The Hunter

Gary aimed down the sights of his 30-06, placing the elk between his crosshairs. It'd stopped to graze and was just hardly visible through the thick underbrush.

The cool November air bit at his lungs and the mountainous breeze stung his eyes, with the cold stock against his cheek, but he ignored it. He took in a deep breath and exhaled, preparing to squeeze the trigger.

Just then, what he swore was a baby's cry off in the distance to his right pierced the air, startling the animal, and it ran before he had the chance to take the shot.

"The hell?" He muttered under his breath, turning his sights to where the sound was.

He didn't see anything, but had heard snapping of twigs, as though something big were running.

He waited a moment longer, wondering if he was crazy. But the elk had heard it too.

Couldn't have been a baby.

But it must've been something.

He climbed down from his stand and slung his rifle over his shoulder, heading toward where he'd heard the sound.

He knelt down to inspect the brush leading into a thick grove of aspens. Twigs were snapped and the ground disturbed.

Something had run through here. Something big.

He listened for a moment, letting the sounds of the forest find his ears.

And then he heard it - a soft cooing from a nearby dead tree.

Moving closer, he peered inside the hollowed out old stump, and to his disbelief, a baby lay there. She couldn't have been more than a few months old, wrapped hastily in a pink and white blanket, which bore a single bloodied handprint on it.

***

"What are you doing out here?" He said in disbelief. "Where's your mama, little one?"

She smiled and reached up to tug at his ruffled greying beard.

He looked around again, as if the girl's parents would return any moment. But he knew instinctively they wouldn't. He had no idea how the girl got to be where she was, but she definitely couldn't stay there.

It was cold, and getting colder by the minute, as the sun sank lower on the horizon.

He reached for his phone - no service.

Of course. Should've brought the damn SAT phone.

He stared about the forest for a moment and wouldn't have been surprised if he'd woken up. But this was no dream, and he didn't have many options to weigh.

"Well, we can't stay here. Let's get you somewhere safe and then we can sort out the rest." And he picked her up and cradled her in his arms. She smiled up at him with big brown eyes and crusted lips.

He unscrewed the cap to his canteen and held it slowly to her mouth.

"Here you go. Slowly now."

She took a sip, and he screwed the lid back on and put it back in its pocket. He held her with one arm and rested the other on his rifle as he walked.

It was about a mile hike back to the truck.

"Slowly and calmly." He whispered, more to himself than anything else. He needed to get this baby out of here, and he needed to keep his cool. After all, one should always strive to maintain a level head, especially when they're being followed.

***

He rounded one bend and spotted the tree with the red tape on it sitting atop the hill a little way off. He had marked it on his way in, indicating that the truck was at the base of the other side.

Just down this ravine, across the shallow part of the river, and up that hill. Then they'd be home free.

The baby started to whimper which turned into a cry.

"Shh shhh." He bounced up and down slightly as he walked.

He never was good with kids.

Him and Susan never had any. And since she passed last year, he didn't like to ponder that topic. He was too old now anyway.

But he didn't let the child see his dismay, as if she'd understand it anyway.

He smiled at her innocently.

"Are you hungry?" He said, sitting down for a moment on a large rock before heading down the slender path into the ravine.

And then it happened.

He hardly had time to react, as he set his bag down.

A low malicious groan alerted him just seconds before a hideous creature with long dark limbs emerged from the tree line just feet from him. He hadn't much time to get a good look at it, but it was unlike any animal he'd seen. He knew something was stalking them, but this sudden approach was unforeseen.

Gary held the girl tight to his chest with one arm, spinning to avoid the slashing limb, and firing a hip shot with his rifle with the other. The creature's attack caught him on the back and searing pain shot through him. He steadied himself on the ledge as the creature quickly melted back into the shadowy forest.

He tried to think quickly. He wasn't even sure he'd hit it, but it was coming back, rearing for another strike.

The baby limited his mobility, but he wasn't about to let her go.

He held her closer, her soft crying hardly audible over his own racing heart.

Pulling his pistol from its holster, he held it at the ready as his eyes grazed the ravine. It wasn't terribly steep, but he couldn't exactly run down it either.

But before he had time to ponder his escape, it lunged at him again from the tree line, twisting and writhing unnaturally through the air. It glared at him with contempt as it approached, its eyes a sinister yellow with purple crosses where the pupil should be. If he hadn't known better, it would seem almost...sad.

He took an involuntary step back and fired several shots at the beast. But he lost his footing and stumbled backwards down the hill.

Holding the girl tight to his chest, he felt his body hit hard against rock and tree and ground, eventually rolling to a rest on the cold wet pebbles at the edge of the river.

***

It was dark, save a small white light in the distance somewhere above him. It was coming closer and he felt himself instinctively reaching for it.

The silence was overwhelmingly peaceful and...warm. He wanted to stay here forever - to lay here forever in the darkness.

But when a woman's voice said to him, "Get up.", he knew he could not stay.

He recognized that voice.

It was distant and yet so near, soft and full of authority and yet so compassionate.

"Susan?" He whispered.

"Get up." She said again.

Bossy as ever.

He smiled and opened his eyes, and the first stars of the evening sky came into focus - the sound of rushing water and crickets filled the air.

Suddenly he remembered his situation and quickly glanced down to check on the child. She seemed unharmed and had fallen asleep, his arms still held her close, and he could feel her gentle breathing against his own.

He slowly rose to sit, and a jolting pain shot through him, resounding in his head.

When the world stopped spinning, he tried to take a quick stock of his injuries.

His back hurt like hell, and when he stood, he added his left foot to that list as well. And to make matters worse, he'd lost his pistol somewhere along the way.

But at least that creature - whatever it was, hadn't followed him down the hill.

He pulled himself to his feet with his free hand, still holding the baby girl to his chest. She was starting to stir and cry again.

"It's alright. We're okay." He said, more to himself than to the baby.

"We're okay."

He stared up to the top of the ravine he'd just rolled down so elegantly. It bore nothing out of the ordinary now. But he knew whatever that thing was, it was still out there. Still hunting.

After a drink of water, he picked the baby up and started across the river and up the hill.

***

When they'd made it back to the truck, where he'd hoped for blissful freedom was instead more dread and isolation.

His truck had been rendered inoperable. All four tires were slashed, the windshield shattered, seats carved up, and the hood appeared to have been ripped open by something big with claws. Parts and fluids lay scattered across the dirt road leading off into the ditch near the forest.

He sighed, taking his jacket off and laying it on the seat.

Setting the baby in it, he wrapped her up and did a quick sweep of the area, inspecting what remained of his truck.

He stood staring out into the cool night air, the breeze turning his skin blue under his semper fi tattoo.

"Damn it." He kicked the back wheel of his truck. His father had passed this truck down to him. It was a '74 Chevy, and it hadn't failed him yet.

Staring out to the stars, his mind began to wander, but he quickly stopped it.

He'd always been a firm believer in timing - that all things happened for a reason and whatnot.

But now wasn't the time to wonder.

And now wasn't the time to rest.

The feeling of being watched never quite left him, and he knew that creature was out there, waiting for its moment.

Burning questions about what that it was, who the girl was, and why it seemed to be after them, would have to wait for now.

What seemed most important was getting out of this forest.

He went back to check on the little girl, having retrieved a pack of MRE applesauce. He held it for her as she sucked it down, vice gripping the small pouch with both hands.

He couldn't help but smile, even now.

"Who are you?" he whispered.

He retrieved his extra pistol from the glove box, ensured it had a full mag, and tucked it into his holster.

"Don't you worry, baby girl." He said, wrapping up his leg the best he could with a roll of old gauze.

"I'm gonna get you out of here."

She giggled and reached up for him.

He let her grab his finger and stared into her tiny brown eyes - vaguely familiar but he couldn't place why.

"I have an idea, so just trust me, okay?"

***

Gary knelt in the brush at the edge of the forest, his eye on the bait in the middle of the road. He would've preferred a different location, but with what was at stake, couldn't bring himself to take that risk.

He exhaled slowly, a thin white fog escaping his lips.

It was getting colder.

But his patience paid off.

At the edge of the forest across the road, vegetation rustled and soon gave birth to a low groan as the creature sprinted towards the bait - towards the small bundle in the middle of the road - with the pink and white blanket that bore that same bloody handprint.

It approached, each unnatural step malicious and thundering.

Not yet.

The creature set its eyes - purple crosses with a distant yellow backdrop - on the prize. And it pounced, grabbing the bundle with long decrepit limbs.

And then it stopped, looking down at the lump in its arms with what could pass as confusion on its malformed face.

Gary glanced back at the baby girl behind him, wrapped in his jacket against the tree stump, before looking down his sights at the target.

"Gotcha." and he squeezed the trigger.

***

The round hit the creature in the side of the head, and it keeled over, spurts of black blood flecking the road. But only briefly.

It turned its attention to his exact position.

"Shit."

It barreled toward him, clearly pissed.

He racked the bolt back, expending the round and preparing to fire again. But the beast was too fast. He dropped the rifle, allowing the sling to take it to his back, as he stood and simultaneously pulled his pistol.

Moving toward the beast with each shot, he emptied the magazine into its torso. But it kept coming. It reared up on him and, with a wicked spinning motion, swatted him aside with a long dark limb. He landed against the side of the truck, denting the door.

The creature glanced at him, apparently no longer considering him a threat, and looked to the baby. It slowly began to approach, like a prowling lion.

Gary coughed, spitting up blood. The smell of iron and gasoline burned his lungs as he looked up in enraged persistence.

But he'd be damned if he gave up now.

He'd lost both his weapons, his pistol somewhere in the brush now, and his rifle lay where he was before the beast had thrown him.

He climbed to his feet, using the door of the truck to pull himself up. He unsheathed his knife and yelled.

"Hey!"

The creature turned.

"We're not done." he spat, preparing to make his stand.

For her sake.

His eyes wandered to the baby. He hadn't even known who she was or why she was out here. But everyone deserves a chance to live.

The creature snarled and bolted toward him again.

It swung a massive arm at head height. Gary ducked under and slashed at its abdomen.

It shrieked, swinging the other direction, bringing razor sharp talons down at him again.

He wasn't fast enough to dodge this time.

He was too damn old for this.

He held up an arm in defense and felt the searing through his forearm - felt its claws scrape against his bones.

He gritted his teeth, looking the beast dead in the eye.

And he brought his knife up with this other hand, plunging it deep into the beast's belly.

It screeched again, attempting to push harder to make Gary collapse under its weight. Its black blood seeped onto the dirt and pooled with his own, and he felt his knees begin to buckle.

"Not yet." he growled.

And with one last burst of energy - with all he had left - he shoved the beast off, reared up and kicked it square in the chest, driving the knife deeper and sending it back against the truck. The force of this action pushed him down in the other direction. Right next to his rifle.

He glanced up at the baby and time seemed to stop for a moment.

She sat there watching the stars, oblivious to the struggle for her survival unfolding right before her.

Gary grabbed his rifle, rode the bolt forward, and raised it, gas tank square in his sights.

"Oorah." He pulled the trigger.

The explosion sent him flying back a few feet, searing his hair and burning his lungs.

And as the stars again came into focus, a new kind of peace blanketed the night.

***

Gary rolled to his feet slowly, nursing his wounds.

He held the baby close as he walked down the moonlit dirt road, towards home.

And as lingering plumes of dust and smoke settled, the baby girl looked out toward the moonlit forest, dimly illuminating the purple crosses in her eyes.