A Beating Heart

Hunting Shay

"It's the only way mom and dad would let me go." I give him my best puppy dog eyes.

"You're ridiculous." He smiles and shakes his head at me. "Lucky for you, I'm not busy this weekend."

"So you'll take me?" I pop up from the bed with a big smile on my face.

He rolls his eyes and nods. "What are big brothers for?"

"Yay!" I clap my hands together and he chuckles at me.

"But we're gonna do some serious hunting Colby. If you couldn't even catch a wolf you definitely won't catch a mountain lion or panther and they're the most fun to pursue." He gives me a devilish grin and shoos me out. "Go pack up, we'll leave in an hour." I nod and hurry out of his room to mine to pack up.

I have so many questions to ask Shay. I just hope I can get away from my brother long enough to get her alone.

–

"Now close your eyes." My brother tells me as we stand in the middle of nowhere. We're surrounded by trees, far away from the camp site and all the humans. We're deep in the woods; Drake says that it's better if we get really far from the humans so I'm not distracted by human blood while we hunt. I focus my senses, taking in my surroundings. My eyes are closed and I'm relying on my hearing and sense of smell to figure out what direction the mountain lion is traveling. This is my first time hunting one and I want to impress my brother. Although hunting has never really been of interest to me, I figure that if I impress him enough he'll allow us to be done for the day so I can go off to search for Shay.

She has to been around here somewhere.

"That way." I snap my eyes open and point to my right. I take off and hear my brother take off after me. I take a deep breath, taking in the scent of the animal. Its blood smells sweet, so different than any other animal I've attempted to hunt. The scent is alluring. I can hear it's footsteps as it attempts to escape me; but I'm faster, stronger, smarter. Shay flashes through my mind and I slide to a stop.

"Colby what are you doing, we're gonna lose it." My brother shouts from ahead of me.

I grab my chest. "I need a moment." I tell him and he's next to me in a flash.

"What's the matter?"

What if the animal we're chasing is Shay...? I don't want to take that chance.

"I don't know." I shake my head. Make up a lie Colby. "Um, can we finish this tomorrow, I just...I suddenly don't feel all that well." I lie and my brother believes me, I can tell because his face softens.

"Yeah, sure." He nods and places a hand on my shoulder. "Let's head back to camp."

"I'm just gonna go for a walk for a while if that's okay. Clear my head and prepare myself for tomorrow."

"Okay." He gives me a small smile then takes off back towards camp. Even with the sun beaming down on us draining us slowly my brother is still the fastest.