Guardian Hunter

Ever since the start of this chaos, of the infection, I never had any dreams. It was just a static scene from old televisions, when it couldn't pick up any signals for anyone to watch. My sleep hours usually took about six to seven hours a night and that would usually do me good for the next two days or so. I slowly open my senses to the pain of a broken ribcage, the blinding rays of the sunlight flooding in from the cracks and opening of the barn's walls and ceiling, and to particular heaviness on my chest.

I slowly open my eyes and look down. I was scared shitless and stared at the sight. The hunter's head asleep atop my chest, it wasn't breathing but I knew, somehow, it was asleep. I try to move but its arms were on across my body holding my other arm. What the fuck was this thing? It wasn't a normal hunter that was for sure. Its head was to mine and I couldn't see its face. I hear from radio rumours that hunters don't have eyes and I've never bothered to check the ones I had killed to prove if the rumours were true, it a world where you are always chased every day, rumours are the least of your worries.

I slowly lift my body up and it buries its face deep into my chest that the pain from my broken ribcage shoot out all over my body. I gasp from the pain and the hunter's head jerks up and turns towards me, it growls keeping the hoodie down for me not to see its eyes and jumps away. "Hey, you were the one invading private space" I said before trying to stand up. He leaps off into the second floor of the barn and I walk out of the stable I slept in. I walk towards some boxes where I hid my guns and supplies and find two boxes of shotgun ammo sitting beside the gun, there were some med supplies too; aspirins, bandages and a first aid kit. I was barely conscious from my walk out of the house but I remember never bringing anything out of the house. I hear a low growl and look up, I see it—him—perched on the ledge of the second flooring.

"Did you get these for me?" I ask still half-expecting it to talk back. "Thank you" I said. I know being friendly with the enemy was bordering between the lines of either daredevil or plainly stupid but there was just something different about this one hunter.

It growls, a soft and low growl, and drops off unto the ground. It's still on its fours, I know it can walk on its two legs—I've seen one do it before—but possibly it's just in its nature to crawl, jump and do almost everything on all fours. I slowly crawls towards me and I just stand there curious to what it will do next. We were at least two meters away from each other before it did something strange and fascinating, it bobbed its head up and down like it was nodding to my question.

"You understand me?!" I shout in surprise.

I cocked its head to its side like it was confused whether I had known the fact it had understood what I was saying to him all the time. I nodded a second time and I automatically sat on the boxes taken aback by the gravity of my discovery. An infected, a hunter, could understood what I was saying.

"D-do you have a name?!" a asked getting carried away by my curiosity.

It raised his head, still I couldn't see his eyes, but I saw his long and straight nose, his bluish dead skin perfectly free from decay or maggots. The gesture he made, I would assume that would be a raised eyebrow. I was stupid to ask him that question.

"Oh yeah, forgot you couldn't talk anymore" I say. "I'll just give you a new name then!" I added.

The hunter growls loudly at me, I think that meant No. You're not naming me, I'm not your pet. And I'm pretty sure that was the message he was conveying.

"Okay, fine. I won't name you, but I'll still call you Hunt" I said crossing my arms. He cocks his head again and gives a low growl. A Fine, you can call me that kind of growl. "It's short for Hunter, since that's what you are… a hunter and I thought—

Hunt already leaped back to the second floor before I finished my stuttering. I compose myself and checked my equipment. He even brought me a handgun, I check the gun and it's fully loaded. I sling it on my belt and holster the shotgun on my back. I pack my things and I shout out to Hunt. He growls back and jumps down to my side, still keeping a good distance, but not too far from me like before. We walk out of the barn, the sun already high up in the sky, and see black smoke rising from the far north, where the mall was, and a sublime and quiet stretch of land to the south. Slinging my bag carefully, because of my injuries, I walk towards the south of the open field, Hunt followed a few meters behind, I needn't to constantly look back if he was following me or not, his constant low growls were the only thing I could hear, everything was eerily silent like it was still the dead of night.

- Two Weeks Later -

"Get ready, Hunt" I said as I peered through the binoculars. "Two on the right and four on the left. I'll take the left ones, you go get the other"

I hear a growl of agreement and I put back the binoculars, I found earlier the same day, into my bag. I crouch behind some dumpsters as Hunt leaps to the side of the buildings and disappear into the rooftops. I pull out my hunting rifle, another thing I found earlier this week, and aimed at the nearest of the four. On the left side of the intersection were four infected idly standing waiting for prey; two men and two females. The nearest one was a woman with red hair and wearing an "I love Anime" shirt. I lock and load the gun and fired. The silencer at the end made the sound of the bullet leaving the gun to a whishing sound. It hits the infected woman and she drops to the cold snowy streets. The others turn towards my direction. I fire another round and it hits the farthest one of the group, the infected man wearing a business suit falls to the ground. The other two, finally noticing their attacker charges at me. I hear a loud growl from the right side of the intersection, Hunt must be going all out on those two. I lock on my target and waited for the right moment. The two infected were a few meters away when they made the mistake of perfectly aligning with each other, I fire one bullet and it goes through the both of them and they slump to the ground, they were running at me so fast that when they fell their momentum carried their body grazing and sliding on the frost covered asphalt road.

I see Hunt leaping out of the corner and towards me, his jacket heavy with blood from hir targets. I step out from the dumpsters and he returns to my side. I pat him on the head, the only touch interaction he let me do to him, and he growls softly. "Hunt, what to check the store out?" I ask. He leaps off into the distance and I follow him into a small pharmacy.