Prologue
It was a little after midnight when Lance McKendrick left his tiny bedroom in Max Dalton’s New Jersey base and padded barefoot through the corridors and out into the base’s large garage.
He stopped at the barred section and looked in at the man lying on a thin mattress on the floor.
“I’m awake,” the man said. “That’s what you’re wondering, isn’t it?” He turned his head to face Lance. “Crisis of conscience? Starting to wonder whether you’ve chosen the wrong allies?”
“Not really,” Lance said. “I just find it hard to sleep knowing that there’s a supervillain only a few feet away.”
Casey Duval rolled onto his side, then sat up, and Lance involuntarily took a step back.
“You think I’m a villain? Interesting. I suppose that depends on where you’re standing. On this side of the bars, I’m the victim of a kidnapping. Max and his crew broke into my base, overpowered me, and brought me here. I’ve never done anything to hurt them, so how does that make me the bad guy?”
“I know you better than you think,” Lance said.
“You’re a strange kid, McKendrick. Not like the others. You know that, right? You’re not superhuman.”
“I know. You already told me.” Lance shrugged. “Well, not you exactly. The other you.”
“The version of me you met in that alternate reality,” Duval said, nodding. “That must have been something. I envy you, Lance. To get to see and experience a world so similar to our own, but so vastly different at the same time.”
“It wasn’t so great,” Lance said. “I don’t get you at all, Casey. The other you was smart, manipulative and very dangerous. He could have ruled that world.”
“Different realities, different circumstances . . . What do you want, Lance? I know you don’t trust Max. Come to check out the competition? See if I’ve got anything better to offer? Because maybe you don’t get me, but I do get you. I understand you.”
“No you don’t.”
“Lancelot Aaron McKendrick. Fourteen years old. Recently orphaned. A habitual liar, a would-be con artist, smarter than you let on but still not as smart as you like to think you are, and seriously conflicted. All teenagers are conflicted, of course—that goes with the territory—but you’ve got it worse than most. You’re torn between your desire to keep everyone at a distance and your longing for friends. Can’t have it both ways, kid.”
The fourth installment of the critically acclaimed Super Human series
The defeat of the near-invincible villain Krodin has left a void in the superhuman hierarchy, a void that two opposing factors are trying to fill. The powerful telepath Max Dalton believes that the human race must be controlled and shepherded to a safe future, while his rival Casey Duval believes that strength can only be achieved through conflict.
Caught in the middle is Lance McKendrick, a teenager with no special powers, only his wits and the tricks of a con artist. But Lance has a mission of his own: Krodin’s ally, the violent and unpredictable supervillain Slaughter, murdered Lance’s family, and he intends to make her pay.
For fans of Steelheart and The Avengers, Hunter is an action-packed superhero story that is hard to put down.
