Hunted Ch 05 1

We were woken up early by someone screaming, "OH MY GOD!!!!!" I jumped up and ran outside, with Liv right behind me. Nate was standing by the fire with a look of horror on his face. Bre was sitting up against a tree, dead. Her throat had been slashed from ear to ear. The knife was lying next to her, with dried blood on it. Liv gasped and grabbed me. I shielded her from the sight and said, "Oh Christ, not another one."

Cody came running over and swore when he saw the body. "We need to relocate. We're obviously not safe here. He must've slipped through our traps and killed her. With her own knife too. Fuck." There was silence. Until Steve broke it with quiet laughter, his hands still bound. Cody turned to him with disgust. "What's so funny? She's dead, pal. I don't see what's funny about that." Steve didn't answer and continued laughing, a dark, rather malicious laugh. Cody turned back to us. "We need to get out of here. Does anyone have a phone?"

There was a spark of hope, until we remembered they were with Coach Kay. Except mine. I pulled it out of my pocket and was met with cheers. I had an iPhone 4 but didn't want to risk damaging it on the trip, so I brought my old flip phone that still had a valid contract. I grinned and said, "You didn't think I was gonna listen to Coach Kay, right?"

Everyone smiled. Except Steve, who sneered and said sarcastically, "Aren't you a badass, keeping your phone when everyone else gave theirs."

I retorted, "Fuck off Steve. This phone call I'm about to make could save your sorry ass. Not that I want to, after what you've done to Liv." My lip curled and I looked at him with obvious contempt as he fell silent. I dialed Kay's number and held the phone to my ear. It wasn't ringing. I frowned and retried. Still nothing. I opened the battery compartment and saw the problem. No battery. "Fuck!" I said. I turned to Steve. "Ok jerkoff, where's the battery?" He ignored me. "Steve! The battery?" Still he ignored me. "I'm being serious! What have you done with MY FUCKING BATTERY?!" I shouted the last part into his face.

He finally answered. "I DON'T HAVE IT, ALRIGHT!? And even if I did, you wouldn't have the balls to take it off me, would you?" he sneered.

I hesitated, then slammed a fist into his stomach, winding him. I quickly searched his pockets and found it in his pants pocket. I snatched it up and said to him, "I do have the balls to take shit off you. Try that again and it'll be your balls that get taken off. Got it?" He just gasped in response and tried to get up, failing. I put the battery into the phone and tried calling again. There was still nothing. I took the battery out and looked at it properly. And hurled it at Steve. He'd broken it. The fucker! He'd probably screwed us all over simply because he wanted to be a dick to me.

"Two people dead. A psycho stalking us. Phone doesn't work. That's great. This is getting better by the minute," I said sarcastically.

"And now it's raining," Nate said, looking up. It was. Lightly at first, but soon coming down in buckets. We were soon all soaked, and visibility was reduced to about 10 feet. If that wasn't bad enough, we had to relocate to try and lose the maniac stalking us. That's when disaster struck. Like I said, visibility was awful. We had just left the camp and were looking for a new spot. We left our shelters and fire pit behind. Hopefully he would think we were still there. We were walking in a line. Steve was in front, so he couldn't run off. Not that anyone would've cared. Behind him was Cody. Then me with an arm around Liv so I wouldn't lose her in the storm. Nate brought up the rear. Things were ok until now.

Nate was walking about 10 feet behind me. He suddenly tripped, and must've sprung one of the traps. He couldn't have seen the thing coming because the rain was so heavy. It suddenly slammed into him, literally sending him airborne and making him crash back to earth about 30 feet behind us. I'm still not sure how it happened. All I know is, I heard him yell, "OH SHHHIIIITTTTT!!!" as the log hit him. Then there was silence until we heard the thud as he hit the ground, then groaning. Liv and I heard the whole thing. I turned to alert the others, but we'd lost them in the rain.

We looked at each other and simultaneously said, "Oh fuck," and ran back to try and help him. I finally found him after searching for several minutes. He looked awful. He had blood trickling from his mouth, and probably several broken ribs. Maybe even an arm or leg.

Nate groaned again and tried to sit up, obviously in pain. "Leave me. You'll lose everyone else."

"We lost them a while back. Hold on dude, I'm gonna get you out of here." I put his arm around my shoulder and helped him stand.

He tried to put weight on his left ankle and stumbled, "FUCK!" he yelled in agony. "It's not broken. I can walk. Probably sprained. Still hurts like a bitch though." He gritted his teeth and started walking. I had one hand supporting him. Liv had taken my other one and was leading us in the direction we were going. Nate coughed and spit blood. "Jesus. I'm hurting right now," he said.

I smiled encouragingly. "Lets you know you're alive. Hang on. We'll find them soon." We continued trudging through the woods, visibility getting worse by the minute.

Liv finally spotted Cody about an hour later, trying to build another shelter. "Hey! Cody! Help!" she shouted. He didn't answer. "Damn. He can't hear us. Hold on, I'll be back soon." She took off, hauling her perfect ass in his direction. They came running back a minute later, Liv having probably told Cody what happened. He put Nate's other arm on his shoulder and helped him too.

"Steve! Help us set him down somewhere!" Cody yelled through the rain.

"Where?" Steve yelled back. He actually gave a shit about someone other than himself for once. Or more likely, maybe he just wanted to get his hands untied.

"There!" Cody yelled, pointing to the shelter.

"Where?" he repeated.

"THERE! RIGHT THERE! Are you blind?" Cody asked, pointing wildly.

"Well, I can't see where your hand's pointing!" Steve said, as if it were obvious.

"Oh, you're fucking useless, man!" Cody said. "Liv, give us a hand, will ya?" She ran over to the shelter and smoothed down an area for Nate. We gently set him down. He looked pretty bad, blood still trickling from his mouth and all cut up.

Liv looked over him. "Jesus," and turned to Steve, "Come here! Fast!"

Steve grinned, his hands still bound with the piece of Liv's tanktop, "You finally came to your senses, eh? I knew you wanted me."

"Shut up! I need those bindings on your arms. Now, goddamn it!"

Cody reached over and took them off and passed them to Liv. She took them and made a tourniquet for Nate's leg, which was bleeding heavily.

He groaned, "Someone better do something because this is really starting to hurt! Ohhhhhh. FUCK!" and closed his eyes, lying down and punching out with his arms and kicking his legs, with Liv working steadily on his leg the whole time. Then he opened his eyes again and turned to Cody. "Cody. Cody, knock me out! Hit me!" he shouted, looking at Cody with desperation. Cody hesitated then punched him. Nate rolled with the punch and closed his eyes, obviously expecting to be unconscious. Then he shook himself awake, sat back up and shouted, "Oh, you fucking pussy, HIT ME!" Cody clocked him again. It worked this time.

Liv finished tying the tourniquet and whispered, "Good luck bud," and kissed the top of Nate's head. There was silence for a while. Until I said, "Right. I'm gonna build another shelter."

Cody turned to me, "In that?" and pointed outside. It was still raining heavily. "Good luck."

Steve muttered, "You'll need a lot more than luck this time."

I turned to him. "Shut up. At least I can build one. Unlike you." I went outside and started looking for wood. I had just started to dry off but before long I was soaked through again. I spent the rest of the day building it and just finished by the time it was getting dark. It was still raining so we couldn't have a fire. We all retired to our shelters instead. I grabbed Liv's hand and started walking but she said, "Go ahead. I'm gonna stay with Nate for awhile. Make sure he's ok. I'll be in soon. Goodnight. Love you." She kissed me and walked over to where he was still unconscious.

I felt a brief pang of jealousy but then I remembered. Poor kid. I hope he's ok. I hope he makes it to tomorrow, I thought. I hope we all do.

The elements and lack of civilization were starting to take a toll on us. I hadn't showered or brushed my teeth for days (I'd lost count of how many). I also had several days growth of beard. Cody had a full beard (remember how i said he was part animal?). Most of us were covered in mud and dried blood and soaking wet. I sighed and stroked my stubble and lay down in my shelter. I closed my eyes and before long, I heard Liv come in and lie down next to me.

"He's in bad shape. Barely breathing. He's lost a ton of blood. He could be in trouble. Hell, if that maniac that killed Nick and Bre comes back, he's definitely fucked." Liv sighed and hugged me. "This is gonna sound awful, but I'm so glad that isn't you bleeding out over there. I'd never forgive myself." Her voice was trembling, a sign that she was about to cry. Sure enough, she started sobbing and continued, "I'm sorry. I'm so pathetic. I just couldn't take losing you."

I hugged her tightly and whispered, "You won't lose me. We're gonna get through this. I promise you. And you're not pathetic. You're the toughest chick I've ever met! Now, you should go to sleep. You look and sound exhausted. Ok?"

She stopped crying and smiled, her hazel eyes red and puffy, "Ok. Goodnight." I kissed her forehead and started stroking her hair and rubbing her back until she was sound asleep. I must've stayed awake for hours with Liv asleep in my arms. I was thinking of Nate. I finally dozed off. I probably looked like a battle hardened and weary Navy SEAL, covered in mud and dried blood. Not to mention my faux hawk and beard stubble. Even my dog tags hanging around my neck and under my shirt were covered in a combo of dried mud and dried blood.

To be continued in part 6.....