Guardian Hunter

"Hunt, go look for anything we could use" I tell him as we enter the pharmacy. It was a small drug store with a long counter at the back of the space. There were aisles before, but after the initial outbreak of the infection people had rummaged through the town and left of what they thought they wouldn't use… that meant they brought everything with them. Hunt was idly looking—or hearing, I guess—at the back of the counter and I quickly made my way to a small part of the pharmacy where there were boxes upon boxes of old newspapers and magazines. I search through the stuff and found some old worn clothes, I see the toppled sign at the back of the boxes. DROP OFF FOR THE NEEDY. Shrugging to myself, I took the sweater and pants and looked for any spare room I could use to change. The weather outside was starting to get colder and my thin leather jacket won't hold out in the cold very long.

"Hunt, where are you?" I bellow out when I notice he had gone quiet. I hear a low growl and see him crouched behind me. He was looking up, the shadow of his hoodie covering his upper face, by this time I actually had given up trying to get a look at his eyes, he gives a creepy, yet sweet smile—or what I think it was at least. "I'm going to change, okay? If you her any survivors, hide. We don't want any trouble with them" I ordered. He gives a short nod and scurries off behind the counter again.

I see a restroom sign on a door behind some toppled aisle stands. I push some away and I hoped it wasn't lock. I twist the knob and it clicks open. I go through and open the light thinking it would open. It didn't. Cursing under my breath, I took out my flashlight and left it open and pointed at the ceiling, it gave off little light but I was able to see myself in the dark. My auburn hair had really grown long, it was around mid-waist now, I make a mental note to get it cut soon or it'll become a liability in the field. My green and blue—I'm Heterochromatic—eyes were above dark and deep bags of restless nights, the cut above my thin lips was still healing but I'm afraid it'll leave a permanent mark, my slightly crooked nose seems the only thing that was intact or hasn't been destroyed by the infection outbreak. I take of my jacket and tank top and had a hard time taking off my undergarment in the dark. I put on the tee-shirt I grabbed with the sweater and pants and put the rest on me after that. I looked like a sixteen year old, high class biker chick because of the leather jacket I wore with the sweater. The pants felt a little tight and—

I loud crashing sound made me jump knocking my flashlight unto the floor, it rolled and shone on some cleaning products and well… a half-eaten lower half of a man sitting on the toilet bowl. Why hadn't I noticed him until now? The sound came again and I instantly shouted for Hunt to stop what he was doing.

"Who's there?!" sounded a voice from behind the door.

Shit! Another survivor. I try to not move but when the door swung open I quickly grabbed my rifle and pointed it at the man on the opened door. "It's rude to sneak up on a girl while she's dressing" I said.

He smirks and hollers to his friends. Two young girls, both looked like they were just fifteen or a year older, stopped behind him. "Hello" says the one with the ponytail with a cheery attitude. The other girl sighs and leaves towards the counter. Shit! Hunt! I hope he had hidden himself somewhere.

"Let's not point guns at each other" says the man. "You're one of the livin' and I don't think livin' beings should go and pointin' guns on each other"

"I already have someone with me" I said looking past by him and keeping my eyes on the girl with a bob cat style hair.

The girl looks over the counter and jumps back screaming for the man. Shit. The man runs towards her and ponytail runs to the front of the shop and tucks away behind some broken down shelves. The man pointed his gun at the counter and the bob cat runs to the other room side of the shop and crouches beside the other girl. "Wait, don't shoot!" I said as I run towards the man, he swing the gun at me and it connects to my lower jaw. I fall down and the gun, an automatic pump-action shotgun, goes off shooting the ceiling and sending plaster and dust raining on us. He points again at the thing behind the counter and I had no time to react but load the rifle and point it at his head.

"Hurt him and I'll kill you" I said firmly. Hunt raises his head from the counter and I accidentally shoot the gun. The bullet whizzes behind his head and he twirls towards me pointing the gun. "Shoot me and he'll have the perfect opportunity to kill you and those girls" I said coldly staring down the barrel of his shotgun.

"Fuck this!" he shouts. "What the hell do you think you're doing with that thing?!" he asks pointing the gun towards Hunt who ducks down the counter again.

I point the rifle again at him. "Do it if you want" I said. "I'll kill you, I won't let you hurt him"

"Jake! Please, I'm scared!" shouted ponytail, she was crouched and holding her hands to her ears. "Please!" she shouted again.

I look Jake in the eye and he drops down the gun. "Hell, if that thing kills you, I'll tell you I told you so"

"Then tell that to my face in hell, you bastard"

He eyes me for a moment before giving off a chuckle. "You're actually a badass" he says. I raise my brow, the rifle still pointed at his head. "Hey, take a compliment for god sake's" he says raising his hands up in the air in a sign of surrender.

"He's not going to hurt you. I promise. But you won't hurt him either, got it?" I said.

He looks at the two girls, they were huddled together at the corner of the store. Bob cat looks at him and nods vehemently wanting to end the frightening situation. "Fine. But if he goes for one of my daughters, I'll snap his neck" he says in an almost humorous manner.

"How'd you find him?" Jake asked as we sat around the campfire we made inside the pharmacy. Deciding to stay in the store for the night, he introduced himself as Jake Muller and the two girls as his adopted daughters; Kennedy, the ponytailed one and Sandra was the other.

"Actually" I said looking back at Hunt who sat much like a dog behind me, munching away at a piece of beef ribs. "He found me. One day, he just started to follow me around"

"Wow" says Kennedy. "That's just… amazing!" she said taking in a spoon of her soup.

"That's disgusting" says the other. Hunt does a low growl and moves away from the group and back to behind the counter. "What?" she says when she caught me looking at her badly. "Was he your boyfriend before the infection or what? Because that sounds like a typical creep behaviour to me" she shrugs before taking a bite out of her bread.

"Well, he is a hunter." Says Jake who was cleaning his shotgun. "Anyways, I'm sorry again for hitting you earlier" he says.

My lower jaw did hurt a little. "It's okay. I've been hit far harder than that" I said.

"So" he starts. "It's just the two of you? Like… what does he do, exactly?" Kennedy asked.

"He mostly does what I ask him to do" I say. "But sometimes I let him be and he hunts whatever it is he wants to hunt, except to at least leave the other survivors if he did finds some" I add.

"He's cool" she says before turning to her sister who looked more annoyed than ever. "Isn't he?" she asked her.

"Yeah" she starts. "For a dead piece of garbage" she quickly adds.

"Hey, what the fuck is your problem?" I said. She looks stunned and taken aback by my words. "You're the ones barging in on me and Hunt, tried to kill him and then had the guts to ask me if you could stay for the night. Fuck that, if you're going to act like a sore ass piece of shit, I suggest you leave"

"Hey, now come down" says Jake getting in between us two. I hadn't noticed that I was already halfway towards her. Kennedy was already gone from the scene. She was looking at the piles of magazines and newspapers I found earlier.

"How come you're not like your sister?" Jake asks her.

"Because she never had to go through what I had!" she shouted back at him before storming off into the darkness outside.