Through The Eyes Of The Hunter

Lair Of Predator

He could taste the tension in the air thick as the smoke of a dying fire as Kanaan picked his way through the underbrush through the forest, each footfall purposeful, each inhale steady. All around him, the night was alive with sounds of nocturnal creatures, but he had conditioned himself to tune them out. His gaze narrowed to one purpose to track the predator that had shredded life in its path.

For days now, he had been hunting the invisible murderer, fitting together bits of evidence like a puzzle missing some of its pieces. But now, something was different.” The predator wasn’t merely running it was watching him, laying traps, luring him deep into its world.

Kanaan stopped suddenly, his keen vision picking up a faint gleam in front of him. A tripwire. Nearly undetectable in the moonlight, yet he had spotted it in time. He crouched to inspect the arrangement. The wire triggered a crude but lethal trap a cluster of spikes hidden beneath a bed of fallen leaves. Had he activated it, he would have been impaled.

These words elicited a slow smirk. Clever.

But not clever enough.

He stepped deliberately over the wire and moved on, all of his senses alert. He could sense it; someone was watching. The hunter had turned into the hunted.

Elsewhere -A Predator’s Lair

Aaliyah was tied to a chair in a dark room with frayed black ropes her wrists bruised and bleeding from their restraints. Her heartbeat was even, but she felt time slipping away. The man on the couch in front of her Zayd was staring at her with unsettling calmness, his fingers lazily tapping the armrest of his chair.

And, “You’re surprisingly quiet,” he mused, nodding his head. “Most people would be groveling at this point.

Aaliyah held his gaze unflinchingly. "Begging isn’t my style."

Zayd laughed and stood up, walking towards her. ” “That’s what I like about you, Aaliyah. You have fire. But not even fire can be extinguished.”

She willed herself to stay still as he reached for her, taking hold of her chin. “Your hunter buddy is nearby, but no one cares. He’s walking right into it, just like you did.”

Aaliyah clenched her fists. She could not afford to lose hope. If Kanaan were coming, she had to give him time. She had to escape, to warn him.

But first she had to make it out alive.

Kanaan’s Discovery

Kanaan was quick, picking his way along the slight disturbance in the forest. A snapped twig, a scuffed bootprint in the dirt everything was guiding him to a ruined building deep in the woods.

He crouched behind a tree and watched the building. It was an antique hunting lodge whose wooden frame had been stained by time. A solitary light flickered within.

She’s in there.

He knew it in his gut.

Breathing deeply, he examined his arms. Realizing he had to be smart a rush in would be suicide. Zayd was waiting for him. This was a game of patience, and Kanaan had been here before.

Now gripping the knife in his hand, he made his choice. Tonight, the hunted would meet its real master.