The Hunter

The next morning, Ben woke wrapped in a few layers of Max's leaves, the fire still smoking and emitting warmth in front of him. Toby was quietly nibbling on some of the cooked fish they had left over from the other day and told Ben that Max would be gone for a few days again. Assuming Max had been told they were moving, Ben headed out to the fallen tree, Toby following behind. The other boy was obviously feeling better, though he still looked pale. Together, they finished the lean-to and began to pile leaves inside and on top of it.

Toby began to dig a fire pit as Ben went back and forth to gather up their few belongings-a bit of cooked fish, seven baskets, three crude bowls, multiple stones, some cloth, and the cracked fishing pole. He made a few trips to gather up the pile of firewood and twigs he had gathered and one final trip with a branch full of leaves, at Toby's suggestion. He carefully went over their tracks, shaking the dirt around as much he could, and spent the rest of the day doing that as he returned to their camp.

Exhausted, he skipped dinner and went straight to sleep in their new home.

The next few days was spent exploring the new area-though Toby grumbled that they were not nearly far enough away-and visiting Max's giant fish trap. For three days, they heard nothing of Max. On the fourth day, Ben wandered North, farther than either of them had gone before. Ben had just found a bush with young berries on it when he heard a familiar rushing of wind. As he turned to face Max, he was violently thrown to the ground, a pair of hands tightly around his neck. Ben struggled wildly for several seconds before he thought better of it.

Just as suddenly as the attack had started, it stopped and Max was gone. Gasping for breath, Ben sat up and glanced around. For a moment, he couldn't see Max at all, but a slight shiver of movement in a tree above revealed him. Max was perched in one of the lower branches, his arms wrapped tightly around his head, trembling violently.

“Max,” Ben coughed out, and the bush flinched.

Slowly, Max pulled his arms away from his head and dropped down to crouch over Ben.

“Are you okay?”

His voice was nothing more than a whisper, as if he did not have the energy to speak. Ben could only nod, not wanting his voice to give away his fear and confusion. With sharking hands, Max reached out to caress Ben's cheek.

“I'm sorry, I thought you were dead. You or Toby. Everything was gone...I thought...I'm sorry.” Max mumbled, leaning closer.

Max sighed, resting his head against Ben's chest, one of his hands still on his cheek. Ben forced his tense body to relax in hopes of calming Max down. They sat there for several moments until Max suddenly jerked up and glanced around.

“Hide,” was all he said before bolting off after something.

There was a human shriek of surprise, but it was so far away, Ben was not positive he had heard it. Following Max's orders, Ben ducked behind some trees and looked for cover. There was not much aside from bramble to hide in. He moved farther away, trying to find somewhere to hide, his heart hammering in his chest.

They found him first.

Ben came out of his daze slowly, his head pounding from where he had been hit. A foul tasting gag had been stuffed into his mouth and a blindfold tied over his eyes. Both his wrists and ankles had been tied to the point that his feet and hand had gone numb. Even before he was fully conscious, he recognized the sound of someone pacing directly in front of him. Smartly, he pretended he was still knocked out.

“Ham's not back yet?” An oddly familiar voice asked softly as someone joined Ben and the pacer.

“Dunno if she made it. No loss on our part though, the crazy bitch!”

Ben recognized that voice clearly; it was Greg, one of the four people he had met several days ago during the game with Max. The other voice belonged to the shorter man, who had first accosted Ben.

“Sam suspect anything?”

“Nuh uh. The big puss is still sleeping for all I know,” Greg snorted, approaching.

A calloused hand roughly grabbed at Ben's chin and jerked his head up. It took all of Ben's mental strength to remain still and limp.

“So this freak is friendly with the monster, huh?” Greg laughed, releasing Ben.

Ben grunted in agony as Greg kicked his side, knocking him clear over.

“That camp where we found the thief must have been his. I wonder where his friend ran off to.”

“Hell, for all we know the other one is the monster.” Greg spat and the other man laughed.

“Well, either way, we'll end this soon. Is everything ready?”

Ben stiffened, but luckily it seemed neither was watching him any longer.

“Yeah, yeah. The moment anyone comes by, they're done for. If this sucker is lucky, we might even let him live,” Greg sneered, giving Ben a second, harsher, kick.

“Stop, there's no need to abuse the kid. He was probably doing what he could to survive.”

“If we make him scream, won't that make his allies come faster?” Greg purred.

“There's no stopping you is there?”

“Nah.”

Ben grit his teeth as another kick slammed into his back. How long had it been? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? He had held back his voice as long as he could, his body and mind going numb from the abuse, but even so, he could not take much more. Another kick and Ben broke, crying out in pain, though it was far from a scream.

“This kid has got guts, huh?” the other man, Shay, Ben had learned, called.

“This is getting annoying!” Greg panted, the blows stopping for a moment.

“You've no stamina old man,” Shay snorted, approaching.

Ben tensed, his heart thundering in his throat, sure he was going to experience more, perhaps even worse pain, but a new voice called out.

“What the hell is this?!”

“Fuck, it's Sam,” Greg cursed under his breath.

Moment later, Ben felt hands tugging the gag from his mouth and untying the blindfold. Panting heavily, Ben blinked spots from his eyes from the sunlight as Sam began to work quickly at his ankles.

“He's friendly with that thing that's been attacking us! We're trying to lure it out!” Shay protested.

“He's just a kid! Do you really think he had anything to do with that thing?!” Sam snarled, tugging to hard at the bonds and making Ben cry out again.

It did the trick, however, and blood began to rush back into his feet. Sam began to work on his arms, still arguing loudly.

“We need to use all our resources to kill that thing, isn't that what you said?!” Greg shouted angrily.

“I didn't mean like this! We can't go around killing and abusing people just to survive! We're no better than that monster then!”

Ben spotted movement in the shadows of the trees he was staring at. It was there for only a moment, but he knew he had seen it. He heard Greg take a breath to yell at Sam, but all the man managed to get out was a wet gurgle. There was a thump as a heavy body fell to the ground.

“What the fuck!” Shay screamed, lurching backward and tripping over Ben's legs.

Sam was thrown from where he was kneeling over Ben, and a familiar weight replaced him. Ben could not help the strangled sob the exploded from his throat as familiar hands ran over his battered body, testing for broken bones or internal injury. Ben could not feel the leaves of Max's disguise, making him guess Max had chosen for some reason to get rid of it in favor of a normal appearance.

The vines around Ben's wrists were torn off before Max charged at Sam.

“Not him!” Ben yowled, struggling to sit up.

To his surprise, Max listened and stopped to turn to him. Max's eyes met Ben's and he immediately regretting getting Max's attention. He looked like a mad man, his face flushed red with fury, pupils contracted, eyes wide. He was covered in sweat, and panting heavily. Ben knew it was not because of the heat.

“He helped me, Max! Not him.” Ben slumped back to the ground, unable to use his arms for support.

“Ben!”

Max's hands were on Ben's cheeks, lifting his face to make sure Ben was still conscious. Slightly relieved, Max leaned over Ben protectively as Sam made his escape. Ben trembled uncontrollably, digging his fingers into the skin of Max's arm. Max carefully rolled Ben over and checked once more for major injury.

“You're coming with me. I won't let you stay out here any more. I thought it would be fine. I've been such an idiot!” Max growled, his voice shaking.

“What about Toby? We...I can't leave him. I don't want to leave him alone,” Ben protested.
“Where is he?” Max asked, seeming to calm slightly.

“I don't know where we are...Toby and I made a new shelter a few days ago...closer to the river. There's a fallen tree.”

“Alright, alright. I think I know where you are talking about. I'll...fuck..I'll bring him too, until you get better.” Max groaned.

“Is he safe?”

“Yeah...maybe.” Max shrugged, before he leaned even closer to gently kiss Ben.

The next thing Ben knew, he was in Max's arms, the trees blurring past as Max ran. Ben could not tell if he passed out or simply lost track of everything due to the pain he was in, but when he shifted in Max's arms, there was a clear change in Max's tense expression. Their trip was short as, when the ground started to incline sharply, Max slowed to a stop in front of a large rock.

“I want to see if you can walk.” Max told Ben before carefully lowering Ben to his feet.

His feet still stung with pin pricks, and his legs ached from the kicks he had received, but nothing felt broken. He took a careful deep breath, and while it hurt, Ben thought he might not have broke any bones. He took a step forward and felt okay. Painful, yes, but again, miraculously, he did not think there was anything broken.

“Good. Do you want to walk?”

Ben thought about it. If Max had been asking the same question a week and a half ago, Ben's pride never would have allowed it. Or maybe it would have, seeing the pain he was in.

“No,” he mumbled in reply.

Max swooped the boy off his feet in a single, fluid movement, too quickly for Ben to change his mind. The movement hurt Ben, but he did not make any protests except a yelp of surprise. His reeling mind was starting to clear, but at the same time exhaustion was creeping up on him. Max stepped up to the boulder they had stopped near and neatly kicked it aside with one foot. Beneath was a hole leading straight downward.

“Watch your head,” Max warned just before dropping into the darkness.