AN: Hello friends I have returned with a mediocre chapter full of speech and not much else. More AN at the end, so please read it!

Answering Reviews:

Violet Petunia & Rosemellen: Answered via PM

Analyn Rockwand: *Frustrated writer-with-writer's-block noises*

Guest (On chapter 50 of Lifetime): If you're reading this then you already know. It's not over yet! *Evil laughter*

Chapter 20: Raun

Raun awakens with a start, eyes shooting open, automatically bringing her arms up in a block. Her shoulders wrench with the force of the pull, sore muscles screaming, and the girl's head is thrown back with the recoil, only to be met with the hard unforgiving bark of a tree.

She hisses in pain, squeezing her eyes shut. When she opens them again she looks around, bewildered. It's a pine forest, the ground littered with soft needles, the sharp scent of the trees all around her. She's actually sitting on the edge of a clearing, one side of it dropping onto a hill at the bottom of which there must be a river, judging by the faint sound of running water. In the center of the clearing is a carefully crafted fire pit, the embers dead and dark, but some wood gathered nearby. Behind that is the most interesting item; a tent. The door is zipped tightly shit, hiding the contents.

Raun shifts around, feeling for the small pocket knife in her back pocket. It's gone. The girl curses, but doesn't falter. She stretches out the fingers of one hand and a small spinning vortex opens beneath her fingers. Raun reaches into it almost daintily pulling out a butterfly knife, which she flicks open deftly. The extremely sharp blade slides easily through the rope, cutting shallowly into the heel of her left hand as it does so. Raun winces slightly, and, as she relaxes her cramped shoulders, brings her arm around and sucks on the cut. It's already closing.

As she gets to her feet, Raun swings her arms, working the stiffness out of her muscles. She reaches back, making to rub the back of her neck, and feels fabric beneath her fingers. Bandages? She turns her head, craning her neck to see, and the guess is confirmed. Her entire upper back is covered in white bandages wrapped in a complicated pattern around her arms and neck and shoulders.

The girl lets out a low whistle.

She approaches the tent, barely glancing around. "Hey Lea," She calls out, but there's no reply. Maybe the Proxy is still asleep. She's stupid for leaving Raun unattended. The girl performs the approximation of knocking on the soft-walled tent, "Wake up!" Still no reply. Raun spits on the ground and kicks the tent hard, "Get up!" Her foot connects solidly with something ad the girl grunts in satisfaction. There is someone in there. But still, no one comes out.

Raun reaches down, starting to unzip the door. She senses something coming towards her fast and ducks instinctively to avoid it. A short knife sticks in the tree behind her quivering.

"What are you doing?!" Lea says angrily, another, longer knife in her hand.

Raun glares at her, "What does it look like."

The other girl looks right at her, an expression on her face somewhere between fearful and seething with rage, "Do not go in there."

"Why not?"

"Just don't."

"Why not?"

"I'll gut you alive, pull out your intestines slowly, and burn them while they're still attached. Then I'll open up your chest, remove your heart, and shove it down your throat before you lose consciousness," Lea says without blinking.

Raun looks slightly taken aback, surprise on her face. Then she sneers, "Is it even possible to stay awake during that?"

"Adrenaline shots," The girls replies, making a gesture with the knife.

Raun steps away from the tent. Whatever is in there must be valuable. She'll have to see.

The girl turns in a circle, looking around, "Where are we anyway?"

Lea doesn't try to retrieve her knife or even look away from Raun, "A safe spot," She replies, "There were supplies stached here, just in case."

"Mmm. How did we get here?"

Lea doesn't reply.

"Well, Proxy, did Slenderman take us here?" Raun's tone is slightly condescending.

An expression crosses Lea's face, just for a moment. Irritation? Annoyance? Anger? Hatred?

"Slendermen," She corrects, "There's more than one."

"Thanks for telling me." Raun plops onto the ground, sitting cross-legged.

Lea is silent for a few minutes, standing motionless. Then she shrugs, sighs, shoulders low and head down. She walks over to the tree, yanking the short knife out of it.

"Are you going to tell me why you showed up at my door."

"I told you, I got attacked."

"By a beast?"

"Yes."

"What was it?"

Raun looks away, biting the inside of her lip so hard it starts to bleed. She greedily swallows the liquid without thinking, enjoying the taste. Her face goes pale at the realizayion of her action, and she spits to the side, the fluid red with blood.

"Okay," Lea says, "How's you wound? I can take a look at it if you want."

Raun shakes her head, "No. It's fine."

"You were practically dead."

"I'm a special breed."

"As in?"

Raun stands up, turning so her back is towards Lea. She tugs at the bandages on her shoulder, tearing one strand completely. The fabric falls away, dried blood and scabs coming with it. Underneath the girl's skin is smooth and flawless, a little pink with new growth. The terrible would from the night before has completely disappeared. Raun runs her hand over her own back, feeling the soft flesh beneath her fingers.

"I see," The Proxy says, voice completely flat.

Raun pulls the bandages the rest of the way off, throwing them to the ground. She kicks at them.

There's a slight noise behind her, and the girl turns around fast. Lea has a small bottle to her mouth, swallowing the translucent pink contents. Her throat works as if she's gagging, but the Proxy merely tilts the rest of the bottle back, forcing herself to swallow.

"So you're a Hunter?" She asks Raun, flipping the lid back into place.

"Yes," The girl replies, not elaborating.

"What's that like?"

Raun pauses, "You don't get to choose to be a Hunter. If they want you they take you. If you run, you're dragged back, kicking and screaming. If you somehow manage to evade them, or kill one of them, you're killed on site. There is no escape."

Lea silently waits for her to say more.

Raun hesitates only a moment. "They came for me when I was seven. Took me away. Three years later I finally figured it out. Then I ran, as far and as fast as I could. The person they sent after me was my brother, my blood, chasing me. He was 15 at the time, and I killed him, almost by sheer luck, but I did.

"And instead of killing me they offered a deal; my life, as a Hunter, in exchange fo two years. Being the desperate-to-survive lowlife that I am, I accepted. So they whisk me off to a lab and… experiment on me. For two years. I somehow made it out in one piece, by some miracle." She stops, taking a deep breath, then continues, not looking at the Proxy, "But they tried something on me. I don't know what exactly, or why on me of all people, but they did it. And when it was over I wasn't human anymore, not completely. I'm half… something else. I don't know what."

Lea doesn't say anything for a long time, but then she says something that Raun doesn't expect, "You should have told me."

"You?!" Raun blurts, "You're a Proxy; I smelled it on you the second I met you. Why would I tell you, a stranger, this?!"

The girl doesn't get angry, though a flash of pain crosses her face, "I'm a Proxy. It's essentially the same thing. We don't even get the chance to run most of the time; it's do or die. I missed my chance to escape. It was gone a good month before I realized it was even there at all."

"You weren't experimented on for years. You have no idea what it's like!"

Lea turns away. She reaches up, pulling herself into a tree carefully. She's favoring hr right arm. About ten feet up she settles with her back against the trunk. "You're probably right about that," She says, leaning her head back.

Raun plops onto the ground at the base of the tree, rubbing at the insides of her wrists where scar tissue from IVs and injections has built up into hard little ridges.

"Go on, leave," The Proxy says from above her.

"What?"

"Leave. Go ahead. It's not like I can keep you here."

Raun realizes she's right; last night she was wounded and weak, but now she's healed. Lea is weaker than she is. Really the Proxy is pleaing that she doesn't kill her before going; offering safe passage in return for her own life.

The Hunter nods, turns away She starts to leave the clearing. It doesn't matter where she is. That monster will follow her forever. It will come for her and she'll kill it. Following her trail exactly, right over this spot.

Right over Lea.

Raun pauses. That thing will come right through here, and if she couldn't best it the Proxy certainly can't. She's still fond of Lea, whether she admits it or not, and curious. Plus the girl saved her last night. She owes her.

"What were you doing at The Academy?" She asks.

"They wanted me there and I wanted information. You?"

Raun chuckles, "I was there to torch the library. They had too much information. I managed to take a card too."

"A card?" The girl sounds mystified.

Raun turns to look at her. The Proxy is sitting in the tree, arms partly around the trunk as if she's unsteady. Her eyes flick around the clearing faster than Raun can comprehend. She has her body pressed against the tree trunk, head leaning towards it slightly, like she's more comfortable ten feet off the ground.

Raun just shrugs off the question. It's difficult to explain.

"Was it you who set off that explosion?" Lea asks.

The Hunter blinks, "Yes. You felt that?"

"It was a pretty big explosion. And I don't think their architecture was the most stable." The girl smiles, "I would have loved to have seen their faces."

Raun smirks, "I have pictures," She says, reaching for her phone.

"Really?" The Proxy brightens up, climbing out of the tree. She reaches for the device, hesitates a moment, then snatches it, flicking through the pictures clumsily. She looks like she's out of practice using touch screens.

Raun watches her face for from downcast to interested to mischievous, and then finally break into a smile. "There's Almes," She exclaims, "Just look at his face!" Then she makes a little movement, as if to turn around and look at someone, but stops in mid-gesture. She goes very quiet and hands the phone back to Raun. "Did you kill anyone?" She asks distractedly.

"Seven," The Hunter almost boasts.

"Hmm…" Lea's lost interest.

"And I got the card,"Raun continues.

"Mmhmm."

"What did you do?" She suddenly demands.

The Proxy blinks in surprise, "Broke out every specimen they had. Over 150 by my count."

The Hunter snorts, "That explains why we've had so many problems lately."

"So you just kill any Creepypasta you find?"

"Any what?" Raun gives her a confused look.

"Oh, um… Monsters," The Proxy says the word grudgingly.

Raun shrugs, "Pretty much."

Lea makes a disgusted sound.

Raun narrows her eyes, "They kill people," She says.

"I can't argue with that. So do I." The girl pauses, "they aren't so bad."

"How can you say that?"

Lea just gives her a look that implies Raun is a bit dense. The Hunter looks back at her without blinking, and the Proxy looks away after a few moments.

She produces another bottle of pink liquid and swallows it. "Can you catch fish?"

Raun blinks, "Yes. Why?"

"I need to eat."

"Can't you do it yourself."

The Proxy just shakes her head..

"Fine," The Hunter sighs. She starts down the hill without looking back. Sure enough there's a fairly large stream at the bottom. She crouches beside it, watching the flashes of silver in the water. They're pretty good sized.

Raun dips one hand into the water, laying flat on her stomach. She swallows saliva at the thought of food, but focuses on the task. She goes perfectly still, barely breathing. The Proxy is behind her, but doesn't speak or even twitch, realizing how hard this must be.

Then Raun moves in one fluid jerk, flinging a shining fish high into the air. Lea steps forward, catching the writhing creature in both hands. She takes it in her left hand and whips it through the air, almost as if she enjoys ending its life, and slams it against a rock. The body stops flopping, subsiding into spasmodic twitches and then into stillness.

Lea doesn't wait for the Hunter, taking the dead fish and going back up the hill.

Raun glances at her, grateful for the privacy. She swallows hungrily. The next creature that comes out of the stream is neither cooked nor killed before consumed. The girls rips flesh from the still-moving form, chewing the raw meat with obvious relish.

She suppresses most of her animal instincts, but this one she indulges upon occasion. Raw fish never hurt anyone anyway.

She removes the bones carefully, leaving the innards in a pile as she eats the meat. When the last scrap has been consumed Raun throws the guts back into the water and rinses her hands of blood, scrubbing at her mouth.

The red blood gets carried downstream, a thin line of color on the clear water. A couple of the fish nibble at the remains. Raun sneers at the creatures. Fish; cannibals, the lot of them.

She stands up, walking back up the hill.

Lea has cleaned her fish, the innards in a neat stack, ready to be burned of thrown out. The body has been run through with a sharp stick and propped over the fire, which the girl must have built again.

The Proxy has her back to the tent, her arms hugging her knees to her chest. She stares at the fire, waiting. Raun idly notes the girl's eyes moving slightly. She's nervous.

The Hunter plops down across from her.

"You have a fish scale on your cheek," Lea says almost immediately.

Raun rubs at her face until she looks at her hand and sees the tiny silver object. She flicks it into the fire.

Lea reaches forwards, the light flickering across her arm, and pulls the fish out of the fire. She tears off the skin before eating the animal, tossing it onto the pile of other discarded organs. She makes a face at the taste, but swallows anyway, careful not to swallow any bones. When she's finished, which takes longer than Raun's meal, she throws the pile of guts, skin and bones into the fire, which has no manners and devours the offering with no hesitation.

The smell of burning flesh turns Raun's stomach but the other girl doesn't seem bothered by it at all. She curls into a ball again, chin on knees, and her eyes glaze over.

"Raun," Lea says after a long time, "how do you treat a wound from a Hunter?"

Raun gives her a long look, but the other girls eyes are unfocused. "Why would I know?"

" You're part monster. You would get injured by the weapons. If you didn't know you would be dead."

Raun shrugs, "Rabbit knows more than I di."

The Proxy raises her head, "Rabbit?"

Raun reaches into her pocket, pulling out the card. She twirls it once on her finger, watching comprehension dawn on Lea's face. The girl unfolds herself, sitting forward in interest.

Raun considers saying the whole incantation for a moment, then decides against it. Instead she flips the card into the air, the object spinning, the black diamond on the back glittering.

There's a brief flash of bright light, silvery against the sun's warm light. The gray wolf shakes himself briskly. He looks up, blinking intelligent yellow eyes, and immediately looks for Raun. He relaxes almost immediately, then catches sight of Lea and bristles.

The Proxy tilts her head to the side, eyes wide and wondering. Raun's a bit taken aback by the expression, especially from Lea, who always came across as guarded.

"Hello," Lea says eventually, "You're Rabbit?"

The creature winces. He opens his mouth and says, "I am, though why my master thought it fit to name me that is unknown."

Raun harumphs and Lea blinks in surprise, an expression on her face for a single second that Raun can't identify.

"Who're you?" Rabbit addresses the girl.

"I'm Lea."

The creature nods, sitting on his haunches.

The Proxy shakes her head, "Will you tell me how to treat wounds made by a hunter? She asks the wolf.

Rabbit glances at Raun, who waves her hand dismissively. He can tell her if he wants to. Why she wants to know it beyond the Hunter. She looks into the fire, only half-listening to their exchange.

"It depends on who you're treating. The weapons won't affect humans like they will other creatures."

"I can take care of regular wounds, so non-humans."

"There is a treatment then, even if the wounds are serious, as long as they are taken care of properly."

"Very serious? Life-threatening?"

"Yes, though strictly speaking a nick from a Hunter's blade could take down a dragon if given enough time."

"What's the cure?"

"There's an antidote. It has to be injected as soon as possible, but it will heal the wound as long as the victim has a pulse."

The Proxy sounds greedy now, hungry, "Where can I get some?"

The wold pauses, "I don't know." He says.

Raun doesn't react other than her eyes flicking towards him suddenly. He's lying. Flat-out lying.

"There isn't a lot of it," The creature continues, Raun growing more and more disbelieving. "It's very expensive and hard to make. Even the Hunters don't use it often."

Raun hears the breath leave Lea, almost can feel the despair radiating off her. The girl curls into a ball again, resting her forehead against her knees, face hidden.

The Hunter looks at her sideways. Lea's shoulders rise and fall in forced rhythm.

She looks at Rabbit, who's staring badk at her intensely. Of course he knows. He's doing this because he thinks it's the right thing to do. He's trying to keep Raun safe. She resists the urge to force the wolf back into his card.

He knows she has a bottle. She could die from accidentally cutting herself with a Hunter's blade. She needs that medicine.

That's why Rabbit didn't tell Lea about it. He's keeping Raun safe.

The girls looks away from the wolf's keen gaze. This doesn't feel right.

It feels like she's killing someone.

AN: I will not be updating next week. The following is a list of reasons why. 1. Writer's block. 2. The spring play is taking place during my typing time. 3. I'm exhausted. 4. I'm not feeling very good. 5. I need more breathing room.

I'll update two weekends from now. If I don't, please refer to reason number 2, but I will try. Anyway, Alicia is going to bed now. Goodnight everyone.

And ya... this chapter kinda sucks.