Forbidden River (The Legionnaires #2.5)(14)

She chewed her lip. He seemed eager to talk. Too much time alone? The rock bank curved behind her like a sheer amphitheater. She couldn’t climb or run or fight, but she could stall until Cody got away. “Your name’s Shane, right? I’m Tia.”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember you, course.” He looped Jaws’s slack leash around a tree, secured it and sat with his back against the trunk. “Pigs are pretty good hunting—they really fight ya,” he said, like she’d just asked a question on the topic. “Especially if you use the knife and the dogs, not the AR. They’re a bit of fun. Stags, nah, too big a target, too easy. Just, boom, and it’s all over. Most animals ’round here are no fun with guns, unless you wanna go after birds, but they’re mostly natives so I leave ’em alone. Just the hawks coz they’re Australian—and they’re fun when they fall.” He made a spinning movement with a finger, emitting a low whistle. “I’m basically one of them, like, greenies.”

“A greenie?”

“Yeah, you know. Saving the environment and shit.”

O-kay. “You know your dogs are killing kiwi?”

“Yeah, yeah, that one by the hut? Knew you’d go off at me about that. Believe me, it’s not how I trained them, the buggers. It’s this one what’s the problem.” He swiped at Jaws and laughed when it flinched. “Nah, see, she’s not that bad. Knows who’s boss. We’ll see, we’ll see.”

“We could really use a guy like you as a trapper,” Tia ventured. “We always need people who know the bush, understand the problems. I could get you on the payroll when I return.”

“Nah, I’m not into traps. They’re cowardly, you know—well, except when you use them on humans. That’s pretty fun. Nah, you wanna hunt with guns, and humans make the best hunting. Animals are too predictable, see? They do exactly what you expect, every time. I been hunting them all me life.” He sniffed and wiped his nose along his knuckles. “Used to go hunting with the old man before he fucked off. And don’t you go judging him for walking out because you never met my mother. Right bitch, that one. Nah, humans are all different, eh? They try and outguess you, you know? It’s a fair fight.”

“Not when you’re armed and they’re not.”

“Ah, I give ’em a chance. Well, not the blokes. You never know when they’re gunna try and be a hero and go after you. Nah, you get rid of them and go after the women.” He licked his thin, dry lips. “See, the women, they’re smart. They know they gotta use their brains, not try and fight. They gotta run, try and trick you, talk, beg, fuck with you, keep you guessing. Cat and mouse, see? The men, that’s like cat and cat and that’s never gunna be fun, right? Not enough of a game. Nah, with them you just—” He mimed lifting a rifle and firing, blowing his cheeks out with a poof.

Where did she even start with that? “You know it’s wrong to hunt humans.”

“Yeah, I don’t reckon it should be. Humans are the fucking problem with this world. They could use a bit of a cull, eh?”

“You know it’s against the law?”

“Won’t be soon, when the end times come. No more laws. I read about it. I follow this dude’s blog and he knows all this shit. Preppers, that’s what we’re called. Survival of the fittest and all that.” His lips angled down in an exaggerated frown. “You seen all the shit that’s happening in the world. End times are coming sooner than you think. It’ll be dog-eat-dog. Except, you know, with humans. Except, well, I’m not eating anyone. Some people might, I guess, when it gets that bad. But not me. Not my thing.”

She stole a glance at her watch. Past 1800. Cody might give her some extra time, but he’d know not to wait too long.

“How would you feel if someone was hunting you, if they hurt someone you love?” She was saying whatever bollocks came to mind, but the longer they sat here, the more time Cody had.

“I’d fucking slaughter them. But I don’t give a fuck about anyone and no one gives a fuck about me, so all good there. I’m not the sort of guy people warm to.” He said it like he was letting her in on a secret.

“Okay, well, just so you know, my brother and grandfather would be gutted if something happened to me.”

“Huh,” he said, unmoved. She’d met people like him before, desperate people with that dead look in their eyes, who’d shrugged off their humanity for the sake of survival.

She tried again. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

He shrugged. “Okay.”

“Do you...feel emotions?”

“Nah, that’d be weak, eh? Sometimes I get angry, you know, but not so much up here, where no one pisses me off. It’s peaceful, eh?” He smoothed his hands along the rifle resting across his knees. “I mean, I’m not thick. Lotta people think I am but I’m not. I know you’re not supposed to hunt humans but I’m doing us all a favor. When the end times come we’re gunna need the strong ones. You might survive, you know. We’re gunna need some women but they gotta be tough. No fucking princesses, eh? Even a woman’s gotta be useful for something. Well, something more than the obvious, right?” He laughed. “It’s all about getting ready. Yeah, nah, those last ones, they were disappointing, eh? Especially those Germans. I thought they might of worked out better. You’re gunna be good, though, you’re gunna be good. I can tell.” He looked at her bloody hands. “Your leg’s pretty fucked up, eh? I’d give you something for it but it’d be cheating for you. Gotta do this organically and shit. I might have to shoot it. Really put it out of action.”