In Between Seasons (The Fall) (27 page)

The mood had lightened after the night spent under the stars in the safe house aged from the war.
Hunter’s words seemed to have sunken into us both, and the fear had slowly vanished with each step.
We paced ourselves
as the
desperation
to escape our pasts
dissipated.  W
e knew
that the past was already in self
-destruct
ion
mode.

“I think I’ve gotten good enoug
h to beat you in a race,
” I taunted
over my shoulder to Hunter as I kept stride with him.

“Oh, really?”

“Yes,” I replied,
sprinting ahead of him. I heard his laughter behind me as he rushed to catch me.
I dashed in between the trees
as
the forest sped
past me
,
and
I f
elt as though I was flying. It hit me
then
that
we were
finally free, but as
soon
as the feeling came it left
.
I found myself stopping suddenly at a wall just before I would have run into it. I pushed off of it
and looked up at
i
t scaling
to the sky with barbed wire snarling at its top. Walls are bad was my last thought as someone grabbed my arms
and
yanked them harshly behind my back.

“Kate, Kate!” Hunter screamed from
behind me.

I tried to fight against the person who had grabbe
d me,
“Hunter!” I screamed
,
my voice breaking in fear. I could see Hunter
out of the corner of my eye
,
and
he was fighting against two men
who had him pinned.

“Let me go!
”
I was screaming as I pulled toward Hunter.
This was the first time I had truly felt fear. It was as if my whole body had been thrown into a fire, and everything, including my emotions, was on fire. The worst part about fear is the absolute loss of control. There is nothing you can do to stop it.

“Sorry,
sweetheart
,” t
he man said
,
and
I felt his hand pinch my neck before everything went black.

~~~

I came to
and
found myself tied
to a chair in a dimly lit room
just like hundreds of scenes in novels where people were beaten into submission for information they didn’t have.
So this was what it was like to truly be kidnapped and held hostage.

“Hello?” I asked
in a weak, dry voice.

I heard some movement behind the door
and
a tall man strode in.
If I was being truthful
he wasn’t very scary looking. He had a kind smile on that would have disarmed me if I had
had
some plan to run.

“
Sorry about all this
,
but
its protocol when
someone is found at the border,” he explained as his arms made a broad sweeping motion.

“I swear I had no clue whose border we
were on. We were just looking—”

“Looking for what?” h
e cut me off as he pulled
a chair out of the darkness
and
spun
it around to sit in it. He placed his hands on the back of the chair
and rested his chin on his intertwined fingers.
He wasn’t scary at all. This was just bizarre.

“Something that I’m g
uessing doesn’t exist from this,
” I replied
, wiggling my cramped fingers as the thought sunk in.

“What is it that you were looking for?”

“Freedom,” I clenched my teeth as I waited for a haughty laugh as a response. It never came.

“That must be a novel thought to you
and
your boyfriend,” h
e commented
,
his eyes
unsurprised by
what I
had
said.

“Where is he? Is he okay?”
I asked
,
trying to keep the panic from filtering into my voice.

“He’
s
much in the same state you are
,
so quite fine I’d say
,” h
e answered
with a crooked smile;
one that wasn’t cruel or mocking.

“Thank you,”
I said.

“Now, let’s get to the nitty gritty. Who are you?”
h
e continued
with a shrug.

“Kate Ericson
,” I finally replied with a sigh.

“Ericson
?”

“Are y
ou going to kill me now?” I asked
as I tried to keep my eyes steady on his, as I tried
to look fearless when I felt like puking everywhere.

“You’re last name
isn’t a reason to kill you. I’
m just s
urprised someone from the Ericson
tribe is seeking freedom
,
and
let alone with some
one from the Marks tribe,” he explained, and his facial expression seemed
to be in conflict.

“Our fathers may be enemies
,
but
that doesn’t mean him and
I are. It also doesn’t mean we’
re
anything like them.”

“Really? Tell me
what you think about war.”

“There was never a war for
me
until now
. I never knew that I was right in the middle of one. Hunter kidnapped me
,
and
in that moment everything changed. My
father sent a hunter to kill me, not to save me—
to kill me. Someone who said they loved me held a
gun to my head with every
intent
of killing me. Then when that person didn’t su
cceed my father sent in his best
—my sister.
To add another twist my father is just a puppet for my psychotic mother. They
didn’t succeed
,
but
t
hen
I found myself fighting an internal war because I hated them
,
and I wanted revenge. B
ut
Hunter saved me from those
feelings just like he saved me from my family
. I just want to pretend that I never existed before I me
t Hunter. The war that our fathers made up in their heads has taken everything away from me. I have no family
,
and
I guess I never did
,
but
what I
did have—do have is Hunter. He’
s all I have left,
he’s
all the matters,
”
I finished
,
my voice breaking as I said his name.

The man smiled sadly before nodding his head
and
standing. He took one last look at me before nodding his head towards the darkness behind me. There wasn’t any time for me to scream as a hand reached around my face
and
cove
red my face
with a sick smelling damp cloth.
If I had been able to keep my eyes open for more than ten seconds after the smell overtook me I would have vomited
,
but
now I was wandering in the blackness inside my head. The only thing I could think of was Hunter
and
the numbness that was pervading my limbs.

I couldn’t place a time for how long I was in that
black pit
,
but
when
I came to
the insane pounding of the ocean
was
in my head. The air was sharp against my lungs as I took a deep breath
and
opened my eyes. The sharpness of the air hit me again
,
and
I realized that the sound that was ha
mmering into my skull was indeed
the ocean
,
and
the air was thick with the smell of salt. I slid out of the bed I had been laying in
and
stretched. Somehow I had changed into
a white cotton sundress
and
smelt of roses. I supposed a normal person would have felt invaded by the discovery
,
but
the thought of Hunter was the only thing I could comprehend.

The wind rushed in through the open French
doors
,
blowing
the curtains
,
so they grazed my skin like the soft touch of finger tips. It drew my attention out the doors to white sand
and
a shirtless
figure sitting just where the waves crested. I wanted to run to him
,
but
the heart in my chest was hammering so hard I thought I might faint. I stepped out into the softness of the sand against my bare feet
and
let my
toes sink in before taking another step. My senses were overwhelmed by the brilliance of the white sand
and
the
moon shimmering off the ocean. I felt my
body continue forward
,
yet
I felt I had no control
over what I was doing. My heart
was guiding me to th
e figure with one singular hope
—
that it was Hunter. The wind blew
the cotton dress around my legs
and
let the scent of the figure I was nearing drift over me.

“Hey,” I whispered
as Hunter turned
and
smile
d at me
. T
he scars on his bare chest
were
apparent in the moonlight, and I had to suck in a breath as they reminded me of what had happened.

“
That’s picture perfect,” h
e commented
,
looking at
me as the warm air blew the dress
and
my hair
around my face.

“Where are we?” I asked
as I sank
down into the sand beside him.

“Freed,” h
e replied
,
looking out over the ocean in disbelief at the words.

“I thought they would kill us. I
thought they were another tribe,” I explained as I covered my toes with
the diamond sand.

“They’
re the a
nti-tribe. It turns out there are
only a few of us still determined t
o be at war with the world. Collin
vouched for us; apparently he’s one of them. They run the safe house to make sure the tribes are staying somewhat peaceful. He would have told us about this place
,
but
he wasn’t sure that I was ready
or that you were ready having just learned what hell you were living in.”

“Freed,” I repeated
as I took
a deep breath
and
let
the salt sting my nose.

“Strange
,
isn’t it?
”

“Coming from a world where everyone wants to kill y
ou. Yes, I suppose it is,
” I replie
d
,
putting my head on my knees. We were silent for a long time
as we sat
staring out at
the ocean.

“This is it,
” Hu
nter finally said
as a wave crested
and
touched the tips of our toes,
“Neither of us are prisoners anymore.”

“Yo
u know I never was,” I reminded him,
sticking my toes into the cool
,
wet sand.

“You haven’t had much of a choice since I ripped you
from your family,
” Hunter
commented
as he looked
down at his hands
and
rubbed
a scar in the middle of his palm.

“I always had a choice. I could have screamed.
I could have tried to run,
”
I replied.

“What use would
that have
been against me?”

“Not much
,
but
I still had a choice,” I reassured him,
putting my chin on my shoulder
and
looking at him.

He was staring at the ocean
with
his eyes as intense as the first time I had looked into them.  For a moment I just watched him
and
listened to the sound of
his breathing against the waves
as I waited
for him to say what he was thinking. He looked down at his hands
again
and
then at me,
“I’m sorry Kate. I’m so sorry for what I did to you—
that I
ripped you away
from your fam
ily. I know I ruined what your
family was to you
.”

“I’ve done the same thing
to you now, haven’t I? You can
n
ever go back.”

“It’s different
—
I was a prisoner there. I had to be what they wanted
,
and
with you I’ve only been what I want. You gave me that
,
and
I only wond
er how much I’ve hurt you by showing you
your
family’s
true colors,
”
He explained
,
his Adam’s apple rising and falling at the words.

“I was a prisoner to their lies
and
finding them out hurt like hell
,
but
not knowing who they were
hurt just as much,” I rushed to explain. I was afraid of where he was going with this sudden realization.

“I’m still sorry Kate. If I cou
ld have found you any other way
…” h
is voice drifted off as he
clenched
his jaw
. He stood
and continued
, “We can go our separate ways now though.
You can
live whatever way you choose.”

“So this is it,”
he gave me a hand to stand,
“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.
Collin
says they could use my skills as a border guard.
”

I wanted him to ask me to go with him
where ever he went. I wanted
him to tell me he felt the same,
“Alright, well…”
I began.

“Good luck…”

“You too,
” I replied
,
turning on my heel.  My heart pounded less
and
less with each step I took away from him. I knew him well enough to know that whatever he was feeling he wasn’t telling me all of it, for he never did. I knew what I was feeling though. I turned
and
sprinted towards his
bare
back, “Hunter.
”

He turned, “Kate,” h
e sighed
as
I jumped into his arms, “Thank G
od.”

I pressed my body as hard against him as I possibly could
and
kissed him as if he might dis
appear. His lips met mine with the panic that I had felt from them once before
.  His hand caressed my face as his other arm wrapped around my back
and
pulled me tighter to him.

He kis
sed me once
more before pulling away to face me,
“I
thought you’d
come back.
”

I dropped from my tippy toes
and
looked up
into his face my heart sinking,
“That’s it?
”

“You know me better than anyone in the world Kate. Don’t tell me you doubt that I love you? Don’t tel
l me you didn’t know why
I never told you what those kisses meant
?
” h
e asked
,
shaking his head.

“I thought you didn’t want me,
” I replied
,
my forehead wrinkled.

“I was afraid I would never stop… that I would run away with you in my arms in that moment
and
get us both killed,
” Hunter
explained
as he stroked
my face.

“I never wanted you to stop…
” m
y voice drifted off as my hands grasped
his strong arms. I tried to concentrate
,
but
my mind was w
andering to the heat of his bare chest
so close to mine
and
the thought of his lips.

“Now we don’t have to,” he tilted
m
y chin up,
“
You know what I promised I would tell you?
” h
is soft lips grazed
the line of my jaw
as he whispered,
“I love you.”

“I’ll always be your pri
soner Hunter,
”
I murmured.

“And I yours.”