Hunt and Hunted

Chapter 1: The Beggining War

              BOOM! My mother, sister, and I were all huddling together under one of the two beds in our house. They started bombing again. Good thing it was about 10 miles away but we could still here them clear as day. Why there was another war, no one knew. The government and my country didn't get along easily. They fought hard to control us. Each side lost lives often. Mostly us though. We may have been weak, but we never went down without a fight.

            BOOM! I cowered. I hated the war. So did my sister, and my mother as well. We couldn't handle things like this well. I set up snares and made sure my family got to eat. My mom kept us clean. And my sister tried to sleep at night. Not that she was the only one loosing slep; we all did. But she was younger and had nightmares. We would comfort each other when we needed it. We loved each other, and made sure we were alive and well. That's haw we've managed to survive until now.

            After about an hour of cowering under my bed, the bombing stopped the first thing I did was go to check the snares. I knew that if there had just been a bombing, the liklihood of there being another bombing within the next hour or two was unlikely. This means that I was safe, at least for a little while, and I would have enough time to go check the snares and bring back food for my family to eat.

        I found more dead animals lying on the ground than I found in the traps. I got plenty of game thogh, which is all that matters. Enough to last us a couple days actually. I wasn't even done yet. My game bag was nearly full and I still have a couple snares to check. We would eat good tonight. For the first time in a long time.

            I headed to the woods for my last couple of traps. These were the ones that usually caught the most game. I occasionally set up big snares to catch deer. They rarely worked though, considering most deer were dead and/or scared off by the bombs. Except for one summer the summer after my father died I started snaring with the ones he taught me to use. I had set up a snare hoping to cath a deer. I was lucky the next day I came back and I had a big 12-point buck . I was so happy. It was my first deer. I dragged the buck back home, skinned it, and my mom cooked it. Best meal we've ever had, and it still is till this day.

           So going to my first trap right at the edge I had a squirrel. That wasn't my usual rabbit but it'll do. We have enough already. I went to my second trap and found another squirrel. My last trap had a rabbit. OK, my best day in a while, considering just my wood traps and the animals I found on the ground. My spirits high, and my bag full of game I headed back to my house. I even whistled a little on the wasy. I rarely did this. I was just glad that the bombing was over and that I had such a good day with my game.

        BOOM! I broke into a run. Straight towards my house. My mom was probably freaking out right now, assuming the worst. I was too. The bombing was still pretty far, judging by the volume, but still close enough for the ground to shake. And close enough for me to immideately start to run. Right as I caught sight of my house I turned my head right.

        BOOM! This one was close enough to see. I was sprinting by this point. I finally reached my house, my skin was almost blue and I was out of breath. I opened the door to my house and shoved myself in, slamming the door shut behind me and locking it.

"There you are! You scared me I thought you were gone!" My mom and sister ran to me. My mom checks my face and looks me over to make sure I'm alright.

"I'm fine! Get under the bed." I pushed them under the bed and we all huddled there together. The silence scared me, "I'm fine. Really. And," I showed them my full game bag, "We'll eat like kings tonight."