Just Give In

Chapter 32:

Tommy's P.O.V.

I sighed and leaned back against the trunk. It was now morning, and I was hiding in an oak tree far away from the house. I didn't know how far away I was from it, but I knew that there was no chance of them finding me for a while.

I closed my eyes for a second, going through everything that had happened in the past couple hours. After I had yelled at Phil, I ran through the forest, definately not crying- because crying is for small boys, and I am such a big man, I would never cry-

Alright, yes, I was crying, but who wouldn't be? For the first time, I had a sturdy roof over my head, people who weren't forced with me in their home, people who actually wanted me to stick around. People who cared for me.

And I threw that all away because that's what I usually do... I throw away everything that's important to me. And people have started to realize that. Tubbo realized that I'm easily replaceable. I bet he's having the time of his life with whoever the fuck that was playing with him. Bet he hasn't even thought of me in the since this morning, since all he could talk about how close him and Dream had gotten.

Fucking vampires. They took everything from me. They took my family, they took my home, they took my ability to die, and now they've taken my best friend. Let's not forget, they took away my freedom to eat whatever I want. Now I have no choice but to fucking eat blood at every god damn meal.

All because of these selfish blood suckers... and I had already turned into one. I didn't consider the risks that Phil was running when he brought me to his house. I wasn't thinking of how worried he might actually be when I had left.

I was too selfish and caught up with meeting my best friend and feeling like I was caged, I didn't even consider that they were trying to help me. That they were trying to give me a better life.

I shook my head, starting to get angry. Why was I at war with myself? You know what, fuck emotions, they're stupid and for cowards anyways. I don't need emotions, I just need food- fuck. I need food.

I groaned out loud and glanced down at my stomach as it started to quietly rumble, signaling that I needed to get food now or I would be starving myself. And I didn't want to find out what happened when I starved myself.

Glancing up at the sky, the sun was about half way towards noon, which meant it was between nine or ten in the morning. I'd have at least a couple hours before the sun would become to dangerous. That would be enough time to get food... right?

Yeah, it would be. Glancing down at the floor, I knew that I could make it to the ground without a problem, nor getting hurt. So that's what I did. I jumped out of the tree, and rolled as I got on the ground incase I did get hurt, which I didn't. Jumping up, I hesitantly looked around, just now realizing how big this forest was.

Taking a deep breath, I let my ears stand up and listen to the surrounding nature, trying to find an animal I could hunt. I closed my eyes to try and strengthen my hearing, but I didn't hear anything. Where were all the animals?

That's when I heard it. A swooshing through the air, silently flying towards something. Listening even closer, I could hear the air flow around it as it met it's target- THUNK! My eyes burst open and I saw that right above my head was an arrow. The arrow that I heard.

Fuck-

I heard another arrow fire, and ducked just in time to see it lodge itself in the three ones more. My irises turning to slits, I turned and began running through the woods, trying to get away from whatever was trying to hunt me. 

I've heard of hybrid hunting, but didn't think anyone still did it nowadays! I thought it was outlawed long ago, but apparently not! There were footsteps behind me, and I could tell that there were at least 3 men following me. If I didn't hide soon, then they would most certainly catch me. 

Eyes darting around the forest, I tried to find somewhere I could escape. It would take to long to climb a tree, and I could try to find a burrow big enough, but they might trap me inside and wait it out. I did NOT have a lot of options right now.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a stripped tail hide in a burrow. Turning my head, I saw a burrow that was big enough for me to squeeze through under a tree. Hearing the hunters behind me, I quickly turned, hearing an arrow whip past my head, and dove under the tree, getting comfortable in the burrow.

Just as I expected, there was a family of raccoons down there. There were four kits and one mother, who immediately started to growl and hiss at me. I lowered my ears and whimpered in fear, trying to get sympathy from the mother. Mother raccoons didn't sympathize at all unless it's with her own kits.

But I think she might've seen the hurt and desperation in my eyes, for she stopped growling and cautiously walked over, sniffing my tail that had wrapped around my leg. My head whipped towards the opening of the burrow when I heard footsteps approaching it.

"-fuck did that rodent go? That trash panda would've been worth at least 30,000 dead. Alive, over 55,000, maybe-"

"I've told you this, we can talk about prices once we get the damned thing. Now it's hiding and it won't come out till night, you know that raccoons hunt at night, therefore it's not coming out till then-" A voice responded to the first one, but seemed like they were getting further away. I could still hear their footsteps nearby, but they weren't as close as they once were. 

I sighed, leaning back into the roots surrounding the burrow. The mother raccoon nudged my leg, making me look at her, exhausted. She gerbled something out, before going behind me and nudging my back.

Following what she wanted, I leaned forward and began to crawl to the other side of the burrow, not really knowing what she wanted. I looked up and my night vision finally kicked in, allowing me to see a nest of moss and leaves in the corner. 

I stopped in front of it, but Mother raccoon went in front of me and tugged on my shirt, sending me a dirty look. I sighed, giving her a weak smile before climbing into the nest and curling up, getting settled in the surprisingly comfortable material.

The kits all crawled up, sniffing the clothing that must be strange to them. I laughed quietly at their antics, feeling their tiny noses poke around. Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion overwhelms me. I haven't slept all night, and running from those hunters really drained me.

Against my better judgement, I let my eyes close that the world around me faded away as I drifted into a quiet sleep. 

1223 words

-Zia