Foster Wolf

Chapter 15: Leaves Taste Bad (Pt 1/2)

I trudge to my locker and stuff some books into it. I scan the hallway to see if I can spot Hunt. I don't feel like bumping into him this early in the day. I don't want to bump into him at all right now.

I swiftly walk to my first class and luckily make it without seeing Hunt. One down, six more periods to go.

The next two periods I also find myself Hunt free. I start to wonder if he didn't come to school today. I usually see him by now, but I haven't. I work my way to the cafeteria to have lunch. I'm one hundred percent sure that Hunt has the same lunch period as me. But to my surprise, no Hunt again.

My last period ends, and I've seen no Hunt today. When I get home, I can tell Mist that she stayed home for nothing since bonehead didn't show up.

I decide to walk home. The leaves have started to change already. There's even a nice layer on the ground. It's abnormal for them to change quite this early. In Maine the leaves turn earlier than in the lower states, but also I think it's because of the abnormally cold August we've been having. I enjoy the walk home, seeing all colored leaves everywhere. It's quite calming.

I stop to admire the beautiful colored leaves. I turn onto the walking path that wanders through the woods and comes out right near my house. It takes a little longer, but it's a much more pleasant walk.

I hear a weird noise. It almost sounds like someone running, and I don't mean like for a jog, I mean like sprinting.

I turn to see if I can pinpoint where the noise is coming from. "Shit!"

I get knocked into a pile of leaves that were cleared from the path by someone. I swat away leaves that are in my face to see what hit me, and to my surprise, I see Hunt.

"We gotta stop meeting like this," Hunt says.

I spit a clump of leaves out of my mouth. Yuck, I wouldn't suggest eating these. They taste terrible. I gather my thoughts and answer Hunt. "You think? Where were you today?" I ask him.

"Uh, I ran into some problems." He pants.

"And?"

"And we don't really have time to talk about it right now. We should go."

"We?"

Hunt looks behind him. "Yes, we—or do you feel like getting your ass kicked by ten rogue werewolves?"

I hear a howl in the distance.

"Well, what are you waiting for! Get the hell off me," I complain.

We both bolt off down the path. "So, I leave you alone for what? One day? And you already got yourself in trouble?"

"Do you really think this is the best time to talk about this since we are still fleeing danger?" Hunt asks.

"Uh, yeah. Considering you are dragging me down with you, I'd like to know why we are in freaking danger to begin with!"

"Okay, in my defense, it's not my fault You happened to pop up out of nowhere and get in my way and it's also not my fault I'm in this mess to begin with. So, could we please hold off on this conversation because it's not exactly easy to explain when we are running for our lives!"

"I knew I should have taken the bus. But no, I had to want to go on a peaceful walk in the woods."

***

After going way out of my way to get home because I didn't want to lead a bunch of angry wolves to my house, we finally lose them and make our way back to my house. I toss my backpack on a lawn chair and collapse on the ground. Hunt collapses next to me, breathing loudly.

"I hate you," I complain to Hunt.

"Nice to see you too, Ryder."

"We just had to run five miles to lose those damn idiots."

"You ran five, I ran ten."

"You didn't have a backpack full of knowledge bricks on your back. You going to fill me in on how you got yourself into that situation?"

Hunt sits up. He pants vigorously. "I knew I should have done track."

"Hunt, hello?"

"Oh, right. Well, it's complicated. I was contemplating whether or not I should go to school. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see Mist and be told no, I never want to see you again, go die in a ditch. So, I went on a little walk to do some thinking and I stumbled onto a group of angry rogues and, well, I ran and they chased. Then I ran into you."

"That wasn't that complicated."

"Well, because I didn't give you all the details yet. When I stumbled into those rogues, they didn't know I was there, and I was listening to their conversation. When they noticed me, that's when I had to run, and, well, you know the rest."

"You going to tell me what they said or are you going to sit there and just twiddle your thumbs?" I pull myself up into a chair. I lean forward, resting my elbows on my legs.

"Yeah, though I didn't understand half of what they were talking about. They were saying stuff about some plan they were making. I think it was like an attack plan or something. And they kept talking about some pack they didn't mention the name. But what I got out of all of it was that they might be trying to take down a werewolf pack or something. They also kept mentioning an alpha, but they all reeked like rogues. But the way they all were talking, I get the feeling that there are a lot more than ten of them."

"Anything else? Any details about the attack plan? Did they mention any landmarks?"

"Not really. I got noticed before they got to the good details. But they did mention a secret base. Though they didn't say where it was."

"This can't mean anything good."

"Do you think that Daniel guy knows what's going on? Maybe that's why they lied. They didn't want us to know about it," Hunt suggests.

"That's possible. You do know that we're going to have to find out now, right?"

"We?" Hunt stares widely at me.

"Yes, we. You think you're going to get out of helping?" I ask.

"I just didn't know I was welcomed." Hunt frowns, clearly thinking about Mist.

"Well, that's still to be determined."

He sits up so fast he gives me a head rush. "She's considering it? I mean me? I mean us?"