The Hunter
on Monday, February, 19, 2007 10:28 PM
This is a story I wrote and I would like to share it. What do you think? Any advice? Anything I should work on?
The Legend of The Hunter
As the winds pick up and the clouds slide away to allow the crimson tinted moon to cast its light in small patches though the leaves of the trees, the loud, piercing cry resounds through the area. Wincing at the redoubtable wail, he readies his crossbow and moves slowly along. The trail he has been following slowly becomes more and more visible: blood stained trails and severed limbs and other such gore hanging from trees and scattered on the ground is almost a sickening sight. These crass infractions are why he was summoned. It is his job to put an end to the creature’s nightly pillages of nearby townships.
As he walks, the sound of a twig snapping echoes throughout the area, followed by that same piercing cry. It’s closer. He hears rustling in the bushes ahead. He pulls up his crossbow to fire, but it stops. He then hears it behind him. He spins around, but it stops again. This thing is fast! It’s in front of him! Behind him again! To the left! Now the right! He becomes unsure of his target.
Now, just for a moment, time seems to slow to a crawl as the hideously grotesque creature jumps from behind him and strikes his back. His hesitation had left him vulnerable to an attack. He lets out a blood curdling scream. As he falls, he musters enough strength to turn and fire before he hits the ground. The creature lets out a cry that seems to make the wind stop blowing. It turns and runs.
After a brief moment of lying on the ground, our stalwart sits up slowly. Though he is in excruciating pain, he’s been through worse. He reaches back to retrieve another arrow for his crossbow only to find that his quiver is gone! The creature must have snagged it. There will be restitution for this.
After another moment, he stands up slowly, reproving himself for letting down his guard. Clipping the crossbow back in its holster on his belt, he takes the shotgun from his shoulder and checks his ammunition. He only has six shells. He searches his packs and finds the problem: his ammo pack has a hole in it. He sighs and loads the six shots in his gun, and then slowly makes his way off in the direction he thinks the creature fled in.
He finally finds an obvious trail. Aside from the countless body parts and gore strewn about, there are drops of blood on the ground. Strange...these drops are a much brighter hue than that of a human. It’s wounded. It appears as though it is in the leg. This should slow it down, at least a little bit...he hopes.
Our silent protagonist follows the trail of blood to the mouth of a large cave...interesting. This creature has a home. He slowly steps inside and realizes that this cave could and most likely is catacomb-like, with many different ways to get back to the exit. The creatures could find their way around him and back out to ravage the country. He quickly devises a plan...
He takes his gun and leans it against a wall for the moment and takes off his pack. Taking out numerous gadgets and trinkets, he sets them all out separately. Working rather swiftly, and paying much attention to the details, the punctilious hunter sets his trap. He quickly concocts a mechanism that will utilize the small flame thrower he carries as well as his flare bombs to create a fire wall to keep the creature in with him.
He turns and grabs his gun and pops his neck. The time to be beneficent is over. The deeper he descends into the caverns, the darker it gets. He reaches up and flicks on the light located conveniently on the side of his headband. The light floods the cavern, showing every inconsequential night crawler on the cool cave floor. As he continues, he distinctly hears the creature, in its own tongue, prating with...itself? No...there are more than one! That explains the scene in the forest earlier! The cre
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