The Unknown

    She was 16 and running down the aisle, away from the hunters. Those evil hunters who hated every part of her. She saw someone signal to her to come their way so she made a sharp turn and hid with the stranger behind a curtain. In a few seconds, she watched the Hunters run past the table, following her duplicate that she had made. She couldn't hold the duplicate much longer and was sweating like crazy. She relaxed and heard the shouts of the Hunters when they saw the duplicate disappear. Turning to the stranger to thank him for saving her life she opened her mouth to speak and gasped. 

"David?!" she asked. "Is that you"

"Hello Clarice" David smiled

     Her face widened in surprise and joy and she jumped onto her brother smothering him in a hug.

"I missed you so much!" she shrieked.

"Shhhhh! They'll hear us." he whispered as he lead he farther back into the ally.

     Following David, Clarice thought of the last time she had seen him...

*

     Clarice was 13 at the time and David was 19. A few months earlier Clarice had gotten a letter from David telling her that he was going to be stationed at their home town of Apex. David was an Empirium and they were trained to fight the Hunters. Clarice was so excited that David was going to be coming home until she realized that it meant that the Hunters would be attacking Apex.

     Three days later the alarm rang and everyone rushed to their own basements. Huddled in her basement with her mom and older sister, waiting out the attack, Clarice was waiting for David. She was anxious and couldn't sit still. Her mom kept on grabbing her arm and shushing her afraid that the Hunters would find them. They heard the front door open and footsteps thump across the ceiling toward the basement door. Hearing it creak open Clarice gasped and then squeaked when her mom squeezed her arm. They heard the footsteps coming down the stairs and huddled even closer together. Around the corner came a figure of a man. He knelt down and said in a whisper,

"Come on, I'm getting you out of here."

     Clarice let out a big breath that she didn't even know she was holding and hugged David. She'd known he would come for them. He helped all of them up and led them up the stairs and out the front door. He pointed to a car about 100 feet away and told them that that was their escape car. He grabbed his sisters hands and Clarice grabbed her moms and he started rushing them toward the car. Clarice felt pressure leave her hand and whipped her head around to see that her mom had been grabbed by a Hunter. 

"MOM!" she shouted.

     David looked to and shouted that there was nothing that could be done. She looked over at her sister and realized that she was no longer there. She must have been grabbed too. She tripped and fell, her vision blurry. She felt the ground leave her reach and air whisk past her as David picked her up and continued running. When they got to the car David thrust her in the back-seat. Smiling at her with tears in his eyes he said,

"I love you."

     Closing the car door he thumped on the roof, indicating the driver to go. She stared out the back window at David running into a mob of Hunters, no longer seen.

"DAVID!" she sobbed.

     He had saved her by sacrificing himself.

*

A year later Clarice left the training camp she had found after the driver had dropped her off at an abandoned street. Walking out the door she started down the path and out onto the street. The training camp was about the size of a mobile home and was back in an alley. When she reached the sidewalk she turned left and continued to walk. After an hour she decided to eat and went into a restaurant. Glancing around to make sure there were no Hunters she sat down. A few minutes later she heard the bell on top of the door ring and looked up. Eyes wide she stood up and inched toward the door slowly.

       The Hunter turned around and saw her recognizing her belt. He shouted and she raced out the door and down the sidewalk running into an alley trying to lose him. It didn’t work. The Hunter that she saw in the restaurant and another one that he had picked up on the streets turned down the alley. She didn’t want to have to kill anyone today but if it was her life or a Hunters she would definitely choose to keep hers. Reaching into her belt she pulled out her glaive and threw it at the newer Hunter. 

Score.

     She turned around after her glaive flew back into her hand and jumped up the building she ran far away. One thing about Hunters is that if you kill or injure one of their own, they will hate you but Clarice had forgotten about that when she threw her glaive.

*

  They walked for quite a bit and David eventually led her to a house. Opening the door he led her inside and to the dining room where she sat down in the chair he pulled out for her. David reached into the fridge and pulled out a meal of vegetables, beef, and fruit. She ate all that she could. When she was done she talked to David for a while and when she was tired, told him. He led her to a bed and she flopped down.

"I love you David."

"Love you to Clarice."

     She smiled and fell asleep. 

     In the morning she woke up and stretched with her eyes closed. When she opened them she saw the Hunters commander and screamed. She looked next to him to see David. Standing there freely. Holding shackles with her name on them and a smirk on his face.

 He had betrayed her.