The Hunted

Knockin' On Heaven's Door

A/N

Heyo! For this chapter listen to Knockin' On Heaven's Door by Guns and Roses.

Won't be able to update as regularly for awhile but I'll try to get new chapters up as soon as I can.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas

& Enjoy!

Hugh's P.O.V

Her body drops to the ground. 

Lifeless.

Gone.

Travis' screams echo at the back of my head. 

The screams.  The faces of pain.  Blood.  Agony.

I turn my head to face Travis and Maddie.  On their faces I see horror.  Travis looks at me with horror, pain and sorrow.  Maddie looks at me with horror and pure shock. 

I drop the gun and slowly limp to the side of the body.  Travis runs towards her.  He cradles her in his arms.  Tears stream down his face.  I should say something.  Anything.  I just shot his ex-wife.  I should definitely say something.  Sorry?  No not sorry.  Anything but that.  I stay silent and watch as he grieves the loss of Liza. 

I look up from the body and see Maddie staring down at the body.  Sombre.  Her eyes moist.

Behind her I see to people running down towards us.  Chris and Alicia.  C-Chris.  His mother is lying here lifeless.  I just shot her.  How can I ever explain this to him.  He'll see me as a cold-blooded murderer.

Chris crouches down to the grounds and buries his head on his lifeless mother's chest.  He cries out and tears stream down his face. 

Alicia stands closely behind him.  She looks down at the body then up at me.  We meet each other's gaze.  I don't move.  She doesn't move.  We stay still.  She takes another look at the body then moves her gaze to my hands.  She looks back at my eyes and gives me a small nod.  I shake my head at her and bend down to the body.  I scoop my hands underneath the body.  I lift Liza's body up.  Chris pushes her back down.  I stain my arms and push up.  Chris stays on the ground sobbing into his own hands.  Travis stands and stares at the body in utter distraught.

I slowly limp over to the edge of the cliff with the body.  Holding the body over the edge.  I turn back to see them staring out to me.  Maddie gives me a small nod.  I drop the body.  And it

Falls.

Down.

Leaving me with its pain and duty to protect its loved ones.

Alicia's P.O.V

*BANG*

Chris and I drop our ice blocks and run towards the sound to check it out. We make it to the cliff area and we see mom, Travis and Hugh crowded over a body.

Chris sprints ahead and I call out to him "Wait!". He doesn't hear and he sprints directly at the body. I'm pretty sure I know who it is. If I'm right Chris definitely shouldn't go over there.

I finally catch up to Chris. He's collapsed onto the floor directly next to the body and has crouched over it. His head rests on its chest. He's sobbing into its chest. I move my gaze to its face.

It's Liza.

She has a bullet wound straight through her head.

A thin line of blood trickles down from the wound.

Unlike Hugh's wound this is clean and fresh.

H-Hugh. I look up at him. His face shows deep sombre.

What happened here?

He looks up at me. We meet each others gaze. I want to run up to him and hug him, but my body doesn't move. I look down at Liza and feel some tears start to well up. I look back at Hugh. He looks down. My gaze meets his hands. They're bloody from his punch out with the soldier. Below his hand is a gun. His hand is shaking.

Hugh shot Liza.

Why?

I look back at Liza and look at her stomach. Towards the side there is some blood seeping through. I crouch down and peel her shirt back to inspect it. Chris pushes the shirt back the second it comes up. he keeps crying over his mother. Looking at her wound I understand why Hugh did it.

She was bitten.

She was going to kill us if he didn't.

He saved us before it happened.

I meet his gaze again and he just stares. His eyes are filled with remorse.

I nod slightly telling him that I understood why he did it. It was ok.

He shook his head denying this and looked back down.

He bent down and picked up Liza's body. Chris resisted and pushed against him. Hugh pushed Chris off and took Liza away. He limped towards the edge of the cliff. He held the body over the cliff. He turned back and looked back at us. He looked to my mom. Then he dropped the body.

Then screams echoed in the cliffs.

We stand in silence.

Travis storms off. Mom goes to follow him.

Chris stays crouched and sobs quietly in his arms.

I say to him "Come on Chris...we should get inside.". He shrugs me off and stays put.

I walk away whispering "I'm so sorry.". I look back and see him nod slightly.

I look to the cliff and see Hugh standing there looking out and over the horizon. I walk over to him.

Hugh's P.O.V

I stand by the cliff just staring out to the sea. Everything looks so calm despite everything that's happened so far. It's so calm. The waves are crashing across the rocks. The sounds are so soothing.

Alicia walks up to me and takes a seat by the cliff. She sits and joins me in staring out to the horizon. After a while she says "I understand why you did it. You know what would have happened if you didn't. You did the right thing Hugh." I keep my gaze focused on the horizon and stay silent. She continues "It's messed up isn't it? Everything that's happened. The things that we've had to do. The things we've seen. Everything is so messed up.".

I nod slightly and sigh taking a seat next to her. She keeps her gaze out at the horizon. We both just stare out. I say "It is messed up. But this is the way things are now. Things will never be the way it was before. We'll have to do some things we're not proud of. And we'll have to live with the consequences. What I did can't be forgiven. Even if it was for the survival of everyone else. Alicia I just killed Chris' mom. His mom. I didn't think twice. I killed her.".

She stays silent.

I'm a monster. I killed. and I know this isn't going to be the last time I do so. I'm going to kill again.

Alicia sighs and scoots closer to me. She puts her hand over mine and says "You're going to have to forgive yourself eventually. I know Liza would understand why you did it. It was to protect her son and Travis.". I keep my eyes on the horizon. She rests her head on my shoulder and continues " If you're not going to forgive yourself I'll do it for you. Hugh you're forgiven. Let her go.".

I exhale and turn to face her. Her face shines brighter with the sun shining on it. The pain feels like it's lifted up with her here. It's easier to carry.

I rest my head to hers and whisper "Thank you." then I let the tears flow. I let the pain flow right out in front of her. Pushes me down until I'm lying on my back then rests her head on my chest. I try to find my composure but I fail. The tears continue to flow out. But I'm not afraid of it showing in front of Alicia. We just lay like this and watch the sunset.