Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 1

Screams woke him up. He quickly rolled off his bed and grabbed the bag he kept by his shoes. Stuffing his feet into them, he quickly crawled under the bed and pushed the board leaning against the wall out of the way. A tunnel he had painstakingly dug out presented itself and he wasted no time crawling into it. Hesitating only long enough to pull the board back into place, Xun crawled as quickly as possible down the tunnel until the screams behind him seemed muffled and the air became hard to breath.

The dirt beneath his hands gave way suddenly, and he tumbled down into the opening before him. There was no light, and he knew if he lit a candle it would be even harder to breath. Taking a couple of deep breaths, Xun knew he had to keep moving. The compound had been found by the Slavers and if he was found, he would be taken to the leaders of this forsaken land, the Vampire Lords.

Gently reaching out, he felt a tree root above his head, the reason for the dip, and turned to the side, feeling for the next tunnel. Once he found it, he wiped the sweat from his face and repositioned the bag. He had it on backwards so it dangled from his front preventing it from rubbing the dirt above him as he crawled.

The lack of fresh air was making it harder and harder to breathe and he knew he had to hurry or he might pass out. However, as he moved down the tunnel, his hands came in contact with soft dirt. The tunnel had collapsed.

Fear clawed at his throat, and he knew his chances were very bad. If he tried to dig through the collapse, even more of the tunnel might come down burying him in his own grave. But if he went back to the underground compound, the Slavers would round him up with the other humans that lived there.

Fighting against the panic that was swelling within him, he reached out again and very gently, so gently he surprised himself, began exploring the cave-in. Another tree root seemed to be the reason for it. There wasn’t enough dirt to keep the roof up with the tree root in place. As he continued exploring the cave-in, he quickly found the amount of dirt that had fallen was not as much as he had thought.

Scooping the dirt, a little at a time, he pushed it behind him and cleared the way. Fighting against the urge to rush, he forced himself to stay slow and methodical. As he finally managed to squeeze past the collapse, a faint whiff of fresh air hit his face and he smiled. Instead of rushing, though, he slowed down and focused on moving as quietly as possible.

He could hear people up ahead screaming and crying as they were pulled into the cool night air and thrown into wooden wagons reinforced with metal bars. Xun knew the Slavers often used werewolves to pull the heavy loads and one might occasionally break free, killing anyone it found. He had to stay hidden until they left. Since the Slavers were controlled by the vampires, he knew they had to get to shelter before dawn.

His tunnel ended under another tree a hundred feet or so from the compound. He had encouraged smelly weeds, known to deter werewolves, around the tree to hide his tunnel in case of an attack. He lay there, in the dark, waiting and trying to ignore the cries of those he had grown close to over the past year and a half.

“There were a couple empty rooms. There may be some out and about that we missed. Should we leave a wolf to find them?”

Xun’s eyes grew large in fear at the question. The two Slavers were standing next to his tree as the last of the people were thrown into cages.

“No, we’ll come back tomorrow night and look for survivors. The wolves will tear them apart and the Masters won’t be happy to lose the food.”

“This is a good haul, I say just leave the survivors be and come invade again in a couple years. Such a good compound for them will soon be filled again.”

“Perhaps you’re right. There’s plenty of food to support them. Even if the survivors don’t return, others will.”

Xun tried to keep his breathing as silent as possible, as these monsters discussed future populations of people like they were wild animals.

“Do we have everything loaded? I heard they had a nice cache of supplies, too.”

“Everything that is important. We really should wait more often before checking these spots so far out like this. It makes our jobs easier when they build up in population like this!”

“True, but I hate the distance. It’s always a race to see if we can get back before dawn. Last time I got a nasty sunburn.”

“It’s late, let’s move!” came a call near the cages, as if he had overheard their conversation.

The two moved away from his tunnel entrance as the giant wolves began to pull the heavily laden wagons.

Xun waited until the first lights of dawn began to streak the sky before he crawled out of his hole. The ground was churned into a giant mess with wheel tracks and clawed prints from the wolves as they waited. He swallowed in fear when he stepped next to one of the paw prints and saw how much bigger it was than his foot.

The entrance to the compound had been hidden within a large dead tree, but after so many came and went, a rather obvious path had developed. It looked like the Slavers had opened the door and closed it back without damaging it. If they had hid their tracks, it would almost look unchanged.