The Last Hunter

Chapter 7- Back from the Dead

I ran. I cried.

How could he have done this? How could I not see it coming? I could have reasoned with him. I didn't have to kill him.

As I ran, I tripped and fell, scrapping my knee. I sat up, examining the blood coming out of my knee. The pain from my knee was numb and dull. Compared to what I'd been through emotionally, physical pain meant nothing.

I stood back up and kept walking. The sun was beginning to break through the trees, but the daylight meant anyone could see me, and I didn't want anyone's help. What did I even want anymore?

I stopped dead in my tracks. What was I doing? What did I want? I needed a goal.

I sat down on a root, and thought. The Hunters are all gone except for me. I have no one to go to. No family, no friends.

Friends. How could I have forgotten? I reached into my pocket, and pulled out the coordinates. I felt like hitting myself and hugging myself at the same time.

Instead of hitting myself, I cried–happily cried.

I would go to my friends and the old man. I would tell them what happened and plan what to do next.

Relief spread over my body. I felt like I had come back from the dead. Well, more like Ryan and Zabrina had come back from the dead. I looked over the coordinates again, devoting them to memory.

38.8 degrees latitude. 104.8 degrees longitude.

I ruffled through my pack. There were clothes, my dagger, collapsible bow, arrows, a hunk of bread and dried beef (kept for emergencies), matches, water purifier, and a small GPS. Man, these things were ancient, and so inaccurate. I pulled it out. But I guess it's all I have.

It took me about ten minutes to figure out how to turn it on. After plugging in the coordinates, I lit a match and burnt the paper, just for good measure. No one would follow me, at least, I would do everything I could to make sure no one could.

I studied the strange, block-like device, and headed west. I walked at a fast pace, pausing only by streams for water and once around midday to eat some of the bread and dried meat. I knew I would make it there, or hoped to make it there, by tomorrow evening. When night fell, I slept on the ground.

When I reached the coordinates the next day, it was almost dark. I hesitated to use my matches, but finally decided to make a torch. I broke off a branch from a conifer and lit the top on fire.

I was then able to see a glint of metal, just up the hill. I headed up towards it, hoping to find the lab, hoping to find my friends.

But what if they're not there? What if they did die? Or died coming up? I shook these thoughts out of my head. I didn't have time to doubt others, especially now.

At the top of the hill, in a cleared area was a large, metal house, with a domed area, probably an observatory. I ran towards it, but tripped, my torch falling out of my hand, setting the ground ablaze.

I yelped and scrambled up. I pulled out my water purifier, but the water inside wasn't enough. The fire licked my leg. I smacked the flames, but my leg wasn't unscathed. Call for them! I thought frantically.

"Ryan! Zabrina! Fire! Help!"

I ran to the door and started banging, the fire coming closer.

"Help!" I yelled out, one last time.

I closed my eyes, expecting death. Then a hole appeared under my feet, and I fell down a metal chute.

"Ahhh!!!" I screamed. If this is death, this is the weirdest way to die.