Blank Tables

Chapter 1

Another day was something that Hunter Milligan looked forward to.
He'd get up at 6:00 in the morning and begin his daily morning routine. A half an hour cardio workout finished with some reps with weights for his arms and some light stretching, shower, breakfast, and then off to school.

He always loved going to school since he was so poplar and good looking. 17 years old, tall with a good deal of muscle and shaggy brown hair surrounding his perfectly sculpted face and plump lips.

To put it simply he loved himself, and he had no doubt that most of the people that he knew loved him too. Grade A student as well, so the teachers of course wee always impressed with what he whipped up for essays and papers in his classes.
He had just become a senior last month, and in the month of October with golden leaves swirling around in the breeze of the cold foggy days, he only felt more confident of his future.

He practically flew down the stairs into the kitchen the whip up a protein shake and grabbed a bagel out of the fridge.

Blueberry, his favorite since he was a little boy.
His uncle stepped into the room with an empty mug, rimmed with coffee stains.

"Morning Hunter," he said, hardly glancing at him as he poured himself another cup of coffee.

He never saw his uncle eat, apparently he had many severe food of allergies, but somehow always seemed to look perfectly healthy. Except for the fact the he had bags under his eyes and barely left the house and needed a great deal of Vitamin D.

"Good morning Travis," Hunter said, as he scooped out two measurements of his protein shake into a bottle,

"Have you seen mom and dad anywhere?"
His uncle took a very prolonged sip of his coffee and stared off out the kitchen window, leaving Hunter waiting for a response.

"Have you been sleeping at all?" He asked his uncle for the millionth time.

"What?" He finally answered after what seemed like an eternity.

"Oh never mind," Hunter said shaking his head. Crazy ass coot he thought to himself.

His uncle slowly turned his head towards him and stared into his eyes with some unidentifiable emotion hidden away as Hunter wearily poured milk into the bottle.
He was only mid thirties but sometimes it seemed like he was ageless. The way he zoned out and always had meaningful and mostly confusing advise for when Hunter was needing help with something. Out of all of his three family members, Travis was the one he felt comfortable around.

"Well anyway I gotta go to school so I'll see you later, he said with a skeptical tone to his voice as he shook up his milkshake.

His uncle nodded slowly and averted his attention back to his coffee.
Hunter shook his head again and grabbed his back back off the table as he strode down the hallway to the front door.

School was bustling with the crowds of hormonal teenagers as always.
Willamette High School was located right outside of Portland Oregon. A cultured city filled with all kinds of people that you could possibly think of.
Most of the time it was foggy, cold and windy, Just like Hunter liked it.

The day went on as usual and before he knew it it was time to go.Before he went home though he wanted to go to a gas station and get some energy drinks so he could stay up late and write an essay he'd procrastinated Doing. As he walked away from his school, clouds began to gather over head and thunder started to roll across the sky with a heavy presence. He knew that he would have to hurry if he wanted to get there and back without getting soaked by the rain so he began to run down the street, getting further and further into the run-down part of the neighborhood.

Eventually it started raining as he was close to the gas station he was so familiar with, and he stopped about one hundred feet away as he almost slipped on wet garbage. he let his head fall back and let the rain cool down his face, hot from running. He jerked his head back up as he heard what sounded like cans rattling followed by a sudden scuttling sound in the alleyway that he stood next to. He squinted into the foggy darkness of the alley and jumped as he heard the same scuttling sound as before and then a sharp hissing sound directly after. Before he could back away a white hand reached out and grabbed his shirt pulling him into the shadows. Hunter tried to scream, but soon realized that there was a hand clamped over his mouth - An incredibly cold hand.

"Stupid kid," a rough cold gravely voice pierced through him as he realized just how bad things were about to get. Getting mugged would be ideal but he didn't think that's exactly what this guy had in mind. Good Lord he could get raped! Or shot and stabbed, or dear god even both.

"Please take my money, my phone just please don't hurt me!" Hunter said, eyes wide and heart beating faster than it had ever beaten before.

"Oh that's a very, pleasurable sound," the man said, exhaling cold breath onto Hunter's neck, "I can't wait to feel it as my own." Before Hunter knew what was happening, he felt something pierce his neck but then felt the sensation of pain leave him as strange numbness spread throughout his body, reaching his hands and feet last, leaving a tingling sensation in his neck. His eyes blurred and he realized the only thing holding him up was the man. The son of a bitch had injected something in him that had paralyzed him throughout his body. he could only think the worst as he hung, helpless in the mans hold.

On the brink of what felt like the end, a loud noise came from the end of the alley that he'd been pulled into. The man seemed to pull away from him and Hunter saw the world rise up around him, realizing that he'd fallen down to the wet dirty ground. He heard what sounded like complete chaos a few feet away from him. His attacker was fighting with someone in a brutal bloody brawl from the sound of it. Finally he heard the same hissing sound as before, but louder and with an undertone of a man's grunting pain.

Silence overcame the alleyway for a moment and then Hunter heard somebody else run over to him. This man was different than the first, he picked all 160 pounds of him up with ease and slung him over his shoulder and Hunter slowly started to get the feeling back in his body. He looked down at his arms as his rescuer started running down the alleyway and noticed blood that had started dripping down and mixing with the droplets of rain on his skin.

"Stay with me Hunter," said a familiar voice. He knew this voice, and it was the last thing he heard as darkness overcame his vision.