Omega Hunted by Linsey Moon

10

Then she heard something.It was just the softest stir of the leaves underfoot, but in the quiet, listening intently to the couple breathing together in the clearing, she would have heard anything.

She moved before she thought and it was probably all that saved her, catching only the briefest glimpse of the man that now pursued her. He wasn't much more than a shadow under the trees, but even if she'd seen his face she likely wouldn't have recognized him. Nick was the only one she'd seen without a mask on.

"Got you now!" the man shouted triumphantly, lunging after her. He barreled like a freight train through the underbrush behind her, roaring with victory as he closed the distance between them. Savannah felt panic grip her heart. He was too fast. She wasn't going to be able to to stay out of reach.

She spotted a hole, some kind of animal burrow, just in time to leap over it. A second later she heard him step right into and fall with a crash, swearing up a storm over his probably twisted ankle. Relieved, Savannah kept running, heading downwind as fast as she could.

She was still running a few minutes later, settling into a good pace, but she could feel her feet getting sore in her butchered shoes, blisters already forming. She couldn't keep this up, not in these shoes. If she could find somewhere to hide-

As she passed a large oak, someone reached out from behind it and grabbed her arm, yanking her to a stop so fast she wrenched her shoulder. She bit off the cry of fear and pain that tried to escape her, turning to see who had grabbed her, and saw Corinne. The other omega had a finger to her lips for silence. As Savannah stared at her, she gestured down at the ground where Savannah had been just about to step. There, partially obscured by the leaf litter, was the loop of a snare. Savannah inhaled sharply, realizing how close she'd come to stepping right into it.

"Thank you," she whispered to Corinne, who nodded. "Did you set that? Or one of the alphas?"

Corinne shook her head.

"They were out here before the hunt started," she whispered back. "The organizers must have done it. There's tons of them."

"This is the first one I've run into."

"There aren't any close to the house. The further you get out the more there are, until you reach the fence."

"How do you know that?"

Corinne reached into the neckline of her dress and pulled out a piece of glossy paper, which she unfolded to reveal a map of the area around the house. The forest had been separated roughly into zones, with color coding to indicate which areas were trapped.

"I stole it off one of the alphas during the party," Corinne explained. "I think they all got here a day or two ago and had a chance to familiarize themselves with the area."

"Because they didn't have enough advantages already," Savannah muttered, looking over the map. "I thought they wanted a challenge."

"Only if it's one they're sure they can win," Corinne replied darkly.

"What are these?" Savannah asked, pointing out the small house shapes that dotted the forest at regular intervals. They were all at least one zone separated from the house, and well-spaced out from each other.

"Cabins," Corinne explained. "I've seen a couple. Stay away from them, they're bait."

She folded up the map, tucking it back into her dress.

"Wait," Savannah said as she started to turn away. "We should stay together. That way if one of us gets caught in a snare the other can let her out."

"We'd just be making ourselves a bigger target," Corinne replied, shaking her head.

"Think of it this way," Savannah said with a pleading smile. "If an alpha shows up, you only have to outrun me."

Corinne considered it for a moment.

"Fine," she said reluctantly. "But stay quiet and don't get in my way."

Savannah nodded and they set off together into the trees. Corinne was tense at first, but relaxed a little seeing how quietly and competently Savannah navigated the trees. Savannah taught her how to keep an eye out for animal dens, and how to stay downwind, and Corinne showed her how to spot the traps early.

"I'm heading for the fence," Corinne explained. "I figure most of the alphas won't bother going that far out. From there I can maybe find a decent place to hide."

"You aren't going to try and make a break for it?" Savannah asked. Corinne shook her head.

"Not worth it. I'm sure they're tracking us somehow. I'd never get anywhere before they caught me again."

"That's what I was thinking," Savannah agreed. "I figure our best chance of escaping is back at the house, right? Where we can find a phone or a car."

"You're probably right," Corinne agreed. "This hunt is supposed to last three days, right? By day two or three, most of the alphas will have caught someone or given up and the staff will be busy keeping things running. It might be safe then to sneak back and try to find a way out."

"What about the other omegas?" Savannah asked, and Corinne looked at her with a dark expression.

"If you try to save them, you're only going to screw us both over," she said. "You know that."

Savannah looked away. She did know that, but that didn't mean she liked it.

"Half of them don't even want to be saved," Corinne scoffed. "I don't really blame them. If you don't mind being mated to some rich asshole you've never met, it's probably better than the alternative."

"I don't think so," Savannah said quietly. "At least in government custody you have some legal protections. Somewhere to turn if someone hurts you. These guys could do anything to us. We could just disappear and there'd be no evidence we ever existed."

Corinne looked like she'd been trying not to think about that.

"That's not happening to me," shev said flatly. "If I get out of here, the DOA is never catching me again."

"You have a plan?" Savannah asked.

"The edges of one, anyway," Corinne replied. "If I can get to New Orleans, I know where to find forged ID, and some ideas about how to get the money. Once I'm set up as a beta, I'm getting out of the country. I'll go to Europe or Scandinavia, somewhere omega rights are more progressive. Or maybe just somewhere remote as hell, so far away from everyone else that there's no one around to give a shit what my pheromones smell like."

"I used to think about Greenland," Savannah admitted. "Or Nova Scotia. Some little island where it's just me and a bunch of sheep."

"Too cold for me," Corinne said with a small, bitter little laugh. "Polynesia maybe. Someplace with a beach I can lay on."

"I'd like to see Polynesia," Savannah said wistfully. "Tahiti has some amazing rainforests. I've always wanted to see a real banyan tree in person. Or a kapok- but they're not in Polynesia, I think, mostly South America, which- oh, I'd kill to see the forests in Brazil. There's a tree there called the Patriarch, one of the oldest trees in the world..."

She trailed off, realizing she was rambling, and seeing the look on Corinne's face. It was a complicated expression, but one that echoed in Savannah's soul. A feeling of bitter longing for something you know you'll never have. If they got out of here, they'd be lucky to live small, isolated little lives shut away somewhere, avoiding anyone who might recognize what they were. Neither of them was going to explore a rainforest or lay on a beach in a Tahiti any time soon.

"Sorry," she said after a moment.

"Don't be," Corinne replied with sudden ferocity. "We're allowed to have dreams. We have a right to want things for ourselves. Things besides what everyone else wants from us. Even if it's stupid shit that will never happen..."

Her fists were clenched tight at her sides and her jaw was clenched and she had to stop walking for a moment to collect herself.

"We're still allowed," she finished weakly. Savannah nodded in understanding, struck by the sudden urge to reach for the other girl's hand.

Corinne shook it off and moved away before Savannah could gather the courage and she followed Corinne silently for a while.