Long Tales and Longer Lives

The Hunt (DRAFT)

In a sunny, humid and otherwise disagreeable summer day at the ocean side. There lies a small, ship filled marina. Within this marina is a smaller oak shack and within the shack is a man by the name of Eliot. He's an older man, a man who has been around the proverbial block with dark black and silver hair and his young protégé Abraham. Abraham is a young man, just barely out of his teens. He has red hair and blue eyes. Some people in his past would tease him about him being a "ginger," but he has learned to long ignore the cries of his detractors.

The two men, mentor and student, are carefully looking over charts of weather predictions and other related information. They're both working on the daily tasks that they were hired to do. They may not have the most extravagant material possessions, but they are hunters. Well, in better words, they are contractors. The inside of their shack reflects this. In the shack lies various manuals on how to handle pests, rodents, stray animals, and the equipment to do each of the jobs with the best care. They both are currently sitting on some brown bar stools in front of a table with charts and maps all over it.

Today is a usual day for the two men. They're hired to chart out the movement of fish in the area.

"Hey Eliot." Abraham gives voice too. "Who hired us to chart out the movement of these fish again?"

"A company by the name of CRISKO. They own a few fish joints in the area, so they want us to chart out the movement of fish before they send the fishing trawlers out to do their thing." Eliot starts to explain. "They're a small business, so they hired us as outside contractors. The local area is all they want to know about, if they wanted regional area they probably wouldn't have hired us and would of went with a larger team."

"I see, so let's get out there already and get paid!"

"Calm yourself, did you check the boat to see if it had all of its supplies? Also have you made sure that you have your lifejacket? Remember, the sea is a dangerous and fickle mistress. She'll eat you alive if you let her. So I'd hate to see something happen to you."

"Yeah, you're right, sorry." Abraham says as he begins to walk towards the door of the shack.

"Abraham, catch!" Eliot shouts as he throws Abraham a can of beer. "A little bit of liquid courage before we go out today okay?

Abraham takes a drink of the can and walks out the door.

Okay, so CRISKO wants us to survey hope's end region. That should be easy enough, with the kid with me we'll be done by the end of the day. We might even be able to have a little bit of time to hit the town after. Christ though, I wish this humidity wasn't so damned bad. I should make sure these charts are up to date.

A few minutes at first pass on by, and Abraham hasn't returned.

If the kid is taking a few minutes, I should take a few too. There's still plenty of daylight and the sea breeze is actually quite enjoyable. Ah, the fresh sea air. How I love you ever so much.

The sea is like a femme fatal. Vastly beautiful, extraordinarily amazing, but very deadly. At least those are the words that go through Eliot's mind as he begins to take a break from his work. Deep breaths, and causes a little bit of muscle tension to dissipate. Especially in the presence of the beautiful old sea. As Eliot relaxes he starts to fall asleep leaning on the charts themselves.

"Hey, Eliot!" Abraham shouts into the shack.

"What, what?" Eliot roars back. "You startled me!"

"Oh come on old man, don't tell me you're letting a little thing like a shout startle you."

"Well, I was dreaming of beautiful women."