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Gubleronics

Chapter 3: Bullets In The Bark

Spencer sat on a stump and watched Derek and his friends as they packed up. Just two more days here…Two more and then you're safe from Father. You won't ever see him again. He nodded to himself, his courage growing. He knew he'd make it out of this alive. He was determined to. Even though there was a time he was ready to give up, he told himself he couldn't do that. He took the time to look every single one of them over. He smiled slightly. And now he finally made it.

Derek slung his backpack over his shoulder and adjusted it. He turned his head to look at Spencer, who was looking at him. He quickly directed his eyes away. Good God, Derek, what have you gotten yourself into? You pick a boy up from a tree and think that saving him is going to be simple. He shook his head. If anything, simple isn't one of the words to describe what it's gonna take to save him from his seemingly god-awful father. And right then and there, it clicked. He whirled around to face everyone. "I think our enemy is…" He suddenly realized Spencer was there and didn't want to frighten him, so he leaned in and whispered in Emily's ear. "His father. I mean, who else would Spencer have contact to? Can you imagine how long he's been in this weather and woods?"

Emily nodded and pulled away. She immediately answered at the questioning faces of others. "We'll um…we'll tell you later, at a more appropriate time, alright?"

JJ gave her a suspicious glance, but kept her thoughts to herself. What's going on? She tried to be as neutral with this as she could, but she was starting to question how all of this was going to turn out alright. As a mother and a wife, she had a family to head back to. And to be honest, she didn't want some little boy to be the cause of her death. She knew it was a bad idea right from the start. She took her back pack, bow, and quiver and ventured off with Aaron, who was upset with this just as much as she was. "I know you're pissed."

"What do you think? We find a boy who fell out of a tree like a fucking leaf and expect the best out of it. Now we're out here dodging bullets and arrows. Who really wanted this to happen for our trip?" Aaron snapped. The grumpiness on his face was visible. He didn't like it one bit. Just like the rest of them (except for Garret), he thought that was going to be easy: Get the boy out of the forest and into one of our homes. That was a major laugh in the face. It was beginning to be far from easy. Aaron could see the boy starting mental breakdowns and wondered how frequent they would be before he lost his patience and just killed him.

Garret trekked up behind them with an equally grumpy face, but it was always like that ever since Spencer came along. He just wanted a normal hunting trip with two beautiful women and his bow, quiver, and gun. And now ever since that forest boy tagged along, he couldn't even have that. He couldn't have anything, as spoiled as his…acquaintances thought he was. "What the fuck do we think we're doing? We don't even know how old the boy is, yet we're taking him into one of homes'? I didn't sign up for this. I just wanted to hunt and have a nice weekend."

"Derek agreed to take him, Garret. None of us signed up for this. We just have to figure out how to handle this. We'll figure it out. We just need to keep our composures until everything's settled out," Aaron said gruffly. He turned to JJ. "Do think our enemy is Spencer's father?"

JJ put her hands up in defense. "Hey, your guess is as good as mine. Besides, who else would be out here in this cold except for other hunters? All the other hunters I know wouldn't hurt a fly – not unless they had to. I'm not a threat to them. It has to be his father."

Aaron nodded and sighed. It was going to be some long couple of weeks until this is all settled out.

Spencer stood up from his stump and twisted his fingers together nervously. He looked from Derek to Emily. "W-what's going on?"

Derek shook his head. "It's nothing, Spencer."

Spencer's hands started to shake. "It's my father, isn't it? Is he coming to take me again?" His voice quivered with fear.

"Spencer, it's nothing concerning you or your father," Derek lied. As much as he hated lying to the boy that way, it was for the best intentions. He still saw that Spencer was shaking and stepped forward to calm him down. "Spencer…"

Spencer stepped back. "I heard you last night, saying that someone was shooting at you. It's him, isn't it?"

Emily stepped in. "No, it's not, Spencer. Everything will be fine and we'll get you to Derek's house as soon as we can, alright?"

Spencer knew she was lying. As soothing and smooth as he voice was, he still wasn't calm. He didn't want to be calm – he wanted to know the truth. He stepped back further from them. "Why are you lying to me?"

Derek huffed. "Spencer, we're not sure if it's your father or not. We just want to keep you safe."

Suddenly, Spencer started to tremble roughly. He dropped to his knees and put himself in fetal position, rocking back and forth and mumbling to himself. "Father's gonna take me. Father's gonna rape me. Father's gonna punish me. Father's gonna hate me. F-Father…"

For the strangest reason, irritation clutched at Derek's chest. He grabbed the boy's arm harshly and pulled him out of his position. "Your father's not gonna do anything to you, do you hear me? He's not coming for you! He's not gonna do anything to you!" It took him a while to notice that he was shaking him, but he didn't stop until he saw the pained and fearful look in his expressive eyes. He slowed to a stop and released him, standing up quickly as though he suddenly discovered that he was a monster. He looked down at his trembling hands and clutched them into fists to stop them. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," he said quietly. "Let's just go." He turned on his heel and walked away quickly without a word, regret plummeting deep in his stomach.

Emily knelt down in front of Spencer, who was staring at the spot where Derek's heels drilled in the snow. She carefully put a hand on his shoulder and felt him tense. She sighed as she felt tears well up in her eyes. "He didn't mean to hurt you, Spencer. He's just stressed, that's all. He has a lot of patience. Just give him some time," she tried to prevent her tears from sounding out in her voice but she failed. She wanted so badly to pull him in a hug, but knew he would be more scared. She simply rubbed his shoulder in replacement for her want and helped him up.

The walk through the forest was quiet. Everyone was off balance and focus. They barely killed anything because of their short-attention span, all of their minds wandering somewhere else. Even Garret wasn't focused and he wasn't even worried about Spencer at first.

Spencer stared up at the trees to find holes filled with some metal item and arrows plummeted inside them. He stopped for a moment to study them and narrowed his eyebrows. He didn't mean to cause any harm. He just wanted to be away from Father.

He tensed as he heard rustling from behind him and his heart started pounding in his throat. He tried to stay still and keep his attention directed on the tree. He glanced to his side and narrowed his eyebrows in worry. Where was everyone? Shit! He was lost!

No longer able to control himself, he whirled around to find his intruder was…

A fox.

He stared at it for a long time. A fox. A fucking fox. He almost laughed, but instead, just settled for a chuckle. A fox! He smiled. It was a beautiful one with its auburn fur and sweet honey eyes. It was strange, but in that moment, he wanted to keep it. He wanted to keep it and call it his own. He knelt down in front of it and was surprised it didn't move away. He stroked its fur along its back and smiled wider as it nuzzled his arm in appreciation. In that moment, he wanted nothing else in the world but that fox. If he could have it, he would've named it after his old fox, Owen. It seemed that it fit best for this fox, too. He blinked and peered closer into the fox's eyes. Wait… He smiled impossibly wider, the widest he's ever smiled. "Owen?"

The familiar fox nudged his arm in affection.

Spencer laughed and ruffled Owen's neck. "Owen! Oh, I've missed you so much!" He nuzzled his cheek against Owen's and pulled back to smile at his fox and companion. "Where've you been, boy?"

Owen whimpered and nuzzled his cheek.

Spencer's smile slowly slipped away. He ruffled Owen's neck again, but his eyes were glancing around the forest in fear and cautiousness. "Where have you been…?"

Suddenly, he heard a familiar deep, rich voice calling his name nearby. Derek and his friends came in sight, all of them wearing equally angry faces.

Derek came stomping towards him, shouting. "What the fuck were you thinking? You just stopped?"

Spencer stared up at him, his booming, powerful voice oozing with ire. "I-I…"

"You can't just stop like that, Spencer! You need to be watched every minute of every hour by one of us until we get you out of here! You can't just wander off like that! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Owen stepped forward and gave a halting bark.

Derek jerked back in surprise.

Owen growled and nuzzled against Spencer's neck protectively.

Derek was quite flabbergasted while JJ was absolutely in love with him. She stepped from behind Derek knelt down in front of him to scratch his ears. "Oh, how cute! Is he yours?"

Spencer nodded hesitantly. "O-Owen."

"His name is Owen?" JJ asked in a gentle voice.

Spencer smiled slightly and nodded.

JJ smiled back, happy to see even the slightest smile on the boy's face. He rubbed his back in adoration. "Well, it fits him just perfectly. He's very cute." She stood up and stepped back.

The interaction seemed to calm Spencer nerves as he stroked Owen's head in affection, which was drawn on his face.

Owen nudged his hand and purred.

Derek cleared his throat awkwardly. "Do you…do you want to keep him?"

Garret suddenly appeared in front of them all of a sudden. With his gun in hand. "Don't let him keep it; let's kill it!"

Spencer tensed and cradled Owen in his arms as the Reynard growled.

Derek glared at him. "Listen to me right now, Garret. You have been a selfish ass since the beginning when we picked Spencer up. Don't you see? He has nothing. No parents, no house, no company – nothing. And you, you have everything. Your father spoils you with money and everything you could ever want. I would like to see you put yourself in his shoes and see what it's like to have nothing. We're not killing it; we're letting him keep it. It's the only thing he has right now. His dignity, his sanity, his everything is gone now. His father took that away from him. Just leave him alone from now, alright, Garret?"

Garret put his gun away and nodded without making eye contact.

Derek extended a hand to Spencer and helped him up. He gestured a hand to Owen. "He's not dangerous or anything, right?"

Spencer shook his head and added quietly. "Not unless you give him a reason to be…"

Derek looked down at it in caution. "Well, I'm gonna keep my distance then…"

Spencer chuckled quietly and slipped past him with Owen following, eyeing Derek fiercely.

Derek wasn't paying attention to that. He was paying attention to Spencer's laugh. It was soft, sweet, and warm. He wanted to hear it more often.

Suddenly, an arrow plucked itself in a tree and landed right above Spencer's head. Spencer turned his head sharply enough to have whiplash and gasped.

Owen trotted to him and tucked himself in between Spencer's shaking legs, rubbing his snout against his calf.

A sharp boom fired out and a bullet flew past Spencer's arm and grazed him.

Spencer gasped at the prickly throb of his wound and held it. Owen stood up and curled himself around Spencer in a way to protect him. He barked in command, as if to tell whoever was doing this to stop.

Spencer heard Derek whisper to him to get down, but he was too paralyzed with fear to move. Father…Father found me! His immediate instinct was to run. So he bolted, running past Derek and the others with Owen at his heels. Arrows and bullets flew in between his movements and missed him by a long shot. By the time the attack had stopped and they were at a considerate length away, Spencer dropped to his knees and covered his face with his hands. He whimpered and panted, trying to catch his breath and trying to catch his life.

Owen nudged Spencer's thigh, but did nothing further, knowing that his owner didn't want to be bothered.

Spencer sniffed and sobbed. He ran his hands through his hair and wiped his eyes. He shakily stood up and used the tree and Derek for leverage. He looked at him hesitantly with apologetic eyes. "I'm…I'm really sorry. I did all of this. This is my fault."

Derek shook his head. "No, Spencer, it's not. Your father is just…being really difficult. It's his fault. He's not well in the head if he wants to hold onto you so tightly for whatever reason it is. Don't blame yourself; it's not your fault."

All of their legs and feet were aching by the time they walked half of a day's worth of miles. Derek sighed relief as he removed his boots and rubbed them, closing his eyes at the rich throb of his feet. It was weird, but he always liked the feeling. He cracked his eyes open to find Spencer laughing as Owen nuzzled and licked his face. He smiled. Gotta love that laugh. He directed his attention on Owen in all of his gentleness and affection. The Reynard cared very deeply about Spencer, almost as if he were a protector and shield of some sort. Derek liked him. If anything, they were almost exactly alike.

Then a dark thought hit him. What if that the fox was the only thing that really made Spencer happy? It was a hard thing to think about considering what Spencer's background, but it was most likely true that Spencer hadn't really laughed in a long time. Derek wanted to change that. He wanted Spencer to have a better life after this, but he knew that it was going to be far from simple. He had to keep an open mind, though, so he can make it through without tearing himself apart like the last time.

He sighed tiredly. "Ah, I think I'm gonna hit the sack and go to sleep. It's been a long day and we need to get moving right when we get up in the morning."

Spencer nodded. "Can…can Owen stay outside?"

Derek smiled a friendly one at him and nodded. "Sure. Will he be here in the morning?"

Spencer smiled down at his fox and stroked his back. "Yeah, he'll be here."

Derek nodded and stood to get started on making camp, sparing another glance at the boy from the tree. He shook his head and smiled as he unpacked. He wanted to see the better side of Spencer and was determined to be that person who does.

AN: Did you like it? Did ya? Did ya?

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