The BLACKOUT

The Hunt

I stood there, frozen in shock, I felt as though every one of my limbs had gone numb, I collapsed back onto the couch I had stood from seconds earlier, my face had a frozen expression of hope, excitement, and confusion.
My mind transitioned through several emotions before it found one to settle on...

...Fear...

The thought that this near stranger had the upper hand on me nearly forced me into cardiac arrest.

She was standing, sitting limply on a couch.
She had the weapons, I didn't.
And she clearly knew I didn't quite trust her.

She bent over slowly, making her best effort to keep eye contact.
Her soft green-grey eyes penetrated through me in an oddly comforting way.

She knelt next to the burlap tarp where the weapons
Lay, sprawled out and entangled amongst each other.
She finally broke eye contact and slowly wrapped her hands around the one and only rifle.

Now she was armed.
her gaze no longer comforted me but instead enlisted a large deal of fear into my soul.

She looked away and back at the 32-inch rifle she had in her hands.
She could tell I hadn't put all of my trust into quite yet. But she obviously had respected that.

She spun on her heel and fell back onto the couch.
The barrel of the rifle narrowly missing my face, it brushed so close I could feel the cold of the metal emanating off of it.

She extended her arms to the side and placed the rifle down in my lap.
In my eyes, she had done this as a form of trust. I could easily pull the trigger and end her life.

But I didn't.
I wouldn't.
I couldn't.

I honestly loved having the company.
I loved her!

I would have most definitely been driven into a deep state of depression and insanity by now if Holly wasn't here to keep my sanity in check.

She looked back into my eyes, her iris laced with what appeared to be fear, undoubtedly over what we were to do.

We where two strangers, trapped together in a cabin, in the woods, both generously armed with plenty of weaponry to spare, and not to mention in a post-apocalyptic world with no abundantly clear way to change this hell-hole back to a somewhat normal world.

I spoke first.

"Hey, maybe we should go hunting."

It sounded a little psychotic given the way I had announced it, but she didn't pick up on the manic tone and calmly complied with my request with a simple " yeah, sure.".

We headed off into the woods around, what I assumed to be, 12:30.
The initial blackout had busted the analog clock that was in the cabin leaving with our 'internal clocks' as the only way to determine the time.

I crept through the woods, still clutching the rifle while Holly lingered about 10 feet behind with a handgun, pounding off any crow, robin, or squirrel that dared to even show themselves for a split second.

Her accuracy reminded me that of Anny Oakley's.
She never missed a single shot she took and you'd be crazy to mess with her in any way shape or form. Although if any stressful situation ever came up her aim would closely resemble that of a 2-year-olds.

After approximately 15 minutes of aimlessly stumbling throughout the cedar trees, I finally found a deer, or, in my mind, dinner.

It was a huge, handsome 8 point buck, standing in the sifted patch of sunlight that had pushed its way through the thick green branches.