Hunted「Book One」

「Seventeen」

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Please, Austin," she begged. "For once in your life, don't be reckless or careless. I have a really bad feeling about this so make sure you keep yourself and the others a safe distance from the Hunters."

I nodded and chewed on my lip, the realization of how dangerous this was finally hitting me. Whatever happened, I needed to get back to the Grove. No matter how tempting it was to bash in the Hunters' faces, I needed to get back.

I shot her a reassuring grin. "No worries, Iz, of course I'll be coming back. Who else will annoy you if I'm not around?"

I managed to crack her worried expression, even if it was only for a moment, and she let out a small laugh. "Yeah, you better..."

With a final hug, I parted ways with her and followed the guys out of the town. Although, it wasn't until I stepped foot out of the protection the Grove offered that I realized just how helpless I truly was.

* * *

It was a long walk, to say the least. I honestly don't know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't something as boring as this. No one uttered a single word and I was too exhausted to start it up this time around. It was already taking all the strength I had to not curl up on top of a patch of grass and take a long nap.

I was so tired that I didn't even notice when Bryan, who led the group, raised up a hand in signal for us to stop. I nearly walked right past him in a sleepy daze before he grabbed my arm and roughly pulled me back.

"I think I hear them up ahead," he whispered, before nodding at us to keep moving.

We only managed to move up a couple of feet before a twig snapped loudly under my weight, causing all of us to freeze in fear of being heard. Everyone shot glares at me and I rolled my eyes. Even after all the years spent hiking in the forest, I've never claimed to be the best at it, nor the most stealthy.

"How 'bout you just stay back and be our lookout?" Bryan asked me.

No matter how nicely he put it, it was obvious none of them wanted me there which I honestly couldn't blame them for. I quickly nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, sure. Go ahead, guys. I was hoping I could be the lookout anyway," I feigned, relieved when they actually bought it.

I stood there for a few moments after they went ahead, waiting for them to get a good enough lead before slowly making my way after them. They were more stupid than I realized if they actually believed I was going to stay back while they approached the Hunters. I promised Izzy that I would keep them and myself safe. I wasn't one to go back on promises.

I tried my damn hardest to keep myself from making too much noise which I actually succeeded in for once. I was practically making no noise at all as I trailed them. As amazing as it was, my faith in myself was beginning to waver and I was more than grateful when they finally stopped. I hid behind a tree as Kevin scanned the area, narrowly avoiding being caught by him. It wasn't until he turned back around that I gathered the courage to take a few steps forward, and boy was I shocked when I saw what happened:

They walked right out in sight of the Hunters.

I nearly ran right out from my hiding to try and stop them, but I was happy that I didn't. After all, their lives were in no way at risk.

"It took you long enough," Jack said casually to Bryan, who merely sighed.

"Sorry about that, we had some troubles-"

"Never mind that, what did you find out about the town?"

Bryan's expression immediately turned to one of concern. "We were wrong about the werewolves. There's way more than just one thousand of them - I'd say, at the very least, five thousand and most of them are trained in combat."

"Are you doubting our abilities?" Jack inquired.

Bryan flinched in response to the question. All eyes on him and it was obvious how nervous he felt despite how hard he tried to disguise it.

"Of course not, but I want to ensure you understand what we're going up against."

"If I didn't know any better, Bryan, I would think you were trying to scare us away from attacking the werewolves. Perhaps you still have a soft spot for the Rescuers?"

Bryan stood dumbfounded at that statement and his anger that he was trying so hard to contain was finally boiled over.

"Are you doubting where my loyalties lie? After everything I did for you? Without my information, you would've never had the chance to kill Liam Stone!"

My heart skipped a beat and my mouth suddenly grew very dry. My brother's death was Bryan's fault? The person who we both considered a friend murdered him? Tears burned in my eyes at the realization of it all. My fingernails dug into the bark of the tree that kept me hidden from sight and it took every last ounce of sense I had in me to stop myself from running in front of them and attacking that asshole myself.

Jack merely chuckled. "No need to get so worked up, I was only joking. I do appreciate the concern, but we are more than capable of defeating the werewolves with our numbers and the help of our new weapons."

New weapons? That was enough to momentarily forget about my anger. What new weapons could they possibly have gotten? It would need to be something powerful, way out of their range when it comes to price, or at least something highly effective against werewolves. Something like-

"I still don't understand how you plan to raise enough money to afford everyone silver weapons," Bryan said.

"All in due time you'll see. I still have some tricks up my sleeve; something Izzy and those pathetic werewolves will never see coming."

Bryan and the other - well, former - Rescuers shuffled their feet nervously at the mention of Izzy, bringing attention to themselves.

"What? Did something happen?" Jack snapped impatiently.

"Well," Kevin started, "Izzy stopped us just before we were able to leave the town."

Jack took a huge breath of air, no doubt to calm himself, and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Please don't tell me Izzy is somewhere here right now."

"No," Bryan piped up, "but Austin Stone is. We left him a couple hundred feet back "

Jack still seemed annoyed by the inconvenience but wasn't as angry before. Obviously, he made the mistake of assuming I'm not as much of a threat.

"Fine, we'll cut this short then. You are to go back to that wretched town and say you heard nothing out of the ordinary to lower their guard, but make sure the Rescuers don't leave. If this works out, we'll kill two birds with one stone."

"We can do that, and we'll try to keep you up to date with anything important that happens."

Jack nodded and turned to David who was absentmindedly twirling his dagger between his fingers, appearing bored with the current situation.

"Since he's already saved us the trouble of finding him ourselves, would you go take care of Austin for me?"

David revealed a wicked grin, showing just how twisted he truly was. "With one brother out of the way, it's only fitting to put the other one down."

I gulped. As much as I wanted my revenge, even I knew how heavily weighed the odds were against me, especially when my opponents all wouldn't have a second thought about killing me. I promised Izzy I would come back and I wasn't about to break that, even if it meant letting my opportunity of revenge slip right past me.

Taking a step back, I made the worse mistake possible. My attention was so focussed on the Hunters in front of me that I didn't even bother to look where I was stepping. The second I put my weight into my foot, a loud snap rang throughout the forest and every single pair of eyes locked onto me in an instant.

Shit.