A/N:
If you're in my group on Facebook, you might remember that I had some trouble solving Emmett's birthday.
Because, you know, he's supposed to be frozen at 20 years old, meaning he'd already turned twenty at the time of his change, however, Edward mentions in New Moon that the last time they celebrated a birthday was for Emmett in 1935.
This got me thinking and I made it into a 2-part solution and you'll read the first part right here :)
Title: Origins: Destiny in the Mountains
Author: MarieCarro
Beta:
Pre-reader:
Genre: Family/Supernatural
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Emmett Brian McCarty never had much in life, but growing up poor didn't stop him from enjoying life and all its pleasures.
However, always seeking thrills most often means it will end badly, and one day, while hunting for game in the mountains, Emmett meets his destiny. Canon. ExR
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
CHAPTER 2
FRIDAY, APRIL 5th – WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10th 1935
I was woken up by a splash of ice-cold water on my face, and I sat up with a gasp.
"Rise and shine, birthday boy," Gavin said with a grin, an empty cup in his hand, which he'd used to throw the water on me.
My attempt to glare deadly at him fell short since I looked too much like a drowned cat where I sat soaking wet on the ground. "It would've been nice with a gentler wake-up," I told him, but it only caused him to laugh.
"Birthdays don't indicate that I suddenly have to be nice with you, little brother. You want to be woken up gently? You should have stayed in Helen's bed yesterday mornin'."
"I would have, but Dad didn't exactly give me a choice," I grumbled.
Gavin shrugged. "Of course, he didn't. If we can track down the fox who killed those chickens, it might mean our family will finally be completely accepted by the townsfolk."
I huffed. "That's a dream if I've ever heard one."
"Could you at least try to be positive about it?" Gavin shot out in annoyance. "For Dad's sake? You know how much this means to him."
A heavy sigh left me. "Okay, I will."
"Good. Here." He threw a package at me. "Mama and Bea packed something extra for you for your birthday." He left the tent and I unwrapped the package. My smile couldn't be held back when I saw the two cherry tarts that had crumbled a bit from Gavin's rough handling.
I took a bite and moaned when I understood Mama had actually used real sugar instead of honey. We only ever kept the smallest amount of sugar in the house because of the food rations. That Mama and Bea had used some of that sugar to make these tarts for me meant a great deal.
I decided I wanted to keep one tart for later, so I wrapped that back up and put it in my pocket before lacing up my boots and joining the others outside by the fire.
Dad stood up when he saw me and clapped my back proudly. "Happy Birthday, my boy." He smiled. "I should have brought some of my last batch with me, and we could have toasted."
"It's no big deal, Dad," I assured him. "We can toast when we go back home."
"Of course, it's a big deal," he protested. "It is not every day your youngest boy turns twenty. And it's not every day I have all three of my boys with me on a hunting trip."
"I mean it," I assured him again with a chuckle. "We will celebrate with Mama and Bea when we go back home, and this is certainly not my last birthday either. We have plenty of time to celebrate."
{=DITM=}
I furrowed my brow as I studied the buck on the ground, its black eyes open and unseeing in death. The broken neck confused me, and the wound wasn't like anything I had ever seen before. What was even stranger was that there was no blood on the ground around it either.
I had never come across a beast who killed its prey but left the meat behind because, apart from the broken neck and the fleshy bite mark, the deer appeared untouched.
"Emmett?" Ian said behind me. "You found somethin'?"
"Take a look at this, Ian," I said and nodded at the carcass on the ground. "You ever seen anythin' like this before?"
"A dead deer, you mean?" he asked and looked at me as if I'd lost my mind.
"No," I retorted frustratingly. "I mean how it's been killed and left behind. I've never seen bite marks like those before."
"Me neither, but there are a lot of animals in these mountains we have no idea about, little brother," he said and turned to leave the way he came. "Don't give yourself a headache thinkin' of this. We still need to find that fox's den."
I turned and followed him back to our camp, but I was unable to stop thinking of that deer for the rest of the day.
{=DITM=}
"You need to stop thinkin' of that beast," Ian said tiredly. "Whatever it is, none of us have come upon it before, which means we should stay away from it."
"It's not natural in the way it kills," I insisted. "And it's untraceable. It leaves nothin' behind except its kill. There's no logic to its prey. We've found both deer and wolves with the same marks and—"
"Emmett," Ian stopped me. "We've finished what we came here to do, which was to track the fox that killed those chickens. We found the right one, there were even chicken feathers in its den, and now it's dead. Tomorrow, we're goin' home, so I tell you: Let. It. Go."
I shook my head. "I can't. If that thing out there decides the mountains aren't good for it anymore, it might wander into town and start killin' people. I can't have that on my conscience."
"And what if it's just a bear? Or a panther?"
"It's neither," I said certainly. "A bear would leave claw marks, and the bites would have been larger. These bites aren't bigger than a human's. And panther's eat the heart first, but the chests are always intact. Besides, you know as well as me that there are no panthers left up here." I stared into the darkening forest beyond the burning fire. "I'm tellin' you, somethin' ain't right."
Ian sighed. "If you say so. I'm goin' to catch myself some sleep if you take the first watch."
I nodded. "I can't sleep anyway."
"Well, wake me up in a few hours then."
It only took minutes before Ian's snores joined Dad's and Gavin's, and I was left alone to keep a lookout and make sure the fire didn't die down. My head played games with me, and suddenly, I thought every rustle of the leaves and snap of twigs around us meant the beast was watching me.
I tightened the hold on my rifle, my finger hovering close to the trigger. "Come on out if you dare," I mumbled into the quiet night, but of course, nothing happened.
{=DITM=}
"It has become an obsession for you," Ian complained while Gavin and Dad stood a few feet away from us, wondering over my delay. "What if it's nothin'?"
"You know it ain't nothin', Ian," I argued. "You've seen the same as I have, and I'm not imaginin' it."
"We cannot leave you out here alone."
"Why not?" I questioned. "I've hunted on my own plenty of times. This would be nothin' new."
"Not this deep in the mountains. You're helpless out here. If somethin' happens, you'll be dead before word even gets back to town that you need help. And what if you're caught by the rangers? Since this became a national park, we're not exactly allowed to hunt here anymore."
"What are you two yappin' about?" Gavin asked and walked over to us.
Ian looked at him and saw the opportunity for some backup. "Our little brother's got it in his head that he's stayin' back to track down this 'beast' he believes haunts the mountains."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm not believin' any—"
"Hold your horses there, Emmett," Gavin interrupted me. "Why is this so important to you? What's so special with this beast that you can't let it go? You've been grindin' your teeth over it for close to a week now."
"I just know there's somethin' out there," I told him tightly. "None of you believe me, but I'll prove it to you, if I have to, by bringin' it home with a bullet between its eyes."
Gavin groaned. "Emmett, you don't have to prove anythin' to us. We believe it when you say there's somethin', but we're just not certain we should mess with it." He clapped his hand on my shoulder. "You're our little brother, and we don't want anythin' happenin' to you."
I shrugged away from his hand. "That's it, though. I'm not just your little brother anymore. I'm a man now, too, yet all of you still treat me like a boy. You've talked over me this entire trip and told me over and over that I am wrong about this. Well, I know I'm not, and if this is what it takes for you to see it, then that's what I'll do."
Both Ian and Gavin could see there was no changing my mind. They made one last attempt by bringing Dad into the conversation, but he couldn't argue against it either.
Eventually, Dad sighed. "Well, Gavin and Ian pretty much wanted the same when they were your age, so I can't say I'm surprised. Doesn't mean I like the thought of you wandering around these mountains on your own."
"I'll take care of myself, Dad," I said.
"I don't doubt that," he said and shook his head. "Just promise me one thing, my boy."
I immediately nodded. "Of course."
"Don't let this swallow you. Search for this thing for a few days, and even if you don't find anything, promise me you'll turn back home. Can you do that?"
I didn't want to promise that because it would feel like a giant failure if I came home empty-handed, but I also knew I had to assuage all three of them somehow.
My hesitation was drawn out, though, and Dad squeezed my shoulder.
"Please, Emmett, promise me this. Our family needs you in one piece. Your mother will already have my head for leaving you behind. And we still need to celebrate your birthday properly."
I inhaled deeply. "Okay. Three days at most," I told him. "Then I'll turn around."
None of them liked it, but they accepted it, and after saying that we'd see each other back home in a week, they mounted their horses and started their journey down the mountain as I went in the opposite direction on my own horse, my rifle over my shoulder.
I hoped I would find something that would attest to what I'd said to my family, but what I hadn't told them was that I was also terrified. I had always prided myself as being a skilled hunter. I could easily distinguish one footprint from another and marks left on trees or what animal left what kind of dropping.
All of that, I could recite in my sleep.
Yet this was new to me, and I hadn't thought that was possible before. I was blind as I tracked this … whatever it was, and there was nothing that could tell me what would happen if I actually came across it.
I acted tough in front of my brothers and father, but a huge part of me also knew how foolish this really was of me.
It was too late to turn back now, though.
{=DITM=}
I lay on my back and stared up at the clear night sky, and I felt content. The fish I'd caught for dinner was roasting over the fire, and the heat from the flames prevented me from being cold. The crackling of the burning wood, and the occasional snort from the horse, was the only sound, and while I was a social person, the quiet didn't disturb me.
In other words, life, at that particular moment, couldn't have been better. Up in the mountains, there was no poverty, no fear of the future, and no stain on my name or heritage.
Up here, I was just Emmett.
I turned my head to the side and decided the fish was ready. It was on the smaller side, much less than what I usually ate to keep myself full, but something happened to me when I was out in the wild. It was as if my body instinctively knew that supplies were much sparser here than at home and that it had to make due on the small amount of food I gave it.
As I ate my dinner, I watched the show the fireflies put on for me with appreciation. The huntsman in me, the man who just loved the wild nature, reveled in the beauty surrounding me, and it caused me to feel more tranquil than I'd ever felt when I was out hunting with Sam or my brothers.
With any of them, everything turned into a competition. It was always about who shot the biggest game, or caught the largest fish, or tracked the fastest. We often forgot to just stop and take in everything that was around us.
It was one of the reasons why I couldn't truly regret being poor. If I'd been born into riches, I most likely would never have learned how to hunt or fish, much like Jack. Venturing out into the wild wouldn't have been natural, and I'd have felt out of place.
Not now. I knew how to move around nature better than how to move around people.
I let out a whistle and listened to it echo weakly out into the trees.
Feeling adequately satisfied with my dinner, I lay back down and closed my eyes. The first day hadn't shown me any luck in finding the beast I was tracking, but I hadn't expected it to, either. Such a beast, who was a master at covering its tracks, was most likely very good at hiding as well.
I hoped the next day would bring me closer, and I would be able to return to my family. As much as I enjoyed the slight solitude, I had great respect for the mountains and all the hidden traps I could get caught in. No one from town usually embarked this far up, and essentially, it was undiscovered land. The Cherokee tribe might have, but no one I knew.
Sleep eventually took a hold of me, and I dreamt of changing skies, strange bite marks, and cherry tarts.
A/N:
Thoughts?
I know this chapter is rather foreboding, so I know you guys already know what's coming up!
As Always,
Stay Awesome!