Chapter 3: Hide
1673 Words
I jump at the sound as I start to look around. I look down and see two shadowy figures running through the woods directly towards my tree.
Shit…
I started to untie the knot in my rope just to be able to make a quick get away should I need to, but I stopped as I heard the scream again. This time it was more panicked, more guttural.
I slipped the knot loose and then perched on the branch as I watched the two figures continue to run. The bigger of the two lunged out and tackled the smaller one. They went flying to the ground as the masked hunter pinned the prey to the ground. I looked closely, and that is when I noticed which girl it was: Isabella.
The hunter had caught Isabella. He had her in his arms and was holding her to the ground. Once he had her hands secured, he picked her up and pinned her against a tree. His face was covered and painted in hunter’s paint as the scene continued to play out. She screams again as he pins her body hard between his and the tree and I see him struggling to undo his pants.
“NO! NO!!” She is thrashing hard and trying to get out of his grip, but it is no use. The hunter has his pants undone and I watch as he clamps his hand over Isabella’s mouth and I hear him growl. Actually growl.
“Hush, little latine beauty… Everything will be over before you even realize it.”
I swallow hard as I watch him push into her and I see his hips start to move. He still has his hand over her mouth as I watch in horrified silence as he rapes her. When he grunts and finishes, he holds himself deep inside of her as she cries into his hand covering her mouth.
“There… You will be pregnant with my pup for sure.”
Pup?
I shake my head as Isabella continues to cry.
“You monster! How could you do this to someone?!” She screams as she curls in on herself and begins to sob in earnest. The hunter sighs and shakes his head.
“Great… Another dramatic b***h, just my luck.” He hoists her up and throws her over his shoulder as she continues to cry and kick and scream. He slaps her ass as hard as he can and the sound echoes through the forest. “Keep it down, you dumb b***h! You belong to the Angry Moon Pack from here on out.”
Angry Moon Pack? Pup? What the hell kind of game is this s**t?!
I swallow hard as the hunter takes Isabella back to the warehouse where I am sure he is going to claim her as his prize. After that incident, I decided it was best to change locations, just in case there are more hunters lurking around my hiding tree.
As I wrap up my rope, I do my best to make my movements silent, but quick. I don’t want to get caught with my pants down, metaphorically, and end up like Isaballa. How horrible would that be? Two hours into this game and one of us has already been caught. A small part of me wonders how the other three girls are holding up, but I also know that I can’t worry about them if I want to win. None of them have the same goals as I do. None of them have the same need for the prize as I do. They all seem to be well bred women with bright futures and full careers ahead of them. Me? I’m just a homeless orphan who is about to turn eighteen in just a few short hours. How pitiful is that?
I sigh to myself and shake my head firmly.
“Get your s**t together, Lily. There is no reason to be so f*****g negative and petty. You have a game to win, now let's do this s**t,” I mumble to myself.
As soon as I get my rope fixed, I drape it over my shoulders and begin to jump through the trees again. I do my best to make sure that I don’t cause too much noise and if I do, I break a limb off of the tree and throw it in another direction in hopes if someone is following my noises, they will turn the other way. I used to use this trick all the time when I went hunting with my family. Now that they are gone, it is a bitter sweet memory indeed.
I take my time with this feat as there is no urgency to run. If I were to start trying to run right now, I might lose my footing and fall to the forest floor below. Not only could this kill me, but it would also alert the hunters to my whereabouts and that wouldn’t be pleasant to say the least. So far, I haven’t been caught just taking my time, and if I do get caught, I can always climb higher than these hunters ever could.
After passing through several different trees, I decide to use a Red Maple Tree for my next hiding spot. These trees are typically good for climbing, but I also know that if I need to run, I can use its long limbs to make my escape. It is naked of its leaves, but it is a strong and sturdy tree with high branches that I can climb easily. Once I decide on my branch, I secure myself to it with my rope again and I decide to bed down for the late night hours.
Everything is quiet and peaceful as I look up into the stars and stare at the full moon. It is so beautiful and for some reason, I am drawn to it tonight. Maybe it is because it is a supermoon? Maybe it is because it is my only light source in an otherwise dark forest? Or maybe, just maybe, it will be the key to fixing my life.
Seconds turn into minutes, and minutes turn into hours as my eyes close and I try to get some rest.The only downfall to sleeping in the woods is the fact that I am such a light sleeper. It has helped me out since I am homeless, but I never truly get any rest. I feel like I got a pretty solid nap in when another blood curdling scream filled the air and I sat up with a jolt.
“Damn it,” I mumble.
“Can’t a girl get some f*****g sleep in these woods?” I sigh as I shake my head and try to find where the scream came from this time.
I look around as the two figures come crashing through the forest. The smaller figure is taller than Isabella and appears to be more athletic, so I assume it is Sara.
Sure enough, Sara comes crashing into a nearby clearing and seems to run head first into what I thought was a tree, but it just so happened to be another hunter. When she lands in his arms, she groans and almost falls on her ass, but the hunter catches her and pulls her tightly against his chest. She screams and shoves against his hard chest as the other hunter finally catches up with her.
“Well, hello,” the one hunter that has her says as he looks down into her fearful eyes. Even from this far up, I can see her fear.
“Well, I guess that means you belong to me now, huh?” The bastard chuckles and shakes his head at her. So far all of these bastards have been masked, but none of them have been kind. “Does a pretty little princess like you have a name?”
“Hey, Morvello, get your own skank,” the other hunter growls. “I’ve been tracking this one for two hours. Give her back.”
Morvello? Hmm, I guess these hunters do have names. I wonder what the name is of the one who took Isabella?
“Shove it, Johnson, I caught her, so she is mine. Go find another one to hunt.” Morvello pulls Sara closer to his chest, but Sara starts to squirm in his arms. He chuckles and shakes his head. “Don’t worry, little princess, I’m going to take good care of you from now on.”
Sara quits squirming and looks up into his eyes as if he had lost his mind.
“So, you’re taking away my freedom and turning me into a toy for yourself? Is that what you are going to do?” She glares at him. “Well, I don’t think so!”
She stomps on his toe and pulls a taser out of her pocket. This was one of the items we could use, but I didn’t like the idea of it. The only thing it will do is piss them off and then you are still f****d. She pushes the taser flush with his skin and pulls the trigger.
It zaps him, but all he does is laugh. “Is that all you have, little princess? A little taser?” He sighs and shakes his head slowly. “And to think, I thought we could be friends.”
At his words, he picks Sara up at her waist and starts to squeeze her firmly between his arms. I hear her scream as she struggles to get free. The only thing that stops her movements is when I hear a loud snap and then he drops her to the forest floor.
I gasp, but I quickly cover my mouth as I continue to watch. Fear takes over me as I just saw one of the girls get raped and it appears that this one is now dead.
“f*****g hell, Morvello? Did you f*****g kill her?”
- Writer
