Sharpay shouts anxiously. "There's supposed to be a bridge!"
Troy turns to look back toward their pursuer. He gaining on them. Troy looks left and right at the dense underbrush of the forest and realizes there's no where else to go. This is it. Looking to Sharpay, he does the only thing he can think to do.
"Sharpay? Can you swim?"
However, before waiting for an answer he shoves her as hard as he can off the cliff. He jumps seconds later and they both plunge down towards the angry, churning water below.
Insert evil cliff (literally) hanger music here
TBC
I'm in full research mode in this chapter. My cute, sexy nerd who won't read my stories (remember him?), anyway, he told me what kind of weapons to use and I was trying (not very successively) to rhyme Weatherby with Crocodile Dundee. Oh and Weatherby rifles cost over $2,000.
I did the clothing descriptions from Sharpay's POV because I figure she's the only one who'd know the brand names of the boots.
I'm a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan and Spike just melts my insides. Therefore, I couldn't help but dress the bad guys like Spike and Drusilla. BTW, Spike really did wear a woman's coat. He got his gorgeous leather duster from the slayer he killed in the 1970's. They showed that in a flashback. Also, he really did say, "This is just ... neat!" and he was often referred to as The Big Bad.
And Drusilla was a wacked out nut job who had a doll named Miss Edith who told her the future.