The Hunter [completed]

TWO

My sleep was disturbed by something that sounded as knocking against wood. Annoyed I sat up and looked around the lightened room, thinking it was Sean mucking about as payback for me making fun of him when in a weak state while vomiting all over the bushes. All I could hear was the guys' snoring. I hunched over and looked for Lee in the bunk below. He was lying on his back, mouth wide open, snoring like a champion. I pulled myself back up in the bunk bed. Sleepily I laid myself down and closed my eyes. I was drifting back to sleep when I heard it again, louder this time. I sat back up and flung my feet over the edge of the bunk. Lee's snoring had quieted. He was now lying on his tummy, one arm hanging down the side. Quietly I climbed down and snuck up to the window. There it was again. I froze, chills running down my spine. I noticed two things; first, there was no sounds of birds outside, which was strange, as I had heard the thriving bird life earlier. In fact everything was quiet. Too quiet. The second thing was that when the knocking started again, it sounded like it was right outside by the window. I leaned in and tried to peek through the old, dusty curtains, but couldn't muster enough bravery to actually move it. It came again, and there was no doubt. Someone outside was knocking something against the wood panels of the cabin. Fucking Sean!

Angrily I left my spot by the window and walked through the bedroom and out to the tiny kitchenette/living room. Sean and Sam was huddled up next to each other, with a blanket covering them. If it wasn't Sean... I quickly checked that the door was locked as I heard it again. The sound traveled. Worse yet, it moved. With me. I wanted to cry. The knocking stopped abruptly. I ran back to the bedroom and frantically searched for my phone.

Lee moved in his bunk, causing a creaking sound coming from the old wooden bed. I found my phone underneath a pile of Lee's clothes. It showed 9:17AM. A sudden strange feeling came over me and I started to laugh to myself. All the hours wasted by watching horror flicks had finally taken its toll on me and made me paranoid. I shook my head in disbelief over my own erratic reaction, and went back to sleep.

I was wakened by Lee around midday. He was cheerful and did not seem to be hungover at all, despite being shitfaced the previous night. "Sean and Sam have made their acquaintance with the bushes behind the cabin. As far as I can tell it's very intimate," Lee said as he picked his clothes up from the floor, only to throw them onto his disheveled bunk. I laughed. "You don't say. I saw Sean cosy with a bush this morning. It must be true love." I grinned and walked out the door, not seeing them, but hearing them. I shook my head and smiled. They even threw up together. I heard gagging noises as I rounded the wall. And right as rain, the two fuckers were sprawled out on the floor with their heads in their separate bushes, projecting last night's meals and drinks into the green branches. I laughed loudly. "You two fucktards, is this what we came out here for? And you, Sean, I thought you were done this morning?" I asked gleefully as they looked up at me, sneering. Lee came up behind me and cackled. "This is priceless".

As soon as the vomiting sessions stopped, the guys were back at it. Only one cure for a hangover; keep going. I joined them for a beer, which soon enough had led me to several more than I should have. We had a barbecue, listened to music on the radio, played cards and joked around. We sat by the wooden table bench right outside the entrance. As the cabin had no electricity we had lit up several torches and got a fire going. As the evening came, we huddled together by the fire, sharing blankets, drinks and stories.

After a round of drinking games I felt nauseous, and almost crawled towards the nearest bush. Nothing came out. I stumbled back, singing along to 'Incomplete' by the Backstreet Boys, one of that summer's biggest hits. I can't sing. Not to save my life. It was horrible, but I did it anyway. The guys joined, and it was the worst thing I'd ever heard. We ended up in fists of laughter when it was made clear once and for all that we could never rely on any kind of singing career. As the laughter died, I became aware of movement by the bush I had previously tried to bury in rejected body liquids. It had become quite dark, and in my drunken state I was basically blind. I turned my back to it and thought no more of it. It was probably just an animal.