The Hunters (Novelette)

The Hunters
          By
                                        Yonathan Asefaw



         Carl grabbed the girl by his grubby hands and gave her 10 seconds to explain herself about who she was and what she was doing in the woods. Carl was training in the forest all by himself, he wanted peace and quiet but wasn't going to get it now that a girl appeared out of nowhere from the bushes.
         "Who are you? What is your name?" asked Carl.
         "Who are you? Why do you look like a mole?" said the girl.
         "I was born like this, now get out of here!"
         "My name is Sienna if you are wondering--"
         "Yeah, no shit, of course I was wondering, this is my turf!"
         Carl looked deep into her brown eyes and found that she was one of those girls who were missing, like from the T.V., the girl spoke French and English and was from Paris France. But it seemed that she was trying to escape the city and come way out here for who knows what. The girl was scared, she shivered and closed her eyes muttering think of a happy place, think of a happy place. Carl was counting from 20 to have her leave the woods, but while doing that he thought of whether to take her in to the police. That way he could get his reward and have her gone out of the woods, but he had a better idea. He wanted to train her, yes train her to become a hunter, Carl was an expert hunter, despite him not being taken seriously as he was a mole. He wanted to kill his ex-wives because they had abused him and not treated him with dignity or respect as was going to risk his life doing so, he wasn't scared of the police because he was a brave mole. He wanted the women dead badly, one of them was named Serena, she was a dangerous woman, had dark black hair, slutty playboy clothes, was living in an average home in a suburb north of Paris, it was a trek to get there but he knew it was worth it. Sienna explained about her life with a foster home as her parents died her and that she ran away from the foster home to stay in the woods. Carl was skeptical at first but was listening carefully at what she was saying. He was laughing the whole way through which made Sienna uncomfortable and angry.
         "Hey that's not nice! Why are you laughing?"
         "Your story makes no sense to me."
         "How come?"
         "Because I expected it to have lots of killing."
         "You make me sick!"
         "I know, that's what I love about myself."
         Carl laughed the whole way through as the girl kept talking about how old she was and not wanting to leave the woods even though the outside world can be cruel and she didn't like the harsh rules of life. She was only 10 years old however Carl wanted to know more and held his ear to her mouth asking her to speak up and laughed a little more. He wasn't the listening type but desired to listen to what she was saying.
         "Why do you laugh so much? It's not good for you." said Sienna.
         "How do you know that? Do you even laugh at all?" said Carl.
         "You remind me of a clown, but with a crossbow."
Sienna pointed to that crossbow over near the grass by a raging river.
         "Yeah that, well you see mon amie I have a vendetta with some girls back in the outskirts of Paris France, they abused me you know, and they will."
         "Will what?"
Carl face started to look cynical and disturbing.
         "Will pay with their LIIIIVVVVES!"
         "What is wrong with you?"
She kicked him in the nutsack.
         "Ouch! You little bitch!"
         "Bitch, hey you swore!"
         "I know, you little bitch get back here!"
         Carl chased the girl over to the outstretching river which foamed aquamarine blue water which smoked into the air. Sienna tried not to go near the water and that made her turn back to find Carl following her and grabbing her to take her to the authorities.
         "I'm bringing you to the police, you belong in that foster home!"
         "I don't want to go back there! Please don't make me go! Oh no no no!"
         "Oh yes yes yes."
         "I hate you, please, no!"
         Carl had an idea, maybe he can train her to kill his ex-wives for him, or maybe it would be a waste of time he thought, he still wanted to try though, he touched his chin and groaned when he was thinking. He wanted to figure that out, had he been a killer all his life, he wanted to try something different.
         "I have an idea."
         "Like what sir?"
         "I will train you."
         "To?"
         "To become a killer."
         "You're crazy."
         "Thank you."
Carl hissed at her and made a licking sound, his tongue went up and down.
         "Yuck!"
Carl looked from left to right and whispered to her about what he was going to do next.
         "I will give you this crossbow of mine and I want you to aim for those dummies over there, you got me? You dig?"
         "What?"
Carl raised a brow and jumped for joy while clapping his hands rapidly like a mentally challenged wanton.
         "You're going to make me happy now are you not?" said Carl.
         "Well since your so sad and crazy--"
Carl went for the crossbow that sat by the river and handed it to her.
         "Do you know how to use these bad boys?"
         "No, my mommy and daddy told me ne--"
         "Shut up, go."
Carl directed her over to the dummies, they were sacks like fat potato's shaped like teddy bears, sown and tattered looking.
         "How do you hold this thing?" asked Sienna.
         "Hold the grip with your right hand and use your left hand to steady the bow." said Carl.
         "Like this?"
Sienna held it awkwardly and tried to make it straight with both her hands. She started to sweat.
         "That's ok, let me help you with this."
Carl straightened her left hand and told her to aim for the head of the dummy.
         "Now aim!"
She pushed the black trigger and the arrow launched itself towards the dummy, it was a hit to the head.
         "Not bad! Not too shabby."
         "Is that it? Wow, my parents would never allow me to do this."
         "They're a bunch of bitches, that's all."
         "You think?"
         "Say, tell me that story about your foster parents, what were they like?"
         "Well I don't remember them much since they are dead, what about you, do you have any parents' sir?"
         "Don't call me sir."
         "Yes sir."
         "What?"
         "Don't you like being called sir?"
         "Would you like to die?"
         "No."
         "Then shut up."
         "Ok."
Carl circled around the woods talking about how they we were going to kill a woman named Serena in a house not too far from here, it was by a cul-de-sac where she was supposed to be having a BBQ with herself and her husband. Carl squeezed his fists and wish nothing but death to her, with that anger boiling in his head and a face to be fearful of (red face) he was going to need to calm down. Like really calm down. Sienna froze and saw the face that he made near the river's edge.
         "Are you alright?" asked Sienna.
         "Oh, I'm fine." said Carl. "Oh, by the way my name is Carl Jonas, you can call me Carl."
         "Carl huh? You seem really weird and though you like to kill--"
         "You can stop talking now."
         "I should."
Carl rose up and told Sienna that nightfall is coming and that tomorrow he can help her train a bit more in the hopes that he would be able to kill Serena. The little 10-year-old was stunned! How can she do that? She was only 10, there she was hiding in the woods when suddenly a strange mole humanoid comes to grab her out of the bushes and into his world. It was exciting stuff.
While Carl was sleeping Sienna snatched the crossbow and practiced shooting it on the dummies and wanted to know how the thing worked. The machine was basically foreign to her and was a black crossbow able to do a lot of damage to enemies, she surveyed it a little more examining the back and front of the crossbow before accidently hitting a bird causing it to fall to the ground. A cawing noise reverberated the woods.
         "What did you do?" asked Carl.
Carl had one eye opened and saw the whole thing the minute he heard footsteps.
         "Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?"
         "Yes, but you disturbed me."
         "What is your problem?"
         "My problem? You just killed a bird and you are fucking with my crossbow, what is my problem? Look at what you are doing!"
         "You're the one training me to be a killer like you, so what?"
         "Give me a break little girl! You're the one with the killer weapon."
         "Shut up!"
         "You know what? I think..."
         "What?"
         "I could throw you into this river."
         "Why would you?"
         "I could kill my ex-wives by myself, I don't need you."
         "Why do you want to kill them so bad?"
         "Why!? Because they--"
         "They what?"
Carl shed a tear and looked back at Sienna.
         "They abused me and took my dignity away from me, that's why!"
         "Huh?"
         "Your only ten so you wouldn't understand love."
         "That isn't love."
         "What do you know, your only ten years old."
         "I know a lot; and I am smarter than I look sir."
         "And stop calling me sir!"
         "What I want to know is, who is this Serena woman?"
         "Serena is a big pain in my ass! She is one of the seven ex-wives I have to kill in order to be free from my strife, you see when I was married, Paris France wasn't in this dystopian state as it is, and that--I wanted to save myself from the pain I experienced during my time with her, Serena Sanchez whipped me with a some dollar-store or some sex toy item she bought at the store, and when I was vulnerable as feelings of regret marrying her, she put me in my place, she was tough and I was a scrawny loser with a hot woman, I didn't know how that worked, but you see I was the type to really kick myself to the curb--but when I was with her, she made me feel like a million bucks."
         "That is some adult-type story, I am waaaay too young to understand that."
         "Well that is my story."
         "So, am I supposed to feel sorry for you? Because I don't."
         "Do not waste your breath, you don't have to feel sorry for me."
         "I like you, you seem down to earth."
         "After all that shouting and complaining you feel something for me?"
         "Yes."
         "Fine."
         "So, I think we should be friends."
         "Are you sure? I am dangerous you know; I could chop your hands off."
         "That's ok, I can always hit you with this crossbow."
Carl grabbed the bow back and decided to tease her with it, she flinched and fell to the ground dirtying her blouse. She cried her little lungs out when she realised, she had tripped on a piece of bark.
         "That's what you get for messing with my crossbow bitch."
         "Hey that's really a rude thing to say."
         "Whatever you little bitch."
         "Stop saying that."
         "What if I do? Will you behave like a good little girl?"
         "Fuck--"
         "Don't say it."
         "Fuck you!"
         "You said it."
         "Your always so mean and cynical."
         "You said it."
         "Why can't you be nice?"
         "What should I be?"
         "It's a nice trait to have."
         "How so?"
         "You know the phrase, treat people the way you want to be treated."
         "Fuck off."
         "You also swear too much."
         "I'm proud of it bitch."
         "I'm leaving."
         "Oh no, you're not going anywhere, unless you want to be back at that foster home in the back of a police car."
         "What do you want?"
         "I want change in this world. Why?"
         "You really aught to improve your behaviour."
         "And how should I do that? Do you expect me to just be happy all the time, HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY? NO! I don't give a damn what others expect of me, I used to be a happy go-lucky-mole living in my average thousand-dollar home with one of my seven-whore-wives and they abused me! Ok? They hurt me, now go and fuck off with your bullshit and leave me alone!"
         "Give me a break."
         "Listen here you! You better keep training and figuring out how to kill these bitches before--"
         "Go on."
         "Never mind! Just keep training."
         "Ok."
Sienna practiced with her crossbow.
         "Cry me a river."

                                                           #

When nightfall came Carl and Sienna had slept peacefully in the woods and the moon climbed upwards into the sky, it was bright white like an onion. The clouds were vanishing, spreading outwards, the trees were whooshing in the night, an owl hooted on a tree branch, nothing but that, and while they slept Carl woke up again back to the river which was calm and saw that they were just him, by day they were raging but by night they were calm and able to recollect thoughts as if it were human. Though Carl was staring down into the reflection of the river. He observed that he was destined to do great and powerful things, and where all bad things became non-existent. He knew he had a job to do and that job was to kill those women. These women had to go.
The next day Sienna woke up to find Carl practicing his swordplay skills, he had a real steel blade, it was a double-edged sword, she rubbed her eyes just see if she was seeing things or dreaming. But she wasn't and that made her want to know what was going on, she thought she only had a crossbow with him but really was it true? She wanted to know if it was a fake sword since the crossbow had to be his only weapon.
         "Where did you get that blade?" asked Sienna.
         "Wouldn't you like to know bitch." said Carl.
         "Seriously, I love swords! Can I touch it?"
         "No."
         "Why?"
         "Because I said so."
         "Are you afraid of a girl handling it better than you?"
         "Hell no! I can handle one."
         "Really? Then swing."
         "Watch this."
Carl started to swing and was able to fully slice open the dummy.
         "Like that?"
         "Ok but what about me?"
         "You?"
         "Yes, hit me."
         "No."
         "Are you scared?"
         "Please tell me you're not high?"
         "I am only 10."
         "Ok well... how about I hit this skinny little tree here?"
         "Sure, then slice me afterwards."
         "No, but wait."
He looked around and saw the river.
         "Did you drink from the river?"
         "Yes."
         "No wonder your so messed up."
         "That's not all."
         "What?"
Sienna took off her white blouse and cartwheeled in the woods running away from Carl.
         "Look at me look at me, I am the naked cart wheeler!"
         "Stop it right now."
Carl chased after her in circles and even into the grassy parts of the woods, he then saw the police which had guard-dogs, pistols, and loud voices that were heard from even the farthest distances. Carl got scared so he grabbed the girl and tossed her into the river, they were surprised when they saw the mole and wanted to know if they had seen a girl who was missing for four days. he shook his head while gulping and staring down at them. So, with that he saw the police inspect his home, his belongings and tents he had built to keep himself warm and from the cold and rain. The police asked him a question and it was personal to him.
         "What kind of a mole sleeps in a tent?" said a young police officer.
         "What's it to you?"
         "Nothing, just observing."
         "Well we usually sleep underground but I am a sophisticated mole, I prefer the surface."
         "Good to know."
         "What about you?"
         "Well since this whole end of the world business is over with, I can rest easy on pasta and a baguette, what about you?"
         "I like my grub, worms, you know."
         "Good luck with that."
The young officer who was much like a human, was average height, had his blue and yellow button uniform on, had a moustache and looked chisel faced. He looked like a Frenchman.
         "Well I guess there is nothing conspicuous here, glad we found this place, I almost thought the girl was hiding here since our canine was smelling something lingering here, must have been pork of some kind, take care now good sir."
         "Do you mean Sienna officer?"
         "Yes sir."
         "Well then good day."
While the police were trekking off away from the sight of Carl, he quickly ran down the wooded path to find Sienna stuck to a tree branch, the river was raging once again and it bubbled immensely through the little waterfall that Sienna was stuck to. Carl quickly dived into the water attempting to grab her from the fury of the water, she was still trapped by the branch that clung to her shirt and that was when Carl had her by her waist and tried to unhook her from the branch that caught on to her. She was happy to be alive as that rush of water could have killed her. She was saved. Sienna kissed him on his cheek.
         "Please don't do that bitch."
         "Oh, get used to it, you saved me!"
         "Well I had to because you are the key to killing my ex-wives."
         "Of course!"
         "Let's get away from this river."
         "Let me hold on to you."
         "Ok."
They got away from the river in time to get to the surface and it was sweet, Sienna got to kiss a mole and Carl saved Sienna from a raging river. Things were looking good for now. They both got back into the center of the woods and found that the place had been trashed which to Carl's eyes was something that the police did, he was shocked, he cleaned up the place and sorted out the items in places Carl would never put them in like under a pillow. In the woods they continued to train, Carl knew that the time for redemption was here, he wanted the woman to know just how they hurt him one by one, but being careful that he wasn't going to get himself jail-time as an accessory to murder from the little girl, Sienna was getting better at her crossbow skills and she whispered yes to herself and that made things great for the two as he was getting closer to killing the ex-wives. When nightfall came again, tomorrow was the day that they were going to a neighbourhood that was close to the woods below just a few treks up the hill and they were going to meet Serena, see her die, see her die was what Carl muttered to himself, the struggle was going to be over and he would go on a mission to kill his ex-wives. There was a sense of awe in seeing her sleep-in separate tents as he didn't want to sleep next to her. She seemed like a good omen but didn't want to risk that, Carl observed her from her twinkling eyelids sparkling in the moonlight which made me want to vomit out of his mind! It was disgusting to him but beautiful in a way that was captivating for his eyes to see. He wanted nothing more than to rip out her eyelids and use it as an appetizer for his next restaurant meal, at night he saw her in the pale moonlight as it continued to shine brightly in her eyes, he could even see her eyeballs rolled down beneath the skin of her eyelids. Carl slept peacefully once again until that day arrived.
The next day Carl woke up Sienna and told her to get ready, clean her white blouse and fight off these ex-wives, sounds of the raging river rushed through the grass making a part of the woods filled with water, Carl was in shock desiring to know what is happening to his precious woods. However, Carl was in qualms about whether or not Sienna was the one ruining his woods when she came here, she left trail marks along with the markings of the police men, the misery of being here by yourself has its perks but also it's problems, Carl wanted to live someplace better, someplace beautiful but he was contempt to living here for the time being because of money issues. He had only 100 euros in his pocket and that was his only amount of money, and since the aftermath of the apocalypse there was a lot of people who were in a recession which he never realised that he was going to hunt down woman during the end of an apocalypse. But that never stopped Carl as he was going to deliver something that would benefit himself and the girl, redemption and death, at least not to the girl though and if she were a problem, she would be collateral damage. Hopefully Carl would go to great heights and go to rub shoulders with the girl as she was going to be great help in killing the woman, when they talked, they talked about how long Carl was in the woods and how he was going to get more euro in his hands. But to know that he was going to be free from the woods and go on to be something great in his life. He said "but I was just a boy when I was free from my parents, I wanted them to die though." Sienna was confused why did he always wish for death to everyone and everything. It was odd to her and that led her to coming with him to Paris, Carl packed up his things and trudged through the woods to go and kill Serena and which he was going to need to be able to kill her. Trudging through they saw the sunlight beaming down on them, Carl despised the sun where it nearly almost killed him when he looked into with his eyes, at times he wished the sun would never exist but the girl was perplexed and wanted to know why he would say that.
         "The sun is responsible for all life." said Sienna.
         "I don't care, I hate the sun." said Carl.
         "Do you even like anything?"
         "I like to kill."
         "What about me?"
         "You? It depends, can you shut up?'
         "No."
         "You better."
         "I'm not afraid of you."
         "Why not?"
         "Because I may surprise you."
         "With?"
         "You don't want to know."
         "Let me guess, death?"
         "Ding ding ding!"
         "You don't scare me."
         "You really are a loser, aren't you?"
         "I am only ten."
         "Who cares! Doesn't mean you can't be a loser."
         "Aren't you going to call me--"
         "Uh huh, you know it."
         "So then say it."
         "Bitch."
         "Bitch is so harsh."
         "Too bad, so sad."
Carl made a funny face and opened his mouth ending up looking like a clown trying to scare Sienna.
         "Do I scare you now?"
         "A little, what was that?"
         "One of my favourite scare tactics and it works."
         "You are pathetic."
         "Thanks."
As they walked out of the woods and into the neighbourhood suburbia, they noticed kids playing in the middle of the street, and just like what Carl saw was the cul-da-sac, he took one step and found him and the girl at the place where they were supposed to be. There was the woman enjoying her time outside relaxing at the front yard on her long swing and that was when Carl hid by a bush and next to him was a fence he peeped through a hole near her house and by the orange fence was the woman and she was busy drinking on the swing which he was anxious to kill her. He clenched his crossbow and the girl behind him was trying to hide which was told to do so by Carl, Carl counted to 30 just to prepare himself to kill the lady, though there was another man and he was coming outside, he thought it was the husband of Serena and that was when he saw him sitting down next to her. How was he going to get a clear shot without the husband getting in the way? He got up and aimed his crossbow at the woman but the girl ran towards the husband hugging him telling me that you need to run. Carl was angry at what he saw; the girl hugging the husband so he aimed for him instead and he was shot. Bleeding on the front steps of his property he made a sickening sound, he gargled out blood and was spilling them on the floor, Carl laughed and stood next to him with the crossbow to his face, Sienna kicked him while punching him at the same time.
         "I hate you I hate you I hate you!" said Sienna.
         "Sienna shut up; I am trying to say something to this man." Said Carl.
         "Who the fuck are you?" said the man.
         "Don't you dare fucking touch my ex-wife!"
         "Ex-wife? So, it's you we were talking about."
         "Oh really? Am I supposed to believe you two were talking and even FUCKING each other while I was gone?"
         "She said you were abused by her, I didn't understand--"
         "You wouldn't understand why or how she did that."
         "You're just a mole--"
         "Shut up!"
         "Who do you think you are? Your just some mole who came out of nowhere with some crossbow, do you think killing me would do anything but harm our relationship? No! It would make it stronger; I hope you know that you are doing nothing in harming me."
Blood was gushing out of his chest and out of his mouth, he kept talking but Carl had enough, he shot him and he was dead.
Serena screamed and tried to make a run for it, hiding someplace but there was nowhere to hide. Carl turned around to see Sienna crying and tugging Carl to look for the woman. But she was gone and nowhere to be found until now. Sienna saw Serena hiding by that same fence Carl and her hid into, she didn't want to tell him so they walked over to find her hiding. Carl told Sienna to kill her with the training he gave with the bow and from there she was about to be dead.
         "Do it! Kill her!" said Carl.
         "I don't want to, I'm scared."
         "Do it or I will kill you."
         "Fine."
Sienna aimed with her crossbow and shot her.
         "Good, you did good, now let's get into her house before the police show up." said Carl.
         "I don't like doing this, this scares me."
         "Finally, something that scares you."
         "I hate you."
         "Thanks again."
Carl and Sienna shuffled into the house and took whatever they wanted, he was looking for the whip that she used to abuse him and he finally found it upstairs in her drawers, the room smelled like cheap perfume and was filled with feminine magazines and bottles of wine on the end table. The husband and wife looked like they were having some fun upstairs which grossed Carl out, but in the end, he chuckled and knocked down the wine bottles smashing them into pieces. Sienna on the other hand was walking around the house in search of something to wear, she was tired of wearing the same clothes as blood got all over her blouse so she took it off and wore something else. She saw Carl dress up in a suit and took some money from the end table as well about 600 euros, Carl told her to go downstairs and leave before the police show up, she nodded and headed down the stairs along with him, they passed by the door slamming it shut, they ran as fast as they could when the police had arrived, they slipped into the woods and they were never heard from again.
Once they were in the woods, they headed back in the center of it to speak about what to do next, the next ex-wife was coming and her name was Yolanda, he showed her a picture of her. She lived in the woods in a loghouse and that was when she cried, she cried because she didn't want to do this anymore, she was horrified when she saw blood on the husband and wife, but regardless it was either this or the foster home which she dared not go.
         "Stop crying! Get over yourself, it's just blood." said Carl.
         "It scares me, what the hell!" said Sienna.
         "It doesn't matter, do the job or it's back to the foster home."
         "Fine."
Sienna cocked her head wiped her eyes and focused on killing her enemies, (though she didn't have any) she grabbed her crossbow and aimed for the dummies again. Many times, later she got tired and went to sleep when night arrived, Carl headed back to the river and washed himself with it, he envisioned himself running away from the police with no trepidation in him and that made him really proud to know that he escape danger just from thinking about danger. So with that he sat there alone in the woods while the little girl slept, she noticed Carl was gabbling to himself, strange she thought he was mumbling words, his voice got louder and louder and he disturbed her sleep, stomping around the center of the woods was what he did and that was when the girl got up and told him to stop. Shaking him to the core was what she was doing, Carl was going crazy and he was needed to halt as he might wake up animals here and there in the woods, Sienna linked her hand with his and they took a walk through the trail that lead up to the hill, there they sat down and she talked to him telling him that everything was going to be alright.
         "Calm down." Said Sienna.
She patted him on the back as he coughed while yelling at nothing.          
         "I can't." replied Carl.
         "Why are you acting this way?"

(Rest will be up soon)