The Hunt

by Sourav Deka

  “No!” I protested.

  “I am warning you,” Tanner shouted.

  “No!!!”

  He pressed the trigger but I quickly moved his hand upwards. The bullet went above my head and hit a tree. It was very close. Tanner was shocked by seeing what I did. I saw it as an opportunity and snatched the gun from his hand.

  “You shot me,” I said, aiming the gun at him.

  Tanner raised his hands. “No, wait!”

  I punched him. “You selfish prick.” Tanner fell on the ground. I leaned towards him and pointed the gun at his head. “Tell your men to lay down their weapons.”

  Tanner signaled his men to lay down their weapons. They followed his order. Aaron, Andrea and Dave picked up their weapons. We were finally free from them. This was our chance. We tied up Tanner and his men with the trees.

  ****************

  After a few days, Dave recovered. We were ready to move. So we packed our bags and continued our journey. We left Tanner and his men tied up to the trees so that they don’t follow us. They kept shouting at us, some of them even begged, but we didn’t listen. We were finally free from them and we wanted to stay it that way. Tanner and his men got what they deserved.

  “Please don’t do this,” Tanner begged.

  “You deserve this,” dad said. “You were going to kill Dave. You tried to kill me and my sons.”

  “I am sorry. Please,” he gulped. “Don’t leave us here. We will die.”

  “Goodbye Tanner,” dad turned around to leave.

  We all left them. Tanner even cried and protested against the ropes but we didn’t listen. He cannot be trusted, not after what he did. No one helped them and we continued our journey.

  We walked for days. It was a very long journey. Every night we talk about ourselves and share our stories. Andrea and I became close. We shared many stories of our childhood. I thought she was a coward as she gets scared easily, but hearing her childhood story made me realize that she was not like that before. She has seen her dad die. Her dad was tortured in front of her while her mother and she begged for mercy. That memory has haunted her forever. She was just eight years old back then.

  Her dad was also looking for the seeds. He got into trouble with some terrorists, who were after the seeds. They tortured him for days to get answers as he solved some of the diary’s codes. When the torture didn’t work, they kidnapped Andrea and her mom and started torturing them instead in front of him. They did it for days. He tried to be strong but at last he couldn’t take it and killed himself, so that they stop torturing his wife and daughter. After his death, the terrorists left Andrea and her mom in a deep forest to die, but later they survived as some people found them. That was a horrible time in her life, she watched her dad die in front of her eyes. She got tortured, her mom got tortured. She was just a kid. It took her years to recover from that incident. That’s why she fears pain, because she has seen a lot of it as a kid. She tried to cope with it many times, but whenever she feels pain, that terrifying memory flashes right in front of her eyes.

  The diary has taken many lives. Good ones want to do something good with the seeds, while the bad ones want to use it only on themselves and rule the world. The seeds were at risk. If some bad guy finds it first, then it can be catastrophic. So it was necessary that the good ones find it before the bad ones do.

  I began to like Andrea, her story gave me inspiration. She has seen a lot in life. I thought my life was hard when I was a kid, but hearing her story changed my perspective. She is a lot stronger than I thought.

  We were sitting together gazing at the stars while everyone slept. Everyone was tired, but we aren’t feeling sleepy. So Andrea and I lit a bonfire and sat together.

  “What will you do if you find the seeds?” I asked.

  “I will give it to my mother. She will know what to do?” Andrea said.

  “And what will your mother do with it?”

  “I guess she will sell it to the hospitals.”

  “Sell it to the hospitals?” I scoffed. “Aren’t you two rich enough?’

  She smiled. “What’s wrong in earning some money by helping people?”

  “Well, you are rich already. You can give it for free to help others, like charity. There are so many people who can’t even afford to buy their day to day things Andrea, they will be benefited.”

  “No one is such a saint, Ross. In today’s world no one gives something for free.”

  I nodded lightly. “I know, but I will give it for free.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “What will you get in return by doing that? All this effort, surviving all this, this would be for nothing.”

  I smiled. “Who said these will be for nothing? I will get something in return, Andrea, I will.”

  “What?”

  “Respect, love.”

  Andrea laughed out loud.

  “What happened?’ I said.

  “Respect? Love? Really? No one gets that in return nowadays,” she slightly punched my arm. “Everyone wants to be successful no matter what’s the cost, Ross. Everyone wants to get something in return.”

  I chuckled. “So you are like that? You want to be successful no matter what’s the cost?”

  “It’s a cure for every disease, Ross. What do you think it will cost in the market? Anyone can make a fortune out of it.”

  “But you already have so much money, Andrea.”

  “Actually it’s my mom’s idea,” she sighed. “I am just helping her. I am searching it for her. There is no harm in making money with it. People get cured, we earn money, hospitals and doctors have been doing it for centuries. It’s a win-win situation.”

  “What about the poor people?”

  “We can make an exception for them. We will provide them the cure at a lower cost. It can work.”

  “Yeah that can work,” I crossed my arms. “So what’s your plan after all this is over?”

  “Continue my education,” she said. “I left my college before this.”

  “What were you studying?”

  ‘Psychology.”

  “Psychology?” I grinned. “Wow, sounds interesting.”

  “Yeah,” she bit her lower lip. “I am interested in that subject.”

  “What about you? What will you do after all this?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, I didn’t think of that. I will decide when all these are over.”

  “Why can’t you decide now?”

  “No, I don’t want to think about it. I don’t even know if I am going to survive this.”

  She placed her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t say that, Ross. We will survive. We have survived till now.”

  “I hope so,” I said softly.

  “Hope is what kept us going for so long, Ross. We will survive it, you will see.”

  I looked at her eyes. “If I survive till the end, would you go out with me?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Are you asking me on a date?”

  “Yes, if you think it that way,” I smiled.

  She ran her hand through her hair. “I will think of it when we get out of this mess.”

  “That’s a yes or no?”

  She smiled. “I said I will think about it.”

  “Okay, but I hope you say yes,” I smiled and looked up at the stars.

  Just then we heard someone groaning. We went to see who it was. It was Tanner crawling a few feet away. He was in pain. His groaning woke up everyone.

  “Tanner???” My eyes widened.

  Everyone picked up their weapons.

  “Lower your weapons,” I said. “He is not in good shape.”

  Tanner was gasping for breath holding his chest. He was coughing. “Please, help me,” he said.

  We dragged him to a tree and made him sit.

  “Contessa, check him,” I said.

  A line etched between her eyebrows. “Why should I? He tried to kill us,” Contessa said.

  “Please, he can’t do anything. He is helpless. His people are
gone.”

  She sighed and checked his neck and face. “Looks like he got some kind of infection.”

  “Infection?”

  “Yeah. I have never seen anything like this. I guess it’s something new.”

  “Let’s leave him here,” Aaron said.

  “No, we can’t,” I said. “I know he is not a good person but………………….”

  “But what, Ross? Did you forget everything? He tried to kill us, man.”

  “I know,” I pressed my lips. “We shouldn’t be like him. We should be better. He is a human being too.”

  “He is evil. Helping him will get us killed.”

  “No, we will be fine.” I looked at Contessa. “Treat him, make him better.”

  “But Ross……………..Aaron is right.”

  I grabbed her arms. “Contessa you have saved many people, right? He is a human being too. Just because he is a bad person don’t let him die like this. Make him see that you can do the right thing.”

  She tightened her cheeks. “But Ross he is……………………….”

  “Ross is right,” dad interrupted. “You should do it Contessa. I know he has done a lot of awful stuff in life but that doesn’t mean that we should be like him. We have to be better.”

  Contessa sighed. “Okay, I will see what I can do.”

  “Thanks,” Tanner said in a low voice.

  CHAPTER 9

  A Month passed, we were about to reach the end of the pattern. Tanner’s sickness got worse with time. His neck infection increased and he got a fever. Everyone was angry with me other than dad and Andrea. They thought I should leave Tanner to die in the forest like he wanted to leave Dave when he got sick, but I didn’t agree with them. Dad supported me and said “He is a bad guy, I know. But still he is a human being. We shouldn’t leave him like this.” Aaron got so angry about my decision that he didn’t even speak to me for a week, but later dad talked to him and made him understand.

  After two weeks Tanner’s fever was gone but the neck infection stayed the same. His voice breaks when he tries to speak. His condition was getting worse day by day.

  “He isn’t getting better. How many more days?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” Contessa washed her hands with the towel. “The neck infection is not stopping. It’s spreading. I don’t know anything about this infection, it’s very different. Never saw it on anyone.”

  I rubbed my forehead. “We have wasted many days, and still he isn’t getting cured?”

  “We should continue our journey. If we get out of here, maybe a real doctor can fix him.”

  “Are you sure, you can’t cure him?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I tried everything I could do. We should cover his infection with clothes. It may pass on to us too.”

  I sighed. “Okay then, I will tell everyone to pack their bags,” I started walking up to others.

  “Hey, bring some clothes. We need to cover his infection now,” she said.

  “Yeah, yeah, I will bring some,” I said. “Rowena, have some. I will ask her.”

  I asked Rowena for some clothes. She gave me some and I covered Tanner’s infection. Dad and I picked up Tanner and we all continued our journey. After a month Tanner got very weak, he couldn’t even speak. His body became ice cold and his breathing became shallow. I knew he wasn’t going to survive it. His end was near.

  We reached the last tree after a few days. There was a wooden door there glowing between two trees. We tried to open it but it was locked.

  “Just a door? It doesn’t open,” Mark kicked the door in anger.

  “No, there must be something,” I said.

  “Well, we can try breaking the door,” Aaron said.

  “Hey, don’t tell me about breaking things, okay,” dad said. “It may be our only way out.”

  “He is right,” Martin said. “We shouldn’t risk it.”

  I examined the door. “There is something hidden I guess.”

  We waited there, ate some food and rested. We all thought about the door. How to use it to get us out? It was locked, and we couldn’t risk trying to break it. What should we do? We were all trying to figure it out. On the other hand, Tanner wasn’t looking good. His skin became pale and the neck infection spread to his whole body. His heartbeat slowed down and his breathing slowed down. Contessa tried to apply some herbs but nothing worked. After an hour his heartbeat stopped, he closed his eyes and died.

  “He wanted to be immortal, and now he died a painful death,” Aaron said softly. “He deserved this.”

  “Yeah, his greediness killed him,” I said in a low voice. “But still we should bury him.”

  Aaron frowned. “Forget it, Ross. You tried to save him, that was enough, no need to do anything more.”

  “Yeah, leave him like that kid, he made his choice,” Mark said. “He suffered for his sins.”

  Dave chuckled. “Yeah and he is not brave enough…………..” Suddenly Dave was pulled by a force of wind towards the door and he disappeared into thin air.

  Martin gasped. “Oh my god, what just happened? He disappeared.”

  “He went out,” I smiled. “We just found the way.”

  “Oh, that’s the exact word we said when we came here,” Andrea said.

  Aaron whistled in joy. “Yeah let’s go home.”

  “You all start going, one by one. I am burying Tanner,” I said, eyeing at his dead body.

  “I will help you,” Dad said.

  Dad and I started to bury Tanner while everyone left the forest one by one. Aaron and Andrea waited for us. After burying Tanner we went out together. It was the same feeling when we entered the forest. We were pulled into the door in a flash.

  *****************************

  I fell on the ground, it was a floor made of white tiles with some dust. I stood up and rubbed my jacket to rub the dust off. A man was standing in front of me. He was wearing a black suit holding a cigar in his mouth. I recognized him. It was Sam, with whom Aaron and I stayed when we fled from our uncle. He was not alone. There were about twenty people with him, all of them wearing black suits. They were all armed and were holding everyone with their guns pointed at them.

  “Sam? What are you doing here?” I asked, standing up from the ground.

  His mouth curved into a smile. “Hello Ross, I was waiting for you,” he said.

  My jaw dropped. “Why? How are you here?”

  “Wait, you know him?” Dad said.

  I nodded. “Yeah, he is a friend of mine. Aaron and I stayed with him when we fled from Uncle Ben.”

  “Friend?” the corners of his mouth twitched. “How did he become your friend? He is a Psychopath,” dad yelled.

  “What?” Aaron gasped. “No, he isn’t.”

  “Wait! Wait!” Sam said. “I will explain everything,” he turned to me. “I am from Aivor.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Aivor?? What’s that?”

  “It’s a secret group which has been searching the seeds for centuries.”

  “What? Group?” I scratched my head. “So you were spying on us.”

  Sam clicked his tongue and shrugged. “Yeah, you can say that. Actually I was following your dad. But unfortunately he suddenly disappeared and I lost him. So I followed you and your brother.”

  “What?”

  “Your uncle kept changing home whenever he knew that I found you. That’s why I befriended your friend Ambrose, so that I can keep an eye on you.”

  “But why follow us? We didn’t create the seeds,” I said.

  “I know you didn’t,” Sam chuckled. “There is another reason.”

  “What reason?” Aaron asked.

  Sam gave a quirky smile. “It’s not time. I will tell you later. For now, you all have to follow me.”

  “No we won’t,” I said. “You are a spy. We can’t trust you.”

  “Really?” He rolled his eyes. “It’s never easy with anyone, isn’t it?” he pressed his lips. “I knew you won’t listen, let’s gi
ve you some motivation,” he took out his gun. “If you all don’t come with me I would have to kill someone in this room,” he gave a devilish smile.

  “But why? Why do we need to come?” Aaron asked.

  “I can’t tell you now.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s not the right time.”

  “No, you have to tell us first.”

  Sam rolled his eyes. “I don’t have time for this, Aaron. Aivor has waited for centuries to get the seeds. You all need to start moving, or else I will start killing,” he rubbed his forehead with the gun. “It’s your choice.”

  “We will go, just don’t kill anyone,” Martin said.

  “Of course,” he shrugged. “I just want your help. You don’t need to die,” he lit his cigar with his other hand.

  “He lies. He lies every time,” Dad said. “He has killed thousands of people for his boss.”

  “Yes I did. But I don’t want to kill you,” Sam said. “I need all of you. So just listen to me and come with me. Don’t make this hard.”

  Dad looked at me. “No, he can’t be trusted. I know him.”

  “Come on Richard. Don’t you want the seeds, huh?”

  Dad gave him a frowned look. “The seeds shouldn’t be found by people like you.”

  “Why? Because I killed people?”

  “Yes, powerful things like the seeds shouldn’t be with an evil person like you.”

  Sam clenched his jaw. “Okay enough! Time to give you some motivation,” he pointed his gun at Martin and shot his arm. Martin screamed in pain and fell.

  “You son of a bitch!!!! You shot me?” Martin struggled to breathe holding his arm. “What did I do? Huh? I told you I am ready to go,” he shouted.

  “That was to show that you all need to listen to me,” Sam raised his voice.

  Dad clenched his jaw and looked at me. “I told you, he is a maniac.”

  “But what choice do we have now?” Dave said. “If we don’t go with him he will kill us anyway.”

  “Okay, okay, we will go,” I said. “But no killing.”

  “Of course,” Sam said and took his gun back in his pocket.

  “And patch up Martin.”