Waiting For the End || Blake Dixon Book One

Chapter 1 ||"What I did was not on a whim."

It was silent, except for a few birds and the whine of insects as they crept along. Blake kept her eyes peeled as she followed the tracks in front of her. The lush green vegetation that surrounded them rustled lightly as they walked. Something scampered up a tree to her right causing her eyes to jump away from the path in front of her. Before the noise wouldn't have bothered her, she knew the deer she was tracking would be somewhere in front of her and to the left, that is where the tracks were leading. But now every little sound put you on edge, that was your survival instincts talking. And if you didn't have those, well your end was most likely going to arrive early.

Spotting the squirrel that was the reason for her anxiety pause on the tree and stare at her, she let her eyes drop back to the faint tracks that were truly just little indents in the grass. It had been hot recently and storms that would moisten the ground were few and far in between in the hot Georgian summer. But luckily she grew up in the area, learning how to track in the climate. She used the broken sticks and bent grass to lead her forwards towards her goal.

Her crossbow sat heavy in her hands as she moved through the forest, glancing around every few steps to make sure she hadn't stumbled upon her prey or the predator she was keen to avoid. Blake could have sworn that the path was clear as she looked around the trees. The stick must have jumped out with a plan to make a fool of her, which it succeeded in. She felt her foot get caught and her balance was thrown off causing her to stumble forward. Suddenly a hand grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled hard, yanking her back upright. Then another hand came to rest on her shoulder gripping it tightly as it steadied her movements.

She let out a huff of breath as she came to a stop completely balanced now, no longer at risk of falling over. She glanced back and her brown eyes locked with her fathers bright blue. He had an eyebrow raised as he looked at her not saying a word, she just smiled sheepishly at him. The corner of his lip turned up in return and he shook his head in amusement. He dropped his hand from her shoulder and released the grip he had on her shirt before nodding his head gesturing her forward. And just like that they were moving again.

They continued on tracking the deer through the woods another mile or so before she spotted it through some branches standing about 70 yards away and grazing on the lush grass. She came to a stop and crouched down on a knee so her dad could see over her head. She looked back over her shoulder at him as he dropped his gaze from the animal to meet her eyes.

"All you," he grunted out lowly, nodding his head at the deer. She nodded, turning back to the deer and raising her crossbow. She had been shooting a crossbow since she could cock the thing, which her dad made sure was sooner rather than later, but this was still a pretty big ask. She steadied her breath as she lined up her sight with the back of the animal's shoulder. As she breathed out she squeezed the trigger lightly and the bolt flew from her crossbow. Unfortunately the deer moved forward a step as she squeezed and her shot landed in its hindquarters causing the deer to take off back in the direction of their camp. She cussed under her breath as she went to reload the crossbow.

"Go, I'll catch up," she told her dad who was hovering unsure if he should follow the deer or wait for her. He paused a second longer before taking off after the deer. Once she had her bow reloaded she started in the direction her dad had disappeared. She found him quickly reloading his own crossbow, he stood, made eye contact with her and nodded his head in the direction that the deer had presumably gone. The nonverbal communication was normal between the two, neither big on words so she just nodded back before following him. She stared at his back as they went, his nasty grayish colored cutoff shirt that she was pretty sure started out white plastered to his back from the sweat that dripped from him.

Her dad was an interesting man, he got her mom pregnant young when he was maybe fifteen, the age she currently is which was baffling to her. She hadn't even kissed anyone yet let alone done the dirty. But he didn't grow up in the best environment, his mom died when he was young and his dad was an abusive asshole. As soon as she was born her mom gave her up and even though he was young her dad took her in, if it was up to her uncle Merle she would be in a ditch somewhere or dead but her dad had stepped up and raised her. Their life wasn't great before and they lived with her uncle, but her dad always looked out for her and she loved the man with her whole heart.