Easy Target

Chapter 1: Ari

     Although poisoned enough to kill several grown men, the deer flat-out refused to fall down and die.

Ari was hungry, and not quite up for the fight, not to mention chasing the deer more than the two miles it had already run.

     That false sense of hope it retained in its foolish animal brain gave it a reason to continue, adrenaline pumping frenzied power through its muscles, as it sprinted drunkenly through the darkening forest.

     Looking up at the sky revealed a pale yellow moon, crescent-shaped. The pathetic light it offered would never be enough to keep tracking the prey, and only by sound Ari could not keep up.

     Tree branches slapped the arms of the hunter as she sprinted, barely missing cracking her head on a low hanging one as she jumped over fallen city ruins, thorns scratching, caught in her once shiny, but now twig and dirt-filled, red hair.

     No matter. Cleanliness was not important right now.

     A doll made itself apparent, falling from a dislodged rock, along with a tiny child’s shoe. The victims of the raids in the old settlements...all dead, or murdered by the government’s hand.

     Life was such a precious thing, as well as health, and it annoyed Ari to no end when someone young, lively, and healthy wasted their lives away on the Network provided by the City, to keep people fat, lazy, and content, as they bit into their next  donut, chewing and swallowing their own downfall.

     Ari did not have time to be stuck or lost in the forest, nor contemplate the old tragedies. Once it was too dark for her to see, she would starve.

     The sharp, acrid smell of the girl’s poison-tipped arrows was strong enough to make anyone sick, but Ari was immune, oblivious to something that could easily kill.

     Ari had spent several years with her parents developing a poison that could not affect humans, so she could kill animals quicker with the poison, without hurting herself when she ate them. Even so, it was risky, and only experimental. She carried an antidote with her always, just in case, although she had been fine so far.

     Night was quickly falling, and the pitch-black darkness would force Ari to leave the deer to die silently in the forest, nightwolves devouring the carcass before morning.

     A pained moan resonated through the dark trees, and then a thump and a scattering of dead leaves as the prey surrendered.

     Predator turned to victor as Ari celebrated the win silently, smiling cruelly as she followed the thickening trail of blood.

     The scent of death hung ominously in the air as the entire world seemed to stop and hold its breath, watching.

     Arrows. Three of them, one broken off in the deer’s side, but none in a fatal position.

     Heavy, labored panting grew weaker as the poison took its toll.

     There was no point in letting it suffer, and yet Ari enjoyed the sense of power she had over the deer’s life, controlling something in her life for once.

     Though its dappled brown coat was speckled with red, the deer was still beautiful in a gruesome way.

     The girl did not stay long to admire the sight. Pulling the two unbroken arrows out of the deer, blood staining, the rough wood poking splinters into her calloused hands, which she brushed away, unfazed.

     A small, but sturdy, silver knife glinted in the redhead’s belt, as she wiped cold sweat from her pale forehead.

     The long fingers of her left hand grabbed the weapon, and the deer’s already failing heart was stopped.