Welcome to the next chapter of the New Dawn, this chapter will focus on Hunter's recovery.
Hunter held his ground at the sight of the bear, as he was bleeding badly. He held his knife up and readied a battle stance, there was no way he could possibly kill the bear in his condition, but he wasn't gonna go down without a fight. The bear let out a monstrous roar, then charged at Hunter and sent him crashing into a tree, then ran as fast it could to the wounded teen and delivered a final blow.
His eyes opened wide and he quickly shot up from his bed, he looked around for the bear but it was nowhere in sight. After a second Hunter realized that he was at Prosperity inside the infirmary. Calming down, Hunter let out a low groan and laid back down on the bed, bringing his hands up to his face. It was all just a bad dream. He looked around the infirmary, but the bright morning sun's rays reflected through the windows shining bright into his eyes. "Augh," Hunter groaned in annoyance.
The bright rays made Hunter's eyes burn, he brought his hand up to his face and covered his eyes, he rubbed them and adjusted his sight, he looked around the infirmary, everything was as peaceful as it usually was. There weren't any other patients inside right now, except for him. Hunter looked around again and saw that Selene was at her table mixing herbs into medicine or probably just making marijuana cigars from weed that she grew in the herb garden outside.
"Hunter, my man, you're awake good morning dude." Selene said, noticing Hunter awake, Hunter turned himself to her placing his bare feet on the ground, he brought his hands up to his face rubbing his eyes again clearing the feeling of sleep from his mind, then tilted his head up to look at the doctor. "Good morning, queen." Hunter replied calling her what Carmina calls her sometimes, which made Selene chuckle. "What time is it?" Hunter asked.
"It's about 6:00, I think." Selene guessed.
"What are you doing?" Hunter asked Selene, curious about what she was making at her table.
"Oh nothing Hunter, just making some more Pot Cigars so whenever I get stressed out I can take the edge off." Selene explained to Hunter.
'I knew it' Hunter said in his head, Selene was always high, he wasn't sure if she's been sober at least once since the world changed. Selene grabbed one of the pot cigars, she walked over to Hunter and offered it to him. "Want one bro, it'll help with your chest pain?" Selene offered.
"Umm, no thanks, I'd rather have my mind sharp. Besides, if Jerome or Kim found out that I smoked pot and got high, they'd probably be pissed off and kill us both." Hunter refused her offer, gently pushing her hand away.
"Whatever man." Selene scoffed, she went back to her table and went back to making more pot. "Also, please you and Carmina smoke my pot behind your parents backs and they don't know about it."
"But, we only do that when we really need to unwind, and that's only happened a few times." Hunter replied. "And speaking of Carmina, where is she?" Hunter asked Selene, she wasn't beside him where he last saw her before he went to sleep, Selene pointed to the right. "Over there."
Hunter turned his head to where Selene pointed and saw Carmina fast asleep on the couch in front of him with a blanket on top of her. "She didn't want to leave your side, so I moved her over to the couch because it was way more comfy than that old stool."
"Thanks Selene, is it OK if I get up?" Hunter asked, "I really don't wanna spend all day laying down in a bed."
Selene nodded at Hunter. "Yeah, go right ahead."
Hunter sat up from the bed barely feeling any pain, he didn't feel as weak as he was last night, he was feeling a lot better, the medicine Selene gave him last night was really working wonders. Hunter attempted to walk over to Carmina, but he suddenly felt a sharp pain coming from his right arm. "Augh, what the fuck!" Hunter winced, he quickly turned to look at his arm, the IV tube that Selene put into him last night was still there, he actually forgot all about it, the liquid nutrient bag that was hooked to the tube was empty so there wasn't any point in having it in his arm.
"Hey Selene, can I remove this?" Hunter asked, pointing to the needle inside his arm.
"Go right ahead my man." Hunter grabbed onto the needle in his arm, then removed it and threw it aside.
Hunter went over to the couch and sat down beside the still sleeping, Carmina, she looked so peaceful in her sleep, he listened to her soft snores, he looked at her pretty face and gently stroked her beautiful hair, then placed a kiss on her head. "Thanks, for staying with me Carmina. I don't I would be able to sleep last night if you weren't beside me." Hunter thanked her whispering into her ear, then adjusted the blanket over her. "I love you."
Suddenly, Hunter heard the door behind him opening, he turned around to see who was coming inside. Marcus came inside and Hunter smiled at the sight of the Security Captain. "Hey cap how's it going?" That was all Hunter could let out, there wasn't really much he could say right now.
"Holy shit, Hunter." Marcus gasped at the sight of Hunter who was out of bed, he quickly made his way over to him and wrapped his arms around him. "Jesus, it's good to see you up and around buddy, you gave everyone here a scare." Marcus said, examining him to see if he was gonna collapse at any moment.
"I know." Hunter nodded. "By the way, Kim told me that you rescued Rush from the Mine, I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you."
"Don't worry about it Hunter." Marcus waved him off, then said. "I'm glad to see that you're doing a lot better now."
"So am I." Hunter and Marcus both turned around to see Carmina awake and sitting up on the couch with the bed sheet still on her legs. "I'm sorry did we wake you?" Hunter asked.
Carmina rubbed her temples then replied. "No, I just woke up."
"OK, well you should get up." Hunter suggested. "There's a lot of work that needs to be done here now that Rush is free."
"Um...Hunter, I don't think you should be working, maybe you should take it easy." Carmina said, standing up from the couch, rubbing her eyelids.
"I agree with Carmina, you were pretty fucked up last night so it might be better if you rest up for a while. Me and Carmina can help out with all the hard work around here." Marcus suggested to Hunter.
"Yo cap, Carcar. It's OK, let the kid help out. But, if he shows any signs of a hot head or maybe like a cough, just bring him back here. Besides, he looks like he's fine enough to leave." Selene told the Captain.
"Come on guys, I don't wanna sit around and sleep all day. I might not be able enough to help y'all fight the Highwaymen, but there's things I can still do around here, just give me something to do and I'll do it." Hunter begged them, he really wanted to be useful, and there must be something he could do.
"Fine, alright." Marcus reluctantly agreed to allow Hunter to leave the infirmary.
"But promise that you'll take it easy, I don't want you straining yourself." Carmina requested, pointing a finger at him with a stern look.
"I promise that I'll take it easy." Hunter pledged.
"OK, now get a shirt on, you can't go outside and risk getting your bandages dirty." Carmina instructed.
Hunter looked down and remembered that Selene took away his hoodie and shirt because they were soaked in his own dried up blood. "Oh right, can you get me one?"
"Hey, there's no need to go get one, Jerome told me to give this to you when you woke up." Selene pulled out a gray short sleeved shirt and threw it at Hunter, he caught it then smiled at Selene. "Thanks."
Hunter put the shirt on, so he could cover his bandages after he was done he turned back to the Captain and Carmina.
"Alright, lead the way captain." Hunter said, but before he could move Carmina grabbed Hunter's arm. "Hey Cap, give us a second I want to talk to Hunter."
"Be my guest." Marcus walked outside leaving the teens to talk.
"What is it, Carmina?" Hunter asked, curiously as he sat down next to her."
"I...I heard what you said to me... I just want you to know that I'll always be right beside you when you need me." Carmina said sincerely to Hunter. "And I love you too." She added.
"I know." Hunter then pulled Carmina in for a kiss.
Selene watched the romance and let out a chuckle. "Aww, you two are so sweet together."
Both of then completely forgot that Selene was still with then, they both quickly broke away from each other with their cheeks blushing in embarrassment. "Um, let's get out of here." Hunter rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeah." Carmina quickly agreed.
The teens followed the Captain to the front of the house where Rush was talking with Kim about upgrades to the community. "Hey Rush!" Marcus called out getting the two's attention as they walked up to them. They both stopped talking and turned to face them, Kim's eyes widened in shock at the sight of Hunter who was supposed to be resting up. "Hunter, what are you doing? You need to rest." Kim exasperated, walking over to him placing her arms on him.
"It's OK Kim, Selene said that I was OK enough to leave, and there's no way that I'm just gonna sleep all day when there's work to be done around here," Hunter said, swatting her arms away from him.
"And he promised that he wouldn't strain himself, and if he wasn't feeling right he would go back inside and rest with no arguments." Carmina said in a stern tone, looking at Hunter.
"Well if the kid wants to work then I say, 'Let him work'." Rush agreed with having Hunter help out with the upgrades to the Community. Hunter turned to look at Thomas Rush, it's been a month since he last saw him, looking at him now he looked like he was beaten the crap out of. "It's good to see you again Rush."
"It's good to see you too Hunter, I wish our reunion was under better circumstances." He replied.
"Don't worry about it dude it's cool, now is there anything I can do?" Hunter asked Rush, eager to help. "Well if you think you can handle it, the walls need to be reinforced, there are people already working on it, if you wanna help them out then go right ahead."
Without a second thought Hunter went over to the walls to help out the others reinforce it Carmina followed right behind him, the Highwaymen will likely retaliate after rescuing Rush, so Prosperity needed to be ready in case the Twins do launch an attack on them.
Jerome along with Hurk and Sharky were among the people working outside the walls, Hunter walked up to them and they were surprised to see him up and moving, Jerome dropped his tools and quickly went over to Hunter. "Hunter, what are you doing out of the infirmary?"
"Selene cleared me out, I'm not able to fight right now but I can still help around here." Hunter explained to them.
Hurk looked at Hunter and smiled. "It's good to see you up dude, everyone was really worried about you. I never lost hope when you were missing. Whenever I thought about you, I just kept telling myself that Hunter is a strong willed kid and will find his way back home."
"I was actually a little worried to tell you the truth, Hunter. Blade also missed you too." Sharky added.
"Thanks...I...appreciate that." Hunter stammered. "Let's just get to work on reinforcing this wall." Hunter suggested, he walked over to their toolbox and pulled out a hammer and a set of nails.
"Wait Hunter," Hunter stopped and looked at Jerome. "What is it?"
"Are you sure you can handle this, son?" He asked out of concern for his health. "You were really messed up last night, I just don't want you pushing yourself too hard?"
Hunter sighed then said. "Don't worry if it becomes too much for me to handle, then I'll head back in and rest, but right now I'd rather do something to help pass the time while I heal up."
"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him." Carmina reassured Jerome.
They went back to work with Hunter and Carmina helping them out, about a half hour had passed and they were making significant progress. When they were done they moved onto a different section that needed reinforcing and helped the people already working on those sections speeding up the upgrades on the walls.
The past few hours were spent working on and improving the defenses, Rush was really making everything better, and the Captain was always there to help others if they needed it. Hunter took a break whenever he needed one, the blood loss really weakened him but he could still work, but not too hard. Carmina kept a close eye on him at all times, he worked hard but as promised he didn't push himself too hard. When night came mostly everybody went to sleep, but some had trouble sleeping.
Hunter's eyes opened widely, he shot up from his bed, and quickly looked around the room. After a second he remembered that he was in his room sleeping in his bed.
"Augh, ow!" Hunter's wound suddenly shot pain in his chest causing him to lay back down on the bed. He just had a nightmare about when he was attacked about the bear it was so scary and viscous, in that moment he thought he was done for, he was laying in a pool of his own blood with a bear charging at him, then out of nowhere a masked man came out of nowhere and saved his life. That near death experience really traumatized him.
The boy sat up again and rubbed his eyelids, then sat quietly in his bed. That dream felt so real and so scary. But, there was something else nagging at him, not the Bear but the man, and it has been since he met the Judge, he felt like there was some connection between them. At first he thought it was nothing, he's only ever seen that masked figure a few times in his life, but every time he was with him there was this weird feeling that he could trust him. He may have saved him, but he didn't know much about him so he wondered. 'Why am I so willing to trust him?'
Hunter looked at his clock and it read 12:08 AM. He tried to lay back down in his bed and go back to sleep, as the minutes passed he couldn't drift off back into sleep. After about thirty minutes he gave up trying to go back to sleep so he got up and quietly went downstairs to the living room, being careful not to wake anyone. The fireplace was still going, Hunter sat down on the couch and just sat there quietly as he pondered his thoughts.
"Hunter, what are you doing up?" Hunter turned around and saw Jerome right behind him. "Oh hey Jerome... sorry, I couldn't sleep."
Jerome walked over and took a seat beside Hunter, he looked at him with a concerned look. "Are you OK Hunter? You've just been through a traumatic experience, do you wanna talk about it?"
"Yeah" Hunter nodded. "A bad dream woke me up, it was a memory of when the bear almost killed me."
"I really thought that was gonna be it for me Jerome, I thought that I was gonna die. Most times when that happens I usually bounce back, but this time it was different, it actually felt like I was gonna die for real." Hunter explained with his voice breaking as tears began forming in his eyes.
"But, you didn't." Jerome stated, placing a hand on Hunter's shoulder.
"What the hell am I supposed to do to make this go away?" Hunter asked, sobbing.
"Hunter... what happened to you isn't something that's gonna go away immediately. I understand what you're going through Hunter, I really do. I've seen many people before you deal with the experience of death. You're a strong kid, Hunter and you can get through this. You just need time to process this and friends to help you, trust me."
Hunter stood silent, Jerome was right he didn't die, maybe he was right it would all go away with time and support, but the bear was so scary and the only reason he was alive is because a masked man saved him, he's the reason that he's alive. Hunter hated that he lied to Jerome and the others about the peggie, but he needed to keep that secret for now, he'll tell them when the time is right.
Hunter wrapped his arms around Jerome, locking him in a hug."Thank you Jerome... for talking to me."
"I've taken care of you since you were a baby Hunter. If you ever need my help don't hesitate to ask me." Jerome reassured.
"Alright, I should probably try to get some sleep." Hunter got up from the couch and went back to his room to try again to sleep. This time instead of just laying there, he actually managed to drift off into sleep, and as he slept there were no nightmares.
Tomorrow would be another long day.
And that concludes another chapter of the New Dawn. I absolutely had a hard time writing this one, I thought I would never finish it.
Please leave a review and if you see any areas that need improvement, tell me.