Wake of the Dead | Two

Chapter Six | Killian

It had been three days since Killian and Jasper had encountered that stranger in the barn. Tom had instructed the group not to go out alone, to bring at least two people with you at all times. Killian had been opposed to that idea. If anybody wanted to have a buddy with them, it wasn't his business—but personally, he'd rather not have two people tagging along and ruining his hunting. Of course, that had completely gone over the heads of Jasper and Aubrey, who insisted on coming with. 

Morning sunlight filtered through the high branches of the trees above him. Killian's brows were knit together with concentration, staring down at the squirrel nibbling on an acorn below. Killian had been sitting on the large rock formation for a good long while, waiting for something to come by. He'd seen lots of animal tracks in this part of the woods, it only made sense to hunt here. Killian was painfully aware of Aubrey's impatient fiddling, and his hand clenched tight around his crossbow whenever the squirrel's beady eyes looked up. He aimed the crossbow as quickly as he could, barely just managing to catch the animal in the ribs. It spasmed for a few seconds, then died. 

Standing up, Killian shot Aubrey a glare. If it wasn't for her incessant wriggling, the poor thing would have had an easier, instantaneous death instead of jerking around for a good few seconds. The ginger-haired young woman crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, "Okay, well it shouldn't take you so long to shoot the damn thing." Jasper shot her an annoyed glance, and Aubrey insisted, "It took him like six minutes to line up a single shot!" 

"Keep your voice down or you'll scare everything from here to the barn away." Jasper quipped, giving Aubrey a contemptuous--but playful--gentle smack at the back of the head. "It takes a while because he wants to make sure it'll die as fast as possible and without any pain." 

"Jasper's right," Killian murmured quietly. "Hunters might kill, but we're not heartless monsters that want living things to suffer." Without waiting for a reply, Killian picked up the squirrel by the tail and began to head back to the farmhouse. They'd been on two hunting trips already that morning, since Casimir, Samantha, Darren and Wilson were all taking out a group of biters that had gathered half a mile between the barn and the farmhouse. Thanks to the woods, the group hadn't gone hungry for the month and few weeks they'd been there. It was a good place to live, although Killian couldn't imagine it'd last forever. 

Feeling an arm around his shoulder, Killian's eyes flickered up towards Jasper, who was giving him a playful grin. "So, you remember how Tom and Cohen were supposed to go check out farther into the woods to see where in the hell all these biters are coming from?" 

Raising a brow Killian replied warily, "Yea, I remember." 

A small smile twitched at the corners of Jasper's mouth, "Well, we found a map of the roads. It turns out that there's a big road running through the woods, and chances are it might lead to a small town about an hour away that has some supplies." His smile broadened. "Care to go on a little adventure with me, Boy Scout?" 

The mention of a possible scouting mission made Killian's heart slam against his chest with excitement, especially the thought of going along with Jasper. Would it be possible for them to go alone, so it would be like they were traveling together again? He doubted it, but it was still a nice idea. "That would be..." Killian let his words trail off, and his eyes do the talking. Jasper was always good at reading him, as much as he hated to admit it. 

The other man's chuckle rumbled through his chest and made Killian's stomach feel all fluttery again. Over the weeks he'd noticed that feeling, it had grown familiar, and Killian had began to realize that it wasn't exactly a bad thing. "Alright then," Jasper replied, "I'll talk to Tom and Cohen about it. Maybe I get some more...neutral people to come along with us." Killian knew exactly what Jasper meant by neutral. People who didn't completely hate Killian's guts. There were only very few that he could think of. Jasper, of course, was one of them; Aubrey, Darren, Keagan, and maybe Harley. Cohen and Tom seemed to be too busy running things around the farmhouse to have formed an actual opinion on him.