The Hunting

Chapter 22

We walked for hours and hours... and hours. I think Don and Nate were getting antsy and tired of walking. For a while, I've been walking next to these two because they were the only ones willing to engage in conversation with me. Jaiver, who has not spoken to me since we started walking was getting kind of boring. Why does he say that he likes to talk to me and then goes all silent? What is up with him? He is so frustrating! I looked behind me to see him carrying the back of our group. He was zoning out when I first looked at him, but he must have noticed that I was looking at him. He looked at me and nodded his head at me, knowingly. Does he know I'm confused by him?

I realized that I was still looking behind me as a tripped because I wasn't paying attention. I let out a quiet curse as I gained my footing, knowing who was beside me. It didn't slip past him though. Nate whipped his head towards me, "Arden Able, was that a bad word?"

I grumbled, face red with embarrassment, "Yes it was."

He laughed giddily, "Oh well shit, I never thought the day would come. ."

I rolled my eyes, "Just because I do not use bad language a lot does not mean its something to gawk at when I do."

Don jumped in on the conversation, clearly bored out of his mind, " No, this is huge for you Arden. Huge!"

I am fed up with this. I opened my mouth, "If you two could kindly shut your traps I would appreciate it."

They looked at each other and then back at me. Don raised his arms in defense, "Sorry, I didn't realize you woke up on the wrong side of the bedroll this morning." He paused and then remembered, " Oh wait, actually, I think you woke up just fine now didn't you."

Nate looked at me, his eyebrows raised questioningly.

I want to escape from this conversation. Trying to quickly end this I looked at Nate, "You know I am not a morning person. I always wake up in a bad mood."

He gave a quick chuckle and nodded. He seemed to be satisfied with that answer and looked forward to Pietra and Calum, who have yet to even look back.

Silence and even more silence. That is what the rest of the day was like. Since it was so quiet, I had to find my own entertainment. I kept looking around at the various plants and incests. There was this one plant that looked stiff and pokey. It was tall and had little bushels on the top. The bushels were almost seed shaped. It was brown and interesting. I wonder if you can eat the seeds? What is it called? It almost looks like wheat. But it doesn't look like it. I was too carried away to realize the ground was shifting beneath my feet. We were headed down. I looked in front of me and realized we were almost in a valley. We were walking down a hill, there was some flat land and then farther away was another hill. Finally! Some change in landscape. Sadly, in this "valley" there were no trees. Nothing, absolutely nothing. Well, this area sucks. There is nothing here. Calum suddenly turned around, "This is where we are going to stop for the day. This is a perfect place!"

I looked at him, mouth was quicker than my mind, "Why here? There is nothing here. We still have some light out, so why stop? We can continue going."

Calum looked at me, "This is a perfect place to stay because if anything were to come near us, we would see them walking down the hills. This will also hide the fire since nobody can see down here without being on the tops of the hill."

I nodded and stayed quiet. There is no point in arguing, he knows better about this landscape then I do. I don't like it though. It makes me very uncomfortable. I looked around. I guess it can't be helped then.

With that, we all started to unpack our stuff. Just like last night, we all were separated from each other. Although, we were closer because the grass was a lot shorter so we didn't have to worry about finding places with shorter grass. Since Javier and I were taking the first shift, we did not have bedrolls to sleep on. So I sat in the grass munching on the jerky that I had. I sighed aloud. I am so tired. I felt my eyes droop closed. I shook myself awake. It isn't even dark yet! I need to do something. Oh, I know, I'll walk up the hill and see what is on the other side. I stood up abruptly. I looked towards the others. Pietra, Calum, and Jaiver are all talking with one another. Don was sitting down talking to Nate who was laying in the grass. I shrugged and started walking towards the hill. I heard someone running to catch up with me, it was Nate. I looked back and it looked like no one was following us. Now that I think about it, the last time we were alone was when we... kissed. Don't think about that now. I looked at him questioningly, "Why are you here?"

Nate shrugged nonchalantly, "To see what you're up to Arden."

"Nothing much, I'm just going to walk up the hill to see what is on the other side."

He didn't respond as he continued to walk beside me. As we slowly made our way up the hill, I couldn't get my mind off of the kiss. I need to ask him why he did that. I want to know why. As we got to the top of the hill, I looked and him and he looked at me. We stood in silence for a second as I built the courage to ask him. Better now then never. I took a quick breath, "Why did you kiss me?"

Nate smiled at me lightly. His brown eyes were unreadable. His voice was soft and gentle as he spoke, "I kissed you because –

"What are you guys doing?"

I whipped my head around to see Calum strided up the hill after us. I groaned internally. I swear, I am going to lose my mind. I opened my mouth to answer his question, "I was bored and decided to walk up this hill. I wanted to see what was ahead. Nate followed me up here."

Calum motioned for us to follow him back down the hill, so we did. I didn't even get the chance to look around. We followed him back down to where the others were. By the time we got there, the sun was starting to set and they had got a fire going. Calum turned to us and spoke, "I know you guys don't know this, but we really need to stay together. The closer we get to the canyons, the closer we get to them. Nobody and I mean nobody needs to go off on their own. Stay within eyesight. Stay within groups of 3 atleast. I'm sorry that I'm lecturing you guys, but this is to stay safe."

I kept my head down like I was a child that just got scolded by their parent.

"Okay, mom." I looked over to see Nate smiling at Calum.

I then turned to look at Calum who looked offended. Of course though, Don jumped right in and started laughing. He walked up to Calum and patted him on his back, "Don't be offended Calum, you are like the mom of the group."

Calum still looking shocked look towards Pietra, who nodded. Then to Jaiver who only replied with a shrug and then he looks at me. I held up my hands, "I am not going to get into this."

He wasn't pleased with our answers. He had a bitter tone as he talked, "Well fine. Tonight, Arden and Jaiver you have the first shift. Pietra and I will take the middle. Don and Nate, you will take the morning shift. That is all and I am going to bed."

With that he walked towards his bedroll with Pietra not too far behind me.

Don and Nate decided to walk towards their place too, which left Jaiver and I alone. I sighed and looked at him. Well, here's to hoping that tonight will not be as crazy as the last.