The Hunter Read Online Free Page A

meant that
     they could not release their grip as long as his weight pulled against them. Therefore, so long as he was held by the beast’s
     jaws, it could not bite himelsewhere. In a manner of speaking, while it held him, it was helpless to defend itself.
    The logic of his thoughts progressed slowly through his numbed mind. Reaching across his body, under the throat of the lupebeast,
     Braldt drew his knife from its sheath and, forcing his arm to move, raised the blade. Things seemed to move in slow motion,
     taking two or even three times the span of time that they would take in real life. Slowly, inexorably, the knife came up,
     up, up, and then, at last, pierced the outstretched throat of the lupebeast, severing it, slicing through one, then both of
     the great arteries that lay on either side of the neck. Soon the beast ceased to growl, its voice box ruptured, and shook
     its head from side to side, jerking Braldt and his rag-doll body with it as it raged against the pain, feeling its life slipping
     away.
    The darkness came then and carried Braldt away on waves of blackness, its peaks tinged with crimson, and blessedly he allowed
     himself to slip beneath the surface into nothingness.
    It was that same pain that brought him back, depositing him on the shores of consciousness like some bit of storm-tossed jetsam.
     His shoulder was still anchored between the jaws of the dead beast, ripped and torn into a gruesome mess of shredded flesh.
     The dead eyes of the beast stared into his own and a carrion fly crawled across the unblinking surface.
    The air was thick with humming fat, blue-bodied flies. They swarmed in a solid mat over the clotted blood of the beast’s wounds,
     as well as his own. He could feel them moving, burrowing into his torn flesh to feed and lay their eggs that would be cemented
     in place by a mixture of mucus and feces. Disgust welled up in him, and bringing up his free arm, he tried to dislodge the
     lupebeast’s jaws.
    At the first move, the carrion flies rose up in a buzzing metallic-hued swarm, then settled again to continue gorging on the
     blood. He felt them squash beneath his palm as he beat upon the dead beast. The pain threatened to overcome him again, but
     he bit down on his lip, bringing fresh pain that held the darkness at bay. He pushed and pried at thejaws, at the clenched teeth, but they would not loosen their grip, held in place firmly by the rictus of death.
    Braldt felt around on the hard stony ground and found his knife. Slowly, and with great deliberation, holding the pain back
     by sheer willpower, he hacked at the lupebeast’s muzzle, chipping away at the bone until he severed the upper jaw completely.
     Only then was he able to remove the terrible teeth from his flesh. The pain was so great that again he was forced to give
     in to it and the darkness curled over him once more.
    The flies were crawling inside his mouth and exploring his nostrils when he wakened, and he spat them out like stones and
     staggered out from beneath the corpse of the lupebeast, which was beginning to swell and stink with putrefaction.
    His legs shook with weakness and he knew they would not carry him down the narrow, treacherous trail. The air was thick with
     the stink of the dead lupebeasts and the clouds of flies. Braldt moved back into the cool shadows of the cave, realizing that
     it was midday and dimly wondering how long he had lain unconscious. The passage of time did not matter, thirst and fever would
     kill him if he did not find some way of assuaging both.
    He could barely feel the rough ground beneath his feet; it almost seemed as though he were floating, bumping along beneath
     the ceiling, his feet a thousand leagues below. He looked down and nearly toppled over, so great was the distance to his toes.
     His arm was caked with blood and dirt and hung useless at his side, unfeeling. But his tongue, ah, his tongue was swelled
     to thrice its normal size and filled his mouth like a rock.