Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 52

She set the tray down and checked his bandages.

“How are you feeling?” she asked in a soft voice. Her hands were so light, he almost didn’t feel them as she touched his forehead and then his ċhėst.

“Tired. Sore. How long do I need to stay here?”

“You will be tired for a while, you did a lot of damage to your ribs. The medicine we gave you is taking most of the pain away, so I’m not surprised you’re sore. The doctor should come see you later today. I want you to try eating some of this soup. If you start feeling nauseous, stop eating. I got you some crackers, too. They should help, but we definitely don’t want you throwing up.”

Xun nodded and waited patiently as she raised the bed with a handle that turned. She made sure to move it slowly, giving him time to adjust. Once he was in a somewhat sitting position, she moved a tray in front of him, with his soup and crackers. She also gave him a cup with something for him to drink.

“I don’t think this is a good idea for him to eat,” said Rick looking down at his own bowl.

“What do you mean?” she asked in alarm.

“Well, I think he might be gluten intolerant. The noodles and the crackers might make him sick.”

Xun watched as she thought that over, then nodded in understanding.

“I’ll go fetch something else for him, would you like to eat his bowl? It’ll just get thrown away if I take it back uneaten.”

Rick smiled as she handed him the tray. Xun rolled his eyes as she left the room. He didn’t mind not eating yet. The act of sitting up was exhausting. He decided to rest his eyes as Rick dug into the two bowls.

“Are you ready to eat?” Her voice woke him, and Xun opened his eyes to see another bowl in front of him.

The smell wafting up from the bowl smelled good. He could see chunks of meat, maybe chicken? There were also chunks of vegetables and mushrooms. He smiled at her and picked up his spoon. She nodded and left the room.

“The compound is in lockdown. No one can enter or leave. The council has decided everyone who survived an attack must stay in quarantine for at least a week to make sure they don’t become a monster. Even though you don’t have any scratches or bites from the wolves, you’re still included in that quarantine. I thought you would like to know.”

“How many people died?” Xun asked, stirring his soup slowly. He was relieved to know that his friends were all safe and okay, but he knew a lot of people had died.

“They’re still trying to figure that out. There was nothing but chaos the day of the attack and most of the day after. Everyone was terrified of more werewolves showing up.”

“Any idea how many there were?”

“No, you were killing them too fast. And since they burned away to ashes, it was kind of hard to count bodies.”

“What is the council going to do?” Xun tried his soup, and was surprised at the rich hearty flavor.

“My dad wanted to talk to you about that. Since we’ve never had a werewolf attack like this before, there was talk about what we should do. Quite a few people are calling you a hero, and want you to be part of the council.”

Xun stopped with the spoon halfway to his mouth. He blinked a few times, then slowly returned the spoon to his bowl. “Perhaps you should get your dad, so we can talk. I’m not sure it’s a good idea for me to be included in the council.”

Rick nodded, and stood up to leave. Alone in his room, Xun stared out his window, watching the few leaves left on a tree outside wave in the wind. His soup sat before him, forgotten.

What were they thinking? He was only twelve. He didn’t know the first thing about running a compound. This was not what he was thinking would happen when he came here with Willow. How long had he even been here? A month, maybe two? Closing his eyes as fatigue washed over him, Xun suddenly missed his dad.

“Xun?”

He opened his eyes to see Jerome standing before him. Rick was no where to be seen. His soup in front of him looked cold. With a sigh, he picked up his spoon again.

“Rick said you wanted to see me?” Xun took a bite of his soup. Even cold it tasted wonderful.

Jerome pulled the chair Rick had been sitting in closer to the bed and sat down.

“Max and I have discussed the fact that these monsters are showing up more often. Before you showed up, we had hunters going missing to the south and far north, so we think this was coming for a while. Since the compound has been attacked and we’ve lost so many people, something needs to be done. You are the one that everyone is calling a hero. They believe you are the reason we have survived this last attack. Max and I think it would be good to have you join the council as an advisor. You’ve survived more in your short life than most of the people in this compound combined, when it comes to these monsters.”

Xun took a sip of the drink and found it was light and fruity. “I want a few things put into place if I become part of the council. The people here don’t have a clue when it comes to surviving these things. I want safe places built where people can get to during an attack. I want guards patrolling the walls and watching for these monsters, ready to sound an alarm when they are spotted. And a couple of other things.”

Jerome nodded. “We figured there would be some things you would want to change. Max isn’t too happy about some of the things we are sure you will want, but I believe you may be our only chance at surviving.”

“All right. I’ll do it.”