Chapter 3

“What the hell is that?!” Adrian said in a panicky voice.

“Get the hell away from the window!” Nate hissed.

He had his back to the wall, his heart beating in his chest a mile a minute. Another howling sound came from outside. Nate and Adrian heard the heavy sounds of a large four-legged creature running down the street, there were several of them.

Nate had a brief look at them. He called them creature because they were wolves but had strange fur that shined silver in the moonlight. No matter what their fur color, they all shined silver as if a silver aura surrounded them.

“That’s crazy.” Adrian whispered to himself.

It was only five pm. Those things came out as soon as it became twilight. It was winter so the sun set at five. Now Nate knew why the others went straight home after bringing them here. He briefly wondered if Jodie found that warm body to snuggle up with, or if he was in the belly of those creatures.

“You think Jodie’s alive?” Adrian asked as if reading his mind.

“Who knows. That idiot really went to pick up some girl to warm his bed? San Diego doesn’t get that cold during the winter. Hell it never even snows. Why would he go out there into unfamiliar territory and try to get himself some? It was stupid.” Nate rambled. He realized he was just as unsure of what was going on but the unknown didn’t sit well with him.

“Get some sleep.” Nate stood up silently making sure not to make a sound before going over to one of the mattresses on the living room floor. There were a few abandoned houses on the street but finding a good mattress was hard. Most of them were ridden with little bugs. Nate had found a decent bed and threw a bunch of covers over it to separate him from any bugs that might’ve hidden from his eyes.

The next morning he awoke to a knock at the door. It was afro dude. “Let’s go.” He said without explaining where or why.

Nate groaned then stood up. Adrian was still asleep with his ass pointed up in the air. “Get up.” Nate kicked him in the ass. Adrian made a high-pitched squealing noise that made Nate and Afro dude burst out laughing.

“Asshole.” Adrian glared at Nate. Nate was going to respond when afro dude rushed them out the door.

Leo and several black prisoners were on the street surrounding a bus. Nate was surprised there was a car inside the Asylum. This place isn’t so bad. He thought. Living here for the rest of his life wouldn’t be too horrible, it sure as hell beat a traditional prison—not that many of those existed any longer. As long as he was in before dark, before those creatures came out, then life here would be alright. Not as good as his old life, but at least it would be livable.

The prisoners boarded the bus, there were only thirty or so prisoners. Thirty minutes later they were still waiting as an argument broke out. Most of the prisoners were on board the bus, all with solemn and grim demeanors. Nate and Adrian were wondering just what the hell was going on when they saw someone in the distance being dragged.

“Please! I’ll do anything else but this! Please. Someone else please take my shift!” The man being dragged cried aloud.

“You a grown ass man, shame on you.” Nate laughed.

Adrian snickered as well but stopped as soon as he noticed the looks they were getting from the people on the bus. They all glared at Nate and Adrian. “Sorry.” Nate said before looking at Adrian with a ‘What the hell?’ expression. Adrian shrugged.

The frantic man was finally put aboard the bus and the bus took off. The frantic man was seated near the front being held down by the others. “We’re late because of you, you know that right?” One of the prisoners holding him down said angrily.

“If we get any penalties then it’s on you.” Another said.

Nate felt completely out of the loop. He had no idea what was going on and was in dire need of information. He looked around for someone familiar but there wasn’t anyone he knew on the bus. Even the people that picked him up yesterday weren’t here. There were at least one-hundred thousand black people living in the Asylum so it was to be expected.

Adrian and Nate chatted during the ride as the bus headed northeast. There were several other buses heading in the same direction, some people even walked. Nate found himself wondering at the depressed attitude displayed by the people around him. Butterflies sprouted in his stomach the longer they drove.

In less than an hour the bus pulled up in front of another wall. Only this wall wasn’t obsidian black like the main wall. This wall was colored in camouflage colors. Greens and browns mixed in with some black. There were four other busses and at least a hundred people on foot. The people on foot looked afraid, hungry, and desperate.

“Just what is this place?” He wondered aloud as the busses began unloading. He was glad to finally be off that depressing bus, the atmosphere was so heavy you could practically feel the dread in the air.

The gates opened barring anyone from answering his question. The masses began filing into a dark room with no light. Once everyone was inside, the door closed behind them engulfing them in darkness. There were beeping sounds and a bright flash of light as a screen turned on.

“Welcome to the ‘Wilderness’. Three days you will remain in this reservation that’s thirty miles long. On the third day you will hear this sound.” There was a bell chiming sound that reverberated around the room. “Once you hear this return to the starting point and claim your prize.”

The screen turned off and the door in front of them opened. This door was opposite the one they used to enter the room. The door opened to reveal a wide expanse of forest. Nothing but tall trees and green shrubs for miles in each direction except from the wall that enclosed the reservation.

“You have thirty minutes until the hunt begins. Good luck.” A female voice sounded from the microphones.

The crowd began running into the forest spreading in different directions. “What do we do?!” Adrian shouted at him.

“Run!” Nate suggested.

They both ran off into the forest at random. They had no clue where they were going but the idea of being on a reservation and being involved in a ‘hunt’ wasn’t reassuring.

A loud blaring noise sounded. “Players ready! Three days starts now! Good hunting!”

The announcer’s voice sounded far off into the distance as if it were meant for someone else’s ears. Nate and Adrian looked at each other worriedly. “Let’s climb up a tree, we could get a better picture on what’s going on from there.”

Adrian nodded his head in agreement. They went into the dense forest and climbed a tree at random. There was nothing to see from up here except for the treetops.

“Ahhh!!!” A woman screamed some distance away.

Nate and Adrian stared at each other wide-eyed.

“Ahhhh! Please! Please no! Ahhhh!” This time it was a male screaming.

For the next several hours Nate and Adrian were subjected to periods of silence broken up by howls of pain and despair. With each scream Nate felt his heart grow heavier.

Things finally calmed down at night. Several bon fires lit up around them indicating several camps. Nate wasn’t sure who the people at the camp were but he doubted there were any prisoners there. “We can’t stay like this for three days.” Nate said as his stomach rumbled.

Adrian was silent. Nate turned to him and saw Adrian’s face frozen in shock and horror. “Adrian!” Nate whispered aloud, he snapped his fingers trying to get the boy’s attention. When he saw there was no response from Adrian he sighed. “Fine stay up here. I’ll be back.”

Nate shimmied his way down the tree as silent as possible—which turns out wasn’t very silent. The dark plus the unfamiliar handholds saw to that. When he reached the forest floor he froze still trying to make out any sounds of human footstep. With all the noise he just made he was sure someone heard but after a minute of silence he began walking

The forest was pitch black making it impossible to walk quietly. Nate was merely shuffling around in the dark going from tree to tree for support. He didn’t know if there were wild animals in this reserve but he didn’t care. The screams that sounded during the day convinced him it was much safer being out at night.

For what felt like hours Nate walked through the forest like a blind man. He thought he heard the sound of flowing water somewhere up ahead. Increasing his speed he headed for the river eagerly. There were several campfires along the river filled with men and woman who were laughing and eating casually. Nate noticed these people weren’t wearing any collars on their necks, in fact, there were a few prisoners in the camps only they weren’t sitting alongside these un-collared people.

Nate saw one prisoner being used as a table, another being used as a personal masseuse. He heard the sounds of skin smacking on skin from one of the tents and knew what was going on. He briefly wondered if the free people were doing it with each other. Although something in his mind told him they were using the prisoners for their own sexual exploits. A flash of anger and disgust bubbled up in his stomach as he realized what this hunt was.

Carefully avoiding the camp, he made his way towards the river and dunked his head in, washing away the grime and dirt that had accumulated, but also cooling his anger. Being hot-headed in this situation wouldn't do, he had to think clearly if he wanted to survive. He took large gulps from the river. When he came up for air he was full of cold water and feeling refreshed for the first time since the ‘incident’.

“…ate…”

Nate cocked his head to the side trying to listen closely. He thought he heard his name being called. The sounds from the human camp was interfering with his hearing.

“Nate!”

“Do you hear that?” He heard someone ask from the human camp. Nate had a bad feeling well up in his stomach. He got up and started making his way back to Adrian.

“NATE!” This time the human camp was silent and Adrian yelling for him was clearly heard in the air.

“Dammit” Nate cursed. The human camp went into a commotion. Picking up his pace Nate stumbled along in the forest trying to make his way to Adrian. Which wasn’t difficult since the idiot kept calling out for him.

“Are you mad?! Shut up!” He yelled slapping Adrian in the mouth when he neared. Adrian had climbed down the tree but held onto the tree as if it was a safe zone.

“We got ourselves some night time huntin’!” He heard yelling from the human camp.

“Climb!” Nate ordered before heading up the tree himself.

“Release the dogs!” He heard a human yell.

“Hey wait! What if it’s a trap? We only have three hunting dogs left we can’t afford to lose em otherwise game over.” Another voice yelled.

“Fine. Release one!”

“Damn. Adrian wait here, I’m a go lead the dogs away.” He whispered.

“Nate, don't leave me. Please!” Adrian whimpered.

“Man the fuck up!” Nate snapped, “We’re dead if those dogs catch our scent, understand? You brought this on us when you yelled my name like an idiot, now let me do this otherwise I swear to god I’ll let them eat you alive.” Nate huffed in anger.

Adrian’s face streamed with tears but he nodded resolutely. Nate nodded back and made his way down the tree, his hands and legs were pierced with multiple splinters as he slid down. He didn’t feel bad for yelling at Adrian. They were both teenagers brought to a cruel world, now they had to adapt or die.

Once down the tree he began running for his life. He knew from the movies dogs had an excellent sense of smell. His aim was to have the dog track his scent specifically and then once he was a safe distance away from Adrian he would mask his scent with some mud or something.

His plan completely fell to shit. Constantly stumbling and falling over tree roots and other obstacles on the forest floor greatly hampered him. Not only was the sound of the dog getting closer but so were the humans behind it. Nate could see their sticks of fire in the distance draw closer and closer.

The dog barking was barely half a mile away. Nate knew he had to act now otherwise he’d be dead. “Sorry Adrian, it’s either one of us or both.”

He dropped to the floor and rolled around in the dirt like a pig in mud. Once he had enough dirt caked onto his clothes he grabbed some dirt and smeared it all over his neck, armpits, and face. Once finished he began running again, only this time he was more cautious of the roots and the trees.

…

Adrian waited patiently for Nate’s arrival. He could see the humans in the distance drawing closer to where he hid as the dog continued to lead them.

As the humans drew nearer he could make out their faces. There were several prisoners with collars around their necks carrying torches while humans without collars carried rifles and other weapons in their hands. There was a strange blue vest these free humans wore. The blue vest looked like a bullet proof vest, only it was like there was more technology built into it.

The dog lead the way and they followed the sounds the dog made. Adrian’s stomach clenched in fear when the dog stopped right in front of his tree. But luckily he continued sniffing for a bit then moved on. He blew a breath in relief.

He watched as the party beneath him moved on. Briefly worried their flames would reveal him hiding up in the tree but when they moved on without incident he relaxed slightly.

“The trail stops here?” He heard someone in the distance ask.

“Stupid dog, find us something to shoot goddamit!”

The party continued grumbling but when the dog didn’t pick up a new trail they began to return. “You did it Nate!” Adrian whispered to himself.

Bark! Bark, bark, bark bark!

Adrian froze as he heard the sound of barking beneath him. He went absolutely still, hoping it was just a figment of his imagination.

“Would you look at this?! Hot dam if it isn’t the flavor of the week!” He heard someone yell from directly below him.

Adrian knew he was caught. He looked down hoping his pathetic figure would spare his life. But when he looked down at the group beneath him he knew there’d be no mercy. The free men and woman were elated to find him while the ‘prisoner’ men and woman looked away in pity.

Adrian also noticed the ‘prisoners’ were all either White or Asian. “Get down boy.” One of the men said.

“Please just leave me alone.” Adrian whined.

A loud bang sounded. Adrian felt something burst through his shoulder rocking his body back. He lost his grip on the tree and fell screaming the whole way down. As he made impact with the ground Adrian felt his spine snap.

“Bag his ears.” Was the last thing Adrian heard as his vision faded.