The Hunt

[40] Spears And Meetings With The Foe

"Ever questioned why it's called The Hunt?" he asked, playing with a shiny black pen in between his fingers.

"No, enlighten me." I rolled my eyes, causing a chuckle to escape his lips.

"Well, there's something about me that provoked Levilnor to take me as their own personal prey. A prey they could hunt and injure all they want but never really bother to care for. Whenever someone was out to sought me, they would invite others as if they were going to celebrate on a ship or something. You know what they always said?"

"What did they say?" I said, cupping my cheek with the palm of my hand. Pretending to be the littlest bit interested.

"They said: Oh, I'm going on a hunt, come with me?" he mimicked, seeming disgusted as he did so. "Trust me, soon, it was all about going on The hunt. The hunt to find me and ruin my day. Or night."

I felt a pang in my chest at the memory that was leaving its impact on my mind. My hand involuntarily raised to my hair and found its way in between my locks, settling there while I stared at the screens.

Running, for them, was pointless. Actually, anything they do at this point is pointless.

The trees were collapsing, the river reflecting every stutter of flames, every single star decorating the sky. Personally, I couldn't help feeling hopeless the more my eyes roamed the jungle.

But there has to be hope. There always is... Right?

The door slammed open and standing on the other side was someone I didn't expect to see. However... someone I knew was with us.

"Come on, we have to be quick before they realize it's a set up," Mark urged, gesturing for us to follow him which we all did with no explanation needed.

Mark guided us through different halls and doors I've never seen before. Never even knew existed since they were too narrow. Too dark.

We climbed up a flight of stairs every time we reached a higher floor and it was making my heartbeat go crazy. It was flowing all the way to my ears enough to allow a thud to be heard with each step I take up a stair.

"I called for a meeting," he panted, exhaling sharply before continuing. "From Hector's office." His hand shook as he typed in a code to a glass door that showed us the roof that was almost invisible against the darkness of the night.

The doors huffed open, sending us all to the other side before slowly shutting themselves, diverting my attention from them to the craft that laid in the middle of the rough ground.

"You need to be fast... This thing takes long to take off." His palm hit a red button on the side of the hovercraft, causing its doors to roll up.

Brandon climbed in and to the operating board in the very front, pressing multiple buttons here and there. "Okay, it's on." He turned to us and ran out again.

"Get in," he ordered, hoisting up Amelia who was more than ready to flee. "Come on, Flake." He extended his hand out to me and just as I was about to take it, the doors that were once our saviors, were the same doors that became our rivals, letting Hector in all the while emitting the same huff of warning.

The air picked up its force, blowing at Hector's navy velvet blazer as it fluttered with the breeze. His eyes were just as blazing as the fires in the arena. Just as hungry for revenge the moment it met mine.

It didn't matter whether he stood away or not; his gun was fixated on one person and one person only.

He gripped his weapon tightly with both hands, his index hovering right above the trigger that could possibly take away a life.

My hair whipped around with the wind, flying to either side of my head, almost directing my vision at him as it created a pathway for it. The air attacking my back was pushing harder against my body as if ushering me to go to him. To get myself killed.

My fingers trembled ever so slightly with the weather condition, my mouth going dry whilst the ground beneath my feet got spotted by the light rainfall.

Right now, it wasn't me and the eminents. It was me and the enemy.

The enemy whose eyes glowed with hatred... betrayal.

"I should've left you in that arena," he said, his tone making my heart skip multiple beats as it tried pumping more blood for the adrenaline to kick in. "I should've known you're too much of a slave, of a sucker."

My body felt numb. Every limb, every muscle, unmoving. The world seemed too cruel in this very moment when time stopped, leaving me all alone with the foe.

Processing words has never been this hard. Knowing what was happening around me was never this impossible either.

"You... of all people," he yelled. "You knew too much about me-you fucking gained my trust and you broke it. Twice."

"Hector-"

He interrupted me, his voice sharp. "Don't give me any bullshit. I created this all to avenge my dignity. And here you are taking it away just like your damned village."

"Keep the words coming, man. It's not going to be long until you're laying on the ground," Brandon growled, standing protectively beside me. His hands clenched up in fists, his jaw pulsing whilst his eyes pierced into Hector's soul.

Brandon looked just like a teenage boy. With his long-sleeved black shirt scrunched up to his elbows and his black jeans ripped at the knees... yet the defiant way he spoke, the way he stood... said otherwise. He was protecting me.
My best friend was protecting me.

"I may not be afraid of death. But I'm afraid of letting people like you survive," Hector shouted, his voice raising, begging to be heard over the loudly dominant breeze. "I wanted a life. I wanted to be happy," he whimpered. "Levilnor never gave me that." His gun was slowly slipping from his loosened grip as he reminisced his wasted time.

"Nor will we," a girl's voice said in a clipped tone right before a shot was heard.

Unconsciously, my eyes squeezed shut and my fists balled to my sides, my brain only hoping it wasn't me the bullet had hit.

My head felt damp with some hair strands sticking to my forehead at the drops of water that dripped from the sky. My ears muffled out anything that could be heard, only seeming like a flash of stolen words before I gained full control over myself.

My fists slowly unclenched themselves and my eyes opened one after the other. Hector was still standing... but paralyzed. His gun fell to the ground with a click and soon enough, his body followed.

I let out the breath I had shoved back into my lungs and realization dawned on me.

I was safe.

Remembering the harsh words of the last voice I heard, I tore my eyes off of Hector's lifeless body and to the person who stood behind him.

She had a spear in one of her raised hands as she stared at the person she just stabbed. The spear covered in blood, indicating she had pulled it back out when she finished him off.

Slowly but steadily, her eyes looked up. Mine stared back.

Our gazes locked and standing before me was Sarah Vore.