Finding Gods

By Keith Thomsen

Hunter and Susi have reluctantly found themselves with a protégé in the tattooed Gunsmith named Sniper. After preventing a cult of Demons from unleashing Death the trio had returned to Hunter’s preferred employment: Hunting the monsters that make Mortals, and Demons, afraid of the dark. But their return to hunting was short lived as an amnesiac soldier stumbled in front of their van with no memory of how he found himself in the backroads of Vermont, thousands of miles from the war-torn desert he had been in only hours before.

Danny Goodwin has no memory of the last day, and he reeks of Demon. In fact, the smell of Demon is so strong that Susi is convinced that he must be a Demon himself, an accusation that Danny vehemently denies. But when Hunter and Danny are attacked by a hellbeast in the woods, a hellbeast that almost seems to know Danny, it becomes clear that the boy is no ordinary Mortal. And when the group meets Mari, a Longing Demon who has begun to weave a story of death with Danny as her protagonist, it becomes clear that greater forces are at work.

Sniper is seeing monsters. Abbadon, the Elder God who slaughtered her family a satanic ritual, has taken Sniper’s place in her reflection and seems to be taunting her from beyond the grave. When faced with the very real possibility that she may be consumed by the thing that she hates most, Sniper is left with a choice: Fight back against the creeping insanity, or die.

Brought together seemingly by chance the group goes on a journey to discover Danny’s past. Faced with hellbeasts, a Holocaust Demon, and an army of Humans thrilled by Mari it will take every trick in Hunter and Susi’s arsenal to ensure that they come out alive. As their story unfolds the heroes find that they may not have a choice in how it ends.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Keith Thomsen
• Release date: Oct 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370984428

Keith Thomsen

Keith Thomsen grew up in Arizona and Las Vegas, where he still resides, and has been writing as long as he can remember. After spending over six years publishing his own webcomic he's returned to prose. His first book, Finding Angels, was released in 2015. He currently teaches English and holds a Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instruction.When he isn't writing he's probably creating lesson plans for his students...or playing video games. Probably that last one, if we're honest with ourselves.

Book preview

Hunter’s Tale: Finding Gods

Keith S. Thomsen

Copyright 2016 Keith S. Thomsen

www.talesfromtheuniverse.com

An imprint of Zinkarts.

Edition 1

Published by Keith S. Thomsen at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Part One: The Accident

Part Two: Refrigerator and Arm

Part Three: Sanctuary

Part Four: Farmstead

Part Five: Lost Souls

Part Six: Gods and Men

Part Seven: Death Rises

Part Eight: Epilogue

About Keith Thomsen

Other books by Keith Thomsen

Connect with Keith Thomsen

Acknowledgements

For my dog, Eliea.

You’ve been there since the start

and I’m glad you could see the end.

And for my Wife’s dog, Ever.

I appreciate how easily you’ve

accepted me into your little pack.

Part One

Accident

Hunter rolled his shoulders, one hand on the wheel. His other hand sat on the edge of the passenger seat where Susi dozed, twitching on occasion.

Like a cat.

Sniper slept in dead silence while sprawled out on the backseat. Hunter could barely see movement, just a steady rise and fall of her chest as she slept.

Like a coma patient.

Hunter sighed and rubbed his eyes, it had been a long day. Long week. They ran a group of humor demons to ground. They had been playing versions of their favorite board games. No matter who won the match, the human would die.

Hunter snorted. Monopoly would never be the same again, not after they found that businessman dead with a burst stomach filled with coins.

Now they were driving through New England, weaving in and out of trees on a long and twisting road. Susi had found a hotel nearby, but it wasn't coming fast enough. Hunter felt tired. Weary, Hunter guessed, was the most accurate term.

Hunter blinked, his vision was starting to fuzz, and he leaned over to turn on the radio. He half hoped it would wake up one of his napping sidekicks. Then the front of his van caved in and a body flew over the hood.

Hunter swore and slammed on the breaks. The body jolted off the car and onto the road with a thump.

Susi bounced off the dashboard and jerked awake, clutching her nose. Sniper rolled onto the floor and pulled herself up with a start, eyes bleary. A gun materialized in her hand, pulled together from the metal scraps around her. Gunsmithing, a power she was born with, had made her a target. The girl blinked the sleep from her eyes and peered around.

The hell? she asked.

Susi blinked and popped open her door, We hit a deer?

Hunter unhooked his hands from the wheel, and undid his belt, Person.

He was sure of that much, legs flailing and body cracking. The scent of blood wafted through Susi’s now open door. It was a human. And now the body that rolled over the car was a mess for the reapers.

Sniper slid open the side door and stood in the road, stretching. She looked at Hunter and said, Nice job. We're asleep for ten minutes and you vehicular-manslaughter some guy.

Hunter grunted and looked around. There wasn't another soul for miles. No cars. No lights. They were an hour from anywhere worth visiting.

Susi bounded to the body and crouched over him. The girl's hair was pulled out and split into twin ponytails that nearly touched the ground. She nudged him over onto his back, Hunter! He's military.

Hunter frowned and kneeled down. The man’s face was covered in cuts and scratches -- no doubt from getting hit by the van. Hunter felt for a pulse, frowning, He's alive.

The familiar light radiated outwards from Susi's palms, Heal him?

Hunter nodded, wondering how a kid like this ended up in the middle of nowhere in full battledress.

Sniper ambled up behind them, Hey, he's not dead. Awesome. Roll him into a ditch and let's go. She yawned wide, making no attempt to hide it. Sniper stretched again as she brought her right arm over her head to grab the stump of her left arm. She then twisted her back, tattoos writhing against her skin. The mark of Abaddon, a Demon so old and powerful that most would mistake it for a God. It had taken Sniper as his new vessel, but she resisted and won the struggle for her own body.

They had been traveling together now for almost a year. The girl was short-tempered, cynical, and skilled in Demon killing. Hunter eyed her in silence. She had found her way to him as an enemy and become an ally. Almost a friend.

But there was a distance, something that he didn't think he could ever cross, that kept her away. For the most part, though, Hunter didn't think she wanted anyone closer than the muzzle end of a rifle.

A burst of light called Hunter back. The dim white glow that radiated through Susi's hands was the only clear sign that she was more than just a Devil. It was a sign of her heritage, of a father from a place not seen by those from The Barren Plains. Susi was special, a new soul born to an Angel and a Devil.

Sniper had taken Susi before the girl had realized her naivety was being taken advantage of. Sniper turned Susi over to a man named Isaiah, the leader of a cult who wanted to use Susi’s Angel half to pull open a door to the shadows and unleash Death upon the world.

They had stopped him. They almost failed, but they stopped him.

Susi's hands dimmed and she stood up, Good as new. I think. Didn't really check him over that much, just a quick poke and prod, you know?

Hunter kneeled down again and slapped the boy on his cheek, a gentle tap meant to get his attention. He groaned but didn't stir. He wore his blond hair cut short to a well tanned scalp, he clearly spent a great deal of time outside. He looked in good shape, and he wasn't carrying any weapons.

Hunter hit him again, harder this time. The kid’s eyes fluttered. Hunter glanced back at Susi, who offered an unhelpful shrug.

Sniper took a step forwards and delivered a hard kick to the boy's ribs. His eyes sprang open as he skidded across the pavement, sputtering. His pupils dilated, and his breathing was heavy and uneven.

W-who...who are you? Where am I? What's going on?! Where's Brandon? He sputtered it all out at once, not breaking up his words as he stammered.

Hunter stood and frowned at Sniper.

What? You wanted him up, he's up, she said with a slight shrug, tattoos whirling under her skin.

Hunter raised his hands. Vermont, he said to the boy.

The boy shook his head, his eyelids fluttered, Brandon is in Vermont?

Hunter growled and opened his mouth to speak, but Susi cut him off, We don't know who Brandon is. You're in Vermont. We ran you down with our van. Well, not all of us. That would have been awkward. We only have one van. He drove, Susi gestured at Hunter as she finished.

Sniper barked a single laugh.

How am I...Vermont? I was in...and Brandon is... Something seemed to occur to him then. The boy's breathing stopped and he swallowed hard, Oh...God, Brandon. The grenade. I--

His breathing started again, sudden and hard. Hunter realized a moment too late that the boy was hyperventilating. His eyes writhed in his head, looking for some kind of release. The boy then tipped over backward and was still.

Sniper patted Hunter on the shoulder and grinned at him, Nice. Hit him with a car, then give him a stroke?

Susi shook her head. Strokes have people get all stiff. Like this, Susi tensed her whole body and thrashed around while standing, then stopped. What he did was more of an aneurysm.

Hunter tilted his head back and gave a weary sigh as Susi imitated the boy and his brief descent to the ground.

* * *

The next time Danny woke up he was in the grass, the little girl stood over him. She grinned, fangs gleaming in the light cast from the van.

Fangs. A little girl with fangs.

He sat up again and rubbed his head, Vermont?

She nodded, her two pony tails bouncing behind her. She wore a sweatshirt and jeans, Yep, and we hit you with our van.

Then you had an aneurysm, the other girl added. She was darker, not just in skin but in the way she stood, the way her eyes looked at him. Her hair was short and mangled by scissors. Her skin crawled with tattoos. Literally. They seemed to move in a slow easy rhythm, wrapping around her stump of an arm and folding inwards again.

A girl with fangs and a girl with moving tattoos.

I'm sorry, am I dead? Danny asked. The only sensible explanation he could come up with was that the grenade had killed him. Or he was in a coma.

No, the man said, emerging from the woods without so much as a cracked twig. He seemed a part of the land, moving through it like a fox. Or a wolf. He stood a head taller than Danny did, and he was more muscular, too. He wore a long-sleeved shirt, worn jeans, and a woolen cap on his head. He didn't seem to have any hair under his cap, but his brows were dark and seemed to fit the high cheekbones that framed his face. Danny knew he couldn't take him if this came to a fight. Not the way the man carried himself.

The little girl turned to him, Anything out there?

The man frowned and shook his head.

How far did you go? Tattoo asked.

Not very, he looked at Danny again. Hunter.

Danny just stared at him, mouth open just a little. He shook his head. He wasn't a Hunter.

The little girl giggled and bent over in front of him, smiling. That's his name. He's Hunter. I'm Susi, she tapped her head with her fist and then pointed at Tattoo, That's Sniper.

Sniper, ma'am? Danny asked, directing the question at Susi.

Long story, she replied, but it fits. Let's leave it at that.

Sniper grinned, almost wolfishly herself, and patted her pouch-covered belt. The fabric containers bulged, the contents of which Danny couldn't identify.

Hunter held out his hand, his right hand. A hand that attached to a forearm covered in pulsating black something. Danny, feeling wary, eyed the strange black arm, but something about the man struck him as trustworthy. Like Danny was meant to meet him. Danny grabbed the hand and Hunter pulled him up in a single, fluid motion. Hunter didn't let go of the soldier's fingers.

He held Danny in his grip, eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring as he stared at the boy. Danny met his gaze for a long time before finally moving his arm up and down.

My name's Danny, sir. Nice to meet you.

Hunter eyed him for a moment longer and let Danny’s hand go.

Susi giggled, and Danny could hear Sniper give a single, quiet laugh.

Where did you come from? Hunter asked the boy, eyes still studying him, watching and waiting for an answer.

Danny looked around. The forest behind him seemed to loom above him, so different from his station. So different from the wide-open plains where he grew up, I'm part of Echo-042, stationed out of Dwyer. I haven’t a clue how I ended up here, sir. I...my squad and I were on a milk run to a nearby town, dropping off supplies and such. We were attacked. Brandon, my buddy, and I fell back. Last I saw there was a grenade rolling towards us and then I blacked out.

And we ran you over, Sniper finished for him, eyebrows raised in a slight arch.

Yes, ma'am, Danny walked to the side of the road and peered into the forest. I don't know how I got here or how I'm alive, but I'm here.

Hunter came and stood beside him and then took a few more steps into the forest and crouched down. Danny could hear him inhaling the air in a slow and methodical way. Sniffing the air like an animal.

The wolf image flashed in his mind again, and Danny frowned.

Hunter stood and stalked into the forest. He gestured at Danny to follow. The soldier turned back to the other two and blinked.

Susi shrugged, Follow him. Not like you have another option, do you?

Danny looked down the road and saw that it disappeared around a bend, and there was no light or sound other than what nature provided. He turned back to Hunter, already disappearing into the thick of trees, and sighed.

Danny launched himself into the forest and jogged to catch up. Hunter didn't so much as turn around for a look back. Danny's mind went unbidden to the image of a wolf leading him to its den.

* * *

Hunter didn't like it. His whole life was strange, but a new strangeness had taken over.

For six years it made sense. He and Susi hunted the things that slipped through the cracks. The little things, not the big.

Then Sniper showed up. She was a big thing. These new changes reminded him of his old life too much for his liking. Hunter felt more and more like he did before. The life where he was a Hand of God, marked by Paoken to deliver righteous judgment to those who needed judging. The life that he shared with Aliana, his wife. The life that she gave back to him, bartered with her own when a small thing followed him home. The life he left behind.

Anything before that, the life where he was a normal man with a broken past, wasn't worth remembering.

Hunter snorted, moving through the brush in silence with the boy crashing behind him. They hadn't spoken, not since they left the road, for the twenty minutes they followed Danny's trail.

Danny. If that was his name. He had come from somewhere and Hunter was going to find out where. Hunter clenched his fist and felt the pulsing demon ichor in his right hand. The black growth was a final gift from Aliana. Something given in love, from wife to husband. The pulsating growth meant he always had a weapon. A weapon he could form into a blade and kill whatever it was that needed killing.

Even the boy.

Hunter could feel from dampness in the air that it would rain soon. Overhead the sparse clouds let light leak around their silver edges. The sounds and scents around him gave an uneasy sense of calm.

Hunter stopped. Behind him, the boy stopped too. He opened his nostrils to the scents around him. Nature flooded his mind, further proving something that he was sure of before they left the road. He wanted to be certain that Susi and Sniper weren't masking it, confusing his nose.

He smelled a Demon.

Hunter turned back to Danny, who peered into the darkness and looked around him. The boy was trying to make sense of his life. Hunter knew the look better then he would like to admit.

Danny noticed Hunter watching him, and raised his eyebrows, Something the matter?

Hunter frowned, then turned and started deeper into the forest. He heard Danny sigh and trudge after him.

The campsite was tiny, and another ten minutes of tracking brought them to it. It was small with no tent, just a spot cleared of branches and a bed of pine needles. The fire pit in the center was old, but not ancient. Hunter could still smell the charred wood.

Danny looked around, frowning, Is it mine?

Hunter walked to a fallen log, rolled from somewhere deeper in the forest, and sat on it, I smell you on it.

Danny glared at him with a frown, Now, I'll accept that you're some great tracker. I’ve known some guys that could find a pin in a stack of needles, but I've never met a man that could smell another man on a day old log.

Hunter's lip gave a slight twitch, and he almost smiled. He gestured for the boy to sit beside him, which Danny did.

They sat for a long time, Hunter's eyes roaming the area, Danny's glued to the blackened wood that had once contained a fire.

You gonna tell me what bred you? Hunter asked, finally.

Danny dragged his eyes away from the pit and looked at him, What?

Hunter narrowed his eyes and met the boy's gaze, The emotion. And why the act?

Danny stood, arms out, face red, Emotion, sir? Right now, a few. I'm lost, confused, and worried. I haven’t a clue what happened to my friends and not a single idea how I ended up here. Now I'm in the forest with a man who's asking what bred me! With a curse and kick, he scattered the charcoal into the underbrush, My name is Danny Goodwin. I was born and raised in Iowa. My parents were Jennifer and Ronald Goodwin. My squad is Echo-042, Danny's voice raised as he spun on Hunter and threw his hands out the side. I have no idea, not a one, as to what the hell you're talking about!

Hunter studied Danny's face and watched