She locked the door behind her. It struck her as strange that it was unlocked. There was a fire lit and its heat hit her once numb wounds as she caught her breath. Pain began to creep into her once again. Looking around the room, her eyes caught the glimpse of a light blue blanket lying near the fireplace. She grabbed it and covered her frail shaking body and sat silently in front of the raging fire. Someone was defiantly staying here, which seemed strange to her, because; no one liked to visit this place this time of year because of the weather, and she always remembered this cabin as being baron even from the time of her youth.
Then it hit her. What if the man that was chasing her was staying here as well?
The old bed in the corner was made up with military corners. The floor was clean and seemed to reflect the colors of the snow that gleamed through the windows. Then she spotted the guns. They stood like soldiers, straight and shining, tall and forbidding.
She was already very frightened when she heard the rustling of the doorknob. Someone was surprised and mad it was locked.
After the ringing of keys the old wooden door slammed open to reveal a tall shadowy man. The sight birthed a slight shriek from her tired and cold lungs.
“Who are you?” bellowed the man's voice. He seemed to speak with the wrath of God combined with the reflection of the Devil.
He walked a bit further into the light and reveled he was holding a weapon. Her eyes fixed on it, which paralyzed her making it quite impossible to speak.
“I won’t ask you another time.” He told her as he walked closer to her. He had dark black hair, which resided just above a forehead, which was surpassingly square and riddled with anger. Kylie looked straight up at him as he stood towering over her. He wore a long black trench coat, opened up to reveal a red flannel shirt.
He kneeled down in front of her and held her jaw between his thumb and index finger while looking at the bruises on her battered face. He glanced down at the blanket she was using to cover her body and said, “You should have something warm to eat.”
After lying his gun next to the others in the cabin, he walked and retrieved a military style duffel bag, which was hid under the cot. Out of it he pulled a very large knife. He held out the blade and watched it meet the snow’s reflection which was still showing through the windows and bouncing off of the cabin’s floors. Next he retrieved a large red can. “Hope you like chicken noodle because that’s all you’re getting.” He thrust the knife into the top of the soup can and began to pry it open.
As Kylie began to eat her soup the man sat next to her. “So you going to tell me what happened to you?” Still afraid she looks at him silently until she finally musters up the courage to speak. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” “Hmph.” He quickly answered her. “I have seen more in my lifetimes than a rich girl like you could ever imagine.” “Rich?” she thought to her self? “Oh my God, how could he know that?” She sat her bowl down, looked him straight in the eyes and said, “I am being hunted by a madman.” “Go on.” he patiently answered much to her surprise.
“Well, he killed some uh, “friends” I was with save these two girls. Together we drove to my father’s cabin (God rest his soul) hoping to find safety. I thought we had got away by the time we reached the cabin, but to my surprise he was there inside sitting in my father’s old recliner. Oh my God, at least I think it was him-what if there is more than one??” “Go on.” Answered her host. “Ok, well without saying a word he killed Sugar and Ellen. I was so afraid I couldn’t move. He walked towards me and grabbed me by my neck. Then he ripped off my clothes.” After saying this she began to sob uncontrollably. “Well how did you get away from this man?” the stranger prodded her.
“As he was walking towards me, I kicked his arm. The riffle he was holding went off and startled him. Then I blindly ran for what light I could make out through my tear and blood stained eyes; until I crashed through my father’s window and fell naked into the snow. Then I just ran and found my way here.”
After hearing this, the stranger said not a word.
“Who are you and why are you here?” she asked him before she thought. Imeaditly she was sorry she had asked and made a mental note of her stupidity. “I am a hunter.” he answered her.
The man walked again to his duffel bag and threw her a pair of jeans and one of his flannel shirts. “Put these on now.” He ordered her. He turned his back to her as she began to dress as best she could in front of the fireplace. Her ankle was really beginning to bother her now.
Once again she picked up her bowel of unfinished soup. Then (feeling more secure) she walked to where he was standing in the middle of the room. “For the life of me I cannot figure out who or why someone would do something like this to me.” “Well I know why.” He answered her.
Kylie stepped back in shock. “What?” she murmured as she fell awkwardly on to the blanket she had just shed in front of the fire. “Don’t be afraid.” He told her, “I am… a friend.”
“A friend?” Kylie thought. She knew very well that she had never seen this man before. His presence was so foreboding it would have to leave an impression on a woman the likes of which she could never forget. “Do I know you?” she asked the stranger as she stood up and moved slowly to get a better look at his face.
Quickly he turns his face part of the way out of her vision and says, “No. We have never met. But we do have a mutual enemy. Your husband has been a very bad boy and I mean to have a few words with him.” “Husband?” she thought to her self. She had almost forgot that she technically still had one in all of the commotion. “What could he have to do with all of this? He is totally incapable of doing anything in or around the woods.”
“Oh don’t get me wrong, he isn’t the one who has been hunting you tonight. He has people to do that for him” Kylie didn’t know what to say but, “People? You mean there is more than one hunter?” “Yes.” The man replied. There were at least 6 of them tonight. They are very good and must be very expensive. I was only able to ‘take care’ of about three so far. Your husband has went to a lot of trouble to have you killed here and in such an unusual way.” “Have me killed? Why would my husband want to do that? True we are getting a divorce, but I mean it’s like a normal thing right? We seemed to be having an understanding, we were going to still be friends.” “I suppose he doesn’t see it that way lady. He has a few operations that I am sure you are quite unaware of, all of them shady, and all of them very expensive. It seems reasonable to think that he feels that your ‘just being friends’ may put a vice on his flow of cash.” Kylie began to forget the immediate pain her body was in and began to think back to her recent marriage: the late nights, the strange people and meetings, her husband’s constant fixation with using just cash, and his strange interest in the things of the occult.
“How did you know abut me being here?” she asked him beginning to once again feel immediate fear for her safety. “I was getting very close to your husband, when during an interrogation of one of his men, I learned of his plot to kill you. I have been hunting the hunters in the woods while trying to find you, but it seems that it was you that found me.”
Kylie moved closer to him afraid that she wouldn’t know what to say next when the cabin's lights blew out. It was a gunshot! Suddenly two or three more shots blasted through the cabin. The confusion and the near total darkness knocked Kylie to the floor. She found herself so close to the fireplace the flannel shirt she was wearing caught fire. Kylie began to scream. Quickly the stranger grabbed her in his huge hands and commenced to put out the blaze. Kylie looked down to find she had ruined yet another shirt in such a short period of time.
Slowly the stranger began to rise up from where he was kneeling beside her. She watched as he stood above her towering like a granite statue of Andrew Jackson. “Don’t worry about the shirt,” he said, “you may have this one I don’t need it any longer.”
As he unbuttoned the flannel shirt, he began to reveal a massive chest covered by a pitch-black shirt, which had the image of a white skull upon it.
“You stay here.” He told her. “Let me show these fools what it’s really like to be hunted and how a true hunter can kill.”