In Between Seasons (The Fall) (24 page)

“Who is your family?”
the man asked
.

I locked eyes with him, “Hunter.
”

“No one else is your family?”

“No,
”
I asserted.

“Are you involved with Hunter?”

“How do you mean?”
I asked
.

The man twitched,
“Physically?”

“You want to know if we’re having
sex?
No.”

The man took a deep breath,
“Are you in love with Hunter?”

Hunter’s hand was on the man’s col
larbone,
“I don’t see how that’
s a v
alid question for the situation,
”
Hunter protested.

“
Uh,
I w
as just playing with you Hunter,
”
t
he man replied.

“Does that seem like a very intelligent idea given the
present situation?” Hunter asked
as his hand tightened
on the man.

The man winced
against the pressure,
“S-sorry.
”

“Do you think you have the information that my father wanted?”
Hunter asked
with
his voice even
,
but
the
vein in his forehead continued
to be distended.
I didn’t know how to feel as I watched the interaction. I was telling the truth, but my nerves were
fried
because of the situation’s gravity.

“Kate, do you remember anything before you came here?”

“Yes,
”
I replied.

“Did you know that your family might be a part of a war?”

“No,
”
I confirmed
.

“
Do you know any secrets that could destroy this tribe?”
t
he man proceeded
.

“No.
”

“Do you have any intentions of hurting anyone in this tribe?”
t
he man pushed.

“No,
”
I repl
ied, but I could think of someone that I really wanted to hurt at that moment.

“I think that’s it,” t
he man said
,
relief washing over his face.

“Are you sure? I will not subject h
er to this a second time. You’
ll have to deal with my father if you didn’t cover every
thing he asked for,
” Hunter asked
,
coming
and
beginning to remove the machine.

“I should be all set,” the man replied
as Hunter handed him the
pieces to put back in his case,
“Your father will be pleased with the results.”

“Oh, I doubt that,” Hunter snapped
as the man shut the brief case
and
slid past us.

“Good to see you Hunter,” the man rushed
out the door.

“You scared the crap
out of him,
” I commented
,
looking up at Hunter whose hand was on the back of the chair.

“I have that effect on people—well everyone
,
but
you,” he answered,
smiling down at me.

“Did I pass?”

“A plus.
”

I looked
down at my hands,
and I knew I had to ask,
“Why did you stop him with that particular question?”

“It was
n’t something he needed to know,
”
Hunter explained
.

I looked up at him,
“Yeah.
”

I wondered if he just didn’t want to hear it himself.

“W
ell, I’m going to take a shower,” Hunter said,
unbuttoning his shirt
and
slipping it off as he walked away.

“That’s not fair,
” I retorted
,
watching him flex his back muscles
as he opened the bathroom door. He knew exactly how to change the subject without even saying anything.

“You do realize how short your dress was
,
right?” Hunter responded
as he looked
over his shoulder.

It would all come down to one moment of time. That one moment would be the one that sealed our fates. It would decide whether or not we would get away from the lies that bound us so tightly to the tribe that we felt no alliance to. Hunter’s face had been serious when he nodded over his shoulder to the coming twilight, and I knew that tonight would be the night that I would show him that I was ready. I only hoped it was the night where I realized it myself. I had accepted everything openly, and some would think without feeling, but there is a time when you realize that you
can’t
change what has happened. At that point there is no reason to try to rationalize what has happened because in the end it just is. I had faced one of the worst awakenings in the world; the realization that one’s family does not always have your best interest in mind, and even worse, they may not care at all. It’s harsh, but true, and once I accepted that I would be able to face whatever they threw at me.
That simple fact gave me the strength to face whatever Hunter was about to teach me, or so I thought.

“So what’s next?” I asked
as I stood
across from Hunter in the open field.

Hunter’s face was iridescent white under the light of the moon
and
his face darkened as he spoke,
“Killing with yo
ur bare hands.
”

“I really don’t think I can snap someone’s neck Hunter.”

He uncrossed his arms
and
walked towards me,
“Sometimes you don’t have to. The right strikes can
do fatal damage,” he took a breath
, “A we
ll plac
ed kick can crack the ribs
into the lungs
,
puncturing them fatally…A strong punch right here will burst the spleen
and
poison the body quickly. Injuring any vital organ can cause death—the most gruesome way though—you already said. It’s to snap the neck. It’s the most effective
and
most humane way.”

“Do you think I’m ready to fight you?”
I really didn’t want to think about killing someone else, so I challenged him instead.

Hu
nter’s lips curled to one side,
“Try me baby.”

I hit
him twice before he could react,
“I’ve been listening
and
practicing,
” I said
with a wink as I blocked a jab
.

“Now I’ve taken al
l your innocence away,” he commented as he grabbed my arm and blocked my
punch
. His breath wafted over the skin of my
neck
and caught
me off guard for a split second.

“You’re assumin
g I was innocent before,
” I replied
,
kicking his legs out from under him.

As he fell he pulled me down with him
,
and
in one quick movement
he
was on top of me
, pinning me to the ground,
“I should have known better.”

I used my legs to kick him back over m
y head saying,
“Yeah, you should have.”

“I’
ve taught you well,
” Hunter observed
as we faced each other
both in defensive stances.

“What if they have
guns
or something like that—something that these skills can’t beat?”
I swung
my leg over his
head and he ducked.

Hunter s
tepped back his jaw tightening,
“My father has some intelligence on the issue
,
and
it doesn’t see
m to be going in that direction,
”
h
e
explained
as
he ran his hands through his hair
,
tugging at it when he reached the back of his head.

“I don’t even know how to
shoot a gun though,
” I blurted
in frustration as I threw
my hands up.

Hunter pulled the pistol from the back of his pants
and
tossed it at me. I caught it in my hands
, my breath stuck in my throat
as the warmth of the metal from Hunter’s body sunk into me. Hunter stepped aside pointing at a tree twenty yards away.

“Shoot it.”

“Are
you freaking kidding me?” I exclaimed
,
looking between him
and
the gun in my hands.

He put his
hands in his pockets,
“Shoot the g
od damned gun Kate. It’s not rocket science.”

“You’re an ass,
” I retorted
before
staring
down
at the dull black weapon sitting in my palms.

“I said
shoot the gun Kate,
” Hunter ordered
,
his face military
,
but
his eyes smiling.

“Yes, sir,” I replied,
gripping the gun in both hands as I held it up.

“You can’t aim with your eyes closed.”

I opened them sta
ring down the straight line of the gun’s shaft, which was shaking with my hands.

“If you keep shaking like that you
’re never going to hit anything,
”
Hunter commented
.

The warmth of my anger
from his antagonizing comments
engulfed my senses
and
all I could see
was the tree. The blast of the g
un firing didn’t take me by surprise
,
but
I had to pull the image of Trevor’s blood out of my mind.

“Excellent,” Hunter’s his voice showed
that
he was impressed.

I had shot the tree on target in a straight line from where I was standing.

“Now you just need to b
e able to do that while running,
”
Hunter mocked me with a smirk.

“You’re joking
,
right?” I replied
as I lowered
the gun.
It was hard enough to shoot the thing, but to do it
while
running, and with my lack of coordination?

Hunter walked forward
and
took the gun from my hands. He started running
and
shooting—every shot hit its target.
It was impressive, and I knew my mouth was gapping open.

He stopped
and
turned to face me as I forced my mouth shut,
“Just like that darling.”

“You’re lucky
I don’t shoot you for that one,” I replied,
jogging to catch up to him.

“Fighting words,
” he commented as he tossed
the gun back at me.

“Always,” I smiled
,
“I
have a question though—I thought you said there
weren’t
many guns?”

“It’s true we have limited resources as far as fire power.
To be honest with you there are
only a couple hundred guns in our armories
and
only about double the amount of ammunition. If we ran around shooting people we would
n’t have anything
left. Guns are just a more humane way to finish someone off. None of the tribes have really trained their people
to use guns
,
so even when they’re used in battle they’
re hardly accurate. A choice few
are trained in gun wielding,
”
Hunter explained, and it was easy to accept. The part that worried me was the choice few.

“Let’s hope we d
on’t run into any of those ones,
”
I said.

“They usually protect the chief.”

“How ironic,
”
I replied
,
looking up at the stars.

“Trevor was one,
”
Hunter said
.

I took a deep breath
to steady myself at the thought
.
They had sent one of the only ones trained to kill with a fatal weapon and still failed. What could be coming next?

“Good to know. How did you figure that out?”
I finally managed to ask.

“He couldn’t f
ight worth shit.”

Our eyes locked and we both shook our heads. It was funny, yet not funny all at the same time.