In Between Seasons (The Fall) (4 page)

We were running again—
endlessly running.
Hunter seemed to be unfazed by it as if he could run for days without stopping
,
but
I was dying from fatigue trying to keep up.
I couldn’t think of any besides the fact that I was exhausted, and that I was too afraid to stop running. We were running away from something—that much was clear. I just wasn’t sure what we needed to get away from so fast, and if it was my family it only brought up the fact that Hunter wasn’t telling me something about the situation. Or maybe my family really did care and were searching for us. I shook my head at the thought and took a deep breath, but it made it so I had to stop. It felt as though I wasn’t breathing anymore.

“You need to drink more,
” Hunter commented,
stopping
and
throwing a bottle at me. My reaction time was zero
and
it hit me in the chest,
“Are you okay?”

“It’s just a bottle,
” I answered,
leaning down to pick it up
and
falling to my knees.

“Kate, are you okay? You need
to speak up if you need to stop,” Hunter ordered,
pulling me to my feet
and
grabbing the bot
tle of water,
“K
ate, I’m not trying to kill you. Y
ou need to tell me when you need to stop.”

My eyes were barely open.

“Hunter, I need to stop,” I mumbled, and my words slurred
together.

He twisted the c
ap off the bottle
and
tilt
ed my head up
to force
the water
down my throat. I sputtered a bit at first
,
but
he did it slow enough that I didn’t choke
,
“Any better?”

“
Mhmm
. Can’t move legs.”

“It’s almost sunset
anyways, so w
e’ll set up camp here.
The
skies look clear
,
so we
won’t need to worry about rain,” Hunter
noted as he sat me on the ground,
“Will you be okay while I get us some protein
and
fire wood?”

“Sure.”

“Here
, use this as a pillow,
” Hunter suggested,
putting the backpack behind me
and
pushing me lightl
y on the shoulders to lean back,
“I’ll be back in five
minutes top
s
. You should’
ve said something. You’
re so god damned stubborn.
”

“I don’t want to hold you back,” I responded
as
my eyes closed.

“Stubborn,” he grumbled
,
and
I heard his feet hit the ground as he jogged off.

By the time
he had returned I had recovered a little bi
t.

“I’m sorry,
” I said
,
sitting up as he came into focus.

He sighed with a smile,
“I just can’t get use to you Kate. You’
re full of surprises. All you ha
d to say was
that
you needed to stop.”

“I’m not one to let on to what I’m feeling. It’s hard for me to s
peak up,
”
I said as I attempted to shrug, but my shoulders felt like lead weights and it was more of a twitch than a shrug.

“For some reason I don’t think you were always like that…be
ing stubborn
,
I imagine you can be
quite opinionated,” h
e said
,
building a fire
and
placing a fish he must
have
caught onto it.

“Am I that see through?” I asked
,
picking up a leaf
and
tearing it into small pieces.

H
unter stopped me with his hands,
“For what it’s worth I think your opinion was probably right even if it wasn’t wanted. You seem very observant.”

“And cold, they called me the ice queen. Trevor was set
on melting me,” I added,
shaking my head as I thought how inferior Trevor was to Hunter.

“I don’t think it worked
,
but
then
again I think they had the wrong impression. It seems to me
that
they may have forced that on
to
you by lying.”

I put my chin on my knees
, hugging them to me,
“You’ve known me a total of three days
and
you get me more than anyone else ever has…and you kidnapped me.”

“Maybe it’s the intimacy
of t
he situation wearing on you,
” Hunter
hinted
with an eyebrow raised like he didn’t believe it himself.

“Just so you know
,
I don’t really feel like you kidnapped me—it’s more assisted running away by coincidence.
”

“That makes me feel
much
better about the situation,
” h
e said
,
poking the fish with a stick
,
his eyes still locked on mine,
“If it makes you feel better I think you know me better than anyone else too.”

“It’s fate,
”
I observed
with a smile.

“The more you l
earn the more you might hate me,
”
he shrugged
.

I leaned my head on his shoulder
and
he wrapped his arm around me.

“I don’t think so,” I replied as I closed my eyes. All of the questions about the world I had been thrown into were now forgotten.

“I
hope
you’re right,
”
he whispered
.

“What did you say?”
I asked.

“Nothing,” he replied as he rubbed my bare arm when
he felt the hair
raise
for reasons other than the chill in the air.

Breakfast had been quiet
and
we began running soon after sunrise.
Now d
u
sk was trailing us,
chasing us
deeper
and
deeper into the never ending wood
s. There was a storm setting in
,
and
the air seemed electrified as I ran next to Hunter telling myself to breath
e
. I was a bit recovered from the day before
,
but
my legs
still
felt like
jelly
every time we stopped.
I decided it was better to just continue
and
concentrate on the environment around me
and
the rhythmic sound of Hunter’s paced breathing. As we ran the sun streamed through the trees behind us causing the dust in the air to shimmer
like a thousand weightless diamonds
. Hunter slipped his hand into mine
and
smiled over his shoulder down at me.

“I love this time of da
y,” h
e said
,
watching the wind whipping my hair around my face.

I didn’t understand how he could talk
and
run
,
but
I figured I should try,
“The air is electrified.”

“That’s because your hand
i
s in mine,
”
Hunter joked.

I had to stop because there was no way I could breath
e
,
concentrate on not falling
and
laugh
at the same time
. My hands were on my knees,
“Was that a pick up line?
Or are you really that arrogant?
”

“I thoug
ht it was a reasonable response,
” h
e said
,
and
when I looked up he was grinning like a school boy who had just l
odged gum in his crush’
s hair. He handed me
a bottle of water from the bag,
“Actually
,
I just like to hear you laugh.”

“That also
so
unds like a cheesy pick-up line,” I commented,
finally able to stand somewhat straight.

“But what if it’s the truth?” h
e said
,
and
his face was serious again.

“The
n
I really appreciate it.”

“Alright, well the night has finally caught our heels. I should make a fire
and
get us some more water.”

“Let me help you tonight?” I said
,
cocking my head with a flutter of my eye lashes.

“You’re good, you know that?
”
Hunter remarked
with a laugh
.

“I’
ve melted you haven’t I?” I asked,
biting my lip.

He was walking away
and
stopped
to look
over his shoulder at me,
“Ice queen
,
I think I did the same to you.”

“I’ll gather tinder, you get food
,
and
water,
” I said
,
and
he nodded his head.

When Hunter returned he threw the fish on the ground
next to the wood I had gathered,
“Good job with the wood.
Sorry for the lack of va
riety in our food.”

“
It
’s
fine,
” I said
,
si
tting down as he lit the fire
. “So tell me more about your family?”

“You h
aven’t told me much about yours,
”
he reminded me
.

“I was taught to accept things as they were
and
to not wish for anything more. We had the basics
,
but
my parents
always had more. They had TVs
and
books that weren’t school books.”

“Well, you can soak up a ton of TV if you want when we get to my place
,
and
there’s a library where you can read whatever you want—no one will fight you for that. It seems
useless to the people there.
Most of the books
have probably never
even
been cracked open,” Hunter explained,
putting the fish on the fire
and
sitting beside me,
“So both your parents were there?”

“Yeah, you?”

Hunter took a deep breath
and
shook his head,
“M
y mother was killed
in a car accident
when I was five
. Basically once she was gone there was no one to protect me from my father sculpting me into w
hat he wanted me to be. What to him is the perfect general.
He
has no clue who I
am
,
or what I really think
and
believe
.”

“That’s something we have in common—our
families have
no clue
who
we are,” I agreed, throwing a stick into the fire, “a
nd they don’t really care to know.”

“Who was the girl you were with?”

“My sister, Sara
, she was always telling me I was over thinking things. I’v
e always wondered if I should have
trusted her
or
any of them
,
but
they were my family
,
so I guess I did.”

“Why are you questioning it now?”

“My father must know about the other tribes…right?”
I questioned.

Hunter’s eyes searched the fire as if he was looking for an answer.

“Yes, he’s done more than one act of war against my tribe. Your father is the chief; there are generals, hunters
and
trackers among the ranks as well.”

“There were
only a few people living with us though?”

“The ones living with you were probably only his head men
. There’s one other base that’
s within three miles of where you w
ere living. The complex is huge,
and
that’s
where all of the others are. There’s at
least a hundred or more. You’
re so secluded
that
your father apparently never t
hought of defining your borders. A
t my
place there are
big walls
and
people with guns to keep others out. I guess your father thought no one would ever be able to track him b
ack after what he did
.”

“
What he did?
”
I asked.

“He tried
to infiltrate my father’s base.
He k
illed at least three of his main men. T
hat’s why I was sent to get you
. Besides
the fact that your father spoke of having a secret weapo
n that he would destroy us with,
”
he clarified as he looked over at me,
“Are you okay?”

“It was all a lie…my whole life,
”
I said
,
shaking my head as if I could dislodge the thought from my mind.

“The truth is hard t
o define…but I promise you I’l
l only tell you the truth,
”
Hunter assured me
as his eyes darkened.

“I appreciate that.”

“Okay,”
h
e said
,
his eyes pacing back and forth as he stared at me looking for something more than what I had said.

“You know I’
d never lie to you, right?”
I replied.

He nodded his head
and
pulled the fish off the fire,
“You have no clue w
hat a
secret weapon could be to
your father?”

“He never talked about anything that I could de
cipher as being a secret weapon,
”
I replied as I looked up at the sky and took a deep breath
.

Hunter was quiet for a moment before speaking,
“They all think I’m the perfect general—devoid of feelings
,
but
I just learned to hide my feelings from all of them. Even anger is uncalled for. I wonder if
my father ever loved my mother
,
or if he just used her too.”

“T
hey all failed didn’t they? We’
re exactly what they didn’t want…well
,
at least I am. You may feel
things
,
but
you don’t show it very much.”

“You seem to know what I’
m feeling without me saying it,
”
h
e said
, handing me a piece of fish,
“My act doesn’t seem to work on you.”

“It’s in your eyes,
”
I answered,
cocking my head
and
t
aking in that very deep sea foam green feature of his face.

He fluttered his eye lashes at me
,
and
I couldn’t help
but
laugh.