In Between Seasons (The Fall) (3 page)

We had been running for
hours
,
and
my mind was whirling with questions that I knew
Hunter
might never answer. I
wanted to know how he had learne
d to run h
olding someone’s hand because
i
t was awkward for me
, and I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t for him
.
I wondered if he really thought I was going to try to get away from him
.
A
s I glanced over my shoulder at him
I realized I would never try to get away from him
.
He had kidnapped me, but he had saved me in some ways too. I didn’t know much about him, or understand why I trusted him, but I did. I hadn’t ever been able to trust anyone before, especially those in my family. Sometimes the biggest lie is saying nothing at all, and that is what they had done. As I looked at him I realized it was because he had the most to hide, but that his eyes told me the truth that I trusted him.
I wa
tched as his expression changed;
his brow
furrowed
and
his eyes darted
as his paced
began to slow
. He stopped
and
pushed me behind him. His head turned
and
so did his body as I tried to look over his
shoulder on my tip toes.

“Shit
—
Kate hide
and
don’t come out until I say so,
”
Hunter ordered as he nodded sternly over his shoulder.

“What?”

“I said hid
e,” Hunter
pushed me back with one hand.

I darted into the bushes
and
up a tree as quietly as I could. When I looked down at the top of his head I could see what had stopped him
. T
here were t
hree men coming out of the tree line
that he had turned to face.

“A general out in the woods with his
girlfriend
all alone
?” t
he man in the middle said. He was taller than Hunter by a good five inches
and
just as wide. He looked like he could eat Hunter for dinner
and
my heart went into my throat,
“You must be a general to be bold enough
to stop when you’re being hunted, albeit a dumb one.”

“I’m dumb? I’m a general
while
you’re just a glorified tracker,
” Hunter said
. T
he man proved how stupid he was by taking the bait
and
lunging forward.

In a movement I didn’t quit
e catch
the man was on the ground behind Hunter
and
the other two, who were equal in size to Hunter, lunged forward
. The size of their leader led to his clumsiness
,
but
these two were quicker than the leader
. Hun
ter caught one punch in his hand
and
twisted the man
into the ground while barring the kick of the other with his arm. I was surprised that Hunter didn’t flinc
h at the impact of bone on bone
because it sounded like something had crunched.  Hunter turned to the man who had done the kicking
and
smashed him in the face with his foot. The man flew backwards into a tree
and
crumbled to the ground unconscious. 

The burly leader
was just recovering as the man
who tried to punch Hunter ran towards him fists flying. I could barely tell what was happening as Hunter blocked several punches
,
but
then took one t
o the gut before he received
a knee in the face.  When Hunter looked up t
he man looked
pleased as
he hopped up
and
down like a boxer. The leader
was
still
ru
bbing his head in confusion
.

“Good try,
” Hunter said
,
unfazed as he ran forward
and
pushed
the man back into a tree. He grabbed the man’s hair
and
pulled his head forward
and
then backwards slamming i
t into the tree. The man’s eyes
rolled back
and
he fell to the ground.

The leader
had recovered
and
was laughing,
“You may have taken them
,
but
can you take me?”

Hunter turned
one eyebrow raised,
“I’m surprised you’re not running back to your tribe crying like a baby already.”

“I’ll kill you
and
your pretty little woman too.”

“No one is going to touc
h her,
”
Hunter said with his voice level. I felt butterflies in my stomach as I imagined what his face might look like, what his eyes might say that meant. I knew somehow that right now they weren’t revealing anything, but that he was perturbed with the situation.

“When you’re dead how
will you stop me?” The leader
replied
,
arms crossed
,
but
again Hunter had used the conversation as a distraction
. In one swift movement Hunter
grabbed a log from the ground
and
cracked it over the man’s sku
ll. He fell to his knees
and
the
n face first into the ground.

“Kate?”
Hunter said
,
his voice strained.

“Yeah,” I said
,
clinging to the tree above him.

He looked up, “You hid in a tree? How did you
get up there so fast
?”

I shrugged
and
slid back down
. When I came out of the woods I found
Hunter pulling a gun from the back of his pants
.

“Who are these guys?”
I asked
.

Hunter
clenched his
jaw,
“People who won’t give
up
,
and
the
re are bound to be more of them,” h
e said
,
b
ending his knees
and
throwing me
over his shoulder,
“Close your eyes
and
don’t open them until I say so.”

“Hunter…
”

“Please Kate. You don’t need to see this.”

“They’re closed,” I replied,
and
I heard the pop
of the gun
and
the recoil into
his shoulder three times before he took off running.

“I’m sorry you had to hear that,” h
e said as he co
ntinued to run at a full sprint,
“You can open your eyes.”

“Can you put me down
and
let me run?”

“No, we need to get away qui
cker than you can run,” he continued to explain
,
“
They’
re like pack animals
. T
here
are always at least six
—
typically
two groups of three. Once they find their oth
er team members dead they’
ll turn back
and
we won’t have to
worry
—
as long as we don’
t get in the way of where they’
re going.”

“I think you need to teach m
e how to fight
,
so
there’
s an
even match up,
” I said
,
and
a cyn
ical laugh came from his throat,
“It’s not a bad idea
,
is it?”

“Not really
,
but
you aren’t very coordinated,” h
e said
,
readjusting me on his shoulder,
“
Okay,
I’ll think about it.”

“I think yo
ur shoulder bruised my rib cage,
” I said when Hunter finally let me down off his shoulder.
I figured now wasn’t the time for questions.

“Did I now?” h
e joked
,
running his
hand through
his sandy brown hair that stuck up into a faux hawk.
I had to take a breath
and
look away as my eyes landed on his soft lips.

“Yeah, I think so,
” I said
,
regaining my composure
and
leaning forward to touch
his eyeb
row,
“You need this stitched up.
It’s
still bleeding.”

He flinched
at my touch,
“Well, that would be kind of hard for me to do seeing I don’t have a mirror.”

“Do you have a suture kit somewher
e in your bag of tricks?” I asked
as my hand dropped
to his arm. His muscles flex
ed
in pain as my hand landed.

“Yes,” h
e said
,
turning to try to sto
p me from seeing the pain that was filtering into his
face.

“Let me see your arm,
” I ordered
as he turned back to face me.

“It’s fine.”

“I’ll determine that,
” I said
,
looking at the large black
and
blue mark,
“I heard the impact
and
it sounded like something broke.”

“What’s the verdict
?”
Hunter said after a moment.

“It’s just a bruise,
” I said
, watching his smug reaction,
“I’ll sew this up for you.”

“Thanks,” h
e said. I watched him keep his composure even as I pulled the needle through his b
ruised skin,
“How do you know how to do that?”

“My father did teach m
e some useful skills, but o
nly because he got sick of suturing me up himself.”

“So you’ve always had a knack for injuring yourself?”

I shrugged,
“Less now that I’
m older.”

He looked up at me as I snipped the excess
string
,
and
I could tell
that
he could see the
pain in my eyes as I admitted
it.
It was something I had always hated about myself. I could do things that required coordination and thought, but when it came to doing something that required little thought, like walking, I had a great talent of getting injured.

“I’m
sorry I’ve teased you about it,
”
Hunter said.

“The truth can’t hurt.”

“It depends
on whose truth it is,
”
h
e said as he ran his fingers over his parched lips.

“It’s funny how that works,
” I said
,
sitting down next to him on the log.
I understood exactly what he was saying,
“So who were they?”

He clenched his jaw
,
scratching his
five o’clock shadow in unease,
“Those were hunters.”

“That means nothing to me,
” I said as he threw some sticks in a pile
and
lit it with a match, “a
nd why did you call him a glorified tracker?”

“A tracker is the lowest person
in the army ranking. They do exactly what their name
is;
they track people
. U
sually
it’s those
from other tribes to find out where the
rival
tribe is stationed. We live few
and
far between out here. There are
s
afe houses similar to
the underground rail road along the way. At any rate
,
trackers don’t carry weapons
and
aren’t
supposed
to let their presence be known.
Although,
most of the time they’re so dumb you can tell they’
re tracking
you
straight away.”

“So a hunter must be one step abo
ve that? Just as dumb obviously,
” I said
,
watching him search through his pack.

“Yeah,
t
hey were trackers that surviv
e
d long enough to become hunters
except they hunt to kill. Most
are cowards though
,
so
if you kill one the other half of the group doesn’t u
sually follow,” he said with a sigh
,
“I’ll be back in five minutes, don’t go anywhere
. You can hide in a tree agai
n if you have to.”

“That’s not funny.”

“It was fun
ny for me,
” Hunter
said
,
looking over his shoulder
and
smiling.

I rolled my eyes
and
leaned closer to the f
ire.
I could get used to that smile.

“
You
unable to sit still?” Hunter commente
d when he returned with a skinned animal.

“It’s cold
,
okay?” I replied
with
clenched teeth.

“Well, I have
dinner. Hope you like bunny,” h
e said with a smirk.

“Sure,
” I s
aid
,
trying not to look as disgusted as I was
.

“I’m sorry you’re cold.”

“And
you’re
not?”
I questioned as I looked up at him
.
He didn’t look cold at all.

He shrugged,
“Yes
,
but
you get use to it.”

“Right.”

“How do you like your bunny?”
he asked
.

“Well done,” I answered, and Hunter laughed. It wasn’t long before I was
laughing too
,
“Is it really a bunny?”

“Well…yes. I can pretend it’s a chicken
if you want,” h
e suggested
,
putting it on a stick over the fire.

“I’ll just pretend when I’m eating
it,
” I said
,
reaching in the
pack
and
takin
g a sip out of the water bottle,
“So it must be an honor to be a general?”

“Not quite,
”
he replied
as his eyes darkened
.

“I don’t understand?”

“The only wars you read about are in books where it’s glorified
,
but
it has n
o glory in the world we live in,
”
Hunter explained as he looked past me into the woods.

“So you didn’t want to be a general?”
I asked
.

“Trackers
and
hunters have a choice
,
but
generals are chosen. I’ve sold my soul for something I don’t believe in. I’m an assassin of my enemies
and
my own people. I send trackers
and
hunters out knowing that most likely it’s a pointless mission
and
they won’t come back.”

“Does every general hate it?”

Hunt
er looked blindly into the fire,
“No, most love it.”

“So have you had bunny before?”
I realized that he was telling me something
that
he had not told anyone b
efore, and I didn’t want to pry even though my mind was spinning with questions.
I felt sick to my stomach wondering why he had told me so much about himself. If he killed
me it
wouldn’t
have
matter
ed
that I’
d ever known.

“You’re scared again,
”
he observed as he looked
up at me.

“I just don’t
know where we’
re going or why,
”
I answered
as I locked my eyes with him.

“I have to go back,
” he said not looking away from me, “b
ut I’m going to do everything possible to keep you safe here
and
there.”

“Why?”

“Because I need to.
”

I didn’t bother to ask why because I could tell b
y his expression
that
he didn’t
know.
He stood
and
came to sit next
to me
. H
is body
was
close enough to mine to make the shivers
dissipate
.