After the unpleasant encounter with the crossbowman, Kat had become much more cautious: before leaving home she always made sure that she had hidden the weapons in various parts of the house in case of need, in the evening she went to check the traps she had placed out before it got dark and especially when she was wandering through the woods she was much more cautious.
Experience teaches.
After the attack, she went to take the dart and observed it, hoping it could say something, but nothing.
It was just a dart like so many others.
It had been two or three days from the attack and Kat didn't go out much more than home if not in case of necessity and with due precautions. Now she could no longer worry about living but of surviving. And to survive she needed the food she had to hunt. She had never been particularly good at hunting but had to learn quickly.
It was early morning and Kat had already been waiting for some poor animal to pass and offer her the right opportunity. Fortunately she didn't have to wait long before a fawn passed by.
Here it is, here we are. Poor, it's really nice. I'm sorry to have to do it.
She took her aim well and when it was still, she closed her eyes and fired a single shot. The animal fell dead to the ground.
Kat stood up and went to the fawn, hoping she hadn't make it suffer.
Once there she caressed it: it had a soft, warm skin and an look so innocent.
I'm sorry, baby.
She grabbed it by the legs as best as she could and lifted it up to bring it back into the house. As she walked suddenly she noticed a metallic sparkle near a tree and immediately after a trigger noise. Instinctively she threw himself on the ground, dropping his prey and miraculously avoiding the shot.
Fuck, again!
Kat still had the weapon with her, but in order to use it she had first to find a place to hide. She got up and started running again: once hidden behind a tree, she took the gun and started looking around. She saw nothing, but knew that there was still someone besides her. To lure him into the open she would have to act as bait. It was not a brilliant idea but it was the only way. She took all the courage she had in her body and began to run towards the tree next to her and as soon as she was behind it, a dart hit the tree fully into it, sticking into it. As soon as she heard the shot, Kat jumped out and fired a few bullets. It was a game that couldn't have gone on indefinitely and would have lost who would have finished the ammo first. Kat was almost short of bullets: she had to run back home even if it wouldn't have been easy.
Before going out into the open she fired two more shots and began to run with her heart in her throat. Behind her she could hear someone running, then suddenly two gun shots from another direction and the sound of footsteps ceased. Kat didn't stop until she was inside the house: she shut the door in a hurry and as she was heading for her hiding place she heard the sound of the sofa's skin stretch and then a voice.
<Ah ah, stop where you are ...>