The Lone Hunter
A well-known hunter walks alone through the familiar woods. But today, over all other days, she feels her loneliness.
She holds her side and limps to the large Apple Wood, the intensity of battle long past. All that’s left is the fear of defeat. She places her hand on the lumpy, red bark and looks at the yellow and browning leaves. This was always her favorite time to visit. Tears fell, yet still, she smiled, happy she could see it one more time. Using the last of her energy, she turned and flopped against the rugged bark to watch down the crimson trail she had left. She checked her hip and couldn’t help but laugh. Shaking her head, she loaded her last three bullets.
Her smile weakened as the click of the chamber was drowned out by the familiar roar, her side seized in pain. Gritting her teeth, she tries to stand, but her blood-soaked hand slips, and she collapses back down. The ground shakes, and the roaring grows closer. She finds comfort in the fact that it is weak and hurting as well, but she also knows it’s not nearly enough. She checks the chamber again before looking at the sun gleaming through the beautiful leaves.
She smiles, no tears this time. She thinks of the town just outside the forest edge, the one she has fed and protected for years. She thinks of how much this beast, the last of its kind, has been a terror, a plague of the forest itself, and she knows that all this is worth it. Even now, as it approaches, it tears up the trees, rips through the earth, and wounds everything in its path.
For the last time, she lifts her gun, steady and determined. The ground quakes, the forest trembles, but even through the screaming pain in her side, her aim never even sways. The beast roars as it thunders towards her, its eyes narrow, almost as a grin. Her eyes narrow as well, honing her shot. She pulls the trigger as the beast’s hot breath washes over her.
Bang!
Bang!
….
The Apple Wood swayed as a large mass crumpled into its trunk. Yet it stood, as it always lets the light caress through its branches and the wind strokes its leaves. But no longer was it just the old Apple Wood. It was now a monument to the one willing to sacrifice it all. To the protector of our nameless town. To the Lone Hunter.
