Not The Only

Chapter 1: Weakened

The breeze whipped my hair out of my face and brought the smell of snow with it, which worried me. The group couldn't afford a snowfall so early. We needed at least another week to stock up on food by gathering and hunting.

"That's how I feel too," Nile said, noticing the unnerved look on my face. I pulled my hood up onto my head and held my gun with frozen hands.

"We're all going to feel like this all winter if we don't get more food. Where'd Darwin and Van split to?" I asked, almost bitterly. The four of us had gone out for a hunting trip and we hadn't gotten anything in three days. It was making all of us antsy.

"They were going to try going back to that rabbit burrow to see if anything had come out," Nile said. He surveyed the field below us with absolute concentration. He held his bow at the ready. There had been a deer in it the day before, but it was gone shortly after we had spotted it. If the chance presented itself, we would have to shoot it.

I drew in a shaky breath, "It's going to get dark soon. They better be back to camp before then, with or without rabbits," I knew I sounded demanding, but I had been extremely cautious of the group in the last week. Something didn't seem right, and based on my previous encounters with that feeling, I was usually right.

"They will. They're not idiots," Nile said, still not taking his eyes off of the field. He was almost completely unmoving, which was quite impressive. Maybe the cold had frozen him to the spot.

"I'd rethink that," I muttered under my breath. Nile chuckled but otherwise kept completely still.

The deer didn't reappear within the next hour, so Nile and I retreated back to our camp. The camp was on top of a large, square shaped rock which was about ten feet high and twenty feet across in each direction. It was steep enough that whoever was climbing it needed the assistance of a rope, and it was wide enough that the four of us could sleep comfortably with a fire burning. It was safe, and that's what mattered.

Nile climbed up the rope first and then assisted me as I climbed up. My wrist hadn't healed since the fight at the beach and it wouldn't take my weight too well when I was doing stuff like climbing

When I was finally on the top part of the rock, I flopped down by the fire pit that we had made. It was basically a plot of sand spread out, and the charred remains of several logs.

Nile huffed from physical exertion. I knew the feeling, but I hadn't taken nearly as many bullet wounds as Nile had. Add in the fact that he wasn't getting the food or sleep that he needed, he was starting to get weak.

"Don't look at me like that," Nile said as he sat down on the other side of the fire pit from me. I looked away uncomfortably and fiddled my hands.

"You really shouldn't have come with," I mumbled quietly and looked at one of the burnt logs. I could feel his eyes burning into me.

"In that case, you shouldn't have either," Nile shot back. I didn't respond to that. Ashley had wanted to come instead of me, but I had wanted to keep an eye on Nile. I wasn't about to admit that though.

We sat in silence for almost an hour, I had started a fire as it got darker and the cold started settling in. It wasn't quite cold enough for it to snow, and I was thankful.

My eyes were starting to droop when something landed beside me on the rock. I jumped onto my feet instantly and had my gun pointed at the sack that laid at my feet, my heart beating fast and my breathing quick.

"Woah, it's just us, X," Darwin said as he climbed up the rope, Van right behind him.

"You know not to scare me like that," I said, lowering my gun but keeping it in my hand, "What is this?" I indicated to the sack that wasn't moving.

"Look inside," Van said with a smile as he reached the top of the rope and heaved himself into the rock.

I didn't make any move to look at what was inside of the sack, so Nile grabbed it.

"You got rabbits?" Nile asked, a light shone in his eyes as he asked it. I felt my heart lighten a little bit at that. Food was exactly what we needed.

"Ten of the suckers. They're pretty big too," Darwin said, sitting near the fire, Van doing the same. They had huge grins on their faces.

After discussing it, we decided to eat one of the rabbits and save the rest for the group and storage. As Van prepped the rabbit for cooking, Nile sprawled out on the rock to sleep for a while. He was as close to the fire as he could get without burning himself.

"We have to start heading back to the house tomorrow. Could get back before sunset if we leave a little after sunrise," Darwin said, he was laying on his side with his eyes closed and he faced the fire.

"You really think it would take us that long? It only took us half a day to get here," I pointed out.

"That was three days ago, when we were three days stronger. None of us have the strength to do that again," Darwin pointed out and I knew he was right. The four of us had kept watch at night, gone three days with small morsels of food and water, and hunted all hours of daylight that we had. It had sapped our strength and made us quite unhappy.

When the rabbit was finished cooking, Van woke up Nile and we each got a portion of it. It wasn't much, but it was better than what we had had the last few days, and if that doesn't scream satisfied, I don't know what does.

It was mine and Darwin's night to keep watch. Darwin took the first half of the night so I settled down in my sleeping bag and secured my hood around my head to keep out the cold. The rock was slightly warmed from the fire and that helped lull me into a state of unconsciousness that was neither pleasant, nor unpleasant.

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Author's Note

HI GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!! It's been ten months since I finished 'Not The Last' so it was definitely time. I missed writing this story so much, you don't even know. More to come soon, but just these two chapters for today. Hope y'all like it so far!