Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 87

“So, about the people who live here?” asked Xun, not sure how he felt knowing that his mother had been watching him all that time.

“This place used to have hundreds of people, but when the door was sealed, they slowly died from sickness, without any medicine, starvation, and the few monsters who came from the sea.”

“How many are left?” he asked.

“Ten,” came the answer from behind him. Xun turned so fast, his jacket flew out behind him, and he had his sword in his hand, at the throat of the speaker.

“Theo,” said his mother, touching his shoulder.

“Lola,” the old man nodded at her, ignoring the sword. His short beard was snow white. Wrinkles lined his face, hinting at all the laughing and crying he had done in his life.

Xun lowered his sword, feeling a little foolish. He was glad to see all the training with Gerald had paid off, but he was also annoyed that the old man had managed to sneak up on him.

“It is good to get to meet you in person, I have to admit it was very difficult dealing with just a voice in my head.”

His mother nodded, and said, “How is everyone? I take it Mac died?”

Theo’s face crumpled, but he nodded. “I take you to meet them.”

The city they traveled through, was lit by long streams of light. Theo explained that the original lights gave out about ten years ago, a few at the time, and with the door shut, they couldn’t replace them, so they used these. There weren’t enough for everywhere, so they only used them on the most traveled paths.

The low light, hid a lot of the ruin from aging and lack of upkeep.

There were eight people gathered around a fire pit, sipping soup from bowls. Xun glanced around at them all, curiously. There was an obvious couple, a man and woman, with a small child, maybe two or three sleeping beside them. A girl, probably about fifteen or sixteen, with long blonde hair, sat next to a seven or eight-year-old girl, with the same features. There was a tall skinny kid, with dirty blonde hair and lots of freckles scooping out another bowl of soup. Another girl, with black hair, and oddly shaped eyes sat close to the fire while making repairs to a large bow she held in her ŀȧp. The last person was strange. He (or she?) was sitting on the outskirts of the group, with bright orange hair.

Xun had to look twice to make sure he was seeing what he thought. The person’s hair was very much an orange. He had never seen that color of hair before.

Theo introduced them, one by one, “The young couple are Adam and Linda. Their son, Noah is almost three. These two are sisters, Bell and Lucy. Paul is our inventor, he’s really good at finding things and fixing them up. That’s Lee An, no one’s as good at bow fishing as she is. And over there we have Wild Child. She’s kind of unique. Fisher isn’t here, she’s out fishing, like normal.”

“Wild Child?” asked Xun, confused. He had heard a lot of weird names in his life, his was probably the weirdest, but Wild Child?

“Her parents both died by the time she was three, and while we’ve tried to take care of her, she’s kind of feral. It probably doesn’t help that she’s neither a boy or a girl. It’s a side effect of her parents being siblings.”

“Wait, how can someone not be a boy or a girl?” asked Xun, wondering if she understood them, and was she even a she?? Should he call her an it? That didn’t sound right either.

“It’s complicated. We call her a girl, because she likes her hair long.”

Xun shook his head. There was probably more to the story, but it hurt his head to think about. They had it figured out here, there was no reason for him to rock the boat.

“Are you going to help us escape the caves?” asked Lee An. She was very outspoken and not afraid of drawing attention. Xun couldn’t help but compare her with Hayden.

Thinking of his friends brought a pang of fear for them, back with the vampires.

“Yes, as soon as you are all ready, we will leave,” said Lola.

“Theo told us about you, that you would get us out of here,” said Paul, his eyes wary.

“None of you have ever seen the sky, I can only hope you are able to handle it.” Theo looked very tired, as he sat down his pack.

“We’ll be fine,” reassured Linda, taking the pack and starting to go through it. “There’s not much this time. It will be good to get to the outside, where we can have more to eat.”

“Time to go then,” announced a young chubby girl, returning with a large spear draped over her shoulder. She was the only one of them who didn’t look starved.

Lola seemed to know this cave system very well, having explored it while as a spirit. Xun wasn’t sure if that was the correct term, but decided it would work. They arrived at a dead end, that had several large cooking pots against a wall, and a small pool, that upon closer inspection, was very deep.

“We will have someone go first, with the pot over their head to hold air, with a rope. Then we will take everyone else.”

“What about our child?” asked Adam, holding up the three year old.

“Someone will have to go with him, and hope for the best. He knows how to swim?” asked Lola, picking up the largest of the pots and handing it to him.

He nodded unhappily, taking it. “This is really heavy!” he exclaimed in surprise.

“Of course. It will be very difficult to keep it submerged without the weight.”

Xun examined the pots, then turned to his mom. “Do we have to take the pots?”

“No, but it is a long way and not many can hold their breath that long.”

“What if one of us, using the pot, went with the rope, and then pulled the next people on the rope? They would get there faster than trying to swim, and wouldn’t have to fight the pot the whole time.” Xun hated the pot idea. They would spend so much time fighting them, that they would run out of any extra air they would benefit from. It made sense for the baby, but everyone else should have been able to hold their breath that long.

It took only a few minutes of planning, before they were all ready. Lola would go with Adam, Linda, and the baby Noah, and a long rope. Then once she tugged on the rope three times, they were all to grab ahold of it, and be dragged through the water as a group.

Xun hated this, but his mother ȧssured him it was the only way to get out of the cave.