Tears of Blood (wlw)

winners & losers

"Or what?" I say as I pin her arms down. She looks up at me, and her eyes are fierce.

"Tell me, love, where did you learn all this?"

"Learn what? Running?"

"You're light on your feet, exceptional speed, and-"

"I've had to survive. Not everyone has the luxuries that you do." She tries to squirm out of my grip again, and I hold down her arms tighter.

"That's unfortunate."

"Not really. I'm glad I'm not like any of you."

"Really?"

"Let me go. You win."

"That's it? You give up? Not even going to put up a fight?"

"Unlike you, I know when to stop. It's called a strategic surrender."

"Ahh, I see.

"Now get off."

"No." She looks at me with anger.

"You people like to hunt don't you?"

"At times, for leisure."

"That's what it is. You like to play with things, for sport. You hunt things down for sport. While people like me have to hunt to put food on our tables." My jaws clench at this.

"And what if I do like having fun with my prey?" I say as I lean in to whisper into her ear, while pressing her arms down.

"You're a shit hunter. And even shittier person."

"Fine." I get off her to stand up. She sits up and rubs her wrists, looking up at me.

"Here. You win." She walks over to me handing me the cloth.

"Keep it. You might want it as a souvenir."

"Souvenir for what exactly?"

"So that you could tell everyone you won." For a second she stares at me in disbelief, but then picks up on what I was saying.

"I don't want your charity."

"Oh but you do. Just take it and leave."

"I said no."

"You make things so difficult, you know that?"

"Why would you want to lose to me?"

"Who says I'm losing?"

"I- I never understand what you're saying."

"You don't need to. Take it. And leave." She sighs and turns to start running towards the front again. I let her have a head start and then I follow right behind.

Everyone was cheering while Ash was standing on the side with a look of shock.

"What happened?" He asks and everyone's attention focuses on me.

"I couldn't catch her." I reply as I look at her.

"How- I mean you always win??" Ash sounds confused.

"I guess I was bound to lose someday right?"

"That's crazy. Newbie you are my new favorite person." Brianna gushes as she puts her arm around Andrea.

"I still can't believe it. How-"

"Think of it like this. She wouldn't be a winner, if I wasn't the loser. Someone has to lose for someone to win." All of them stare at me with empty expressions.

"Yeah okay, I don't get your philosophy, but I am tired and hungry. Let's head back now?" Gabe whines but I could use some rest too. As I grab my things, I see Iris staring at me.

"What did I do now?"

"You never lose."

"I did though. And I don't care."

"Is it her? The other night too, you were with her right?"

"What? Are you serious right now?" I stammered.

"I can't help but suspect that something is up between you two."

"Iris, you are crazy. Her? I'd rather choke on sand. There's nothing to like about her." She looks at me half-convinced.

"It was just a thought."

"Look, I'm sorry for fighting okay? I know I get riled up sometimes. I know I'm hard. I'm sorry." I walk over to her.

"It's fine. I guess it was my fault too, I should have known that you have a lot on your plate." She smiles and looks down at her feet.

"Hey," I give her a side hug, " Let me make it up to you?" I look down at her and she blushes.

"Fine." She kisses my cheek. We start to head back to the cabin.

As Ash heads up to the patio, I notice the little distance between him and Andrea. Did something happen?Before I could ponder any longer, Ash yells.

"The lock is gone!"

"What do you mean?" Sierra questions.

"I think someone broke in."

"Are you joking? Who would be out here?" Gabe laughs and joins him on the patio, and then his face changes into a more serious one.

"Let me see." I walk up to see shattered glass everywhere. I push open what was left of the door to find everything a mess.

"Someone was here, for sure."

"Not someone. Some thing." Andrea says as I turn to see her bent down by a bunch of marks on the ground.

"Get to the basement." I say as fear creeps into my veins.

"What- why-"

"Now! Go now!" I say as I lead them to a door behind the fire place. They all enter one by one, and I enter last. Once we're all down, we gather into a huddle. It's so dark down there that I couldn't see anyone's faces.

"What is it Dev? You're scaring me." Brianna says.

"It's a Rune."

"No way. They're like... what's the word.." Gabe starts to think.

"Extinct. They're extinct." Sierra adds.

"My father says they're back and-"

"What? You've got to be kidding me."

"I just- I wasn't sure. But seeing those marks I'm pretty sure it's a Rune. Maybe smaller in size." My thoughts are all over the place right now, but I tried my best to concentrate.

"Okay. What do we do?" Ash asks.

"We do nothing. I'm going to go track it, to see if it's still around here." I get up and start to walk towards a wall.

"You can't. It's too dangerous, especially just you going alone."

"Who says I'll be alone?" As I say that, I light a torch next to me to reveal the wall that was filled with weapons. I saw how all of their eyes went wide as the wall came into focus for them. I grabbed anything I could get my hands on whether it was a gun, knife, and grenades.

"So how long has all that been here?" Iris inquires.

"Many years. Ash's dad installed it too." I say. Taking a deep breath in, I put an extra pistol in my pack. I needed to see if my assumption was true. If this really was a Rune, we would be in a lot of trouble.

"I'll be right back." I march out of the door, not knowing what I'll be finding.