Herrinhiyn: Day of the Hunter

I yelp as water is dumped over me, and flinch back to the walk. I blink a dozen times, trying to get accustomed to the light, or the lack of it really. Was this another training test? My body aches a little, and as I look down I realize I'm totally naked. Who undressed me? What the hell?!

I glance up, seeing the space I've been confined to. It's tight, only six or so feet long, and maybe four feet wide. The ceiling is only five-ish feet tall- as I stand I have to crouch. I go to the door, which is just a heavy metal cage door. There is a small cutout at the bottom where food can be shoved in, but every other hole in the grating is too small for my hand to fit through.

I try tugging on the door, but it doesn't move. Not much of a surprise.

I try to recall how I ended up here. All I remember is the bar, and a stunning woman. She'd been really interested in me, more than the typical women at the base's local bar. She'd asked about my family- none, my friends- only my fellow soldiers, and pets- none. And she'd really loved that I was training to be a Ranger... So much she wanted to take me home with her...

Had she done something to me? Clearly, she had... Maybe she'd been some sort of test, and now I was going to go through the 'torture' part of training, and have my limits tested. Seemed reasonable enough.

I froze as someone walked by my cell, followed by two more people dragging an unconscious naked man. A green collar was the only thing on him, and for the first time I became aware of something wrapped around my own neck. I tugged at the thick leather, then felt for the lock, finding only a metal band at the back, and a heavy D ring set into the front.

I tugged and pulled at the collar, but could not remove it no matter what. Frustrated, I looked around my cell, noting the small raised basin in the back. Looking down it, all I saw was a pipe, only about five inches wide. Probably the toilet.

The only other thing of note was the drain in the floor of the cell. The floor sloped downwards from every corner from it, but the slope is minimal and barely noticeable. I go over the space one more time, looking and feeling for anything else, but all my search tells me is that the room is made from solid concrete and that I'm not getting out unless someone lets me out.

Resigned, I sit by the door, watching the hallway and the three cells I can see into from my own cell. There isn't anyone in them, and I try to get comfortable on the bare concrete floor.

I do look up as the trio of people walk past. Now that I'm closer I see that they are a woman and two men. The female is a blonde woman who has harshness written into every ridge of her body. The men are rugged looking, and their flannel and t-shirts clash with her crisp pencil skirt and blouse.

They ignore me, and after a minute I hear the opening and closing of a heavy metal door, and the audible clank of heavy bolts being locked down.

"Hello?" I try, after listening long enough to silence.

"Hello! Thank Christ, someone to talk to."

I try to figure out where the voice comes from- a few cells from my right, maybe?

"Um, yeah. What the hell is going on? Is this part of training?"

The voice laughs. It's definitely male.

"I don't think so. Unless the Marines changed how they train."

"Marines? I'm trying to be a fucking Ranger! Unless this is some other Special Forces type shit?!"

"I dunno man. I've not been here long enough to know, and nobody else will talk to me. I tried the ones bringing people in- they didn't even pay me any attention."

"Still, has to be some sort of training thing. Doesn't make any sense otherwise."

"I'm a forest ranger. Not military. Explain why I'm here."

The new voice sounds farther away, but I can tell it's another guy. He has a bit of an accent, possibly a northern one?

"I've got no clue." I say, even more confused.

"You the blonde guy they brought in a few hours ago, or the brunette with a beard?"

I pause, unsure of who the first guy was talking to.

"I'm blonde." responds Northern Voice.

"I'm the bearded one." I say. "My name is Rhett."

"I'm Duke." says the first guy.

"Jack." Northern Voice says.

"I'd say nice to meet y'all, but I'm unsure of this situation." I say.

Duke laughs, but stops suddenly, groaning.

"You oka-"

My own voice is cut off as the collar around my neck shocks me with enough juice to make me curl up on the floor. I groan, then sit back against the wall. My hands go back up to the collar, now more desperately looking for a way to get it off my neck, but once again I find nothing.

It's just one thick heavy leather band with a D ring and a metal band in the back.

"Wha-"

Again, I groan as the collar shocks me again, this time more powerfully. My body seizes for a second, screaming at me as I realize that it's shocking me because I'm talking.

As the pain clears I try again to tug the collar, shifting it so that the metal band is in the front by my neck. I can barely feel where the leather meets the metal, and I can't feel any sore to connection point. No matter how much I pull, the leather doesn't even stretch.

So, I can't talk without being shocked, and I'm locked in a tiny cell until my captors see fit to release me. I'm butt naked except a collar, and from what little info I've gotten doesn't explain my situation one bit.

What the hell is going on.

I resume sitting on the floor, then try whispering to myself, thinking that maybe I could be quiet enough to not activate the collar.

But no, it shocks me again, this time seeming to radiate through my entire body, forcing me to curl up on the floor, each muscle fighting the next until is stops, leaving me gasping.

I try grunting, thinking maybe Morse code?

Pain. This one makes me scream, my whole body shaking and vibrating and fighting against itself. I have no control, just swimming in the hurt until it fades.

I understand why it's so quiet now. The others are silent, no doubt listening to my attempts at conversation and realizing that no vocal communication could be had. I lay on the floor, panting, my brain going a million miles an hour thinking of how I could get out.

I turn over and look at the door again, this time pulling hard at the bars, looking for any loose ones. I don't find any. Then I look at the gap near the bottom. It's wide enough I can get most of my hand and forearm through, but that's it. I smack my head on the steel on accident and swear to myself, then tense up, waiting for the pain.

It doesn't come.

What the hell? Maybe it's on a timer or something. I open my mouth to say something but pause, my mind flashing back to the pain.

But I have to try. I can't get out but maybe someone else can. Communication is key in escapes.

"G-"

That's all I get out as the pain drives back through my body. I can't even scream this time, my vocal cords and chest unable to even make a noise as my body tosses itself across my cell, the electricity forcing all my muscles to tense into a rigid state. Everything fights against everything else, my body battling itself. I gasp as the pain slowly, slowwwwwly fades.

So, no talking to other people. Clearly someone was watching and saw the difference in my swearing and the communication. And if someone is watching, then noises- Morse code through claps, knocks, and snaps- wouldn't work either.

Maybe?

You don't know if you don't try, right?

I stare at my hands, willing them to come together, but someone beats me to the punch. I listen as they clap -once- then as they scream in pain as they get shocked.

No communication. There could be people in the cells right next to me, but I'd never know. They'd only know I was here because of my talking and screaming.

Fuck.

I sit down, trying hard to calm down as panic sets in. I try standing and pacing, but the roof is too short for me and I soon get extremely claustrophobic pacing back and forth hunched over.

I'm almost happy when I hear the door at the end of what I assume is a hallway open, and people walk down towards me.

It's the lady and men again, dragging yet another person with them. This guy has on a black collar, but he's as naked as I am, and very clearly unconscious. I stand up and press against the door, hoping they'll notice me, but they walk right past, dragging the limp guy.

To my surprise they do stop only two cells past mine, across from me.

"Number 783 837 477. Ex-military, now a policeman. Capable hunter, good with tools, etc. Toss him in and let's go toss some water on that other one Amberly brought in. We need... thirty-four more? That one she brought in was the last of the green collars... So just the blacks."

They shut the door and it locks automatically. One of the guys walks down to other way from where they came. The other two stare at the guy they just brought in.

"Thirty-four. In under a week. Should be doable, most of our collectors have men picked out. Thank god all the greens are in already, they are always such a pain."

They turn and look at me, and I stare back, unwilling to make noise and get shocked in front of them.

"Fucking greens, getting bigger each year, huh?"

The guy nods at me, the same way a person nods at an animal they are talking about.

"Should make Raell happy, you know how much she likes them bigger. Should be an interesting hunt."

The guy laughs, and then laughs again as I hear water splash far down the hall. Someone yelps, and they all laugh again.

The other guy walks back up, a bucket in his hand.

"Might as well wake this one up too. He's the last one for today."

The woman nods and the guy tosses the water into the cell. The guy inside groans, and they chuckle again before walking back out, locking the door behind them.

I sit in silence (not that I have a fucking choice) and listen to the new guy wake up as I think about what I just heard.

There's a hunt happening, and I am involved. They are selecting people who have some sort of military or government connection. Everyone has been collared in either green or black collars, and apparently my own was green.

Someone named Raell likes the men to be bigger, and it seemed like they referred to the green collared people as the ones he or she meant.

And whatever event they were talking about would happen within the week.

What. The. Hell.

I start panicking again, then sit down and breathe, deciding the only thing I can really do is wait for something to happen.

And I do. The floor is hard, like most concretes, and I struggle to sit, sleep, and stand on it. They feed me three times a day, and they hose me off on day three of my confinement. It's a firehose, and it hurts like all hell, but I'm sparkly clean when they are done.

I do sit ups and pushups to pass the time. They drag new guys down the hall a few times a day, and I listen to the new guys discover that they can't talk after saying a few sentences to each other.

On day four the cells in front of mine are filled. I try sign language to warn them of the dangers of communications, but all that gets me is pain. They figure it out quickly enough. We all discover that we can't even try using any sort of facial or body motion, lip reading, or blinking to talk. Any, literally ANY, form of communication results in that person being violently shocked.

So all we can do is helplessly stare at each other as they bring in new men.

The blonde chick struts up and down the hall every few hours, her grey eyes cold and harsh as she looks us all over. I glare at her, but she doesn't seem to care. She scribbles notes every once in a while on a notepad, and I start to wonder if I've been kidnapped for some sort of testing experiment. It's definitely not a training exercise.

Day five brings two more guys- but these ones aren't drugged. They're still dressed, and don't have the collars on. Blonde bitch and her men use some sort of long electric spear thing to force each man down the hall. Two new guys eventually join in the subduing of the first man, and I quickly hear him discovering the joy that is the collar.

The other guy puts up less of a fight. He's shocked in the knee and goes down, trying to scramble back from the shock stick. One of the new guys grabs him around the neck with a thing that looks a lot like those trash picker upper things. This thing also has some shock capabilities, as I hear the 'SNAP' of electricity arcing.

They cut his clothing off him, all while giving him brief hits with the prods and clamp, then force him onto his stomach, allowing them to wrap the collar around his neck.

I see for the first time why I can't get mine off.

The locking system is in the metal bands, so that each half clips in and forms one bigger band, with no visible or touchable seam. The collar clicks around the new guys neck with an audible snap.

Blondie holds up what looks like a gun and presses it against several points in the man's body. He yelps as it injects/shoots him with something each time. They flip him over and she injects him again in his front.

Once naked, collared, and injected they force him up and walk him down to wherever his cell is. I listen as they all walk back, trying to learn whatever I can. I notice for the first time that I have small scabs on my body in places identical to where I saw them inject things into the other guy. I can't feel anything new under my skin, but the knowledge that the implanted something in me makes my skin crawl.

"Jesus, I fucking hate when they bring them in late and don't have time to drug them. They could just dart them. It's so much easier. But he's the last one, thank the gods."

She stopped where they had left the pile of rags that had been the man's clothes.

"Hose them all off, then we'll dart them and get them ready for tomorrow."

"Myra, any idea how many hunters there will be?"

"I think Raell said around forty, plus her. But she always goes for the greens, and we have five of them for her. Should be enough. The catchers said they were super promising."

They walk by, and I soon have issues listening in. The guys are back soon enough though. They 'wash' us all again using the fire hoses, and don't seem to care at all as we huddle in the back of our cells trying to keep the hose's pressure from any soft spots.

Once satisfied at how they'd 'cleaned' us, Blondie- Myra- comes back. I hear her shoes clicked down the walk, pausing ever step or so. I hear soft cries of pain and confusion too. Deciding I didn't want to know what she is doing I stay in the back of my cell, waiting.

I see her only when she steps up to my door. She has a gun in her hand, and I flinch back as she raises it in my direction.

"Please." I whisper, raising my hands.

Her grey eyes look right through me and she pulls the trigger. Something sharp buries in my left pec, and I look down to see a tranquillizer dart.

Fuck.

Again?

I pull the dart out but I know it's too late. The vial is empty, and if the dose is enough I'll be either too drugged to move or out cold altogether.

I slump down the wall, thinking that maybe, just maybe, I could pretend to be drugged so that they would get me out before the drug set in.

No such luck though. My world flickers around me as I struggle to keep my head up. I hear clanks, and eventually I see the hands of the steel eyed woman's men.

They drag me back down the hall and into a room full of cages, these even smaller than before. They shove me in- there's enough room to stand but that's it- and lock the door.

After a little bit... or a long bit... I feel my body start to return to my control. I look around, seeing that there are roughly a hundred men stuffed into the other cages. I glance at the guy next to me, but don't recognize him as one of the guys I had seen going down the hall or in the cells across from mine.

I open my mouth but he shakes his head, pointing at the collar.

This, or course, activates his collar and I watch in horror as he crumples inside the small space.

So, they still won't let us talk.

I try shoving the cage around but it's very heavy and doesn't move. Eventually Myra appears, a megaphone in her hand.

"Listen up, all of you. Five days from now is Herrinhiyn, a day dedicated to the hunter. You all have been picked as the prey for Raell's hunt due to your skills surviving in the wild. Your goal is to not be caught by any of our hunters, and those not found will be allowed to go home."

She doesn't mention what happens if you're caught.

"You are not allowed to harm or attempt to harm any of the hunters. Should you try, you'll be reprimanded harshly and will be used as a centerpiece for guest 'entertainment.' Some, if not all of you know how that feels."

Yep.

"So, hide. Run. Try to outthink the predators. And if you have on a green collar- be extra stealthy. Oh and there is a border. The area is about a hundred miles across in a big circle. You'll feel the border when and if you reach it. Don't try to cross it- we'll light up your collar and your rigging and it'll be all you can do to get back in the safe zone."

Her goons start stacking the cages- us still in them- into flatbed trucks. Then we all go for a ride. The drop the cages off in all different areas. I get dropped off by a stream, where they open the cage and then drive off.

I get out of the cage, then break off in a panicked sprint into the stream. I want to put distance between myself and the truck, praying they don't decide to drag me back into the cell. Once I've put a good distance between myself and the truck, I slow down. I start listening to my surroundings, then stop when I fully take in where I am.

Not Earth.

The trees are massive- the branches are the size of the trees I'd spent time playing and hunting in. These were monster trees. In them, creatures I didn't know flittered and jumped, some too far away to even see well. Above me a bird- sting ray- flying squirrel thing sat, watching me with four eyes.

This is not Earth.

What. The. Fuck.

I feel panic build back in my chest.

What had happened? I'd met a girl at the bar, gone home with her, and woken up in a cell. I'd assumed we were still on Earth- it hadn't felt any different and the cell didn't really reveal any secrets- but this was not Earth.

What had happened when I was out cold?

I accidentally touch a fern tree, and then yelp and scramble back as it rapidly folds in on itself and turns bright red, each leaf now looking more like a spine than a leaf.

Not. Earth.

I pace around in the stream before realizing that it might not even be water. For all I know I could be standing in acid. I jump out, now fully panicking.

They didn't train us for alien kidnapping at boot camp. There is no manual for waking up and not being on your home planet. Or if there was, we hadn't covered it yet.

Fuck me.

I stop and sit down, trying to wrestle my fear and regain some control.

I was clearly not on Earth.

Somehow, I'd been kidnapped and now I was part of some sick game.

I had five days to hide myself and stay alive, then, provided I wasn't caught, I'd get to go home.

What mirror had I broken to get this much bad ju-ju?

Feeling my sanity slowly return, I note that I still have legs, so the liquid in the stream is probably not acid. I dip my hand in it and smell it, noting no weird smells. I sip it, hoping it's not some alien death liquid.

It's water. Or it tastes like water. Not that water really has a taste.

Yay. I've got liquid. Now I need shelter and food. And clothes.

I splash water on my face, feeling it drip down from the collar. I hope the water breaks whatever mechanic allows it to shock me, but I doubt it does. Then I stand and start walking further down the stream.

Staying near the water is key. Animals- even alien ones- need it (I hope) and I'd rather chance alien meat than alien plants. I find a nice strong stick and fashion a spear from it and a rock. It's not the best but it'll be better than nothing for now.