The Hunt

From the position I’m laying in on the back of the  truck bed, I can just see over the open edge of the flap at the back of the truck. The locked box has been lifted up and out of the back of the truck. Thomas has unlocked it and flipped the lid open and now all three men are staring down into the open box. 

  It takes a moment before Thomas pulls out a hunting rifle. 

  

  I can’t help it, my eyes are as big as saucers and a panic takes hold of me. Frozen with unadulterated fear I stare at them. Trying in vain to desperately think of a way to get away from these monsters. At this point, apart from a waning moan from Callie all I can think of is, if I can untie my feet or if they untie my feet I will have to make a run for it even if it means leaving my dear sister behind. Maybe I could get help for her somewhere near by. I look around again trying desperately to see a light in the dark, any sign of a house or anything at all in the dense forest. 

For the briefest moment I think I see a light flicker in the not too far off distance. But just as quick, it's gone again. I keep my eyes fixed on the spot where it came from, but nothing. Could it just be my mind playing tricks on me? 

  

Blake grabs the rifle from Thomas’ hand, “we can’t use guns, someone might hear the shots”. He puts the rifle away and I feel a little ray of hope returning. If he's worried someone might hear the shots from a gun, then maybe there are other people around here somewhere. If they try using something like a knife, I have a chance of getting away. I could fight, I could fight and run like hell. 

  

  Blake stoops down and pulls out a hunting bow. He hands it to Barry and stoops down and gets another, “you have used one of these before haven’t you?” He looks at Barry.

  “What about me?” Says Thomas, “there’re only two of them”.

  Blake, “you take the knife incase we need to finish one of them off. We’ll have to go find them once we’ve shot them so we can retrieve the arrows and make sure they’re dead. If we do it right, the bears and wolves will eat their flesh and it'll look like a tragic hiking accident”.

  “Besides, the weather’s turning, there’s a snow storm headed this way it’s forecast for tomorrow night. No one will be finding either of them anytime soon, and we’ll be long gone and forgotten about by the time they do.”

  

  “Uummmoooph” 

  Callie let’s off a groan and I see she's starting to come around. Thomas turns to us, “thank f*ck, I thought we’d already killed her off with an overdose.” 

  

  Oh my life, the relief I feel when I see Callie moving. I look at her, I try to catch her eyes with mine but she is too out of it. She starts to struggle as she realises her hands and feet are tied. She looks up and sees me, I can see the panic in her eyes and tears begin to pool. I’m sure she is feeling as confused as I was when I first woke. I can feel the threat of stinging tears in my own eyes. I can’t let tears out, I’ll loose touch and let panic and fear takeover. I can’t do that. I need to keep a clear, calm head to get us out of here. 

  “It’s okay, Callie it’s okay” I try to reassure her. 

  

  Blake with his disgusting course voice, “no darlin, it’s not okay. You and your sis are gonna die tonight.” 

  Callie starts to thrash about and cries out to Barry, “Barry, Barry, what’s going on? Please help us” she begs, “Let us go, please!” Pleading desperately her voice cracks and she starts to sob uncontrollably. 

  

  “Get them out of the truck, stand them up, come on” Blake barks orders at the other two. 

  “Now girls, we’re going to give you a little head start. Thomas here is going to untie your feet in a moment and then you’re going to make a run for it. If you manage to get away from us, then you get to live. Although, I would say that you’d be prolonging the inevitable and wouldn’t make it through the day out here in the wild’s of Alaska. Not against the elements and the predators that roam these mountains. But," He looks from Thomas to Barry with a sarcastic chuckle under his breath, "you might have a chance,” Blake scoffs. 

  

  “And, if you don’t get away from us, then rest assured, we’ll make sure to put you out of your misery”, Thomas says while mimicking getting his throat slit with his huge hunting knife.  

  

  He grabs Callie by the arm and she starts to thrash and freak out. She tries to kick out at him but Blake steps forward and grabs her by the legs. He’s tall and has a big build. It’s easy to see why the other two are scared of him. He’s strong and pulls her out of the truck bed by her feet. She lands on the rocky, dirt road on her butt and cries out in pain.

He moves towards me and I put my hands up, “I’m coming, I can do it” I shout out in haste. 

  

  “Clever, she learns quick” he turns to the others with a smug look and takes a step back, motioning with his hands for me to get out on my own. 

  I scoot out on my backside until I reach the edge of the flap. I hop off gingerly, but stagger a little as I’m still a bit woozy from the drugs. Barry catches me before I topple face first into the ground. Once I get my feet firmly on the ground I stand up and watch as Barry helps Callie up off of the ground. She’s still half out of it and not very steady on her feet and I can see it’s going to be a struggle for her to run anywhere. I’m going to have to grab hold of her and steer her if she is going to have a chance of getting away. 

  

  “We can do this” I look at Callie, trying to encourage her to stop sobbing and get with it. 

  

  Blake barks some more orders, “Thomas, untie Callie’s feet first. She needs more of a head start I’d say.”

  Thomas takes another bump of whatever it is they're snorting and gives the bag to Blake. He takes a bump and hands it to Barry. “You too, go on, do it” he gives Barry no choice. 

  

  Thomas cuts Callie’s feet free, then her hands. I’m glad he’s cut her hands free too as she wouldn’t get far if she fell over. 

  He pushes her towards the forest and tells her to run.

Callie looks at me, “no” she sobs. 

  I shout, “run Callie, RUN!”

  

  She turns and staggers into the forest. I watch as she goes further in, I see her pale skin glowing in the pitch black of the night like a beacon. Damn I wish she still had her midnight blue top on that she started the night out in. 

  Thomas cuts my hands free and in the time it takes him to cut my feet free I contemplate hitting him or kneeing him or doing something to incapacitate him, but it’d be foolish. I decide the best thing would be to make a run for it, towards Callie, catch her up and try find somewhere dark for us to hide. 

  

  Once my ties are cut Blake blows me a kiss and says, “off you go hunny”.

  

  And with that I take off like hell fire is biting at my heels, as I run I can feel the stones and sticks and hard things on the forest floor sticking into my feet, but I can’t let it slow me down.

I see Callie she's still staggering a way ahead of me and I head straight for her. I catch her up and I grab her by the arm and we run deeper into the forest. As I’m running I look for somewhere dark where we can hide but nothing, there’s nowhere. No brush or cave or animal hole. Nothing!

  

  We keep running, Callie is still falling around and I try my best to hold her steady as we run. Our feet are bleeding and sore. Callie stops, “I can’t, I need to rest, please”

  I pull her down to the ground we crouch down and look around us trying to force our eyes to see through the pitch black of the forest while we try to catch out breath. 

  I hear a twig snap to my left. Callie and I both turn our attention that way but neither of us can see anything at all. 

  Fully aware that we are like two glow worms lighting the forest with our naked bodies I frantically rub my hands along the ground and rub dirt all over Callie’s back and front and I tell her to do mine. 

  

  Our ears pricked, listening intently looking around with wide eyes. I know we are too exposed here, we need somewhere safe to hide. Just as I motion to Callie that we need to get moving, an arrow comes flying past straight through the middle of us and grazes the tip of my nose. 

  We both instinctively run, but in different directions. I look around frantically for Callie but can’t see her. I keep running as fast as I can. As I’m running I feel a sharp, burning pain go through my side and as I fall to the ground I hear someone shout, “I hit one, she’s down”.

  

  I can hear footsteps hurriedly making their way towards me, I crawl a ways ahead of me and find the edge of a cliff. It’s too dark, there’s no way to know how far down it goes. I decide to take my chances and drag myself over the edge. I fall down a ways and land on a ledge that gives way under my weight and I slide down the side of the mountain. 

  

  ***

  

  I wake to excruciating pain, the sun is blinding and I feel broken all over with the most unimaginable pain radiating from my side. I look down to find an arrow sticking out of me, it’s gone straight through from my back to my front. It’s been bleeding a lot and if I so much as try to touch it, I get shooting pains through my body. The uncontrollable shivering hurts like hell too, but at least I’m alive. 

  Wondering about what has happened to Callie. Praying with all my might that she is safe and has been able to get  some help. 

  I lay here at the bottom of this cliff for what feels like forever, just wishing I was dead. 

  

  After dosing in and out of consciousness for what must have been a few hours, I’m suddenly woken by a familiar voice. Its Blake’s gruff voice, he sounds tired and more gruff then usual, “I definitely hit her around here, she must have gone over the edge”. 

  I try to push myself as close to the mountain as possible so they can’t see me over the edge. 

  Blake again, “look, there’s a trail of blood, see it goes over the edge”.

Some gravel and stone come skidding down on my head as they disturb the edge of the cliff trying to lean over for a better view. 

  “She has got to be dead after that fall”, Tomas says, “come on, let’s go, this is takin too long man. That storm is headin in and we are gonna get stuck on the top of this mountain in the middle of a snow storm”.

  

  I can see black clouds forming in the distance and the temperature is dropping quickly. 

  Blake, “yeah, you’re right, we need to get off this mountain and back home before someone at the lodge suspects something. We were meant to have checked out already. She won’t survive the storm, even if she survived taking an arrow and then the fall.”

  

  With that I close my eyes, and let myself relax. At least when I die, it won’t be looking at their ugly mugs, I think to myself.