The Hunting

Chapter 11

Every once in a while, Nate looked back at me. I knew he was worried about me ever since I came back into the clearing after the fight. Even though Nate has a flirtatious and carefree personality, he is very protective of his friends. As we walked, I thought back to when I punched the tree. God, I am such an idiot. When I stormed off, I was still so angry and before I knew it I was punching a tree. It took me five punches until I was satisfied. The stinging sensation in my hands in nothing compared to the pain that I feel in my eye.

Any time I look up at Pietra, I feel a mix of regret and happiness. I'm glad I'm not the only one bruised and battered, but I'm mad that I let my temper get the best of me. After some small talk with Nate, I learned that Calum and Javier heard yelling and came back to Pietra and I beating each other up. They didn't find anything, so they will try again when we stop for the night. As I walked, I noticed that all of the boys were staying in between Pietra and me. Don was blocking my view of Pietra and Calum was walking right next to her. I rolled my eyes. It's not like I am going to attack her out of the blue. She attacked me first.

As we walked in silence, I looked at the surrounding environment. Everything seems drier here. Thoughts filled my head as I thought about those back at the Burrow and what they were doing. I clenched my teeth as I thought of my mom. It seemed like we walked for hours before Calum turned around and stopped. The small clearing that we were in had some dead patches of grass here and there, and there wasn't a whole lot of vegetation. There were two rosehip bushes on the north end, but by the looks of it, there were barely and berries on it. Calum spoke, "It will be around two hours until sunset, Javier and I are going to go hunt. Hopefully, we will be able to get enough that will last us a while. I haven't seen a lot of game." He looked between Pietra and me, "Now that you got that out of your system, I hope that you two will no longer fight. Stay here, we should be back before dark."

Nate spoke all of a sudden taking everyone by surprise, "Why won't you let Arden hunt? She is an amazing shot! I bet she'll be able to catch something."

Of course, Pietra opened her mouth, "Hell, no. We cannot trust them with a bow. Especially her!"

Nate shot back, "What she can get will be better than what any of you can get. Let her try at least. She can do it! She has caught plenty of game in her time, she has been hunting since she was just a kid."

The group of hunters must've actually taken Nate's words to heart because they gathered in a circle and started discussing in hush whispers. Every once in awhile, I would hear a hiss coming from Pietra, but a certain someone's hand on her shoulder calmed her down. After a couple of minutes, they finally came to a conclusion. Calum was the first to speak. "Okay, we discussed and we came to a mutual-

"Ahem." Pietra was tapping her foot.

"Almost mutual conclusion." Calum corrected himself. "We decided that we will let you come with Javier and me to hunt. You will walk in front of us at all times and if you so dare raise your weapon without an animal being in sight, we will shoot you down. Understood? Don, Pietra, and Nate, you set up camp and get a fire going."

I was gawking at Calum, a quick nudge from Nate made me come back to reality, "Uh- yeah, understood."

Don, who was carrying my bow and quiver handed it to me. Ever since they "kidnapped" us, they have distributed my weapons between themselves. I realized this the first night, but they didn't take the blade that I got for my birthday that was hidden in my boot. Maybe they didn't notice, maybe they did, but I know I am not going to use it unless absolutely necessary. I ran my hand over the bow longingly. Boy have I missed you. I tossed my quiver over my shoulder, I had 9 arrows. I looked at Calum and Javier and nodded, "Thank you."