Hunt

Chapter 9: Clean Getaway

I don't know how long we sat in the car without saying a word. I don't know if it was only a couple minutes that had passed or if it had been a couple hours. I didn't care. Sitting in the back seat of my car in Reyna's arms felt right. She kept me grounded, kept me from slipping further. It's only once the bell rings do I begin to sit up, pulling away from the girl who saved me from myself. Had I spent the whole class period out here? Had Reyna skipped her own class to be with me? Like a switch had flipped in my head, suddenly my anxiety is replaced by a cold and sobering clarity. My thoughts my own again, no longer clouded by static.

"It's alright Kyle." Her voice breaks the silence. "I'd rather be here than in class." She was smiling as if reading my mind, a sickening red smear across her cheek.

"I'm so sorry..." I begin to say. "I-I... I don't know what happened to me. What came over me..."

"It's alright. Look, I'd hate for you to go through this alone, whatever it is." She says through the kind smile, "Besides. You're like the only person I know here, it would kinda suck if you weren't around."

"I..." I try to formulate a sentence, but can't seem to put my thoughts to words. They were on the tip of my tongue, but so far away at the same time.

There's another silence, which is broken by the shuffling of Reyna, she was inspecting her now bloodstained shirt. Again I try to speak but come up empty. "Not to sound rude, but you did kinda bleed a lot on me." Reyna says with a half-smile.

"S-sorry." I manage to squeak out, "We should probably go get cleaned up. Can't really go back to class looking like this."

"Yeah..." she says, trailing off. Her eyes outside. "Yeah, let's get out of here."

There's a moment of pause before we spring into action. I end up migrating to the driver seat and bring the engine roaring to life. Now with Reyna in the passenger seat we tear out of the parking lot.

"Kyle slow down! You're gonna kill us!" She exclaims as I put the pedal to the floor, accelerating out of the parking lot. Speed limit be damned.

"We're fine! If we're fast we'll make it back before third period." I reply calmly, pulling away from the school out onto the main roads. Driving used to help me blow off steam when I was feeling stressed, it still does now. "Alright, where to?"

There's a tingle in the back of my head. A rogue thought that bubbles to the surface for just a brief moment. One that causes me to pause from my current thoughts. Nobody has ever been that comfortable around someone else's blood. Not even the Hunters... Just who is this girl...

In a flash it's gone. The rogue thought replaced by the shrieking of the blood covered girl next to me as I slide the corner of a four way intersection. I lose it like sand through my fingers. Tumbling away back into the current of a million different things.

With a lot of complaining about my driving mixed in with hastily given directions we manage to navigate to Reyna's neighborhood. Much to my surprise she lived in a neighboring development to my own. A relatively new set of buildings surrounded by a wide arch of forest separating her neighborhood from mine. As I pull up along the sidewalk I put the car in park, unlocking the doors.

"I'll wait here, wouldn't want anyone to see both of us playing hooky." I say, beginning to slump down in the seat.

She hops from the car and turns back to me, "Nobody's going to be home, my brothers are still at school and my Dad is at work. Come on." She insisted, I couldn't say no.

The house was large, not quite a mansion but it sure felt close to it. She takes me up to the second floor to where I could begin to clean up. I notice photos on the walls of who I assumed were Reyna's family. Along with the group family photos were some of man posing with various animals. Deer, Elk, a moose. Hunting photos of her father I assume.

"Your dad a hunter? does he go out often?" I ask as we ascend the stairs.

Reyna hesitates. Stopping momentarily on the top stair before continuing to walk. "Occasionally. He likes it, but I find it barbaric. I'd rather shoot photos than guns. He hasn't done it in a long time." She says without turning around, leading me towards a bathroom. "You can wash up in here, we'll have to stop by your place for a change of clothes."

She leaves and I close the door behind me. With shaking hands I build up the courage to look at myself in the mirror, scared of the zombie I would see looking back at me in the reflection. Tired would be an gross understatement. It looked like I just crawled from a grave... dark circles under bloodshot eyes, flush skin streaked with blood and messed up hair. Looking back down towards my arms and hands I unsurprisingly had lots of dried blood caking them. As I wait for the water to turn warm I examine the bathroom, having to tear myself away from my ghastly visage in the mirror.

Similar to the rest of the house there were some pictures hanging in the bathroom. One was a painting by a local artist and with another hunting photo off to the side of it. It showed Reyna's father with a younger man, someone who if I had to guess was her brother posed with a good sized Elk. As I further examine the photo I couldn't see the weapon used to take the animal down, but it looked like the fatal wound was visible. Streaking gashes along the jugular of the Elk. Rifle? Maybe a bow? I couldn't easily place the wound. Either way it was a clean place to hit. Would've killed the elk quickly.

Looking to the far wall I could see another family portrait. From what I could gather Reyna has two other siblings. Two brothers who both appeared to be younger than her. I crack a smile, it seemed like a good happy family.

Turning back to the sink I place my hands under the now hot water as I begin to systematically scrub them clean. It's a good fifteen minutes of scrubbing before I uncover my hands again. This must be what being an archeologists feels like... to unearth something after an agonizingly tedious amount of work.

"Kyle? You alright in there?" There's a soft knock on the door.

"Yeah, I think so," I reply as I finally shut the water off. Turning back towards the towels I begin to wipe my arms dry, being careful around the wounds and to not stain Reyna's towels. As I'm turning back to the door something in the hunting photo catches my eye. Blood on her father's hands. Around the fingers and the palms. It's always blood, I could never seem to be free of it.

Shrugging off the weird feeling I got from the picture I rejoin Reyna, failing to suppress a smile as I see what she changed into. Even though it was just simple jeans and a tee shirt she looked great. "W-what?" She questions, suddenly looking self conscious.

Realizing I must look like an idiot I shake the smile from my face, "Oh nothing. Just glad to be clean again."

Smooth... Good going Kyle...

"Well, you're still a ways off. You have enough evidence all over your shirt to be classified as a crime scene." She remakes with a smirk. Leading me back down the stairs and to the front door, "Shall we go?"

"After you," I say and gesture towards the car.

"Such a gentleman," she replies with a smirk. Letting me open the door for her.

We take the short hop over to my house, where I promptly vanish into my room and change into a different ratty pair of jeans and a fresh tank top. Throwing a black hoodie over my shoulder just in case. I do have to take some time to bandage my arm again, finally taking the time to make sure it's done right this time. Even after my delay to bandage my arm Reyna hadn't come out from the bathroom. With the roles now reversed it's my turn to knock on the door.

"You good in there?" I ask through the door, knocking softly.

There's no response for a good couple seconds before she responds. "Yeah all good." A couple moments later the door clicks open and we reconvene in the living room.

"So back to school then?" I ask, checking my watch. "Should just be around lunch, not hard to sneak back in." I only look up when my question is met with silence. Reyna was staring at the fresh bandages on my arm. The multitude of other scars that raced up and around my arms also visible. "Hey, You okay?" I ask.

"I-I..." Reyna stammers, seeming flustered for just a moment before she regains composure, shaking her head. "Y-Yeah. I'm good, let's go!" She nods quickly, she opens her mouth once as if to say something but stops as we climb back into the car.