The Hunting

Chapter 36

Saying that I'm terrified is an understatement. They took all my weapons and have been walking behind me with a sword pointed to my back. This whole time, I have had my fists clenched to hide the fact that they are shaking. After a little bit of walking, we finally made it to the scavenger camp. Luckily for the group, the scavenger's camp isn't too far from where we ran into the two scavengers.

I was surprised how well established their camp was. The canyon opened up into a ravine, there was the tiniest stream I have ever seen running through the middle. Along the edges of the canyons there were about twelve tents set up and in the middle the unlit fire. The sun was rising, slowly bringing light upon the canyons. There were a couple of people walking around, they all turned their attention to us as we strolled into camp. A scraggly guy walked up to us. He had a long brown beard and shaggy long hair to match. His skin was tan and from what I could see, he had deep brown bloodshot eyes. I noticed that being super skinny is a trait that all scavengers have. The old man, who I learned was named Pete pushed me to the ground in front of the man. I winced as I felt my knees hit the ground. They're probably bleeding. If I wasn't kidnapped by them, I would say the relationship between Pete and Quinn is adorable. When Quinn would complain that his leg hurt, Peter told him, "That's what you get for letting a little girl shoot your dumb ass."

The nameless man looked down at me. Without a word, he kicked me in the stomach. I coughed, but the man didn't give me enough time to recover. He grabbed the back of my head and yanked me to look him in the eyes. He licked his lips menacingly as he looked at me, "So, you decided to fuck with us and now you're here. How does it feel?"

Should I stay silent? I've never been in a situation like this where I've been captured – oh wait. I obviously didn't answer him fast enough. He slapped my face with his other hand, "Answer me bitch!"

I looked at him loathingly, "It feels like I'm home."

He laughed dryly, "This girl has a bite to her. Quinn, what happened to you?"

He responded weakly, "This girl fucking shot me with an arrow and the other one that was with her got away!"

The man laughed again letting go of my head, "So she has a bark and a bite? Great! Go get fixed up, we'll take care of this one."

I watched as Quinn walked off into one of the tents. A woman walked up to me with a rope. She had blonde hair and sunken in eyes. She was about the same height as the man in front of me. The woman started to tie my hands in front of me. I looked back to the man who beat me up, he was watching me silently almost as trying to figure out what to do with me. He squatted down to my level as he drew out a small knife. He traced the blade's edge over his fingertips lightly. He spoke nonchalantly, "So, are you going to tell me where you're friend ran off to?"

It seems like he liked my sarcastic answer the first time, I'll play his game. I shrugged as I felt the lady tighten the rope so that I couldn't budge my hands, "Even if I knew where he ran off to, I'm not good enough at directions to tell you."

He held the knife up to my check, "Are you sure about that?"

I nodded, "Yep, I have no clue."

Without a moment's hesitation, he cut my cheek. I gritted my teeth to not let him get any satisfaction from my pain. I could feel the blood rush down my cheek. Most of it went on the ground. At this point, everything hurt. My feet from walking, my stomach, my face, my body...everything. I think the man could sense it too. He stood up, spit at the ground right in front of me, and spoke in a disgusted tone, "Take her to the other one and get her some food and drink. We'll continue this later when she's not on her death bed."

The lady and Pete hauled me to my feet. Pete started shoving me to the tent that was farther away from the others, which I'm assuming they keep for prisoners. It surprised me because I thought they would've left me out in the sun. What tipped me off was that two guys stood out front of it watching it. One of the guards lifted the cover and Pete shoved me in with a "Don't get too comfortable."

I was about to muster a witty remark but my attention got drawn to the man that was surprised by my entrance. He was tall. He had a gray and light brown hair that was to his chin with a short beard to match. His pale blue eyes were wide with surprise. I could tell that he was older by the wrinkles on his face. The only reason why I could tell that he was a prisoner was that his hands tied in front of him and he was gauntly thin in comparison to the rest of the scavengers I have seen.

To my surprise he smiled brightly, his voice was genuine and kind, "Welcome friend. My name is Remmington."

I can understand why all of the hunters want Remmington back. Without a word spoken between us, he helped me sit down comfortably, at least as comfortable that I can be in the situation. Currently, Remmington is trying to put a bandage on my face. This gave me time to look around the rest of the tent. There were a couple boxes and jars around, none of which contain food or water. There wasn't a cot, bed-roll, or anything. In the corner, the ground was flatter. That must be where he sleeps.

As Remmington finished bandaging me up, he spoke up, "I know it's not luxury in this tent, but at least it's not out in the sun. I've been here for a couple of months now, so it's slowly getting better. After nearly starving me to death out in the sun with my hands tied behind my back, they moved me in here so that they didn't have to hear me bitch and complain."

I chuckled weakly, "Well I'm glad this place has upgrades."

He laughed heartily, " Good to know that you have some humor, barely any of the scavengers do. So, how did you come to this lovely place?"

I looked towards the entrance of the tent suspiciously. I don't want to say anything that can be overheard. So, I'll keep it simple. "Awhile back, I ran into your friends."

He must've known that I wasn't wanting to say much and he nodded knowingly. As he spoke, he inched closer to me, "Yeah, those kids sure have the habit of running into people. That's how we got into this mess after all." He paused for a second. In a very serious tone that surprised me, he whispered in my ear, "Are they alright? My kids?"

I gave him a quick nod as he backed up and continued to walk around the tent. Before I could speak, a little boy walked into our tent with a tray in his hand. He had really bright blonde hair and dark green eyes. He must be around ten years old. Like every other scavenger I have seen, he is thin. Remmington smiled at the boy's entrance, he spoke, "Ah, Timmy just the boy I want to see. What did you bring us today?"

The boy walked over to Remmington handed him what looked like two bowls. Without a word, he turned around and handed me two bowls. One was partially filled with water and the other had some type of food in it. I didn't realize how hungry I was until I saw it. I took a deep breath as I tried to slowly eat the food. It tasted like beans and some type of meat that I have never tried before. Maybe its prairie dog? After I finished eating what was in my bowl, which wasn't a lot, I chugged the little bit of water I was given. I took me two gulps to finish the water. I looked at Remmington who was handing Timmy his bowls. I sighed. I want more, but I seriously doubt my requests will be answered. Timmy turned to me and reached out his hands to grab the bowls from me. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows, "What's your name?"

I smiled at him, "My name is Arden, thank you for bringing me this. I'm guessing your name is Timmy?"

He nodded lightly, "Yeah no problem. Just so you know, I only bring food once or twice a day. Your food is the leftovers from our meals. So, if there is nothing left you don't get anything."

I continued to smile even though I wanted to cry at the thought of no food, "Okay, thank you for letting me know."

I heard a voice yell from outside the tent, "Timmy, you know better than to talk to the prisoners. Come out now!"

Timmy sighed as he slumped his shoulders. He gave a nod to me and walked out of the tent.

Remmington and I were silent for a while before he drew my attention to him, "So, your name is Arden?"