Hunter

by Joanna White

  “Do you wish you were alone now?” I asked him.

  “Honestly? After having more than one person’s company, it made me realize how lonely I was before… I didn’t realize that it was loneliness at the time… Not until I felt something different. I don’t know if I could go back to that.” His eyes met mine and it was as if I could feel his honesty. There was something else to that statement; something deeper and he seemed…almost desperate. As if he wanted away from how he had lived before.

  “Was it really that lonely?” I asked.

  “More than you could ever know.” His words resonated inside me, clenching my heart and stomach. What had he gone through, all alone and isolated from everyone? I couldn’t imagine what that had felt like.

  Hours later, we were walking and there was a small clearing about fifty yards across in front of us. “I don’t like this,” Jared murmured.

  “Me either. There’s no cover and the Hunters could spot us in seconds.” My voice was as soft and low as his.

  “I don’t think there are any here.” He was staring out at the clearing in deep concentration.

  “We can’t be sure.” My voice was strained.

  He glanced at me, and then looked back at the field and beyond, a deep and concentrated look on his face.

  “Jared?” Worry pounded in my chest, along with my racing heart.

  “Can you run?” He looked back at me, his eyebrows furrowed.

  “I don’t know. I think so,” I said.

  “But if you collapse…”

  I glanced at him, and then back at the field.

  He still stared, as if the field could give him the answers he needed. “We’ll go together. But if the Hunters show up, hide and keep going. I’ll fight them off enough to give you a chance,” he said.

  “Jared… no. I won’t let you do that for me.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

  He met my gaze. “If they come, I want to give you a chance. It—it’s what I want to do.”

  “Why? Why are you risking your own life for mine?” I asked him.

  His forehead creased in confusion and he stayed quiet for a bit. “I don’t know… It just… it feels right. For once—I want to do the right thing. There’s just… something about you and the others that makes me want to do the right thing, instead of just… surviving. It’s what you all have done for each other time and time again.” He seemed to struggle with his words as if he was trying to understand why he was doing it himself.

  “I don’t want you to fight them all off by yourself,” I protested. I didn’t want him sacrificing his life for me. They would kill him, or worse, torture him, hoping he would give me up.

  “We don’t even know that they’ll see us, so there’s no reason to worry about it too much,” he murmured.

  I nodded, biting my lip.

  He stared into the trees again. “I think we can go.”

  I nodded, and he grabbed my hand. I would have been surprised if our lives weren’t on the line. “Ready?”

  “Ready.”

  We took off running, hand-in-hand. Out in the open, I felt exposed, too vulnerable. I couldn’t hear or see anything, but that didn’t mean that the Hunters weren’t around. Jared’s hand around mine tightened, and all his muscles tensed, but he kept running. As we ran, he pushed me in front of him and gently shoved me to keep going forward. His arms gripped my waist, guiding me. We continued onward, his chest pressing against my back. I wondered in the back of my mind why he had moved behind me, and there was only one good explanation: Hunters.

  He was putting himself in between me and the Hunters.

  How he had known they were there, I had no idea. I didn’t dare look behind us; any kind of stopping could get either of us killed.

  We were about halfway across the field, when I felt Jared’s hand close around my waist, grabbing tightly, then letting go, as if trying to make up his mind about something. He pushed against me harder, urging me to go faster.

  My head was starting to pound, and I was seeing double. No, not now! I thought. I was running too much and the blood loss, even though it was days ago, was still having an effect on me. He must have realized I was slowing down slightly, because he gave me a hard push, and tensed again.

  “Down!” he yelled in my ear and suddenly we were both down on the ground, with him on top of me. His weight pressed against me, his arms on either side of my face, his muscles flexed with his palms flat on the ground. Something whizzed over my head and landed in a tree across the field, directly across from where we were.

  “We need to move! Stay down,” he hissed in my ear.

  He pushed me forward and I started crawling at first, but then he stood to his feet, staying in a low crouch, and pulled me with him. Suddenly, he roughly shoved me to the side, just as an arrow flew by his arm, lightly grazing it. He cursed.

  “Run.” He jerked my body forward, ahead of him. I darted that way, stumbling over my feet, but I managed to stay upright. I kept my gaze on a specific tree about twenty yards from where I was. It looked like there were two of them, but I continued that way. Jared was right behind me, keeping a hand on my arm.

  He pulled me out of the way of three more arrows, but we finally reached the tree. At last, he stopped, leaning against the trunk, and pulled me against his chest.

  Cautiously, he glanced around it, as if trying to see where the arrows had come from. Cursing, he looked at the woods in front of us.

  “What is it?” I asked him.

  “They’ve got their archer, the one who shot you before… and four other Hunters with them. Those are just the ones nearby.” His voice was practically a growl.

  “Five Hunters? We’re never going to get past them!”

  He clenched his jaw tightly, looking ahead of us. The field was behind us, and the Hunters were probably on the other side of it.

  “It’s risky, but I think we’re close to the mist,” he murmured.

  “The mist?”

  “No time to explain, but I don’t think we have much of a choice.” He glanced around the tree behind us again. “It’ll give us the advantage.”

  The mist didn’t sound good, but I wasn’t about to argue. It was either that or fight against five Hunters. I was more than happy to go with Jared’s plan. I nodded.

  He glanced behind us, then gave me a short nod, and pushed me ahead of him again. We took off sprinting through the woods. It darkened almost instantly. I realized it wasn’t because we were in the woods, but some clouds had passed in front of the moon. Up ahead of us there was fog so heavy that it looked like a wall.

  “Let me guess; that’s the mist?”

  In response, Jared pushed me again and within seconds we were inside the fog. We stopped, and I tried to catch my breath and stand upright.

  Jared noticed and put an arm around my waist to steady me. “If they follow us in here, they’ll be just as confused as us.” He sounded like he wanted to add something else to that but didn’t.

  I nodded, too tired to speak. He murmured something about how dark it was, his voice thick with worry, but I was too tired to hear him straight. My head was pounding, so I let him lead me. “It shouldn’t be long before we cross the mist and hit the river. The lake will be only about five miles away or so,” he told me, tightening his grip around me. He stopped walking and glanced at me. “You okay?”

  I shook my head, my knees wobbly.

  “Here,” he replied gently, picking me up. “We’re almost there and then we can rest for a while.” I tried keeping my eyes open, but my head pounded, and darkness threatened to overtake me.

  “Hey, open your eyes. Try to stay awake, okay?” He kept talking to me, and I briefly wondered why. It took me a while to realize he was doing it to try to keep me from sleeping, but I couldn’t remember why I needed to stay awake.

  I shivered and opened my eyes only to realize I was on the ground leaning against a tree. The fog was still all around us. Jared knelt next to me, sword in his hand, ready. There were low v
oices nearby, and I realized that the Hunters had found us.

  He glanced at me, noticing my eyes were open. Silently, he put a finger to his mouth and I nodded. Or at least, I tried to nod.

  The voices grew a little louder and I peered through the fog, trying to see anything. I thought I saw a couple of shapes to my right, but I couldn’t be sure. I touched Jared’s arm, shot him a worried glance, and then gestured to our left. He shook his head, nodding back in that direction, but a little behind us. I couldn’t see anything, but I guessed he could see better than I because I was still weak from running too hard. We would have to wait and hope they missed us.

  Jared’s eyebrows narrowed, an angry look spread across his face, and his jaw clenched. His fist tightened around the hilt of his Inquiri blade, his knuckles turning white.

  Confusion rattled my mind. He looked lost in his thoughts, and I hoped he was focused enough to fight them if he needed. He glanced back toward our left, and I finally saw it; another shadow.

  Jared stood in a low crouch again, and he moved forward. I tried to reach for his arm, but I couldn’t. Stomach tightening, I watched as he approached it. He glanced at me and gestured his head toward his right. In a brief movement, he motioned a wait signal with his hand, and then he was lost in the fog. I heard a squelching sound, but nothing else after it. I glanced at the left to see two more shadows had stopped mid-stride. Jared’s hand gestured for me to go, despite that I could barely even see it. Using the tree behind to help me stand, I grabbed each tree I could find to steady myself as I headed in the direction he told me.

  Suddenly, something grabbed my left hand, making me jump.

  It was Jared. He pulled me forward and dashed away as fast as we could go.

  Another five yards or so and we emerged from the mist. At last, we had reached the river. It bubbled and flowed over the small rocks and stones and the smell of fresh water wafted to my nose.

  Jared gave me a short smile, picked me up, and sprinted alongside the river bank.

  We had obviously escaped the Hunters because that was the last we saw of them. Jared didn’t stop running for a solid hour, and then we were there: the lake. He gently put me down on the bank, and then collapsed himself, lying down beside me. I handed him a canteen and he drank from it greedily.

  “Just don’t go swimming this time, okay?” I shot him a half-smile, half-grimace.

  He shot me a smirk. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

  CHAPTER 12

  AVERELLA

  We spent the next week relaxing, getting water, gathering food, tending our wounds, and resting. Jared even started to teach me how to hunt. There wasn’t much wild game that didn’t attack when provoked, but since we were by the river, there were smaller animals all around. With the poison, which still hadn’t left the river completely, the small animals traveled closer to the lake, where the rapids were.

  We both knew we had to get my health back. Not just so I could hunt, but so I could travel and fight again. He started with the wounds on my legs, checking the stitches, re-sewing the ones that needed to be redone, and moved on to the ones on my arms, my face, and my back. After that, he came to my stomach, so I lifted my shirt, stopping where my ribs were. Lightly touching my side, he gently checked the stitches there. I tried not to let him see how I reacted to his touch: my heart speeding up, my breathing quickening, my palms starting to sweat. It felt as if my skin buzzed whenever he touched me, a buzz that sent my heart pounding.

  I was so sure he could hear it. He checked a few slashes on my stomach. One was about two inches long and the other only half an inch long. The first was a little deep, but the second had already started to scab over.

  “I think the stitches can be taken out on that one.” He glanced at me.

  I nodded. He untied the string or whatever it was (I couldn’t tell for sure) and gently pulled it back through. It briefly stung, but it didn’t hurt as bad as I expected it to. He paused, hesitating, and shifted his weight with a light flush to his cheeks.

  “What is it?” I asked him.

  “Uh…Do you want me to give you some privacy? So, you can check the cuts on your chest?” he asked.

  I swallowed hard. “Yeah, that would be great. Thanks, Jared.”

  He nodded and walked off into the trees. When I knew he had gone far enough away to keep him from seeing anything, I slid my shirt up and checked out the wounds on my chest. There were only two cuts, one along my collarbone and one just above my ribs. They both didn’t seem bad and the stitches looked alright to me. However, I knew they would have to be taken out sometime, but I couldn’t take them out myself… I had no idea what to do or how to do it.

  “Jared,” I called, pulling my shirt back down so it reached my ribs. He came walking through the tree-line.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked.

  I nodded. “They seem fine to me. But, eventually, those stitches will have to be taken out.” I hesitated awkwardly.

  He swallowed deeply, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

  “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before… And technically it will be to save my life,” I pointed out, shrugging. I tried to smile, hoping to make it seem less awkward.

  “True.” He frowned.

  “What?” I asked.

  “It’s just… I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, Averella.”

  I laughed.

  He gave me his look. “What could possibly be funny?” he asked.

  “I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.” I giggled.

  He smiled for the first time. It seemed to light up his whole face. “Let’s just say for argument's sake that we’re both comfortable with saving your life.”

  I nodded, still looking at him.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Your smile. It…suits you. A lot better than that guarded look you have all the time,” I blurted.

  He cleared his throat and looked at the trees. “I need to go hunting soon, so let’s finish up with these cuts.” He knelt beside me.

  I pulled up my shirt and suddenly my hands shook.

  “It’s okay,” he murmured, looking right into my eyes. He had that same reassuring gaze he had when we were with the Hunters. It calmed me, just like it did then.

  Carefully and gently, he checked the stitches. The inch-long one needed to have the stitches taken out. He untied the string stuff and gently pulled all the stitches back through. I winced slightly, but the pain wasn’t as bad this time. At last, he checked the other cut, which was healing he said, but not quite ready to have the stitches taken out.

  “All done,” he said, shooting me a half-smile. His right hand still rested on my stomach. Our eyes met, and his gaze seemed to see right through me, deep inside my soul. I slowly pulled my shirt back down, covering my stomach this time, and he removed his hand. When he pulled his hand away, my stomach felt cold where his hand had once been.

  “Now, let’s check the ones on your neck,” he said.

  I nodded, unable to speak. My heart was pounding so hard, I was sure he could hear it. He put his hands around my neck, barely touching the cut at first, then wrapped his fingers around so they reached the back of my neck. We were so close from where I leaned against a tree with him kneeling beside me. Close enough that I could feel his breath on my face. He looked up from the wound to my eyes.

  I stared into those red-golden eyes, and they seemed to soften when he gazed into mine. Swallowing deeply, I tried to ignore my shaking hands. He leaned closer to me so that we were only centimeters apart.

  I finished closing in what little space there was between us, and our lips just barely touched each other. Where his hand touched my neck, I felt warm, and the moment our lips brushed my stomach fluttered. We both pulled back, staring at each other. There was a hint of a smile on his face, that I knew was on mine too.

  “Did—" he stopped, as if unsure how to speak. “Did you… feel that?” he asked, seeming to struggle with the words. He shook his head as if the feeling shocked
him.

  “Yes,” I answered. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

  “What…what was that?” His eyes seemed to sparkle.

  “It—I… I don’t know. It… was amazing.” Back in my village, I had thought a couple of boys were cute, but it never went beyond friendship. One was killed and the other was taken, and never heard from again. Most people in the villages enjoyed the precious time they had with each other because time was a luxury we couldn’t afford.

  “I should probably check that cut now,” he murmured, voice pulling me from the quiet moment between us.

  “Yeah, you probably should.” Despite my words, I didn’t want that moment to end.

  He checked the cut on my neck, took the stitches out, rubbed salve on it, and then handed me a canteen. I took a drink of water and handed it back to him. After he took a drink, he reached for the berries that he had gathered the day before.

  “There’s only a couple left, but you can have them. I’ll go hunt today and try to find us some meat,” he explained.

  I nodded, taking the berries. They tasted so good, and that was when I realized how hungry I was.

  “I’ll be back in a few hours,” he said, standing up. He grabbed a bow and a pack of arrows we had found miles away by the river and started toward the trees by the rapids.

  Once he was out of eyesight, I grabbed a canteen and tore a piece of cloth off my sleeve, and wet it down. I was filthy, but even though a bath wasn’t a luxury I could get here, I figured I could make the best of what I had. It didn’t take long to clean myself as best as I could, and then I lay on the shore by the lake, drying myself in the sun as it came up. It only took about an hour to dry off completely, so I slipped my clothes back on and walked around the lake. The dizziness and lightheadedness had stopped, so I knew that meant that I was getting stronger. I doubted I could fight a Hunter yet, but at least walking without being dizzy was a start.

  Jared returned about an hour after the sun had set again. He had caught a couple of small animals.