The Hunter.

Chapter 17

Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait, hope you all enjoy this. Thanks for reading this, guys, it really makes me happy when you comment. I made it not-so-short.

"Hope you enjoyed your moment of madness, cause it's the last moment you'll ever have." Minho was sat on the ground, he had a peculiar expression on his face, maybe dread- no, Artemis realized with a jolt that Minho looked as if he'd accepted the prospect of an inevitable death. The Asian boy let out a dark chuckle, "we're dead. So dead."

Artemis looked at Thomas who raised a brow at her. "There's gotta be a way to survive-"

"There isn't. Don't you get that? We're dead." He scoffed, "Best we can do is wait for em to find us."

He slouched against the wall and threw his head back, "Ah, man. Never thought it'd end like this."

Artemis had to admit, she was starting to get annoyed at Minho's behavior.

"Minho, you don't know for a fact that-" he moved so fast that she had to back against the wall to avoid a collision. His face was close to hers, his hand gripping her wrist. "You think I don't wanna get out? Think I don't wanna live?! There's nothing we can do! Nothing I can do! We're already dead."

"Hey, now," Thomas grabbed Minho's shirt and pulled him away. Minho looked at his hands then at Artemis. "I'm sorry, Missie, I... Shuck... Man, oh, man. I've never been this scared before, not like this."

"It's alright." She said, "is Alby..." She nodded at Alby,

"No, but he's as good as dead. Been stung. Help me take him to the door. Give em one less body to look for." He started to drag Alby by his arms. "No," His companions said simultaneously. He stopped to stare at them. "No?"

Missie opened her mouth to explain, but stopped abruptly at the noise. It was a low haunting sound, a constant whirring accompanied by a sharp metallic ring every few seconds. And then a series of clicking sounds.

Minho's head snapped up. "We need to split up, now."

Missie balked "Minho, we can't just-"

But the boy had already taken off.

Thomas stood, his mouth agape, staring at thee corridor Minho had run off into. "I'm feeling a sudden-"

"Anger and dislike for him?" Missie asked, "Yeah, well, you and me both."

"What do we do about Alby?"

Thomas bit his lip, Artemis could see his eyes light up as an idea came to mind. "I have an idea," he said "it's crazy, and unlikely that it'll work..."

"Yeah, well," Missie said, "I'll take crazy and unlikely over Grievers any day."

Thomas explained his plan. They'd tie Alby to some ivy vines and pull him up by means of a makeshift pulley system.

They proceeded to do just that, and in the process realized two things; 1: Alby was really heavy. 2:A teenage boy and a teenage girl didn't offer much collective strength.

Needless to say it was exhausting. By the time they had Alby about eight meters off the ground Artemis was coated in a sheen of sweat. And her arms were giving way to the tell-tale ache of overexerted muscles.

"Come on Missie," Thomas grunted, "Come on."

The sounds came back. Coming closer, getting louder.