Hunted

Chapter 2

Revelation

Achitaka was the first to wake up.

He leaned over on the bed and shook awake his three siblings, all of which gave a soft "Just five more minutes...", pulling the cover back over themselves. Achitaka sighed wearily and gave them those five more minutes before shaking them awake again. Alex and Micheal grudgingly woke up, but Artemis, determined to sleep, let off another "Just five more minutes...". Achitaka wouldn't hear of it, and shook her until she was fully awake.

After a few moment of debate, Alex was chosen to go wake their parents up, while the other three made their way to the kitchen to get breakfast, as well as to clear away the Hunter's body.

This plan was stable for all of 45 seconds, when a bloodcurdling scream from Alex made the other three double back and sprint towards the source of it.

"What? What happened?!" Achitaka yelled when he reached their parents room, first out of the three. Alex was standing there and staring into it, his mouth wide open, but no longer making any sound. The door was blown, not inward, but outward, as if something had tried to break out of it. Achitaka gulped and poked his head around the corner, then quickly pulled it back when he got a quick look.

It was a gruesome sight. The bed pillows and blankets were dishevelled, some of them across the room. But that's not what made him reel. The bed was covered in the bloody remains of what was, apparently, two humans, though there didn't seem to be enough left to make even one.

The other two arrived, asking the same questions as Achitaka. He pointed inside the room, and the other two had about the same reactions.

"Mom..." Micheal said, nearly sobbing.

"D-dad..." Artemis whispered quietly.

Achitaka and Alex simply stood there, stunned. After a moment, Artemis and Micheal hugged eachother very tightly, who were quickly joined by Alex. It took Achitaka a moment, but he eventually caved and joined the other three, all four of them sobbing gently.

The tender moment was ruined by the high pitched shriek of a Hunter down the four of them jumped and quickly broke apart, looking in the direction of the shriek. After standing perfectly still and quiet for about a minute, still nothing came down at them.

"C-come on...we have to get out of here..." Micheal whispered.

It took a moment for an answer to come. "Y-yes. Yes, yes we do. The car, I can drive...we need to get to the car." Achitaka whispered back. He turned and started to walk, as quietly as he could. "Stay behind me, and stay quiet...Alex, watch our back."

Alex nodded and followed last, walking behind them, and keeping his head turned over his shoulder, looking forward every few seconds to make sure he didn't bump into anything.

"How did that thing get in here?" Artemis whispered after a moment of walking.

"P-probably the one that attacked yesterday...maybe it didn't die..." Answered Micheal.

"No way, that's dead. We checked, remember? For breathing, heartbeat, and a pulse. Nothing." Achitaka countered.

"Then maybe it was another one? This place is huge, we could have easily missed it." Alex suggested.

Artemis nodded "Yeah, that's probably it."

Micheal, too, nodded in agreement "Yeah."

There was a short pause, except for the soft tapping of their socked feet hitting the ground.

"Where should we go when we get to the car?" Alex asked after a moment, glancing over his shoulder yet agian to make sure they weren't being followed.

"Away from here!" Artemis answered vehemently. "Anywhere but here!"

Achitaka nodded "What Artemis said."

The other two boys stayed quiet and nodded in understanding.

After a few more minutes of silent walking, they reached the kitchen. It was a very fancy kitchen, with many hanging shelves with fine china on them, mostly jsut to look good. The great number of drawers connected to the counter supplied the plates, bowls, and silverware with which to actually eat, and cabinets above held cups.

Achitaka flipped on the light. He moved over to the fridge and opened it up, scouring it for food that they could take with them. Alex stayed at the door to watch, while Artemis helped Achitaka look. Micheal, meanwhile, checked on the previous Hunter's body. Something was wrong with it, but in his panic, Micheal couldn't quite tell what.

"Hey guys, look at the Hunter..." He called over.

Achitaka and Artemis turned to look, while Alex stole a quick glance before looking back to the door to keep watch.

After a moment of wondering, Achitaka realized what he was trying to find. Or, rather, not find. "Guys...the hoodie...where is it?"

Micheal and Artemis blinked, then realization dawned on them as well. "What the...?"

"The hoodie's gone?" Alex asked, still refusing to tkae his eyes from the door.

"Yeah," Micheal answered. "Where could it have go-" But he was cut off in mid sentence by a flash of darkness, and then a bright, but only momentarily, flash of light, as the bulb in the kitchen burned out. All the lights down the hallway went out as well, though not actually burning out.

Artemis jumped in shock, hitting her head on one of the shelves with the fine china. It all flew into the air and crashed down on the floor, shattering with a much louder crash than seems possible for such small pieces of china. Artemis, meanwhile, yelped out and grabbed her head to soothe the pain a little.

Meanwhile, the crash of china made Micheal jump back, as well. He didn't regain his balance and fell right into the fridge, making a very loud banging as everything came falling out of it.

The Hunter screeched loudly and menacingly, coming closer with every passing moment.

"Oh no...I can't see!"

"What happened? Why are the lights out?"

"Achitaka? Alex? Micheal? Where are you?"

Then Achitaka's voice came, dominant over the other three "Be quiet! Stay calm!"

But Alex's voice countered "It doens't matter know, it knows where we are, and it can see in the dark! We have to move!"

There was a general and panicked murmur of agreement. After a few second of groping in the dark for everyone, the four of them made their way across the kitchen, and into another room. Alex silently shut the door when they entered. There was a window above. It was boarded up, but there were a few cracks letting in the light of the full moon. The overcast from before had thinned. The light from the moon showed a small living quarters, probably a guest room. It had a bed, a simple dresser, and a closet. Nothing notable about it.

Alex turned back to the other three and said silently "What happened? Why did the lights go out?"

"The generator went out, probably. I bet it hasn't been gassed in ages. Doesn't seem like there was anyone here to do it."

There was a loud bang on the door, and all of the children looked up. Surely the Hunter hadn't found them already, there had to be at least four doors leading into the kitchen...

But then Achitaka paled. There was a small window on the door, and the Hunter's face was inches from it, staring down at them all, the shine from the moon giving the already creepy eyes and eerie glow. But there was one more thing about the face that was disturbing.

The face was not some nameless stranger.

It was the face of his father.

And he was trying to break the door open, so that he could kil lthem all.