The Hunt

Chapter 50: Hanna

My first night in the forest, I don't get any sleep. I sit, gripping my knees to my chest, my back against a tree, and I shiver. The hair on the back of my neck stands up and pricks at any rustle of a leaf or snap of a twig. The darkness swallows me up so that I can't even see beyond the trees in front of me. The black void goes on and on forever, and I swear that I can hear things hiding just beyond my vision. Javaar sleeps soundly a few paces away. After a few hours of this, the anxiety turns into paranoia, and I'm seeing things move in the dark. Shadows within shadows. Eyes and figures in the trees. I don't have a weapon, or anything to make me feel safe. I am completely vulnerable, from all sides, and the torment eats at every part of me. Never in my life have I experienced this kind of fear.

The sun eventually pushes out the darkness, and it's morning. I wait for Javaar to get up. When he does, he looks at me and giggles.

"Rough night?"

I look away.

"You're gonna have to get used to it eventually. I'll take watches if you really want, but I'm not sure you trust me enough for that," Javaar searches through his stuff. He finally sets his eyes on two granola bars, and throws one at me. "This might be all we have today. Eat up."

We eat in silence for a while. I savor every bite.

Javaar looks up from his granola bar suddenly. I stop gnawing on my own and glance around where we're sitting.

"Do you hear that?" he gets into a crouch.

I listen hard. "No. I don't hear anything."

More silence. Javaar rocks back and forth, listening. The sun is going down, and the sky is so lavish and thick with color it seems to absorb any sound coming from the distance.

"There it is again!" Javaar hisses, and begins to pack up his few belongings.

"What are you doing," I whisper. It's only been a few minutes of rest, and I'm tired of traveling. Plus, I just spent a whole night thinking slight sounds were enemies. "It's probably nothing."

Javaar stops moving and looks into my eyes, "Lesson number four as an exile: it's always something."

I put away the wrappers of the food Javaar had rationed out. "What does that even mean? Where are we going, what are you hearing?"

Javaar jumps up and starts walking away at a brisk pace, and as I scramble to keep by his side, he whispers, "Look, when I said we needed to get out of Sergio's territory fast, I meant it. By now the rest of his pack has probably found their bodies. They're most likely already chasing us."

"How do you know those random sounds are them?"

Javaar throws up his hands, "Did you even listen to lesson number four?!"

"Well where's the end of their territory?"

Javaar glances over his shoulder wearily as we walk, and whispers even quieter, "The way I see it, we have two options. We either go follow your stupid smoke so you can investigate the explosions, or head towards Tanek."

"Let's follow the smoke. You ran your two errands, it's my turn."

"That's just the thing, we're almost out of food. If we run from the rest of Sergio's pack in the direction of the smoke, we risk not being able to come back the same way. That means we won't be able to make it to Tanek easily. No Tanek, no food, remember?"

I gulp, feeling the last of the granola bar settle in my stomach.

"On the other hand, if we go to Tanek, we can get food, but it's very close to Sergio's territory. A little too close, possibly."