The Hunted

The Hunted.

Hunt·ed
ˈhəntid/
adjective
1. Being pursued or searched for.

The cool November air was crisp and unwelcoming. Even colder in the height of my tree-stand. My eyes focused on the small pile of apples that rested fifty feet ahead of me. The deer were quite active this year, but I had yet to get a good shot on one.

My shotgun felt heavy in my lap. I grasped it, the metal was freezing cold against my fingertips. I then placed it so it would rest between my legs. I didn't have much in terms of supplies. A knife, a water bottle, some granola bars, and whatever else my friend had left in my backpack.

Some twigs cracked behind my stand, I slowed my breath and waited, not daring to risk looking behind me. I knew to wait, until whatever made the noise either left, or moved into my vision. I heard footsteps coming closer, slowly closing in on the apples. "This is it." I think to myself. I slowly moved the safety to the "off" position and it made a silent clicking noise. I cringe, hoping that whatever was beneath me had not heard the sound.

A young deer appeared beneath me. Although I couldn't shoot it because it was a doe. "Crap." I thought to myself. It walked towards my small pile of apples and began to eat them. I heard a ghastly moan and suddenly a figure appeared behind the deer. It grabbed the doe and tore into it. The deer squealed and screamed, the noise felt as if it was stabbing my ear drums. I looked around my stand and saw two more figures, they were covered in blood, and one was missing an arm. "What the hell?" I blurted out.

I threw on my backpack and began to climb down the ladder, I skipped the last five feet and brought up my gun. I glanced around, and ran in the direction of the camp. A figure appeared in front of me and I raised my shotgun, aimed, and pulled the trigger. "BANG!" The gun echoed through the hills. The creatures head was severed off by the buckshot, and I kept running. I wasn't far from the camp, but I was wearing a lot of clothes and it was starting to hinder my ability to run. I ran passed the partially frozen creek, and through the thick field of rabbit-tobacco.

When I reached the camp I was sweating and my legs were sore. I turned to see a few more of the figures had appeared. "Bang! Bang! Bang!" I heard more shots echo in the distance. "Shit they must've reached the other guys!" I ran up the drive and jumped into my truck. The figures were moving slow, so I had about five minutes before they'd reach me. I tore off my thick hunting coat and pants, I checked how many bullets I had. I had 4 in my gun, and a box of 25 shells in the truck. I started my truck, rolled down the window and sat out of the truck. I kicked the horn a few times. "Come on fuckers!" I yelled. I shot the closest one of those things in the chest and it sprawled to the ground.

I turned and climbed on the roof of the truck. I shot another one, "BANG!" The gun echoed. I grabbed some shells out of the truck and loaded them into my gun. "BANG!" Another one hit the ground. More of them were emerging from the tree-line. At this point I assumed these were what one would call "zombies" or "the walking dead". I didn't care what they were, I didn't like them, so I shot them.

I reached into my pocket and grabbed a few more shells. Loading them into the gun, I realized there were too many of them. "BANG! BANG!" I shot the two coming up the driveway. Then I tossed my gun into the truck and climbed into the window.

I put pedal to metal as I left the camp. I turned onto the main road and drove towards the closest town, Winchester. I glanced around the truck to see what I had for supplies. My compound bow sat in the passengers seat beside me, along with some arrows. I had 19 bullets left and 5 in my gun. I had 2 water bottles, 3 granola bars, my large hunting knife, a full Jerry can in the back of the truck, and some tools. I drove slow as I was searching behind the seat. "Aha." I exclaimed as I pulled out a large, adjustable wrench. "I'm sure this will stun them." I thought aloud. I looked back to the road ahead. A sign appeared in front, and I squinted to see what it said.