Path of the Hunter Part One

The forest Cain walked through was peaceful, something that stuck out these days. No birds chirped or flew over the canopy of the forest. No tracks from wild animals or signs that any even treaded the land in days. The Most unsettling part was not a single zombie had appeared for days.

Cain wondered if this peace was a blessing but couldn’t shake the feeling something nefarious lurked in these woods.

CRRRACK!

The snap of a stick cracked through the silent air like a whip. Cain turned towards the origin of the sound. At first, he noticed nothing but he began to see the slightest movements in some brush a few yards away. He reached for the short sword attached to his backpack, he wanted to stay quiet incase the undead were around.

Slowly he moved towards the noise, anticipating anything from a ravenous beast to a zombie that had fed itself to the point of being engorged. Careful not to make too much noise Cain slowly and gently placed his feet on the layer of dry leaves, anxiously watching as the brush continued to rustle.

Abruptly the movement stopped and high pitch humming sound began to creep from the foliage.

“Please don’t stab me!” a young boy yelled at Cain as he jumped up from the bushes.

He was probably around twelve years of age, four or five years younger than Cain. His face was covered in dust and his hair was matted with thick layers of mud. Cain further inspected the boy, despite looking like he lived in the woods he certainly didn’t seem afraid or lost. He had a wooden staff strapped to his back next to a small red sack.

“What is a kid doing out here by himself?” Cain asked of the child “In fact, why don’t you have any weapons?” Cain began to feel suspicious that he was falling for some sort of trap set by bandits.

The Boy chuckled as he replied “I do have a weapon” he stated pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the wooden staff.

“That thing is going to protect you out here?” Cain couldn’t believe somebody would be so confident while basically wielding a broom handle.

“Yep” the boy nonchalantly said with a smile. “By the way my Name is Jone Faux. What is yours?” Jone waited in anticipation as Cain gauged the situation. Jone stared at Cain with an innocent light in his eyes. Cain couldn’t help but be reminded of a puppy by the joyful spirit of the younger boy.

“My name is Cain...Winchester” he begrudgingly answered. Even if this was a trap his name meant nothing out here. He noticed Jone relax even more than he already was. Jone began to cheerfully walk over to Cain, limber and springy in his step. It was as if he had forgotten that he was in a world ravaged by undead monsters.

“Let’s be friends” The boy said as he extended his hand.

“Did you have a stroke?” Cain asked with a sneer. Something seriously had to be wrong with this kid, Cain thought to himself. He exchanges names with a stranger in the middle of the woods and then wants to be their friend out of nowhere? Bandits wouldn’t be this stupid. “What is a child doing alone in the middle of the woods anyways?”

“I’m hunting zombies” as if it was obvious Jone stated this with a blank stare “Is that a question you get often?”

That question was irritating for Cain to hear, despite the answer being yes. “I’m an adult, I’ve lived on my own out here for over a year and I don’t look like a swamp monster like you do” he mockingly claimed as he pointed at Jone’s matted hair. “Also, if you’re hunting zombies, you’re in the wrong place. I haven’t seen one in two days.”

“They are all hiding from the one I’m hunting” Jone quickly replied “Or it melted them into a puddle like this guy”. Jone pointed at the bushes he was searching through when Cain found him. Cain stepped past Jone watching Keeping the corner of his eye on him until he reached the bush. He carefully stuck his arm inside the plant and pushed half the branches to the side.

A brown and black sludge rested at the base of the bush. Bones and shreds of clothe confirmed what the smell suggested, this puddle was a zombie at one point.

“What am I Looking at? Is this a pile of crap or just something that the other one didn’t want to eat?” He had seen a vast spectrum of undead monsters in the past year but Cain had never seen this type of track left behind.

“It was defeated in a fight over turf” Jone Grabbed the other half of the bush and exposed the full corpse. Cain noticed the bones he had seen where a lot bigger than little bits and pieces. Elongated arms and a reinforced skull suggested that it was a stalker type; powerful, aggressive and territorial these are among the strongest of zombies. “If it took out a stalker than it has probably gotten pretty big, I’m guessing at least eight feet tall.

“How do you know this?” Cain couldn’t understand how someone so young knew so much more about zombies than him.

“I’m training to be a Hunter” Jone said with his large brown eyes shining bright.

“A what?” Cain dumbfoundedly asked. “Like, somebody that just hunts zombies?”

“A Hunter, like the Hunter’s Guild” Jone waited for a few seconds for a reaction. His eyes became slightly less joyful when he realized Cain was left with zero impressions from his dream. “I guess most people haven’t heard about them. My dad is a Hunter and I want to be the strongest, just like him.”

Cain tried to hold back his laughter, not from sympathy but as a natural response to half a life of living with zombies. “Bwahahaha, you act like those people are something special!” He yelled out before quickly covering his mouth and growing wide eyed. Both looked around to see if anything had heard Cain’s visceral reaction to Jone.

Silence.

Jone looked at Cain with a striking intensity “They are!” he yelled with his fists clenched.

Cain felt his body reel back in a jolt of shock. His shoulders stiffened and he shifted his poise as if his body felt a present threat. “Well, if they are so special than I doubt they’d let a kid in”. Jone didn’t change his stance and his eyes stayed focus on Cain, making him feel uneasy. “I’m going have to get to that settlement down the road before sunset” He stated while turning away from Jone. He had enough of this kid.

“Crap!” Jone instantly snapped out of his trance like stare and lunged towards the rough path that Cain walked down. “Are you talking about Alda?” he asked waving his arms at Cain. “That’s the town I accepted this bounty from. I’ll come with you!” He began running in order to catch up with the older boy.

“I thought I made you mad?” Cain asked looking down at Jone catching his breathe.

“What”? Jone gasped as he looked up at Cain confused “Why would you think that?”

“Because I called your Hunters stupid”

“No, you didn’t” Jone said sounding bewildered.

Cain was slightly annoyed by the naïve nature and innocent look of this child, he felt as if he was talking to a five-year-old. “Well sorry to break the news to you but I do think they are stupid”

“You’re wrong” Jone said, looking up at Cain with the same resolve as earlier.

Cain knew this was going to go nowhere and that he wouldn’t easily lose Jone until he left Alda, the next morning. “So, did your dad teach you about hunting zombies?” Cain did not know why he asked that question of all questions, he wanted to move away from the hunter nonsense.

“Nope I learned it on my own” Jone replied.

“So do you know what type of zombie could have done that to a stalker?” Cain was glad Jone didn’t start filling the journey with more talk about the hunters.

“I really have no idea but” Jone reached into the small sack on his back and dug intensely for something. He pulled out what looked like a tube of flesh with braids of veins extruding out from random spots. “I just have no clue if this is from the same monster or if this guy was turned into a puddle too”.

Cain had seen something like that before. “You don’t want to continue this hunt; you’ll get yourself killed”. He felt sick just seeing a kid hold a piece of such a powerful zombie.

“What kind of zombie does this belong to?” Jone asked with adrenaline echoing through his voice.

“I don’t know the name but” Cain paused and looked at Jone. An excited child clenching the intestines of a monster with glee felt unsettling even after a zombie apocalypse. “That thing in your hand is used to grab onto prey and lather the victim in some sort of corrosive substance before feeding”.

“Wow that sounds like it could be dangerous” Jone looked confused as he stated this. “I guess I'll need to think up a good plan to avoid those in case it gets too close” his face did not change as he contemplated the predicament.

Cain stopped himself from saying anything else in the nick of time, he noticed that this confused face was Jone’s thinking face. Cain decided this would be a good thing to take advantage of if he wanted a few moments of peace.

After half an hour of walking in silence they reached a large fence, made of massive wooden beams held together by thick steel straps. Just feet to the side of the rough path stood the gate. “Hey Mason!” Jone yelled with his hands cupped in order to push his voice towards the top of the fence. Cain remembered Jone claimed he accepted a bounty from this town, he didn’t think Jone was serious.

“No way? You actually killed it?” an older man in padded body armor stuck his grinning face over the top of the large fence. “OH? No head?”

“I couldn’t find it” Jone yelled back at Mason “But I know what type it is I’ll get it tonight if it tries anything”

Cain didn’t know what Jone was planning nor did he care, “Hey can I stay a night in your walls?” he yelled up at Mason “I’ve got bullets, silver and electronics. What do you need?” Mason looked at Cain then Jone, then back and forth a few times before disappearing from sight. a moment later the heavy doors slowly began swinging open. The rusted metal contraptions screeched and popped as the two walked up to the opening.

“We could always use some extra silver” Mason said as he gestured for the two to come inside. “These parts were bad enough with monsters before the dead started recruiting”.

Cain began swinging his pack off his back as he walked towards the town. He turned back to notice Jone standing in front of the woods with his back turned to the gate. “Are you coming in?”

Jone turned around and waved at Cain as he replied “No I'm gonna wait out here to finish my hunt. Thanks for the help”.

Cain stared at the child in disbelief. Surely, he actually had suffered from a stroke or concussion recently. He could not comprehend somebody willingly standing out in an open field while waiting for a monster to attack them in the darkness of night. “You can just start over tomorrow. I’ll even help you” Cain was lying about helping him but he felt concerned for the safety of Jone for some reason.

“Thanks” Jone said trying to hold back his blushing cheeks. “I’ll be fine out here by myself. Hopefully this thing comes out soon so I can get some sleep tonight” He jokingly said as he rubbed the back of his head.

Simply waving as he walked past the fence into the small settlement Cain wondered if the guilt he felt was actually justified. Jone seemed either stupid, or crazy. The kid decided to hunt down this monster and even sit out in a field like a duck in a pond after seeing what it could do. Still as Cain bartered with Mason for food and lodge, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Jone would end up just like the puddle from earlier.

Why would he care about some stupid kid he just met?

Later that night as Cain dozed off in the stables, he could not shake the odd feelings in his gut. But why? If Hunters were so special and that kid wanted to be one then this would be bridge Jone would have to cross eventually, Cain told himself. He thought if the same zombie responsible for that puddle showed up there was no way he would sleep past the fighting or the sounds it would make while feeding on Jone. After convincing himself of this, Cain was easily able to drift off.

Cain awoke early in the morning, the sun had not risen yet. Cain walked out of the stable, a light mist filled the air as the dew fell to the ground. He looked around, the town was dead silent and barely lit up by the handful of street lamps that had burnt through the night. He wanted to see if Jone was still outside the gate, he couldn’t explain why but he felt like he cared about the safety of Jone.

Three steel straps about a foot wide, each about four to five feet apart and a half inch to grab onto, not easy but Cain knew he could scale the wall. As he reached the top, he looked over the fence, wondering if he would see Jone scattered across the field or as a regurgitated puddle. He saw a small body stretched out in the middle of the field. It was Jone with his staff laying a foot away from him. Cain lunged over the fence and braced himself to roll out the landing.

Cain rose to his feet and drew a small knife from his waist, he scanned the tree line to see if anything was lurking in the woods as he proceeded. When he got closer he noticed that a large husk lay a few yards away from the body of the child. To Cain’s surprise, when he was within arm's length of Jone he noticed the boy was not injured but sleeping.

Cain stood over the two bodies. A twelve-year-old had just slain an eight-foot-tall acid monster. Cain was starting to wonder if these Hunters were actually as special as the boy had claimed.

“When you wake up, you're telling me more about those stupid Hunters.” Cain sat down next to the sleeping Jone waiting for him to wake. He felt crazy for even caring about something like this but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Jone was special, he began to accept that is what kept him up for most of the night.

“WOOO” Jone yelled as he lunged up from his sleep :”Whada whada Whydu kilshim Cain?” The sounds spewed from his mouth before Jone’s half-asleep brain could even form words. He rubbed his eyes and let out an ear-splitting yawn before he stretched out his arms. “Told you I'd get it tonight” Jone said with a cocky grin on his face.

“Yeah, sorry I was going to let you die out here” Cain apologized but still didn’t know why he felt guilty. Did this kid really grow on him in just an hour? Cain reached his hand out to Jone “I do want to be your friend” he stated “If you’re still looking for something stupid like that”

Jone grabbed the outstretched hand and shook it vigorously up and down. “Awesome!” he exclaimed ecstatically.

Cain smiled and looked up at the night sky, a dark moonless canvas with countless lights dancing across it. He wondered to himself how long it had been since he actually allowed himself to enjoy the beauty of nature. Even the serenity of the woods earlier left him more on edge than if he was surrounded by a horde of zombies.

He looked over at Jone, already back to sleep. Maybe this was something Cain needed in life, a person at ease and relaxed in contrast to world they lived in. After Jone wakes up Cain plans to ask him more about the Hunters. For now, Jone had to rest, Cain could that tell that defeating the monster took a lot out of the him.

Looking up at the stars for one last time, Cain enjoyed the spiritual sight. He had no idea that his new friendship would open paths wider than those of the night sky.