In Between Seasons (The Fall) (26 page)

“They’ll all be
dead by the time you finish me,
”
Sara
said using her knee to kick me forward
off of her,
“So what’s this about?”

“Me,
” I repeated
,
turning
and
blocking a kick to the head. My eyes searched behind her
and
I
fou
nd Hunter.
Our eyes met for a moment as I punched her in the stomach.

“Who trained you?” s
he asked
as she landed
a kick into my ribs.

The pain
seared
,
but
I ignored it
and
her question
as I kicked
at her stomach
and
punched
at her face. She was able to block the kick
,
but
took
the brunt of my fist full in the
mouth.

“Who do you think?” I replied
,
grabbing her arm as I blocked a punch to my face
and
twisting her to the ground. I yanked her arm behind her head
and
crushed my knee into her back.

“Pretty boy over there,” s
he croaked
,
her voice filled with pain as she watched him snap someone’s neck.

“Good guess
,
dar
ling,” I spat,
twist
ing her neck dangerously close
to snapping
.

“You won’t
do it. You’re not a killer,
” Sara
mumbled
and
her voice
was
barely audible.

“I think you just
watched me shoot a few men dead,” I reminder her.

“But th
ey’re not your family,” s
he begged
.

“Neither are you,” I pushed
my knee further into her back.

“Yes I am Kate—I’m your flesh
and
blood. Yo
u won’t do it. I know you won’t,” h
er voice was choked as she gasped for air.

“No
,
but
I will,
” Mara
interrupted,
and
as I looked up
she had
a gun pointed at
Sara
’s chest. Mara
nodded for me to move. I dropped
Sara
and
lunged to the left just as the shot exploded into the air.

“Why?” I asked
as Mara
grabbed my arms before I could turn
to
look at
Sara
’s lifeless body.

“She’s your sister. I couldn’t let you do it
,
and
I couldn’t let Hunter do it
because neither of you could li
v
e with that on your chest,
”
Mara explained
.

“Why did you really come here?
”
I
asked
as the commotion continued around us. People were starting to ru
n away as soon as they saw Sara
had fallen.

“Originally? Motives change Kate—if they didn’t you w
ould be dead already,” Mara nodded
over her shoulder,
“There aren’t
many left. I snuck out
,
and
as far as I know you
and
Hunter are dead too.”

“I’m so confused.”

“I like you Kate. You’re real, you played our game because you love Hunter…that’s what we all want, to f
eel something real.  Now there’
s something real for me—freedom
,
and
the same thing for you
and
Hunter.
You saved him Kate, somehow you saved me
too
,
and
I know you’ve doubted it
,
but
he loves you too,
” Mara
assured me.
I was seeing her
as she truly was
for the first time. She had been playing her part in the play that we were trapped in.

“Thank you,
”
I said
because I had no idea what else
to say,
“Where will you go?”

“Rumo
r has it if you run far enough East or W
est there’s freedom from thi
s life…
from war. I’m going
East
,” she replied
with a sad smil
e
,
but
there was a twinkle in her eye that made me think there was something more she wasn’t saying.

“D
on’t let her look at Sara
,
” Mara
ordered
as Hunter came running up beside us.

“Thank you,” Hunter answered
with his eyes showing Mara’s actions confused him as well.

“To
Freedom,” she toasted
before taking off running. She looked over her shoulder one last time
and
winked as
Hunter pulled me into his arms
and
took a deep
breath. I smiled back at her as she faded into the woods where another f
igure joined her.

“Where to?” Hunter asked
,
pulling me away from my sister’s body.

“West, until we find somewhere that th
e only reality is the truth,
”
I suggested

“Sounds good to me,
”
Hunter agreed
.

This time running felt different. There was a desperation that had not existed when we were heading to a location
that
we
had known
to be real. Now we ran away from the only thing we knew towards a future that we had only dreamt of. The only thing that remained the same was the uncertainty.

“I need to stop—
” I gasped
as my legs collapsed beneath me,
“Can we stop?”

H
unter glanced over his shoulder,
“
I don’t see why not.
There’s not going to be anyone
coming a
fter us.
”

“That’
s what I said. Why wouldn’t your father send someone to look for us once he realizes your body isn’t there?”
I asked.

“Because he won’t reali
ze my body isn’t there,” h
e replied
with his jaw line tightened.

“Why?” I pushed
,
staring up at him from the ground I was sitting on.

“
He’ll be looking for the living;
the dead are useless to him
and
they
can’t help him plot his retribution to the peop
le who caused this,
” Hunter replied
.

“But you’re his son.”

“
And you were someone’s daughter,
”
he sat
down on the ground
and
put
his head on his knees,
“I’m sorry that sounded much worse than it should have.”

“It’s the truth,” I replied,
leaning my head onto his shoulder.
The truth couldn’t hurt me anymore because I wouldn’t let it.

“Your
family will get that revenge y
ou were thinking about,” he finally said
with a sigh.

“They’re al
ready dead to me
,
so I can’t let whatever happens to them bug m
e,” I explained
as Hunter wrapped his
arm around me.

“It’s better to remember them for what they meant to you before this all happened. I keep tryin
g to remember my dad before my m
om died
—
”

“It’s hard though
isn’t it? To get past all this?
”
I interjected.

He kissed my hair,
“But I have you now. So it’s not all that bad.”

“I see everything one second too late…”

“What do you mean?” Hunter asked
,
looking down at me
with
his forehead creasing in worry.

“
I’m always two steps behind the truth—
it
was my m
om Hunter—
not my father. He was—is her puppet. I should have seen it before. The decisions that were made were too rash
,
to
o
emotional to be that of my
d
ad. She knew too little about me
and
knew far too little about who I have become to make the corre
ct decisions in the first place,
”
I explained
.

Hunter was silent for a moment
while his eyes searched
mine
then he spoke,
“I don’t think it matters when we see the truth. It’s the fact that we see i
t that matters. The deceit we’
ve known was too deep to fully understand until
now
and
maybe we’
ll never really understand
its depth.
”

“But it doesn’t matter now…”
I reminded myself.

“Not at all,” he shook
h
is head, “b
ut there’s something else bugging you. It’s not just that.”

I took a deep breath
and
pulled away from him
,
leaning against the tree next to me
and
picking at it
s bark. Hunter crossed his arms
with
his lips
pursed.

“I’m haunted by my memories. They’re shape shifting into the demons they are. The demons that
created them now rob me of them,
”
I sighed
, “I know you keep saying to forget…but everything has happened so quickly.”

“I don’t think it’s going to slow down Kate. I’m sorry that I was the catalyst to t
his,” h
e replie
d
,
his eyes fading
and
looking through me.

I leaned forward
putting my head on his shoulder
and reassured
him
,
“You’
ve been the catalyst to some of the happiest moments in my lif
e. I’ve never really known who I
was
—how I fit into life. Now I do
.”

“The truths that
have hurt you deeply
are because
of me
,
”
h
e admitted
as he stood
.

“The truth is what hurt me—not you.
You
’re the only person
who has never deceived me—that means more than
what they were as my blood
. Blood means nothing when
it’s
all betrayal.”

His eyes seemed to come back into focus on me
,
and
he just shook his head.
I held my hand out for his
and
smiled. After a moment the darkness lifted from him
and
he smiled back.

“So
I guess we should try to find some
shelter?”
I suggested
as he took my hand.

He looked around for a moment,
“
Do you think you could
walk a little more? I’m pretty sure we are about a mile out from a safe house.”

“An actual house?
I think
I could handle a mile for that,
”
I replied.

He gave me a hand up
,
but
my legs were too shaky for me to stand. It was as if my muscles had
frozen the second I had stopped.

“I don’t think y
our body is giving you a chance,
”
Hunter observed as I fell against him.

“I’m sorry.
”

“It’s alright,” h
e said
with
a crooked smile coming to his face. He swept me into his arms
,
and
I wrapped my arms around his neck laying my head on his chest.

“This works for me,
”
I said with a sigh, and I felt truly happy for a moment.

“Of course it does,” h
e teased
,
his laugh rumbling against my cheek. It felt as if Hunter had only jogged for a short d
istance before
he stopped,
“Wow.
”

Hunter put me on the ground
,
and
I turned to face the house. It blended into the forest because part of the forest was inside of it. I could imagine that it had
once
been a
n elegant building because
it was made of flat pieces of stone
molded together by hand
. There were no doors or windows
,
only gaping holes were they us
ed to be. The roof was gone
,
and
the fireplace was only partially intact.
Three letters marred the exterior of the mortared stone
stained by time
. WAR.

“When was the
last time you were here?” I asked
,
runn
ing my hands over the smooth gray-green stone.

“About five years,” h
e replied
as he stepped
inside the building.

I followed him,
“I guess war takes everything back.”

“Sometimes the people who run the safe houses get sick of the gig
and
abandon the property. That must have
been what
happened here. It’
ll still work as a decent shelter
though
. I can still use the fireplace,
”
Hunter commented
.

“How will you make the fire?”

Hunter
smirked
and
pulled a backpack off his shoulders that I hadn’t noticed in o
ur effort
to escape
without observation
,
“I grabbed
it after I saw Mara shoot Sara
.
As for food, I’
ll have to figure
something out…
most likely bunny.
”

“I don’t miss bunny for dinner,
”
I replied,
swallowing in disgust.

When Hunter returned I was standing out
side the building with one hand
on the words that had plagued my mind my whole life
without knowing it
.
I didn’t know what to feel at that moment, or why I could feel so empty at the thought of the death that I knew would soon ensue.

“What’s wrong?” Hunter aske
d
,
waking me from my thoughts.

I looked up at him
and
shook my head,
“They’re going to
destroy each other aren’t they?
”

Hunter took a deep breath
and
swallowed,
“Yeah, I think they will.”

“Pretty soon there will be no
thing left to look back at
…No reason to wonder what they’
re doing.”

“Nothing left to fear,
”
Hunter said as my hand dropped,
“No more wars. Just you
and
I.
”