Hunting Midnight

Chapter Twenty: No Easy Way Out

I lock eyes with my father, and, without a moment's hesitation, he fires the gun. Ruhn darts forward and pushes me out of the way, and the bullet flies right past me.
"Oh, my god," I gasp quietly. The shock I feel from my father trying to kill me is nothing compared to the rage running through me. Ruhn growls, immediately firing back at Vargr, who dodges behind a tree.
"The hunters are right behind us!" Manteo calls out. "We need to get back to our land and board up this tunnel."
"Manteo's right," Ruhn says quickly. "We'll need to wait to get our revenge on Vargr. We're way too outnumbered right now."
I reach down and lift Drita's now unconscious body into my arms.
"Leave her," Manteo says firmly. "She's one of them."
"Absolutely not," I shoot back. "She could be an asset to us. She's been living with the wolf hunters for a while. There's so much she could tell us."
"She could also be using you to get inside our territory," Manteo points out.
I turn at look up at Ruhn with determination in my eyes. He sighs and relents. "We'll bring the human. When we get back we can decide what to do with her after I question her."

I hold Drita in my arms as we run through the underground tunnel that connects my land to the wolf hunter's. Drita lets out a pained moan, and I know we're running out of time to help her. We continue on through the tunnel until we come out onto our land and race back to the pack house. Manteo and Jelene hang behind, closing the entrance while Ruhn and I meet the doctor. Immediately, we race Drita into the house and lie her down on a bed in an extra bedroom. Anton, the pack doctor, presses on her stomach to stop the bleeding. "It doesn't look good. She's not going to make it without assistance."
"What kind of assistance?" I ask quickly.
"We need to remove the bullet and clean the wound," Anton says. "But we'll also need a few drops of your wolf blood to heal the wound."
"I say we let her die," Manteo says, him and Jelene appearing in the doorway. "She's a human who was working with the wolf hunters."
"Because she was forced to!" I exclaim. "The wolf hunters are killing humans who refuse to work with them."
"And you believe that because she told you?" Manteo demands, gesturing to Drita's unconscious form. "How do you know she's not lying?"
"I saw how they treated her," I say firmly. "And if you look, she's got a bruise on her left eye."
Manteo takes a step closer to her bedside and begrudgingly nods. "Even if she was hurt by the hunters, that doesn't mean we have a responsibility to her."
"Yes, it does," I insist. "If we don't make peace with the humans at some point, we'll be hunted by them forever. And there are only a few million wolves compared to the billions of humans on Earth."
"So you think we should become friends with our enemies?" Manteo asks.
"No!" I exclaim quickly. "I think we should kill every hunter who is after us. But, we also should acknowledge that not all humans are against us."
I mindlink with Ruhn. "If we kill her, we'll be no better than the wolf hunters."
"If she's a spy, she deserves to die," Ruhn replies. "But I don't think Vargr would shoot his own spy."
"I agree with Kenna," Ruhn then says aloud. "Drita could prove incredibly useful since she knows the wolf hunter's inner workings." Then, Ruhn turns to me with steady eyes. "If you promised to protect her, you should honor your word. I'm going to leave the final decision up to you, but if you let her live, she will be guarded at all times."
"Here," Anton says as he moves to my side and takes my arm. "Let me clean your wounds." I nod as he examines the deep gouge on my arm, deciding it needs stitches which he administers quickly. Then he moves to my stomach, examining the cut which isn't too deep. He cleans it, and then returns to the end of the bed to go through his medical tools.
Just then, Drita wakes up with a cry of pain. Her eyes widen with fear when she sees the multiple people standing by her bed. "Kenna... help!"
"I'm here," I say quickly, moving to her side. "You're okay, Drita. Just hang in there."
Drita nods, then her eyes flutter shot and she slips back into unconsciousness.
"What's wrong?" I ask quickly, panic lacing my voice as Anton rushes to Drita's side once more.
"It's the blood loss," he says, his face falling. "I'm afraid even your wolf blood won't be able to save her now."
My eyes widen in horror as I look down at Drita's limp form, her bruised face and bloody stomach.
"I'll give her something to make her comfortable and let nature take its course," Anton says with a sad expression.
"I..." I trail off as Ruhn steps forward and places an arm around my shoulder, pulling me close to him. "Thanks, Anton."
"Come on, Kenna," Ruhn says softly. "Let's leave her in peace."