Chapter 3

The Hunt

Rea

"Iris, stay behind me," I demanded being my protective self. Iris and I were currently in a gigantic cage staring out at creepy, eerie dark woods. I guess the hunt had started because I could sense erasers EVERYWHERE!

"What's going on Rea?" Iris said in a weak scared voice.

"Well we're about to be let out and hunted by erasers. It's a game to them and it teaches the young erasers how to kill. I've gone through it once or twice before, they don't go easy on you so stay behind me no matter what understand?" I summed up glaring into the creeper woods.

Iris gulped and nodded. She shouldn't have to be going through this, I felt horrible that a kid as young as her had to suffer like I did when I was in school. Well I was around her age then too but I still took full responsibility for Iris the moment I saw her.

I heard the warning tone ring out through the dead branches and our cage popped open, "Go!" I shouted and we shot out of the cage like bullets. As soon as we were gone I heard erasers angrily howling because we hadn't stayed to wish them luck. "Get into a tree pronto!"

"Shouldn't we take to the skies?" She fretted.

"Not a good idea, they can shoot you down and they seem to have wings now, our best decision is to hide." I answered and started pushing her butt up so she could reach the tree branch. We would've just flown up there but the trees were so compact that our wings couldn't be out all the way, "Ok pull me up," I whispered when my danger alarms went off.

"NEVER MIND! ABORT!" I shouted and ducked as an eraser ran face first into the tree, "stay there!" I shouted another direction to trick the eraser.

With fake fear in my eyes I backed slowly away from the younger eraser snarling at me. He lunged at me again and I sprung into the air. My wings were still close to my back but hey I grew up training in the woods. I was trained by these losers to be able to maneuver through the woods like an expert with my wings and no matter how compact the trees were I was still pretty good at it.

"Hun, you just messed with the wrong hybrid!" I snapped and felt rage boiling in my veins. I was about to lunge at it again when lightning flashed from the sky and the erasers was down and paralyzed. After being blown backwards into a tree I saw Iris with an angry expression on her face glaring down at the eraser. "Thanks," I said in disbelief.

"I may not be able to help but I can always try. I can't keep that up for long though," She panted and looked at me with her sharp eyes.

"It helped just now and that's what counts," I praised her. I felt more erasers nearing us and I knew I had to get Iris out of here. "Get down from the tree quickly. I'm going to find safety for you and I want you to stay there and only defend yourself if you have to. Don't worry about me." She nodded feebly and hopped out of the tree. I motioned for her to follow me and we slunk off into the woods.

After about ten minutes of fast walking I stumbled upon a cave covered in lichen. "Perfect," I grinned. When Iris finally saw what I was looking at she grinned too, "It's well hidden and small so only very small erasers will fit in here but it will also be harder to fight in. Just be prepared." I said and directed her into the small space.

"Rea, what about you?" Iris said frantically as I covered the cave in ferns.

"Kid, this stuff isn't new to me and you're younger than me. If it was just me here I'd be beating the shit out of everyone right now but you are my newly found responsibility. Besides I wouldn't be able to fit in there anyways." I said and winked at her. I sensed worry and pride coming off of her like a tidal wave and I grinned inwardly. "Good luck kid. If I'm not back in less than ten hours assume I'm not coming back and don't leave until you know for a fact that all the erasers are gone. You'll be able to find an escape route from there on out."

"What are you saying?" Iris asked in fear.

"I'm saying that these guys play rough. A close friend sacrificed their life for me all those years ago and I never saw him again. I'm doing the same for you, doesn't mean I won't come back but anything's possible so stay low and shut it." I said forcefully and ran off when I felt danger coming near.

I ran until I was gasping for breath and in a hybrid; that means I ran a LOT. I had to keep my strength up though so I camped up in a tree until I eyed two erasers coming towards my location. Their noses were in the air and one caught my sent, "Damn I forgot about my sent," I growled to myself and bunched my muscles getting ready for a fight.

"She's over there I think." The female eraser said in confusion.

"Remember to trust your gut…I still haven't got there yet though." The male said. The female looked distraught that she couldn't learn this stuff fast enough, "Lily don't worry, and you'll do great."

"Awe well I'm not one to disturb two love birds but in this case it's just so wrong." I said smirking and hanging upside down from my branch.

"There she is!" Shouted Lily. Both erasers took off at top speed towards me and the male pulled out some kind of gun.

"Whoa there, settle down lassie, I was just messing around with you!" I shouted and swung back into the tree with ease.

"We've found her, report we've found her!" Lily screamed into some ear piece.

"No you haven't!" I shouted and jumped out of the tree and onto her back.

"Ben help me!" Lily screeched.

"What can't handle on measly bird kid?" I taunted.

Ben went to slap me off but slapped Lily in the head instead. I laughed and jumped off of her, "You're supposed to be helping me, not her, you idiot!" Lily snapped and her ears flattened.

"Ohhh ho ho, missy Lily over here's got a temper. Now that won't solve anything until you can land a blow on me." I laughed. I clung onto Ben's face and he screamed as Lily punched him in the face on accident.

"Oops I guess my hand slipped." She snarled at him.

"Hey that was on purpose!" Ben snapped back and they started growling at each other.

"Then next time you probably shouldn't hit me!" Lily hissed angrily. Ben smacked her upside the head again after she said that.

"Oops I thought the hybrid was on you." He growled.

"Oh you're just asking for it!" Lily yelled and tackled Ben onto the ground. I watched as they fought for a while until I got bored and flew away back to where I was hiding Iris.

Nothing was disturbed back there so I toughed it out into the darker parts of the woods and got attacked by tons of erasers many more times. By the time I had finished off my tenth eraser I was bleeding profusely and panting wishing I had Hazel's power right that second.

When someone tapped me I panicked and spun around ready to punch them, "Wait, please stop!" A young baby voice yelled in fear. I dropped my wrist to see that baby eraser I was mooning over earlier when I was doped up standing in front of me. He had what looked like red war pain striped in two lines from his muzzle all the way down to his tail. Three words for him, "You are adorable," I thought in my head. He had blue eyes and a fuzzy pelt so technically he looked like a baby, cute werewolf that stood on two legs and had little abs.

"What are you doing?" I asked when he grabbed my hand and helped me up.

"You complimented me earlier, I never said thank you." He said with a small smile.

"But, you're an eraser; you're not allowed to be helping me." I wheezed.

"I'm different from the others. I don't want to hurt you, I just want a friend and someone to help me get out of here." He said and started leading me off somewhere.

"How do I know this isn't a trap?" I asked, "And what's your name."

"Rea, you would know if it was a trap, do you sense any danger coming off of me? And I don't have a name." He said and smiled again. His little smile melted my heart.

"You're right, I don't. What do people call you then?" I smiled back.

"Kid," He responded.

"Well I'll call you Kyler, is that ok?" I said calmly.

"Yes, I like the sound of it." Kyler said back and hugged my leg with his little tight grip. I smiled down at him and then out of the corner of my eye I spotted a dark shape moving like jaws through the dark water. Yes I did see that movie on TV once! (Abby's first horror movie was Jaws and it was at my place. I'm still so proud of that hahaha! Back to the story!)

"Kid, what the hell do you think you're doing with her!" And eraser boomed and appeared right in front of me.

"He has a name you know! It's Kyler." I snarled back and pushed Kyler behind my haunches so I could defend him.

"I like her dad! She's nice and she understands me!" Kyler shouted and I saw him…crying. He buried his face in the fabric of my leg and started crying?

The larger eraser looked shocked at first that his son was crying and I took the opportunity to punch him in the face, "Nero, you weren't meant for this!" The father said as he rubbed his now bleeding muzzle.

"It's Kyler!" Kyler shouted and gripped my calf more with his tiny claws.

"You have no respect for your son sir. Therefore I am taking him away from you and I'm about to beat the shi- crap out of you," I said noticing that Kyler was still just a puppy. I lunged at the eraser and smacked him hard in the ears making him howl in pain and stumble backwards. I slammed him into a tree and threw him onto the ground and from there on out he was out like a light.

"Kyler, it's ok." I said soothingly and slung him up into my arms. He buried his little muzzle in my shoulder and continued to cry until he finally fell asleep. How freaking cute is that. I never knew an eraser could be like this but from that point on, Kyler was mine.

It was getting late and I knew the erasers would be heading back with injuries and exaggerated stories of how I beat the shit out of them. I walked back to where I left iris and called out softly, "Iris, it's me. I'm back and I have a baby eraser with me, don't worry he's on our side."

Iris poked her head out of the covered cave and she smiled upon seeing Kyler, "What's his name?" She whispered and scratched his chin. I swear to god he looked like a baby black lab werewolf with frizzy hair abs and two red stripes. He was adorable.

"I named him Kyler." I said as Kyler started waking up. He saw me and Iris and got a worried expression on his face.

"Where are we?" He asked and jumped out of my arms.

"Somewhere in the jungle." Iris answered, "Hi Kyler, I'm Iris."

"Hi Iris, Rea named me!" He said happily and took my hand.

"I always wanted another dog, but this one's even better." I said and smiled down at him.

"I like Rea better then my dad," Kyler said and hugged my leg again.

"Someone has a soft side for puppies," Iris snickered at me.

"Long ago memories of painful times can do that to you." I answered and smiled back at her.

"Hey Kyler, do you know how to get out of here? Like an escape route?" Iris asked him and knelt down to look into his eyes.

Kyler thought long and hard for a minute before his face light up with a smile. "Yeah! It's under the waterfall. Follow me!"

Both Iris and I smiled and followed him, "What happened when you were younger?" Iris whispered as we fell back from Kyler.

"Erasers killed my dog Phantom after I had been abandoned with my brother and sister, she took care of us up until the day she died." I whispered back.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Iris whispered again and sped up to play with Kyler.

We came upon a large waterfall in the middle of the freaking jungle and I knew right then, that we were free. I ran to catch up to the group and we all smiled at each other, "Freedom, here we come." I said and we all ran like kids towards the waterfall in excitement.

'I'm almost out Jackie, see you soon.' I thought to myself and smiled, 'And I'm bringing home some new friends.'