In Between Seasons (The Fall) (2 page)

“When you live the way I did you learn to hide your emotions because no
one is going to listen anyways…
or tell the truth
for that matter
,
”
I scoffed
,
kicking the dirt below my feet.

The
lightness in his face vanished
and
his forehead wrinkled,
“It looked like la-la land to me.”

“Looks can be deceiving,
”
I said as I motioned with my hand towards him.

“And what’
s so deceiving about my looks?”

“I should be dead by now,
” I said
in an
almost inaudible
tone as my heart started
to race.
I was being stupid to invite him to do me in, but in truth, I didn’t feel he would do it.

“You are scared,
”
h
e said.

“Should I be?”

“Yes.
”

“That’s what I figured,
”
I said.

He held his hand out for me
,
“We need to start moving again before your boyfriend catches up.”

“They won’t chase me,
” I said
,
putting my hand into his willingly.

“
Why?”
h
e asked as he looked down at me.

“I’m not worth it,
” I said
,
picking up my feet to jog. His hand tightened around mine stopping me from moving. I turn
ed to look at him,
“Do you want to
take a chance they will
and
have them
catch up
?”

“You’re
strange you know that?” h
e teased
,
beginning to jog
and
then run.

“Thanks,
” I said
,
trying to concentrate on not losing my footing on the rough forest terrain at his pace.
It kept me from thinking about what was happening. I had been kidnapped by someone who was obviously meant to kill me, yet I was still alive. Why? Right now it didn’t matter.

“Tomorrow I might just have to throw you over my shoulder to keep you
from killing yourself on a log,” h
e said as
he
stacked
wood
and
lit a match.

“Tha
t’s if I wake up in the morning,
”
I said.

“If I
was going to kill you, you’
d be d
ead already,” h
e said
,
staring into the flames as the
y
burst up
and confirming what I already felt
.

“Why haven
’t you? They won’t pay a ransom,
”
I needed to know.

He sighed,
“If I was any other g
enera
l you’d
be dead already.”

“Point being?”
I probed
,
unsure what a general was.

“To prove
to your father
tha
t he
needs to stay away from us,
”
h
e said.

I nodd
ed my head
,
but
said nothing as
his eyes met mine. I was gettin
g lost in them
again as I tried
to understand what was going on beneath his stony façade.

“Thank you,
”
I finally said as I took a deep breath.

“For what?”

“Not killing me.”

“I don’t know what the hell I’m doing
, or if you’ll survive it,
”
h
e said
,
closing his eyes for a moment.
I wondered what that moment meant to him. His face was expressionless, but the mood of confusion reverberated from him in waves.

“At what point are w
e off
my pare
nt
’
s land?”
I asked
. I had to take a deep breath as I tried to change the subject from something other than my impending death.

“We’re a
lready in no man’s land,” h
e
said
,
flickin
g a piece of wood into the fire,
“We have been for about
two
miles. It doesn’t mean it’s any safer.”

“What do you mean no man’s land?”

“You really know absolutely nothing about t
he world you’
ve been livi
ng in, huh?” h
e
commented
, his face still
expressionless—except for those eyes.

“I guess not,” I said,
more to myself tha
n to him.

“No man’s land is
the land in between the tribes; in your case you would just think it was
families
,
but
it’s a str
uctured army type set up
with rankings. At any rate it’s the land that’s not specif
ied or protected by any tribes
,
so we could run into anyone,” h
e said
,
and
when his eyes met mine the
word
anyone sent shivers down my spine
.

“Great, so
now
we don’t just ha
ve to worry about my family,
” I said
,
looking up at the sky.

“
You said we did
n’t have
to worry about them.”

“I hope to G
od not,” I didn’t think that they would come after me, and I didn’t want to go back to their lies. Their lies were something that I was more afraid of than this man sitting before me all pulsing muscle, and confusion.

He
shook his head,
“You’re a strange duck.”

“Quack,
” I said
,
rolling my eyes.

He put his head in his hand
and
laughed. I was in a trance by the warmth that was hidden beneath his darkness
,
and
I found myself with a smile on my face. I felt
safer
with this man tha
n I had ever felt with those who were supposed to love me.

In the morning I opened my eyes to see th
e orange of the sun rising through twisted tree limbs
. I had to blink twic
e to remind myself why I was
sleeping
in the middle of the woods
,
and
that I wasn’t alone.

“Tired still?
” h
e asked
,
looking down at me
eyebrow
s
raised
.

I yawned
and
stretched my arms with
every muscle in my body
was s
creaming.

“Exhausted
.
”

He smirked
, “You’re out of shape.”

“Hey, I kept pace didn’t I?”
I replied
as I sat up.

“If you think so.
”

I shook my head.
It seemed
h
e thought he was some sort of g
od or something, and his arrogance streamed off him towards me. I couldn’t tell if it was an act or not though.

“Hungry?”
h
e asked.

“Sure,” I said as he handed me a piece of whateve
r he had toasting over the fire,
“What the hell is this thing?”

“It’s a pop tart
. Sorry, it’s not your typical eggs
and
sausage.”

“You think I’m a
spoiled brat don’t you?” I retorted
,
taking a bite of the frosted pastry
and
burning my tongue. I didn’t say anything; he didn’t need to know how
bad that gooey middle had hurt
me.

“I guess t
hat was the preconceived notion
…”

“But?”

“You don’t quite seem the part. You ha
ven’t complained once,” h
e handed me a bottle of water,
“That should help with that burn. I should have warned you.”

“Thanks,” I said as I took a big
gulp,
“Yo
u’re lucky you didn’t grab Sara
. She’
d be biting you
and
screaming right now.”

“
Then s
he’d be dead already.”

I swallowed
and
loo
ked up at
him,
“Remind me
why I’m not
?”

“We already went over this yesterday. Why does it matter? You’re alive don’t complain
,
Kate.”

“
How do you know my name?” I asked
with
my breath stuck in my chest.

“Well, your father has two daughters so you were either Sara or Kate. You filled in the blank for me.”

“Well, y
ou have some
additional
explaining to do,
” I said ea
ting the last piece of pop tart and staring him down.

“I have no explain
ing to do,” he retorted as he
stood
and
kicked
dirt over the fire.

“You won’t tell me what this is about?”

He looked down at me
and
his e
yes
were
miserable
,
“I don’t want to shatter what your perfect world must have meant.”

“It meant nothing. It was a lie—
I already knew that,
” I said
,
my
eyes searching his
.
I knew from his tortured expression that he had the answers I had been searching for.
I also knew he didn’t want to tell me. It made me wonder how many questions he could actually answer. May be he had just accepted things as they were too.

“How did you know that? When everyone else there seemed so content.”

“If you won’t exp
lain
,
I won’t either
because I’
m sure each is equally as perso
nal,
” I said
,
standing
and
tripping
over a log into his arms. I tried to tell myself to keep breathing a
s his strong arms grasped my hips
and
his laughter shook his chest against mine.

“That would have seemed a lot more meaningful had you not just tripped over a twig again.”

“Thanks…” I said
,
pulling away
and
straightening my shirt,
“I smell like something died, how
do you
—“

“S
mell so good? It’s just natural,” h
e said
,
a slight smile creepi
ng into the corner of his mouth,
“Actually
,
I have extra shirts in my pack.”

“Well, give me one,
” I said taking
my shirt off. His eyes widened,
“Oh, come on, as if you haven’t seen a chick in their bra before.”

He shook his head
and
reached into the pack
handing me a black shirt,
“It’s going to
be a bit big.”

“Better than smelling like that,
”
I commented as I threw my shirt at him.

“Here’s some deodorant. I
t m
ight help,” h
e said
,
shoving my shirt into a plastic bag
and
putting it into his pack.

“Thanks,”
I said
,
tying a
k
not in the b
ack of the shirt so it wasn’t as
baggy,
“What’s your name anyways?”

“Hunter
.
”

“So how long are you going to make me run today
Hunter
?”

He held o
ut his hand
and
I placed mine
in it,
“
As long as you can take, darling.
”