The Hunting

Chapter 7

We walked until the sun came up over the mountain top. We were about ten miles away from the Burrow and I kept looking back over my shoulder towards the Burrow. The stocky guy, who I now know as Calum, leads the way as we walked through the forest. The other three: Pietra, her brother Don, and the skinny, attractive boy Javier, were behind us. I could feel the glare of Pietra stabbing daggers into my back as I walked. The group hasn't spoken since we agreed that we would go with them.

Soon, the Burrow will send out a search party looking for us. I can see the look of horror on my mom's face when she hears the news, she has no one now. All of my grandparents are dead and she has no siblings. I held back my tears as I continued to follow along behind Calum as he led us farther and farther away from my home. I saw Nate look at me out of the corner of his eyes, he looked concerned. I have no idea how Nate is holding together, he had a huge family. Most of his family was still alive, he has two younger siblings. He was his parents' pride and joy and his siblings' hero.

To break the silence to escape my thoughts, I spoke up, "Where are we headed?"

Pietra growled, "You should know you scavenger."

Calum tossed a glance over his shoulder, "Pietra we do not know what they are yet. We have a long walk ahead of us and you being a grouch won't help. Now put a pretty smile on your face because if they end up being scavengers then we can kill them."

I didn't have to look back to sense that Pietra was smiling deviously. Calum spoke again, "We are headed to the canyons where we ran into the group of scavengers. They might have moved by now, but that is where we are headed. The canyons are about a two-week walk from here, it was one week for us because we didn't stop until we were far away from those awful canyons."

I have never been to the canyons, in fact, I haven't been anywhere other than the Burrow and around it. After my question, there was silence once again. I wonder what the canyons look like. I continued to think about my life back in the Burrow. All of my friends that I was leaving behind, but more importantly the Burrow itself. I've been one of the main hunters for a while now, and the Burrow relies on me to bring back food. We usually hunt once a week or once every other week. Hopefully, someone will be able to take my place.

After walking for a while, I could see the gradual change in the landscape. The trees were not as tightly packed as they are closer to the Burrow. We walked for a couple more minutes until we stopped by a stream. Around the stream, there are multiple different types of bushes with berries and plants. I looked at the berries and bushes and started classifying them: rosehip, not poisonous; bittersweet, toxic. I also noticed some stinging nettle which causes irritation. I steered Nate away from the poisonous plants towards the rosehip berries. I started grabbing some and wrapping it in a cloth that I had. Nate started popping some in his mouth. I heard Don behind me, "Why doesn't this look yummy."

I looked behind my shoulder to see Don reaching for some bittersweet berries and I was over next to him before I could think. I slapped his hand out of the way, "Are you an idiot? Those are bittersweet berries; don't you know that those are poisonous?"

Don looked at me incredulously, "I-uh thanks."

I sighed as I turned to the river to fill up my canteen with water. When I turned, I saw everyone else looking at me: Pietra, Calum, and Javier looking at me in shock and Nate was looking at me with an unidentifiable expression. I walked back over to the rosehip berries and started picking some more. I spoke with my head down, almost bashfully, "These rosehips are okay to eat, they are tangy and are a good source of vitamin C. Also, watch out for those shrubs on the north end, if you walk through them, you'll get some nasty blisters."