Hunted

Despite the cloying heat of the ambient air, a chill suddenly ran down Daryl’s spine and he stepped backward. Was she looking at him?

“Get the fuck down you bloody idiot before she sees you,” hissed a man’s voice behind him, the tone of urgency unmistakable.

Daryl glanced quickly in the direction of the speaker, though his eyes quickly returned to the woman. Reaching her hands over her head and interlocking her fingers, she stretched languidly. She was absolutely gorgeous, perfect body.

“If you do not move right now, you will die!” imparted the hidden speaker.

Whether it was the tone or message, Daryl seemed to snap to, eyes now actively looking for the owner of the voice.

A man’s face appeared between two shrub-like bushes situated against the wall near the entrance to the front office of the motel. He appeared to be pretty young, maybe even still a teenager. “Here!” he said, waving an excited hand and beckoning Daryl over.

Moving quickly, Daryl crossed the pavement and slid between the shrubs, the brittle branches covered in dry leaves scratching at his exposed skin. “Who are you?” he asked, positioning himself so he could see Hayley from his concealment and realizing the younger man was naked but covered in ash and grime.

The youth hastily pulled at the sheet Daryl was wearing, trying to remove it. “You have to get rid of this, if the white catches her eye, she’ll come over here and get us,” he said, powder blue eyes round and full of fear.

Daryl thought about raising protest, but the terror in the boy’s eyes frightened him and he allowed the sheet to be drawn away and rolled up in a tight ball.

“Cover yourself in dirt,” instructed the boy, lifting some off the ground and covering the sheet before pressing some against Daryl’s chest.

Nodding mutely, Daryl scooped up some dirt and began smearing his body.

“Stop moving!” the boy abruptly commanded through clenched teeth, eyes staring in the direction of the woman in the distance.

Daryl paused, looking out of his periphery in the same direction. She was intently looking their way, head tilted slightly to the side, eyes scouring the area in and around the motel, smile playing across her pretty mouth.

Suddenly she moved, stepping forward.

“Whatever you do, stay still,” said the boy, grabbing Daryl forcibly by the arm, grip like iron.

It took her no more than a dozen strides to cover the distance from the apartment building to the motel. Dropping to one knee and supporting herself with a hand, she leaned down and looked along the line of doors of the motel.

Daryl could feel the kid trembling through the hand on his arm and found he was holding his own breath. This close to the woman was truly frightening, especially after watching her devour a handful of other people. She was so massive, he doubted he was even as big as one of her little fingers. The ground seemed to shake and there was a low rumbling sound.

“Anything” asked another female voice, dulcet and melodic, but loud. The speaker out of their line of sight. Daryl didn’t recognize her voice.

Leaning back, “I thought I caught a glimmer of something moving over here,” Hayley said, placing her hands on hips and shaking her head slowly. Her leg was so close to the brush, Daryl realized if she shifted it the wrong way when she got up, she would inadvertently crush them against the motel wall.

The leg moved and Hayley stood upright. From his hiding spot, Daryl was looking up the outside of her left thigh. Another feminine foot appeared, similar in dimension to the one attached to Hayley’s leg. Shifting slightly, he tried to look up to see her, but she was too close he couldn’t see passed her smooth round breasts.

“You found some over there?” asked the other woman, extending an arm and pointing toward the five story apartment building.

The was a chuckle, “Several in fact,” Hayley said, moving leisurely back in that direction, followed by the other woman, long dark hair hanging down to the middle of her back swaying from side to side in time with  her very lovely hips as she followed.

“Will you tell me what the hell is going on?” Daryl asked.

The youth shuddered, letting out a breath, “That’s Tamsin, my girlfriend, well my ex-girlfriend,” he said, releasing his death grip from Daryl’s arm.

Rubbing at his tingling arm and trying to coax blood back into the extremity, Daryl said, “The blonde is Hayley, one of my ex-girlfriends,” he said. “There was a redhead near that building earlier and I’m pretty sure it was Julianne,” he added, opening and closing his hand to flex his fingers.

The two women paused near the apartment building a moment before moving off and being swallowed up by the gloom.

The youth turned to Daryl, “We got lucky today,” he said, grin on his grime stained face, then he stood up, picking up a dirty cloth bundle from against the wall Daryl hadn’t realized was there.

Following suit, Daryl also stood up, “I don’t understand,” he said, discovering the lanky youth was actually a few inches taller than his own 6’1”.

“I’ve been here feels like forever, but probably maybe three months, I don’t know. I’ve only ever run into other men our size here, never a normal size woman. All of them are huge, like what you saw,” he explained, looping the rolled cloth bundle over his shoulder and slipping through the branches of the shrub, moving surreptitiously toward the road, eyes intently fixed on the apartment in the distance.

“Well that doesn’t make any sense because yesterday everything was completely normal and now it’s all fucked,” Daryl snorted, still completely befuddled by what was happening.

Halting and turning his head to look at Daryl over his shoulder, the other man said, “I didn’t make the rules here dude, I’m just telling you what I’ve seen is all,” he replied with a chuckle before resuming his walking.

“You say there are more people here, how many other guys here have you met?” Daryl asked, falling in step behind the younger man.

“Don’t know, ten, dozen maybe, come on, you’ll see,” he responded with a shrug.

“Why was she so goddamn big?”

The younger man shrugged.

Daryl shook his head, “I don’t understand. I have absolutely no bloody clue what the hell is going on here,” he blurted back.

“You survive here one day at a time man, if you’re lucky, now come on before it’s all gone,” urged the youth, picking up his pace.

“Before what’s all gone?” Daryl asked, increasing his stride.

The kid chuckled, “You’ll see.”

“Fuck,” Daryl muttered.