Bytes: Dawn of the Apocalypse

11: Nostalgia

The Husks hopped onto their horses, leaving Skylar a choice who she wanted to be with. Without a doubt, she chose Jeana, the closest friend she had in the group.

Murray leaped straight onto Alexis's horse, feeling pretty relaxed to be away from the dogs, who seemingly kept staring at him the whole time.

"New recruits, huh?" Hunter mumbled. "Where are we gonna get 'em?" he continued.

"Unlike you, I got lots of friends around the world, Hunter," Jeana replied.

"Heh," Hunter snickered, unable to prove her wrong.

"But honestly, I don't feel really safe being outdoors here," he said, eyeing his surroundings cautiously.

The town was filled with the sounds of any common neighborhood everyone had seen.

As the gentle breeze blew softly, Hunter's shirt waved to the tune of the wind.

People were wandering around the city doing their own business.

He recognized the sound of librarians sorting books into the correct orders, the sound of scholars flipping the pages of knowledge.

He recognized the sound of blacksmiths hitting their anvils forcefully, the sound of weapons being forged into a more powerful creation.

He recognized the sound of tireless farmers plowing their fields, the sound of ripened wheat being harvested.

He recognized the sound of fishermen reeling their unbreakable fishing lines, the sound of fish pulling them desperately and bending their sturdy wooden rods.

He recognized the sound of shepherds herding their cattles, the soft moos and baas of the stuffed animals.

...This is starting to become some kinda poem.

Animals were seen traversing pointlessly every once in a while. Cattles grazing on the grass, dogs barking joyfully at the sight of their owners... It was certainly a simple yet incredibly peaceful neighborhood.

Only watching the townsfolks living their lives had reminded him of his childhood, the feeling of insecurity fading slowly.

Shunk!

Hunter's eyes bulged in a bit of shock.

That one last sound he heard had immersed him into his old memories as a child; filled with the unmistakably same sounds of meat being pierced.

* * *

Living up to his name, Hunter had been a skilled hunter; someone to honor in the family, and someone to fear among his friends.

Hunter had only been six when he proudly showed his first catch; the first time he succeeded to slay a cow and skin it by himself.

The flesh of the cattle dangled on the ground as he bore it on his shoulder; he was not even as tall as the cow was.

He climbed the extreme hills to show his friends, who he'd gathered to see his first milestone before their own eyes.

"Guys!" he called in joy.

Seven kids of his age turned to the direction of the voice.

"Here's the surprise I mentioned before!" he exclaimed as he dropped the meat onto the ground.

Instead of congratulating him, his friends froze in horror.

Their eyes bulged in fear as they saw the fresh chunk of meat on the ground. They were terrified of what Hunter had done.

The dripping blood and the meat juice mixed together, spilling out slowly from the meat and staining the soil.

Seeing his friends' terrified faces, Hunter was pretty confused.

"What's wrong?"

"Wh-wh-why d-did you bring us this?" one of his friends asked, unable to withstand the fear; the fear of Hunter's presence himself.

"What? It's my first catch, guys! I just wanted to share it with all of you!"

"You d-did that?"

"Yeah...?" Hunter answered, still puzzled about their looks.

Just a few seconds after it, his friends left him running without saying a word.

He had high hopes that his friends would appreciate his effort to skillfully obtain cow meat, but was greeted with unpleasant looks that he did not understand.

In fact, his only friend was his horse, Gale.

* * *

"Well, I guess that's why I don't have friends," Hunter mumbled, more to himself than to anyone.

[Author's Note]
Really really sorry for being late again! I have no reasons to not be sorry this time, so I'm sorry. I'm such a procrastinator, haha.

But putting all of those aside, did you like the flashback thingy? There'll be more parts of the stories that'd bring you into the past of our characters!

I might explain some more of Hunter later on too. There's still so much more to discover, guys!

[Fun Fact]
So, I kind of described the town's atmosphere from Alexis's point of view (architecture) and Hunter's point of view (people's activities described in sounds). Which did you like better?

Hunter's part certainly had too many paragraphs starting with the same words.