Hunting Love

Chapter 5

Pic of Maybelle to the top, just imagine her more pale

Chapter 5

"What's this dinner for?" I ask, leaning against the wall as Maybelle starts sorting through items I've never seen before. I can't see myself in the mirror so I never bothered with my appearance.

"I'll explain later. Wash yourself up while I help you find a dress," she says, brushing me off. I sigh through my nose and make my way through the conjoined room that she told me earlier is the bathroom.

For being a slaves room, the whole place isn't even that bad. There's a bed that's on one corner of the room while on the other corner is a table that Maybelle explained is where we place our own items. I don't know what she means by that since I wasn't told to pack anything for my trip here but maybe she's talking about items we need to work for them or something.

There's a bathroom connected to the room with a working toilet and a washstand. The only thing I'm not fond about with the entire setting is that the walls and floor are made of hard concrete, making the room look darker. At least they have big windows that can open to help air it. But aren't they worried about slaves escaping?

I start running my fingers through my hair to smooth it out before filling up the water in the bath. My fingers skim through the cold water before I shut it off just as it almost reaches the tip. Stripping out of my clothes, I get inside and feel my teeth chatter at the cold temperature. I can't complain though since this is the first time I've bathed in...three months I think?

I grab the soap nearby and start scrubbing myself off. Some patches of dirt around my arms and legs take quite a bit of scrubbing to get off making me frown. Why would they come off? Eventually, I manage to scrub myself clean so I quickly wash off and wrap a towel around myself. I get rid of the water in the bath before slowly walking back to the room.

Maybelle looks when as soon as I walk in and smiles. "Alright. Put on this uniform. It's the basic hunters uniform and the guards outside will be able to identify you as the hunter. If you go outside without wearing this, they'll assume that you're an escaping slave and shoot you," she explains, making me pale.

The guards at the top will shoot slaves? With no remorse or warnings? Is that why they gave us windows? Because they know that the chances of us running away are little to none?

I stiffly nod before slipping on the uniform that surprisingly fits. The black pants fit me snug around my thighs but are loose around my ankles. I'm glad that the pants actually reach the bottom of my legs instead of stopping at the middle of my calf. The shirt is very form-fitting and hugs my waist tightly. The sleeves reach all the way down to my wrists, wrapping around it tightly. The whole chest area of the shirt is thick while the sleeves are thinner and loose, only tight around my wrist to hold it in place.

"I'm keeping my boots," I say, when Maybelle takes out a pair of brand new boots. She frowns and hesitates before taking it out of the bag.

"Why not? It's brand new. I'm sure it'll fit you but if not we can get you fitted. My parents don't like it when clothes don't fit the slaves because they might not work to their fullest potential," she explains but I just shake my head.

I already had to change my shirt and pants, but I'm keeping the boots. It's the only thing I have from my town and I'm not giving it up. Of course I'm not going to wear it for everything but I want to wear it when I go hunting. It's what I'm used to. Honestly, if they would let me, I would want my old bow and arrow but I'm sure they wouldn't go all that way to get me my things.

"I like my boots. They're comfy for me to hunt with," I tell her. She gives me suspicious look before putting the boots away.

"Okay then. Since you're a hunter and Braydon's personal-"