The words had barely processed before I was grabbed by huge, strong hands from the side.The Hunters and I were hog tied in seconds and dragged across the ground behind two Orcs. They didn’t bother with the dead Hunters or their Items Bags.

What was going on? Were we being kidnapped? No monster has ever kidnapped Hunters. What did they want from us?

Under their oppressive aura, I could barely move or make a sound. I wasn’t the only one. The other Hunters looked just as paralyzed, which meant that these monsters were stronger than all of us.

They dragged us deeper into the forest. Then I noticed the sounds of the footsteps ahead of me disappearing. I glanced over and gasped. There was a small Portal tucked between two trees. The portals around the rim of Gate Vale that were the size of a large house or the Gate which was as big as a skyscraper. This portal was small enough that the Orcs had to duck to go through. The Orcs hopped through, one after another, dragging Hunters behind them.

I wiggled, trying to resist. Don’t take me in there. Please, don’t take me in there. There’d only been one Hunter that had ever survived going into a Portal and I was not that S god.

My resistance was pointless. The Orc holding me didn’t even pause as it stepped into the Portal and jerked me through.

My surroundings changed. I gasped and looked around. I thought that it would be like a fiery hell on the other side. I didn’t expect that it would be a city like Ancient Rome. We stood in the middle of a plaza under a cloudy sky. Stone pillars and buildings stretched out around us. After my initial shock, I noticed that there were broken statues scattered across the ground and some of the buildings were crumbling.

Ahead of me, Blake cleared his throat and spoke in a strong voice like he wasn’t bound and cowering. “Where are we?”

The Orc holding Blake hit him on the side of the head, leaving a bloody scratch.

The leader Orc — first one I saw, by the way the other Orcs treated him, turned and sneered at Blake. [We’re not there yet.]

Wait, did that mean he could understand us, too? Goosebumps spread down my back.

We were dragged through dusty streets until the buildings opened to a Roman-like palace, two stories tall with a triangular, tiled roof. Well, Roman-like with a sadistic flare. Huge vats of oil were placed between the columns. Green flames ten feet tall blazed from the vats, casting a freakish light on everything.

I gaped up at the palace, trying to grasp what I was looking at. It was a legit civilization, a crumbling one by the state of everything, but one nonetheless. Is this how it was on the other side of every Portal? I always thought that they were just random dimensions with monsters roaming around that were dumped into Gate Vale every night. I never thought that there could be structured societies within the portals. Why hadn’t we learned more about them? Were they all this unfriendly?

Me and the rest of the Hunters were dragged around to the side of the palace. It wasn’t until we were closer that I saw a row of doors lining the walls. An Orc opened a door and we were thrown into a room. Half of us fell onto a pale yellow dirt floor, then the iron door swung shut.

The Orc leader stared at us through the bars with his blood-red eyes. [Make yourself comfortable for now. We’ll be back soon enough.] The side of his wide mouth curled into a toothy sneer. He turned and walked away.

I sat up and rubbed my aching chin on my shoulder, trying to get the dirt off my face. Everything inside my mind was screaming in fear, but I couldn’t let myself fall apart now. There was too much I had to live for to give up now.

Emma huddled in a ball, her breath a gaspy sob that she was trying to control.

“Emma,” I whispered and shifted over to her. “Hey, Emma, are you hurt?”

She looked at me with wide, wet eyes. Slowly, she shook her head.

“What does it matter if she’s hurt?” Blake snarled from the other side of the room. “We’re all going to die.” He stood up, chin high in the air like he wasn’t tied up. “At least, the people who don’t listen to me will die.” Apparently now that the Orc’s oppressive aura was gone, he was back to his normal, charming self.

A shiver went down my back, almost as strong as the one that Orc gave me. Did he seriously think that he could do something about this situation?

No one else seemed to share my thoughts. A collective sigh of relief sounded, as if they felt better now that Blake was acting like a king again. Even Emma looked a little less scared.

That’s testosterone for you, I thought as I stood up. “What are you thinking?”

It was like I hadn’t even said anything. Blake looked at a guy dressed in light armor on his right. “Mark, do you have any weapons on you?”

Mark nodded his shabby head. “They didn’t take the one on my back. I can’t get it with my arms tied like this.” He jerked his chin over his shoulder, motioning to his hands tied behind his back like the rest of us. “Someone get it.” He knelt on the ground.

Another man walked behind Mark then turned around, and lowered himself until his hand disappeared beneath Mark’s collar. Mark’s mouth wrinkled. “Damn, dude. Cut your nails sometime. No wonder you can’t get a girl, if you leave her bleeding like this.”

“Shut up.” The guy straightened, grasping a small dagger in his hand. He turned and shoved Mark to the ground with his boot before he returned to Blake. Back-to-back, the guy started to saw at Blake’s bindings.

I sat there, listening to the sounds of the knife against the rope. He could have chosen anyone, even himself, to free first. But he chose Blake. It was very telling how high Blake was in the hierarchy here. And I wasn’t even on that totem at all.

The ropes around Blake’s wrists fell to the ground and he stretched his arms. “That’s better.” He took the knife from the guy and cut his ropes off with a vicious swipe. With that done, Blake tossed the knife back to the guy who went around freeing everyone.

He paused when he got to me, but still squatted down and cut my ropes off.

“Thanks,” I muttered and rubbed at the burns on my arms.

The healer walked around, touching members of the group with his golden fingers, but he skipped right over me.

Emma’s eyes widened and she looked from the healer to me. When she opened her mouth to complain, I waved at her.

Frankly, I was just glad they actually untied me. I wasn’t part of their group, what obligation did they have to take care of me? Sheer humanity wasn’t a good enough excuse. We were Hunters. If I didn’t want to die, I had to be strong enough not to.

I watched Blake frown at the metal door. The walls of the room were made out of pale bricks. The only opening and source of light came from that door. It didn’t look like much, but no matter how Blake pulled at it with his bulging muscles, he couldn’t pull it open or even bend the bars to make a wider opening. Surprisingly, no one came to check on us even with all the racket he was making.

With a frustrated growl, Blake turned and glared at a girl leaning against the side of the wall. “Penny, get over here.”

The cute young woman walked over, the soles of her soft, thigh-high boots noiseless against the packed yellow dirt. “‘Sup, boss?” she asked, her voice thick with an accent. She tilted her head, brown hair tied up high spilled over her shoulders.

He jerked his shoulder at the door. “Open it.”

Her lips curled up and she slid past him. “Sure thing, boss.” It wasn’t until she pulled several thin metal picks out of her hair that I understood what was about to happen.

I may not have lived in the best neighborhood the last eight years of my life, but this was a skill that I’d never picked up, even though some of my childhood friends had. Given her skill set, I couldn’t help but wonder where this Penny learned it from? Or how many people she’d inconvenienced with her talent.

One of her picks broke and she let out a soft curse.

“Come on, I thought you were better than this.” Mark rolled his eyes.

“Shut up,” Penny glared at him and pulled another lock-pick from somewhere I couldn’t see. It couldn’t be from an Items Bag because the Orcs had taken all of them. She started fidgeting with the lock again. A couple minutes later, she muttered, “Open, says me.” A latch clicked.

My lips pursed to the side. Why did Blake even tug at the door like he did? Why not have Penny open the door right off the bat? Did he really have to be so much of a hero? But I wasn’t dumb enough to ask the question out loud.

Blake patted Penny’s shoulder like he was rewarding a dog. Then he slowly leaned his head out of the door. “It’s clear,” he whispered. “Let’s go.”

“It can’t seriously be this easy.” Another member of the group said exactly what I was thinking.

“Where do you think they took our stuff?” Another guy asked. “I got a lot of stuff in my bag that I don’t want to lose.”

“Do you really think that’s important right now?” I couldn’t help but ask. The words were barely out of my mouth before Blake cut me off, yet again.

“I ain't waiting around.” Blake tossed a look at the guy over his shoulder. “If you wanna loot, then go ahead. I’d rather lose my shit than my head.” At least he could be reasonable at a time like this. I thought that he’d be all for brainlessly looting these dangerous creatures.

Emma reached out and gripped my sleeve, her hands trembling.

The rest of the group was quiet, silently agreeing with Blake.

He nodded at the door. “Let’s go. Keep your guard up and be quiet.” His eyes flicked over me and Emma, a frown marring his face.

I didn’t have to be told what to do. My very survival depended on silently following groups everyday. It had gotten to the point that it shocked me when I could hear my own footsteps. But I had a feeling that it was a skill that Emme hadn’t learned yet.

I glanced at the fingers clutching my sleeve. Man, she really was hanging onto the wrong person. If she wanted to raise favorability in her group, she was failing miserably.

Blake jerked his head at a silent guy in the back of the group. Without a word, the guy hunched over and crept out of the door. He obviously had some sort of Stealth skill, because his black cap should have stuck out against the pale yellow ground and the white stone buildings. But he was like a shadow, slipping across the ground and slinking smoothly along the building. A moment later, a soft whistle sounded in the air.

Blake waved his hand to the rest of the group.

Shouldn’t there be a guard or something? I couldn’t help but look around suspiciously, not seeing any. My luck was never this good, and it just felt wrong. Maybe that was why this group was so well known? They weren’t just strong, they were also blessed with godly levels of sheer dumb luck.

We pressed against the white stone walls of the palace and slid across the building, under open windows. Voices — a lot of loud, harsh voices — were coming from inside. What were they doing in there?

When we reached the corner of the building, we stopped. Every building looked the same. They were all made of white stone with cream tiled roofs. Five streets plowed through the buildings, all leading to the palace entrance. Now that I actually looked at them, I couldn't help but notice the curves and designs that were carved into the crumbling buildings. Funny, I would have never guessed that the Orcs had an artistic side to them. Just picturing their brutal mannerisms, I couldn’t help but think that they didn’t belong in a place like this.

“This place all looks the same,” Mark muttered, looking around the roads that spread out from our location. At least he was smart enough not to talk too loud.

I flicked a glance at him then pointed to our left. “We came from that direction—”

“The portal is this way,” Blake cut me off. He motioned with his hand in the direction I’d just pointed, and the group obeyed. Our collective pace was quick yet silent.

I took a deep breath and followed at the rear. Don’t get mad, I chided myself. Don’t get mad. I already knew what they thought of me. Of course they wouldn’t care about anything I said.

Emma glanced at me and fell into step beside me.

I glanced at her and jerked my head, indicating that she should join the rest of the group ahead of us.

She scowled and kept my pace. It was obvious from her expression alone that she’d been disillusioned about her team. Granted, I can’t say that I wanted her to stay with them, but right now was a bad time to split from stronger Hunters. Especially over a puke E Ranked Hunter.

A guttural roar echoed behind me.

Goosebumps erupted up and down my body as I looked over my shoulder.

An Orc stood just outside our empty cell, his head tilted back and his mouth open. I didn’t need a translator to know that he was announcing our escape.

Orcs spilled from the palace front doors.

“Run!” Blake yelled.

I didn’t need him to tell me that. Since they already knew we were gone, there was no point in trying to sneak away. I launched into a full sprint, along with the rest of the Hunters. The problem was, there was a significant difference in our abilities. One by one, the other humans grew smaller in my sight and the Orcs were quickly getting louder behind me.

Even so, Emma didn’t leave my side.

“Go!” I yelled.

“No!” Her face had paled with fear and her breath was hitching, barely suppressed tears hung on her lashes. Still, she kept pace with me.

I opened my mouth to argue with her. I knew the day that I’d become a Hunter I was going to die. It was only a matter of time. But that didn’t mean that I wanted to drag someone down with me. Especially a good girl like Emma.

She never gave me the chance. Instead, she grabbed my left arm and half-hoisted me onto her shoulder. With most of my weight on her, she took off running faster than I ever could. She didn’t have the best hold and I was a little taller than her, so every once in a while I had to skip my feet when they were about to touch the ground, but at least it sounded like the Orcs weren’t getting closer anymore.

But they didn’t go away either. In fact, I think there were more Orcs following us than before.

I didn’t dare look back. “Turn left,” I yelled in her ear over the rushing air. She was running faster than some motorbikes I’d ridden.

She veered left, the bottom of her boots skimming across the pale yellow dirt as she followed my directions. For a second, our balance tipped to the side. I kicked my foot out and tapped the ground, pushing us back upright. She corrected our position and kept running through the empty street. Well, empty except for the sounds of dozens of Orcs charging behind us.

“There!” I pointed ahead.

On the right side of the street, next to a mostly crumbled building, was a black portal. Blake and Mark stood next to it, watching as me, Emma, and the Orcs neared.

I assumed they’d be long gone. Who would have thought that Blake was a legit leader after all?

“Let’s get out of here!” Mark inched towards the portal.

“The signing bonus, you shit head,” Blake hissed at him.

My eyes widened as I understood. Most groups got a signing bonus — usually money or some other significant reward — when they took on new Hunters and trained them for a period of time. It was a method Guilds used to mix old and new Hunters together, so their new Hunters weren’t killed right off the bat in the Gate. Apparently Emma had a good enough signing bonus that Blake wanted to keep her alive. No wonder he was so tolerant of her.

We reached them. Blake gripped my shoulder painfully. With a jerk, he ripped me off Emma. My knees gave out and the only thing keeping me up was his hold. If he didn’t let go soon, my shoulder bone might crack.

Emma lost her balance and tipped to the side.

Mark grabbed her mid-fall and threw her towards the portal. “One at a time! Hurry!”

“Wait!” Emma twisted in the air and looked at me with big, worried eyes. She fell through the black hole and vanished.

She’d barely disappeared when Mark lunged in after her.

The whole time, Blake stared down at me with cold eyes. A shiver went down my spine, but I ignored him and tried to jump into the portal. His fingers tightened on my shoulder, holding me in place. Suddenly his grip changed and his other hand grabbed my thigh. He hoisted me into the air.

I gasped and wiggled over his head, staring at the Orcs closing in on us. Each one of them held a weapon, but none of them attacked.

“Annoying insects are only good for one thing.” Blake’s words were as cold as steel. He threw me at the Orcs.