valiant heart ▸ ben parish [o.h]

02 | HUNTING SEASON

VALIANT HEART | HUNTING SEASON

He's been following her. His steps slow and steady. Ghostly silent. Silent enough that she won't suspect. Following for days. Days he seen her walk, talk to herself, laugh to herself and even cry. Days he felt pressured for what he intends to do.

It's been two weeks since he encountered her. Between those two weeks, he has silenced most of those who she has talked to. Those who he didn't kill were killed by her.

Their final day together was getting closer and closer. In just one day, the Silencer will take her out with a simple pull of his finger. He already has the moment planned out. The only thing in his way is guilt.

___

He stands near her shelter. He listens carefully to her steady breathing. Every inhale and exhale. It is a slow, peaceful rhythm. He can feel the warmness of her breaths, finding it soothing.

This makes the situation even difficult. It was a three-step progress. Now it's a regressing development. He doesn't want to feel good when he does it. Over all, he doesn't want to do it. He can't decide whether to follow their code or fail.

Her tent shakes at her sudden stirring. This alerts the Silencer and he quickly regains his posture. His jaw clenched and body rigid. The tent shakes even more signaling the boy to get ready. He jogs away to a nearby large rock. He quickly sets his rifle and aims at her location.

Before she comes out, the Silencer prays he will finish the job. Her tent starts to unzip from the front and the Silencer takes a deep breath.

1,

The boy closes his eyes.

2,

The boy opens his eyes.

3

The girl pulls herself out and stretches her body around. But the Silencer can't seem to pull the trigger on her. The hair falling on her face makes it hard to look at.

The wind started blowing harder, making her hair go all over the place. A breeze hits their surrounding, making the girl turn her head to his direction. He quickly ducks and hopes she didn't catch a glimpse. He shivers under her stare.

After what feel like centuries, the girl finally takes her attention away from the trees. She starts to focus on her belongings. Every once in awhile, the girl turns to look at the same trees. The trees where the Silencer hides.

The boy makes eye contact with her. Her bright chocolate eyes not so bright anymore. She has grey bags under and her cheeks aren't as pink as they used to be.

The fact that the Silencer remembers every feature of her face. He even remembers her attitude. Her annoying yet rebelled attitude. The way she used to roll her eyes everytime you defined her. The way her mouth twists in annoyance. Even her rosy cheeks when you complimented her.

The Silencer huffs in frustration, blinking rapidly. He clenches his jaw and grunts as he unloads his chamber. The pointy bullet falls from the side, it's golden coat shinning. He swiftly stands up and collects his weapon. With one last glance at the girl, the Silencer disappears into the woods.

___

It's been two hours since he last saw her. H
After he made sure he was as far away from her as possible, he decided to stop. He puts away his rifle and hangs the bag over his shoulder.

Before he could let his guard down, rustling of leaves echoed through the woods. The sound of footsteps are heard heading his way. Suddenly, the footsteps aren't heard anymore. Their sound only lasted a minute.

The Silencer quickly follows where the footsteps were once heard. To his luck, muddy footprints are plasted onto the wet dirt. He follows the tracks, leading him back where the girl once was. Was.

She wasn't there anymore. Nothing if her personal or now personal belongings were there. He looks around for any sign of her but sees nothing. Not until he sees a figure running away. Thinking it was her, the Silencer rapidly gets his backpack and runs after her.

When he finally catched up with her, he sees the familiar jacket she was wearing. It belonged to another girl he encountered during his hunt. But he can't quite remember her name. Without seeing her face, he knew it was the blonde he once saw.

Again, he silently walks toward the woods to disguise himself. He swiftly takes out his sniper and points toward the street where the girl currently walked on. Holding his breath, he aims for her head. Right above her left ear. Then he closes his eyes.

1, she needs to die.

2, no one can live.

Right when he was about to shoot, a squirrel runs in front of the girl, startling her. She pulls back, turning ninety degrees. Her back to him. Without noticing, the Silencer pulls the trigger, hitting her from behind.

Her cap falls off, revealing her identity. Once the boy saw who she really was, his inside turn. His vision was blurry as we whispers in a low voice her name, "Aimee."

Aimee drags herself to a near pole and stares at the boy. He got a sudden headache at the way she looked at him. To his suprise, she smiled. Slowly, her eyes close shut.

The Silencer walks his way to Aimee and examines her. Her body was in an awkward angle but her smile still stretched on her face. He gets a hold of her shoulder, pulling her up from the ground. Instead of dragging her, he throws her over his shoulder. Deja vú makes his body almost slump but soon he recovers.

He picks up what he can and secures Aimee one last time. He starts walking the direction he was following her but had a different destination in mind.

Mothership.

___