To be Free

Chapter 8

Your POV

Before moving forward, the three of us inspected where to go to avoid the Hunter. It appears an old shack/shed place was our only option if we wanted to continue moving. A couple boxes and a TV hanging by a cord were all conveniently placed to act like barriers in case the Hunter shot at us. But looking at the crows closest to the first box near us, it seems the Hunter would be alerted to us regardless.

"All right, it's time to run like hell" I murmur to my friends. The two nod in agreement before we jumped down the small drop and made our way to the first box. Just as expected, the crowd squawked as they flew away due to our movements. The Hunter snapped his gaze in our direction accordingly and quickly attempted to shoot us, and because of the box in his way, the bullets only hit that and saved us. As soon as the first shot was fired, we sprinted to the second box the was pressed against the old wooden building.

The Hunter soon shot that too, and we had to climb up the wooden boards like a ladder and hide behind the hanging TV. And once that was shot, causing the TV to fall down, the three of us made it inside the building. Mono allowed Six and I to cross the wooden plank bride first before he crossed as well. Unfortunately, his added weight made the board snap and Six was close enough to quickly catch him by his hand. As soon as Six caught Mono, the Hunter kicked open the door and shot at us again, luckily Six helped Mono up by the time that happened and the bullet only hit the area next to us.

And since we obviously couldn't stay here we sprinted to the only exit, a window that luckily had no glass in it. I jumped out of it first, than Six, followed by Mono. We slid down a slanted metal roofing only to land in thick muddy water. I noticed Mono attempted to hold on to the roof for a moment before his fingers slipped and he too fell in the muddy water. We moved to hide under the raised bride/dock? That was under the shack we just escaped from. As soon as all three of us were hidden, the Hunter bursted out the other door, and angrily grunted above us. His heavy footsteps walked away and we could soon see him walking on the wooden bridge thing trying to look for us using his flashlight.

Eventually he kept walking until we could no longer see him, but we knew he was still near by. We proceeded to slowly walk through the waist high mud, it was so thick it felt like walking in sludge. I let out a disgusted groan as we got to a part where we had to duck, and go underwater, to get under the wood bridge part. I almost gagged when we re-emerged from the water, looking at my two friends, I could tell they also felt gross. Well I couldn't really tell with Mono, but I could just feel it.

We ducked once more to get out from underneath the wood and moved to hide behind some tree stumps sticking out of the water. Once again, I could feel my heart racing and I swear, with how fast my heart is beating I was sure I would eventually get a heart attack. Once we made for sure that the Hunter wasn't looking in our direction, we quickly and quietly made to the next stump to hide behind. Unfortunately, we're gonna have to duck under the sludge once again to avoid his light. Once we made it to a patch of grass, we emerged from the water and saw that an old tree trunk could be pushed over and used as extra cover.

My two friends also had the same idea as Mono gestured for us to help him. The three of us placed our hands on the bark and gave it out strongest push. The force from all of us pushing at the same time made it easier to topple over the tree trunk. "Don't worry Hunter, this tree was so weak that it toppled over on its own" I murmur to myself in hopes to calm my nerves a bit by making a dumb joke. I heard Six and Mono snort softly in amusement, at least it seemed to help their nerves too.

Once the tree was over and it fell into the mud, the three of us quickly jumped back down into the thick liquid and behind the tree. The Hunter shooting at the fallen trunk when hearing and seeing it fall seemingly on its own. We saw his light linger on the tree before carrying on scanning the area. We carefully moved along next to the tree before ducking once again under the mud to hide from the light so we could hide behind another tree stump. 'I swear all of this sludgy mud is lodged in unwanted places' I grumble bitterly.

We made sure the light was no longer on our hiding spot before continuing forward to some dry land. Hiding under the water, hopefully for the last time, if it was needed before climbing up onto the dry grass. "Ugh, I feel all filthy, I just hope I can get some what clean later" I grunt out. Six hums from next to me. "Yeah I hope so too, hopefully we won't have to wait long" she spoke softly, giving me some reassurance. I nod in agreeance with her. "Well, let's continue onward" i hummed out before we all climbed up an old, broken hanging bridge.

We got to another drop and saw what looked like a small shed in the somewhat short distance ahead of us. A couple of boxes, one looking more sturdy than the other, being our only cover before we'd have to take shelter in that shed. The three of us share a determined look before dropping and running over to the first box. Our running causing a disturbance to the crows that made them leave, once again alerting the Hunter who shot at us only to hit the rather sturdy crate.

I could hear them, our pounding heartbeats, our harsh breathing, we were full of fear but fuelled by adrenaline that allowed us to keep going. After the first shot, we ran to the next and final box for safety. A second and final shot herd us to the shed, our last place of temporary safety. Even as we were running for our lives, even over the sound of our beating hearts, I could still hear the soothing sounds of waves of water hitting the shore. We scrambled inside, shutting the door, Six locking it to stay shut. Mono looks over and spots a spare shotgun. He runs over and grabs a hold of it, just enough for it to fall off its stand and onto the ground with a thud. Six and I look at it and we both move to lift the gun up, Six providing it some height, I helped it to aim.

I looked over at Mono as he moved to grab the handle part and bring his hand near the trigger. As soon as we were all ready and in position, the Hunter used his gun to break a large hole into the door before sticking his arm into the hole and attempted to open the door from the inside. But he didn't get far before Mono pulled the trigger, and putting an end to the Hunter for once and for all. The power of the gun going off, caused us to fall back onto the ground, our ears ringing from having the gun fired so close to our heads.

Six and Mono recovered quicker than I did from the ear ringing, mostly because my ears were far more sensitive to sound than theirs, so it'll take me a bit to hear properly again. Six and Mono look at me worriedly before moving to check to see if I was okay, and soon noticing that I couldn't hear what they were saying, they moved to sit next to me and waited until I recovered myself. Such good friends they are, makes me feel glad I met them.

Eventually my hearing was returned to me, making me feel happy that the dreadful ringing was finally gone. "Alright, I'm good now. Let's keep going." I murmur. They stared at me for a moment, probably doing a last check over before standing up. Mono and Six both held out their hands for me to take, making me smile gratefully as I took their hands and allowing them to help me up. "Thanks" I hum out happily. They both nod, seemingly happy to help. We then moved to climb up and out of the window to leave the shed and to our relief, we saw an ocean in front of us and to our luck, a large wooden door to let us get across like a boat.

"Hey, before we get on that door, could we use the water to wash off this gunk?" I speak up. My two friends smile and agreed. They both felt pretty gross and knew this may be our only chance to clean up so we took that opportunity.