Chapter 5
The faint rustling of leaves. The far calls of an unknown avian species. The eerie silence of the mysterious wilderness.
A lone fawn stood in the middle of the thick conifer forest, dimmed by the gray weather. There was the slightest movement, then a small snap. The deer's head shot up from the shrubbery, its hypersensitive ears twitching. But it had taken too long to see the present danger.
Ffft!
Ffft!
The animal dropped dead- one bullet to the heart, a bullet to the head. It died instantly.
Twenty meters away, the hunter stood, breathing out a thick puff of smoke from the cigar in his mouth. He lowered his silenced sniper. A critical look on his face-hardly impressed. He spent more than the day hunting for the thing, but even the hunt wasn't enough.
Damn. He wished there was a bear he could wrestle with. The man smirked to himself, amused by the extremity of the idea and how bold he was feeling. But if a bear did just walked in right now, he was fairly certain he'd win-one way or another.
...
A strange itch had crept in ever since he left their house- a lustfulness that he loathed but thrilled in all at once.
That morning after he left the Banks residence, he immediately drove out of town- out of civilization- to the wilderness to go hunting.
A much needed release.
For when he had shot the poor thing, he had imagined the deer to be a person. A woman.
David walked towards his kill. The soft crackle of crushed leaves along with the faint symphony of crickets compensated for the unnerving silence. The man looked down at its carcass, staring at the blood that pooled around it, and the glassy emptiness of its eye. He fired perfect shots. David grimaced at the sight.
Well... It would be a waste to just leave it lying here. This would make a nice rug?
He knelt down and pulled out a hunting knife- skinned the whole thing.
Deer. He had never tasted some. If knives and guns couldn't kill him, then anthrax sure wouldn't.
He spent the afternoon in the forest, sitting by a warm fire, and roasted deer.
David silently finished his fill. He actually liked this. Killing in peace. The forest was a refreshing change of scenery. After he had cleaned his hands from the grease, he stood up and flexed his neck from side to side.
It had just occurred to him that sometime while he was skinning the animal, the rush had died down.
More or less satiated, he cleaned up the mess and doused the fire. Leisurely, he slung his sack of deer hide over his shoulder and walked back to his car by the road, and drove back to town.
Looking back, he almost couldn't believe the lengths he went through to get to where he was now.
The life of a fugitive in America had made him resort to hiding in its underbelly for some time, getting acquainted with the shady side of town. He earned a living. there, just briefly. Enough to get quick money and get the hell out. He couldn't stand being around those lowlifes who were no different than the men he fought in Afghanistan.
David had once contemplated on revenge. Revenge for what the military did- to him and his friend. But even a single war machine couldn't possibly take down a heavily armed facility without a good plan and enough resources. Moreover, the world will probably want to kill him after that. And the enemies he fought in the Far East might just laugh. He tucked the idea away for now. Self-preservation was a more enticing option.
Three months ago, he had arrived in this English town. He found a small inn to stay in for the time being. He knew his money would run out sooner or later, so he quickly found a job as a mechanic in a car shop.
Selling himself was easy enough. The car shop owner liked his spunk. He had potential to be a good employee. Only, among his war comrades, he was the shittiest at engineering. He smiled and lied and ran to the next bookstore to start reading up on automobiles. He learned fast.
Later on, after settling some papers, he rented a small apartment. Much like the homes there, it was quaint, and a little rustic. A little too homey and old for his modern man tastes, but it charmed him nonetheless. More importantly, it was far from the Banks home.
He wanted to stay close, and yet keep some distance. Part of his grand escape, was to actually escape. He felt he was entitled to a fresh start. Wasn't he?
In retrospect, moving into the same place the Petersons were hiding in, was not what he would call a fresh start. But the one thing that he could no longer stand, was being on his own for too long. And by 'on his own', he didn't just mean being alone.
It was being lonely.
To have someone know who and what he was, and to be able to talk to that person, made living a little more honest. Because, he was all about deceit and it was sometimes too much. He was built to hide his identity, but the small bit of humanity left didn't like the isolation.
This realization surprised David. He felt hope- that not all of him was gone for good. But it had taken him quite a while to grasp the idea.
He liked that Anna and Luke were in on his secret. He knew they were in on it. They had to be, because... it would be a very bad idea to start talking. A small, deeply repressed part of him felt sorry for doing this to he knew that as long as they would stay quiet, he'd be safe here too.
It also made keeping his promise easier.
...
He arrived at his apartment early in the evening. He turned the brass knob and entered through its small door. Unceremoniously, he dropped the sack of hide on the wooden plank floor in the living, and immediately shed off his shirt to take a shower. He smelled of deer blood and earth. Like a wild animal. Which he did not like. And of course, he valued personal hygiene which was a privilege back in his days in the Middle East.
Before he made his way to the small bathroom, he passed by a small set of pictures he had arranged above the hearth. David stopped to look at them. They were filled with very little memories. But these memories were some of the greatest.
One was of him and his friends. He was but a no-good troublemaker then. His lived a typical sad story- messy, constantly moving around under foster care. Difficult would best describe his childhood. But his backstreet pals made it worth something.
One was of him and Caleb in their army uniforms. A sad longing came over him as he pondered over this one. And the memory of this photograph brought in many more- some, the best in his life and some, the worst.
Then the latest addition to his small keepsakes- the Peterson kids.
When he had taken the photo from their torn down home, it was half by impulse. Luke and Anna looked happy in the picture- happiness that only felt natural, with nothing to hide. He could only guess that it was taken before the news of the untimely death of their brother.
He looked back at Caleb's cheerful face on the other photograph.
A small sigh escaped his half parted lips. He made a promise. And he wasn't going to break it again.
Before he got even more distracted, he remembered he had to take a shower.
...
It had been extremely difficult to find this place. But it had only been a matter of days before he found them.
Call him a creepy stalker. He knew what it looked liked. But as long as no one caught on, then it really wouldn't matter. There were a dozen times he had wanted to approach them. But being straight forward, he knew would not be a wise decision. People wouldn't recognize him as a biologically engineered super soldier. But stalker? Pedophile (he cringed)? Now those were some things he could easily come across as. So, he kept a distance. They weren't hiding though. It had been quite easy to spot them.
David saw Luke very often. Even before their encounter. The boy liked moving around these days.
He was fairing well on his own- found a few friends. but he was often around this other kid. Rob, he heard the name from afar.
One afternoon, he was sitting outside a little coffee shop. He saw the two exit a book store across the street, a few buildings away. Luke had placed an arm around his friend, laughing. David smiled.
A few more times, he had seen them enter and exit the shop. It may have been their favorite hangout. It was always just the two of them.
Despite how absolutely normal this was, David couldn't help but tilt his head in wonder at the sight of their interactions. He frowned not because he disapproved but simply because he was puzzled in the beginning.
It didn't take long for him to realize that Luke and Rob had crossed the boundaries of platonic friendship. David quirked his mouth in understanding, nodded to himself and let it be. It really was a real a hate crime back in Luke's old high school. He didn't quite believe what he was saying to the principal then. It was just a smart way to get Luke out of big trouble. Knowing only made him feel all the more responsible to keep the boy out of danger.
Anna, he saw often but seldom moving about. Ironic. She should be the one who was out more. She was twenty-one. The young woman should be living life. Understandable. She had suffered the biggest blow when he had entered into their lives.
When he first saw her, the first thing that had registered were the soft golden waves of her new hairstyle. He found it to suit her more. Mature. Beautiful.
But what he could never forget about her, was her insightfulness. How was it that she easily recognized the danger when everyone else couldn't? He'd be damned, if he said he hadn't misjudged her- thinking she was no different than the idiots she called friends at that party. Although, he had been sloppy covering up. He admitted, he was quit confident about the Petersons; they seemed like a sad, average unsuspecting family. Not their daughter.
It was frustrating, but undeniably impressive.
Then again, she was much like Caleb in that respect. He shouldn't be too surprised.
It was too bad she hated him- with a passion, he was certain. Because he really did want to get to know her.
David had learned recently that she was working in a small retail shop in the town proper. He would see her leaning on the cashier counter. Most days, she had this very bored expression when she thought no one was looking. He compared it to that of a cat lazing around on a dull afternoon. It was when she'd yawn that made the sight almost amusing.
...
For three months, he watched them.
But now that they knew he was here, it made no sense to keep hiding his presence.
Alright. Some character development. A David POV. Hope this was okay. Because, David is sort of an enigma. I'm not entirely good at analyzing characters, so it helped when I read someone's analysis online. Hope I can still capture his persona and build a story around it.
Also hope this chapter wasn't weird. Not so sure bout the flow since it was written during different times this week.
Next chapter- back to you, Anna!