The Fighter, The Survivor

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

I drive to my hidden training area. I find a trail running near the cellar so I follow it.

When I reach the cellar, I turn off my motorcycle and hook the keys onto my jeans. Then I take the bow case off the back and lay the bike down, covering it with leaves and sticks. Now it blends into the ground. Then I grab the case and drop into the cellar.

I drop my bags and case by the sleeping bag I've got in a corner. I've slept here before, but I always had a house to return to. Now I really have nowhere to go. Or a place to call home. Well, I haven't really called my family's house my home in years. I think this cellar is where I actually am myself. No lying, no hiding, no secrets. This cellar has been my home and it still will be.

I might as well train right now. So I walk over to the salmon ladder I made, and start my way upwards.

Sometime later, I had noticed something walking around the entrance to the cellar, but I didn't think anything of it, until they stopped right where the trap door is.

I stop hitting the punching bag I was using and quietly make my way to my sleeping corner. Earlier, I had taken my bow out of its case and had an arrow nocked on it in case I needed it quickly.

So I grab my bow now and I swing the quiver I have onto my back. Then I slip into the shadows and am virtually invisible. I draw the bow string back and wait to see if someone will come down.

I don't know how long I stayed in that position, but I had to release the tension in the bow so now I'm just resting my fingers on the string, ready to pull back at any time.

Finally, I hear whatever was near, move away, and I heighten my hearing. I can still hear a heartbeat, and it's human and familiar to my trained ears. How did Drew find me here?

Zach must be with Drew, because I listen as his heartbeat gets further and further, while Drew stays by the door.

When I can't hear Zach's heartbeat anymore, Drew opens the door that's in the ground. I draw back my bow and aim it at the entrance.

When Drew drops down, I let go of an arrow and it just goes past his ear. It was so close that it cut the edge of his ear. He spins and looks at the arrow that's now in the wall behind him. Then he turns to look around for me while I already have another arrow nocked and drawn back.

"Get out!" I spit at him, but change the volume of my voice so he doesn't know where I'm hiding.

"You missed." Drew states.

"I don't miss Drew. You should know that. Check your ear." I reply and Drew does. When he looks at his hand, there's blood on it. "That arrow was a warning. But the next one won't be."

"You got a light down here Jade? I can't see a thing." Drew says.

"I don't need a light."

"Can we just talk?" Drew asks.

"I thought we were. Or are you just trying to distract me while Zach tries to get in without me noticing?" I say with a smirk. Then I move my bow to aim at the spot where Zach is about to put his hand climbing in from the one and only way down here, the trap door where Drew had just dropped in from. I let go of the bow string and the arrow hits the spot a second before Zach puts his hand there. He lets out a startled cry, but I already have an arrow nocked and drawn back again. "Because it won't work." I say to Drew. Drew turns and tries to look at Zach but with the sun in his eyes from the open trap door, he can't see him.

"Can I ask you a question?" Drew asks.

"You just did."

"Can I ask two questions then?"