When Dawn Dies Down

The Hunt Begins

Irwin went back through the woods to go back for lunch. The chat with Nameless had made him feel better. His words were like a magical drug, healing all his wounds.
Suddenly the chattering of people came to his ears. He quickly hid behind a tree and steadied himself. He tried to hear what they were saying.
"Gentlemen, thank you for attending this hunt. Our beloved town will not see peace again until the menace is destroyed. You are all serving a great purpose. Long live Ranhbniz!"
"Long live Ranhbniz!"
"Long live Ranhbniz!"
"I'm sure he's somewhere in this forest. If not, he's hiding among the peaks. I swear when I find him I will peel him alive and break every single bone in his body until he begs for mercy, and then I'll kill him. He deserved it, for all the bad things he did."
Irwin shook in fright.
Another voice responded. "You're so damn right, Mayor Powell Wisconsin. He's hidin' in here or the mountains. There ain't nowhere else to go. We're so gonna catch him."
All of sudden a bush trembled.
"Get him!" Powell yelled.
They started shooting the bush and the area around it like crazy. One bullet even hit the tree which Irwin was hiding behind. He covered his ears
Eventually they took away the bush and revealed something.
Irwin was too frightened to look, although he knew that Nameless wasn't here. He gulped some saliva and took a peek.
A rabbit was lying there, blood all over its body, with an incredible amount of bullet holes on it.
"Damn rabbit!" Powell yelled, "Give me the real guy! C'mon! Where the hell are you hiding? Come out and face us, coward! Come! Will you die like a mouse or a man?"
No response.
"Get out!"
Still silent.
"Alright then, looks like we gotta kill you when you run like a puny mouse!" Powell cried in triumph, "Let's go, gentlemen. If we can't find him here we're gonna go to the mountains. We're gonna find him and slaughter the son of a bit!"
"But Mister Powell? Could he be hiding in the barn over the stream?"
Irwin almost yelled. Please! Please for God's sakes don't! No!  He almost stopped hiding and went to block them.
"That barn's so hidden, he won't know about it. He's a newcomer anyways, and he ain't smart enough to find a place like that. Unless someone told him. Besides, he's so sick and skinny, he probably can't even last a mile."
The moment Irwin heard "Unless someone told him" he trembled. But as their footsteps slowly died away, going out of the woods, he was finally relieved and sat weakly on the dirty ground, beside the dead corpse of the poor rabbit.
Please, God. He prayed silently. Please don't let them get him.