The Huntress and Her Undead Lover

Chapter 13

"Ruby," I heard him whisper. "Ruby... Time to wake up," he said again giving me a slight nudge.

Since I was still very tired, I refused to get up, "5 more minutes...." I mumbled and buried my face into his chest... Wait... What? His chest?

I opened my eyes and realized I was curled up next to Leo. I accidentally let out a squeak and jumped to my feet. "Uhhhh I-I'm sorry!"

He chuckled and shook his head, "It's ok, I found it quite comfortable," he said teasingly.

"Wh-whatever..." I replied turning away so he wouldn't see me blush, "Well I better get going, it was nice meeting you Leo," I said heading for the door.

"W-wait what?" he asked startled grabbing my hand, "Why do you have to leave?" He had worry written all over his face.

"It's..... complicated," I said.

There was no way I could tell him about Hunter, but I didn't want to lie to him either, "I need to go find uhh... friend," I told him.

"Well I can go with you then!" he said hopefully.

He was not making this any easier, "No Leo, I'm sorry but you can't come with me."

He looked down disappointed, "I...understand," he murmured.

I gave him a brief hug and took off. I felt his eyes watching me until I disappeared from his sight. I held my two pistols in my hands and continued down the road, taking out a few zombies along the way.

God where could he be? I wondered. I had gone back to the apartment, but he wasn't there or anywhere within a 2 mile radius, I checked. I found another safe house along the way to take a short break and while I was catching my breath, I checked to see how many bullets I had left in my guns, 3 bullets in one and 4 in the other. This was bad, very bad. If I couldn't find Hunter soon, I'd be done for.

I looked around the safe house, and all I could find useful was a bloody axe. I slipped the handle into a belt loop on my jeans to keep it on hand in case I needed it, which would most likely be soon although, I wasn't very good at using weapons aside from guns. I took a deep breath and left the safe house with a total of 7 bullets and an axe.

Hours went by and I still couldn't find him, which made me more scared. Although I should've been more concerned about myself, I was still more scared about Hunter. I couldn't help but worry he could've gotten himself killed fighting over a meal or getting himself killed by a survivor.

All of a sudden I heard someone coming up fast behind me. I dropped my now empty pistols, pulled out my axe, and spun around to find Hunter standing a few feet away from me coming closer.

"Hunter! Thank god it's you, I thought I-"

Suddenly I felt him slap me right across the face. I was still for a moment from the surprise and slowly looked up at him. His face was horrifying when filled with absolute rage, "You little bitch! Where the hell have you been?!" he cursed at me.

I was too shocked to respond so he grabbed my arm and roughly threw me against a brick wall. "Answer me!" he yelled almost screaming, digging his claws into my arms.

"H-Hunter! That hurts! P-please stop!" I pleaded.

He was obviously still furious with me and threw me to the ground. "Do you have any IDEA what shit I had to go through trying to find you?! I dug through so many rotten corpses and prayed that I wouldn't find your body among them!" he continued as he crawled toward me.

I tried to scramble to my feet, but he grabbed my foot and yanked me to him. I was actually afraid he was literally going to kill me. I didn't even think this was Hunter anymore. Quickly I reached for my axe until I realized he had stopped yelling...he was utterly silent crouched over me. I was too scared to look at his face afraid to find him still feeling hatred toward me.

"Look at me," he growled.

I was so scared that I didn't move a single muscle. "Ruby, look at me NOW," he said again louder with more force.

I gulped hard and slowly turned my head to look at him. What was once fearful anger, was now complete despair. "Do you know how worried I was about you? I thought you were dead!" he whimpered.

He pulled me up towards him and rested his head on my shoulder, where it fit perfectly. I hugged him as tight as I could, "I'm so sorry Hunter, I didn't mean to scare you so much," I apologized.

"Then NEVER do that to me again," he ordered.

I simply nodded promising never to put him through this again. "I was worried about you too you know. What do you think I was doing all day?" I added.

"Whatever, but from now on you are not leaving my sight. Got it?" he hissed hugging me tighter.

"Yeah I definitely got it," I said with a small grin.

I was so relieved to see him alive, but I definitely didn't want to worry him like that again or he could kill me by accident next time.

"Where were you anyway?" he asked pulling away to look at me.

"Basically I went for a walk, got chased by a horde, then spent a freezing night in safe house," I told him.

Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice call me from down the alley, "Ruby?! Is that you?!" he called.

I looked past Hunter to see who it was and my eyes widened in shock. Apparently, Leo had been following me this entire time.