Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 58

She dived into the tunnel next to her, and wiggled as far as she could. It was too tight, but her fear and adrenaline got her almost all of the way through it. Letting all of the air out of her lungs, she managed to squirm the last little bit, and fell to the floor. This room was tiny, but inaccessible to any of the monsters. Their bodies were too big to squeeze through the tunnels and their arms weren’t long enough to reach her.

Breathing hard, she turned to look through another tube. Tommy looked back at her, the look on his face made her heart melt. There was so much terror in it, she couldn’t help but cry. He was in a room just like hers, but she couldn’t get to him and he couldn’t get to her. The monsters had them trapped.

Hours passed as they tried to tear into the rooms where they were hiding. Matilda talked to Tommy quietly for a while, telling him that it would eventually be okay, the monsters would go away and they would find a safe place to live that didn’t have cold floors and walls. Eventually, even she sat down, staring at the wall silently, losing hope.

The hunger in her belly faded as the cold inched deeper into her body. She knew that if she went to sleep, she may never wake up, but the thought was distant. Her eyes began to droop, despite the growls and howls of the beasts nearby. But then it went quiet, and she heard a sound that woke her up.

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are…”

It was soft, but the words were understandable. Tears collected as she crawled over to the tube that connected their rooms. Tommy was singing. It was a nursery rhyme their mother would sing to them before she went away.

“Up, above, the world so high, like a diamond in the sky…” she sang back to him, softly like their mother would.

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are…” They sang it together, ignoring the howls of anger from the wolves who couldn’t reach them. Then they sang it again.

—

Xun was tired of sitting on the stage, listening to people complain about things he thought were ridiculous. He couldn’t understand why they were so upset, when he was just glad to get food and shelter from the cold.

Turning to Jerome and Max after the umpteenth person complained about their living arrangements, he said, “This is stupid. I’m done listening to this.”

“But this is part of being responsible for people. We need to listen to their problems and help them in whatever way we can,” explained Jerome.

“And Lisa never showed up to take on the job of housing, like we asked. Something about being sick,” drawled Max, leaning back in his chair.

“That’s not what I mean.” Xun ran his hands through his hair, trying to think of a way to explain his frustration.

“These people complain about things that I would have loved to have when I was out there,” he motioned with his hand to signify outside the compound.

“Most of us don’t know what that is like, and those who do, forget quickly.” Jerome set his pencil down.

Xun had been patient, adding comments when needed, trying to explain things when needed, but it seemed like no one was listening. It had been hours and nothing seemed to be getting better.

“Welcome to the life of an ȧduŀt,” said Max dryly, looking out over the crowd and sighing. It wasn’t a secret to anyone that he was bored with this job, too.

Xun looked at Jerome. “If we dictate something, as the council, they have to accept it, right?”

“Everyone is wanting to live in the apartments, and not the barracks, right?”

Again nods, this time from many in the crowd as well.

“Okay, then we will fix this.”

Jerome and Max watched as Xun stood up and pointed to one guy, who had the job of delivering messages and informing people when they wanted to see them.

“You will go count all of the rooms in the apartment building that is empty. Return here as soon as possible.”

The guy nodded and ran off.

Pointing to another guy with the same job, Xun said, “You will take down the names of everyone here who wishes to live in the apartments. Make sure you note how many they have in their family, whether they are a boy or a girl, and their ages.” The guy took some paper and a pencil off their table and moved to the side. People started whispering to themselves and many moved over to form a line leading to him.

“If anyone has anything to say about wanting to move into an apartment, get in line to talk to this guy and give him your information.”

Turning back to the others, he sat back down. Max clapped in admiration, while Jerome watched the people uncomfortably. It was obvious he wasn’t happy with the decision, but they needed to make a decision about it and stop dragging their feet, so he allowed it to happen.

“I was wondering if I could have permission to leave the compound with some people. One of the people, who was with us when we arrived, had joined us right before we got here. She told me that she left some children back in the city. I can’t live with myself, knowing that we may have left them there to die. I want to try and return to get them.”

Xun didn’t have any problems letting him go, but noticed something as he was talking that was distracting him. There was a peculiar mark on the man’s arm, that was very similar to one his father had.

“You may leave with whoever is willing to go with you, but we can’t spare many resources right before winter for people we don’t know and may never see again.” Jerome was obviously touched that he was wanting to save the kids, but wasn’t going to be fooled if it was a trick to steal stuff from them.

“What is that mark on your arm?” asked Xun, interrupting him before he could respond.

“This is a mark that was placed upon me by my father. It signifies something from the old world.”