“Esmore,” James said from behind. His wet hand slipped over mine and he grabbed me firmly. “Do you really want to stop here? At only midday?”
His question and anticipation was valid, the less ground we covered today the more we would have to stretch tomorrow. And already our pace had slowed down because of the rain. I reassessed my team. I could not risk them. Before I answered James, Dillian responded quickly, as if answering James.
“I can see an abandoned shed ahead. The house attached seems to have been burnt down, but the shed has still a solid foundation. It looks despite the storm,” Dillian shouted over the pounding rain.
“And the radius around? How far can you see?” I asked, walking over to him. I could not see as far as him, but to know what direction I was leading everyone into was a very good start.
“I am sorry, Esmore, I can only see for about a two-kilometer radius. The fog is thick and I am limited,” he shouted as another cracking bang rang out, dropping most of the hunters onto their knees as it rattled through their bodies. The thunder echoed around the trees.
“Be on your guard!” I shouted at them. “We are going for shelter and giving today a rest.” I nodded to Dillian, telling him to lead us. Although our speed was not as great as it had been that morning, it was a pace that quickly delivered us to our destination. As Dillian had mentioned, there was a wooden shed, and it was not as small as I had envisioned. It might even have once been a barn.
I searched the surroundings, even though Dillian had announced it clear. I nudged the door open, searching through the empty barn. There were a few rotted bundles of hay on the ground. It had been abandoned long ago. There was a small wooden ladder that led up to a thin plank of wood that lined the shed, with a few windows on either side. There were three windows; they would be our lookouts. Although water leaked from the old roof, the fog was not as thick, and we could comfortably rest in it. And best of all, there were no vampires.
I flagged to everyone that it was safe in the shed. The rain was not over and I knew that we could have gone no further. The rain washed against the shards of glass in the windows. I had Dillian, James, and Corso each take a post by them. We would have to be cautious in such thick rain as this would be perfect timing for a pack of sabers to attack. They would be unaffected by such a predicament, hunting with their sense of smell.
I rested my backpack beside me, taking a seat on the hard wood beside the entrance. Kora and Kasey gathered in the center with the apprentices, who already looked exhausted from only half a day’s run. I placed my crossbow beside me, took my sword from my sheath, and held it loosely by the handle as I pointed the tip to the ground. I was not at all happy with this holdback. We would now have to wait yet another day to venture into the city, where the fog would be only slightly thinner. My gaze crept up the young apprentice, Tori, who walked over to me with a tight expression.
“We aren’t tired. Just because Fam had a small fall doesn’t mean we have to stop. We are fine and rested,” he protested. I tightened my grip around my sword, annoyed by his insolence.
“Little apprentice, I did not stop because of you or your friend. We stopped because I ordered it so. And you simply do as I say,” I spat harshly. “How do you think you will get along in a raid team with such an attitude, once you are no longer an apprentice? Do you think other members will allow your tongue to speak so immaturely?”
“Immature, have you even grown breasts? Look how young you yourself are... you...” Before I could teach the child a lesson, Teary’s firm and harsh grip dug into Tori’s shoulder, slamming his knees to the ground as she held him. Her foreign accent was even thicker when she was angry.
“Ye little maggot, ye’ll say no more. Esmore is one of tha brightest Token Huntresses we av’ within tha Guild. Ye will learn respect, boy, before I teach ye a lesson. Ye are far better off if it is me, than her herself.”
Although I kept my stern expression, I was pleased by her kind words. It was nice to have someone say such thing. It did not matter how many of the older hunters I proved my worth against. They were always so insolent because of my age and my dull gray eyes. And, right on cue, this was voiced.
“She doesn’t even have the eyes of a hunter,” Tori snipped, trying to regain his composure. I allowed a demonic laugh to pass through my lips. I didn’t have the greatest sense of humor; my smiles and laughter had quickly vanished after my mother’s death. But getting a kick out of teaching a young apprentice a valuable lesson was an opportunity I couldn’t let pass.
I drew both of their attentions with my laugh, holding Teary’s words back as well. “Do you know why my bright purple eyes turned to a dull gray, young apprentice?” I said, cocking my head to the side and looking at him as creepily as I could. “Because on my eighteenth birthday, when my gift was present, a demon form of myself appeared, and when it did, I consumed it entirely, its fiery wicked hair ashing out the color of my eyes as I engulfed it. Now, I do enjoy the hunt, and the taste of fresh meat. At times I often love to rip apart a saber’s flesh, just for the enjoyment of my taste buds.”
“You’re lying!” he spat, but as he said it I could see the uncertainty in his eyes. A small smile pressed at Teary’s lips as well as Pac’s, who watched from a distance. Kora and Kasey rattled the young Fam with their own malicious story. Of course it was a lie, but one which might deter the young apprentice from annoying me for some time now. And I couldn’t deny that at times I felt something dark within me. Despite my father’s teachings of patience, I was a very angry and dark person inside.
“Well, you shall see,” I said in a haunting whisper as I looked toward the door.
“Now ye’ve done it, ye best be going back into the safe company of ye friend Fam, better safe than sorry I say,” Teary said, pulling him back toward the others. I peeked from the corner of my eye, noticing that although he pretended to be resistant, his feet quickly scuffled away from me.
After agreeing on the rotations for guard duty, they all rested. Sleep was something far from my mind, and so I stayed at my post even after James insisted on taking my place. My team’s safety was my responsibility and it was not something I could take lightly, not for any amount of sleep. I opened the door slightly, leaving my thoughts behind. I watched carefully through the thick fog and rain, making sure nothing would venture nearer during the night.
A few hours later, Kora and Kasey happily woke the apprentices, who were not used to such early mornings. The girls kicked Tori and Fam in the stomach, perhaps not as gently as I would’ve hoped. Both of them had a mischievous grin on their faces, ready to kick again before they stirred.
After almost a full night of rain and lightning, the fog began lifting, and only dew remained. Stepping outside, we saw with relief that the early morning sun peeked through the trees. We were lucky no vampire smelled us. Vampires had a far keener sense of smell than we did, and it was usually how we were found out.
“Find your positions again. Today there can be no delay. We must enter the city. I have the expectation that we will reach there by midday. Pac, when we are less than five kilometers out of the city, I want you to do a run through ahead of us. Dillian, keep your eyes sharp ahead of us. Kora and Kasey, be prepared. If the rain affected the city’s fog then we may still meet a pack of sabers, even during the daylight. We need to contain them and lock them in. And everyone, remember we are in search of clues about the movement of the Council. They will not be so easily found, so be alert,” I instructed.
Everyone quickly assumed their roles and once again we began to run. The sun caught up from behind. Hours flew by in what seemed to be a merge of colors and a stream of wind. When we reached the five kilometer point from the city Pac ran ahead. He was quick to report back that there was nothing suspicious on the borders. He was only ever to approach the borders; I would never allow him in on his own. I would not risk it.
We all paused at the border, where an old, shattered tarmac road led into the forgotten city. During the last w
orld war this area was known as ‘San Francisco.’ There was a sign that stated it as we walked through the cracked road toward the city. This was one of the places which was not heavily bombed. It was the eastern and southern states of the former ‘America’ that had suffered the most damage.
I could tell San Francisco was once beautiful. Magnificent buildings towered in the distance to form an elegant skyline. The city was mostly surrounded by water, but the rising sea had swallowed the edges of it to the west. I could hardly see the tops of the buildings through the mist that rose from the ground. Even through the fog, I could see that the city was built upon sloping hills; its buildings nestled on streets that gently rose and fell in height.
The mist was worse here because of the sewerage pipes, and I could hear a constant wheezing noise hum through the city, as if the earth itself was sick. The cockroaches grouped in hurdles as they scampered into the cracks of the ground. Many buildings had been burned down, but some still remained. I scanned the streets ahead warily. The road was lined with broken glass, discarded materials, and rats. The smell of unhealthy gases pained my nose. There were charred walls and shop fronts where fires had been lit. Many bullet holes were embedded in the walls. Wiring hung from large poles. I was informed these were electricity poles.
It seemed the humans had over indulged in everything; life was in no way difficoven for them. I would even say their spoilt ways was the reason why the remaining humans had no survival instinct whatsoever. They could not hunt, fight, or even tend to crops. These inadequacies alone greatly reduced the humans’ numbers after the fall of the technology age.
“We will take the streets in the south and then carry through to the north. We will camp an hour out of the city at nightfall, and tomorrow we will search more thoroughly in the other parts,” I said, adjusting my bag straps loosely and retrieving my crossbow from underneath. Just for reassurance I held firmly onto the handle of my sword to make sure it was also still there. Everyone else gathered their weapons. I grimaced in annoyance when Corso grabbed his chainsaw with a smug grin.
“Are we to gather supplies if the opportunity presents itself?” Teary whispered from behind me. Although this was not a direct order from Campture and we were only there for surveillance purposes, such an opportunity couldn’t be missed.
“Nothing large, and no one is to stray from the group until I have confirmed that we are all to go in that direction. Only take things so light that you can pack them in your bags. But remember, our main aim is to gather information.”
We crept through the dark streets, keeping tight to the walls of the decaying buildings. We were even more cautious the deeper we went into the city. For today we would not walk into the central area. The city was so large, we could be here for days living off the packaged food in our bags. Once supplies ran out, we would have to return to the Guild.
We often raided this area in search of human survivors, but never had we been made aware of the Council here. Some hunters suspected they may reside here, but after months of searching the theory was dismissed. It heightened our caution, as maybe we had been so close previously without realizing it. This was only my second time leading my raid team into the city, and it was something that brought me great distaste. Unsettlement lingered in the air. Our eyes stretched over the vast emptiness, and a swift breeze that swept through the buildings added a feeling of disorientation. Our eyes and ears were strained for movement, and the slightest noise, such as a cloth trapped in broken glass, would cause us to stop for a few seconds in alarm.
We hurtled around a large building. I gripped onto a dirty window ledge of a room with street level windows and a shadow streaking across the room took my interest. I gestured for the group to halt and they formed a silent wall around the window frame. Shards of glass edged from the frame. I wrinkled my nose at the pungent smell which emanated from within. I hesitated to walk in, wary that a group of sabers could be clustered inside. Tori obviously decided this was the time to display his bravery, because he stormed past me to the wooden doors of the entrance. Without hesitation I followed him angrily. I flagged everyone to keep tight, and soon we were creeping into a lobby. A dusty chandelier was the only remains of the building’s former glory. There was a counter on my right which had sustained obvious fire damage. On my left was what looked to be the silver doors of a large kitchen.
I halted everyone, raising my hand for them to stop. I trained my hearing on the sounds from within the building, and detected that Tori was near the stairs. I didn’t dare make any loud noises in case nearby vampires heard the echo. It was a dark room, but I now realized what I had seen in the window.
“Sabers!” Pac yelled.
As he screamed a saber jumped onto the chandelier before plummeting to the ground. After it hit the ground, many more crept from the dark shadows. I shot one in the chest with my arrow. I aimed for another that jumped from above, but it also used the chandelier to jump to the ground, and I was unable to shoot straight. I shot another two in the chest as they ran out of the kitchen. It was a whole pack, just as I had dreaded.
Already Kora had raised her hand to the smaller group of sabers and Kasey enforced her gift by tightening her grip on their mobility. The sabers could not move and only their eyes looked around. Kora released her grip and then the sabers could move, but only within a small circle, where an invisible wall held them in — Kasey’s input. They were trapped. Pac ran along the circle, quickly cutting them down. They fell to the ground with blackened skin. The smell of death already filled the room.
Corso’s loud chainsaw pierced my sensitive ears as I continued to shoot more oncoming sabers. Why is there a pack so large? Teary’s scream echoed through the great room, grabbing my attention as I turned to see a saber’s large fangs driving deep into her neck. Her blood spluttered everywhere.
Corso ran for her with his chainsaw, swinging it at the saber’s neck, but as I predicted the weight of the chainsaw was too heavy and made him slow. Before the saber could tear into Corso, James stopped it, stabbing it in the chest with his sword. Another pounced on James, its fangs only just drawing blood on his neck before James exterior hardened to metal and broke the saber’s fangs completely. It squealed in agony before James adjusted his handle and stabbed the saber in the chest.
I shot a saber which approached the two apprentices, who although were deflecting the three sabers that encircled them, clearly now understood how far out of their league they really were. I could tell by their expressions that although they fought fiercely, they were both surprised and frightened. This was what we were trained for. I unsheathed my sword, charging for them. One used his elongated claws to cut at me, but I quickly deflected it, coming through strongly with my sword. I cut through the gristle of his throat. His dark blood spurted over me as he paused for a moment, trying to gasp for air. As he stood there I struck again, beheading the saber.
I eased around its body as it slumped, stabbing into the next saber’s chest, avoiding its claws which aimed to burrow into my chest. The figure’s chest blackened around my sword as the rest of its skin also took a black tinge. I pulled my sword out and the body quickly fell. Another saber jumped at me and was pierced by my sword, but not straight through the heart as I had anticipated. She was still planted on my sword. Turning on her, I shot her with my bow. Her skin instantly blackened around my sword and I reefed it out of the disgusting corpse.
A loud snap echoed through the room as I witnessed Fam’s neck being snapped by a saber. Fam’s eyes were wide as his life dimmed. The saber roared in triumph, trying to quickly drag him away as Tori chased him. My inner rage erupted as one of my team members become lifeless under my watch. My speed enhanced and I was instantly in front of the saber. I cut through the arm that clung so tightly to Fam’s lifeless body. As it wailed in pain, I cut off its other arm and then one leg. It dropped before me and I could feel myself growing in sadistic rage as I towered over him. Although it was obviously about to die, it still tried to have one
last bite, its overgrown fangs dripping with blood from where it must have bitten into Fam’s body.
With my other hand I raised my bow to his chest, shooting him. From there I took aim at every saber within the dark lobby. I shot one and then another. My arrows shot quickly, as in my rage everything was heightened. My need for blood was far greater than I could ever admit to anyone. I wanted to see their blood drip. I wanted to behead every single one of them and keep their heads as trophies. They should have never challenged me nor attacked my members. This protectiveness was by far my greatest strength. And when tempered with, when what I was protecting was threatened, I could not contain myself. This potential was what made me Token Huntress.
The noise of the chainsaw was heard and then the scream of Corso followed. He was in front of the large silver doors which led to the large kitchen. One of the sabers had grabbed hold of his chainsaw, cutting through his leg. James, who was cutting down sabers as they scrambled down the stairs, aided his friend, bringing his sword down and plunging it into the saber’s chest. It went straight through and with James’ control the tip of his blade stopped right before Corso’s face. The others fought in the corner of the room, holding off the sabers that crept out from the darkness of the kitchen.
At the stairs were eight sabers. They were trapped within the invisible walls that the twins had placed them in. It was Dillian and Pac who protected the girls from the oncoming sabers. I took my aim. One, two, three... I let the count pass through my lips. All eight were quickly shot down. A scuffle took my attention as I noticed a saber dragging Fam’s dead body to a door underneath the staircase. It dares to feast on my apprentice’s body, I raged internally. I chased it, noticing that the path it took was a dark back alley, one which had very little light. This one was a lot faster than the average, and I realized that it was leading me into a trap of further sabers. Torn and shredded curtains in the windows on either side of me twitched. They hunted me from the buildings, following my steps. I would not be deterred by numbers. I would get Fam’s body back.
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