The Hunt Read Online Free PDF Page A

It’ll take a few minutes. There are pods that do the opposite too, if you need to calm one down.”
    She started mumbling to herself while she cleaned up the rest of the blood streaking the floor. She didn’t do a very good job. He peered into the bin where she tossed the soiled cloth and found hundreds more rags, all soaked with blood.
    Lucky stared at the bobcat. The wound might be technically healed, but it still looked raw and painful. Slowly the bobcat opened one glazed-over eye.
    There was pain there, and suddenly Lucky was back on his granddad’s farm. He’d seen the same look in his granddad’s horses when they were ill or injured. But that was different. Illnessescouldn’t be helped, sometimes horses just went lame, but this . . . This was sport .
    His fingers curled around the bars of the nearest cage, squeezing so tight his joints ached. The Kindred had healed his busted hand when they’d taken him, and now he was in danger of breaking it again out of anger.
    Something in the bottom of the nearest empty cell caught his eye. A book. The Call of the Wild. And in a bin in the corner, there was a blanket and one of those old-fashioned ball-and-cup games.
    His head whipped to Pika. “They keep people in these cells too?”
    She chewed on the tip of her braid. “Of course. This is where we all sleep.”
    Her words sank in slowly. All of them—humans and animals, as if there was no difference. And maybe, to the Kindred, there wasn’t.
    In the cell, the bobcat’s eyes were both open now, and it was breathing steadily, but it hadn’t bothered to stand up. Why would it? It had probably gone through this dozens of times already. An endless cycle that always ended in pain.
    Was this his life now? Sleeping in filth? Spending his days cleaning up the Kindred’s messes? He looked at his nails, his breathing coming quick and unsteady, wondering how long before he was as scraggly as the rest of the kids.
    The bobcat blinked.
    â€œYou said the Kindred hunt with rifles?” Lucky asked.
    Pika’s mumbling ended. She chewed harder on her braid, darting looks toward the red door that led to the lodge. “Don’t get any ideas. The rifles don’t work for us, only for the Kindred.If you tried to pull the trigger, nothing would happen. Trust me, we’ve all tried.” She giggled again, more nervously. “The Kindred aren’t stupid.”
    He watched the bobcat slowly close its eyes. He sank down next to it, wanting to hide his face from Pika, his breath coming faster, the panic he was trying to swallow back. There was no going home—that’s what he’d learned from their botched escape. Not for him. Not for Pika. Not for these animals either.
    He gently stroked the bobcat’s mangy fur.
    He wished he could do more. He wished he could do anything . Because if the Kindred hunted animals just for sport, what did they do to humans?
    The backstage door opened, and two Kindred carried in sealed crates. Pika jumped up, tugging on Lucky’s jacket. “Fresh supplies!” she said, their talk of rifles already forgotten. “Oh boy! Sometimes they put in salt licks for the animals, but we get first dibs. They’re so good. Like potato chips. Only without the chips. So basically just salt, I guess.” She trailed off, mumbling to herself excitedly as she dragged him toward the feed room.
    The Kindred set down the crates. “Is it only the two of you back here?” one asked.
    â€œYep!” Pika said, tearing open the crate.
    â€œDo not leave this feed room until you have finished unpacking all the supplies.” The Kindred exchanged a look, then closed the door firmly behind them.

4
    Cora
    THE GAUNTLET .
    Cora raised an eyebrow at the word Cassian had just spoken. “Why does that sound suspiciously like something that’s going to get me killed?”
    Cassian motioned for her to follow him into the