The Hunter

Introduction

It was a stormy winter night in the woods. Everything was dark outside, and the moon's light did not shine through the thick clouds. All that could be heard was the howling wind from outside. Everything else was quite in a little shack. No power was on after The Fall, but a man had lighten a lantern to provide light inside the shack. He was crouched over, trying to jump start a car. Sitting inside the car, the man played around with cables that his friends had taught him to use as a kid. The car hadn't been running in years, but he was desperate. He had to get his family to safety. It was the only hope. Meanwhile, a wife stood outside of the car, holding a crying baby. She tried to calm him down, but it wasn't working.

"It's not working!" Exclaimed the man, frustrated with the cables in the car, "This isn't going to work!"

"It has to work!" Replied the mother, finally making progress on putting her squealing son to sleep, "It's our only hope."

Though no matter how much they tried, it wasn't working. However, no hope was lost. The man tried with the women's help, and she let her sleeping baby rest in the back seat of the old car. She hid him for the inevitable, a foe that cannot be stopped. Every mother has an instinct to protect her offspring, just as this mother did for a baby that would never know her. Even though they tried, it is still a deadly infection. It comes in the night in a group. Scavengers is what they are; desperate life forms relaying on the life of another. Though all material objects provide, except for this menace.

They entered the shack, all of them.  While this pack was considered small, many were hiding in the shadows. Some could be seen, but most of the time, they come from nowhere. The man tried to protect the woman who he called his wife, kissing her before trying to fight them off. She screamed in terror as the brutal pack of blood suckers attacked him, sucking the very life out of him. When his limp body fell, she knew her time was over. Searching the shack did the demons look, every corner of every crevasse. Though when they went for the car, they did not notice the baby, hidden cleverly under the seat. It was in a heavenly slumber, unaware of the deaths occurring outside. For whatever reason, when the pack left, all that remained was a sleeping baby.

Not too long after, a man with numerous weapons and painful looking scars stumbled upon the shack. Daylight was coming up, and the light was showing that the shack had been broken into. He went inside, armed with a cross bow. Though what he found could not be destroyed with a simple weapon. A wrecked house, with everything scattered everywhere, and blood on the walls. The man looked around in horror, especially when he found a man covered in blood, lying dead on the floor. This feeling didn't help when he walked around the car, finding a woman on the verge of death. The man quickly walked over, and wrapped her in his jacket. He held her in his arms, trying to keep her from dying.

"C'mon now, " he compelled, looking at the woman, "You'll be fine."

"No... I won't... I'm..." She struggled, her breathing becoming raspy.

"No you're not," he promised, looking around, "Did they come?"

She just shook her head for yes, "My baby... Martin, he's... Car..." She lifted a shaky finger up, pointing at the car.

The man gently set the woman down, still wrapped in his warm jacket, and opened up the back door to the car. Inside, he saw a sleeping baby wrapped up in blankets, still under the back seat. The man picked up the baby, and stuffed him inside his shirt so the baby, Martin, was secure. Then, he went back to the women, who now looked pallor.

"Are you a... Hunter?" Questioned the woman.

"Yes, they call me Adam," Adam introduced.

"His father was a direct hybrid from before The Fall.  He tried... But so many... They came out of no where.  You have to... to take care of him," begged the woman.

Adam thought about what the lady was asking of him.  He'd have to raise a fellow hybrid to become what they all became: a hunter.  His life was dangerous, a life lived knowing that it could end any day.  A baby smells, and makes noise, and needs constant care.  Though this kid must be something special to have survived this attack.  At least the baby would keep him company.

"Train him... Well...," gasped the woman, the last seconds of her life slipping away,Make... us proud, M-Martin... It's your... destiny."

With that, she went limp, dying. The man knew he could not stay. Adam carefully unwrapped his jacket from the woman, who's name he didn't even know. He put his jacket back on, and laid the woman down in a peaceful position. The man had witnessed too many deaths to cry, yet taking a child away from it's mother is not pleasing. Though the baby needed him, and he needed the baby. So at that, he picked up the crossbow, and trekked back out into the woods.  Adam didn't turn back to look at what he was leaving, he learned never to do that. When he was far enough, he took an arrow from his bag, and lit it on fire. He shot it through the crossbow, allowing it to land on the house, setting it on fire. After that, he turned around, and continued on his path, now aware of the life that depended on him.