Keeping A Promise

Chapter 6

I woke to the chirping of birds up in the treetops. Quickly rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I climbed down the tree I had mounted last night. I stretched my limbs before a deep rumble from my stomach made me realize that I starving.

Moving slowly so I wouldn't wake the others, I walked into the woods. The slow breeze rustled the undergrowth of the forest. With my bow and arrow nocked, I stalked through the trees, searching for prey. After awhile, a rabbit stumbled out of a bush, almost right in front of me.

Carefully, I drew back my bow and shot the rabbit in the eye. It wasn't as big of a catch as the boar last night, but it should be enough to satisfy my hunger. Grabbing the rabbit by the ears, I carried it back to our make shift camp.

I quickly started a fire as the dawn's light broke through the canopy. The birds song seemed to get louder, like the sunlight was fueling their energy. I stuck the rabbit onto a stick and over the fire and dropped my bow and quiver.

"Did you catch that?"

I whipped around to see Jake rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah, how else do you think I would have gotten it?" I replied.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I just think it's cool that you can hunt."

"Why, because I'm a girl?" I snapped.

"No, because I don't know how to hunt." Jake admitted, tracing circles in the dirt.

"Oh." I looked back at the rabbit. Not done yet.

"What's up with the bird's bag?" I beckoned toward Miles.

"I don't know." Jake said curiously. "You'd have to ask him."

I clenched my teeth. Yeah right, I'm not talking to that featherbrain.

I turned my attention back to the rabbit, realizing it was done. I snatched one of my arrows as I took the rabbit off of the stick. Using the arrow, I cut the small animal into three sections.

"Here." I threw Jake the top half of the rabbit. Taking the mid section of the rabbit, I walked over to Miles, who was still sleeping. I dropped it directly on his stomach. Miles woke with a start, looking around wildly.

"Rise and shine." I growled.

He looked down at the rabbit, surprised. I went back to my part of the rabbit and started eating. It was gone in less then a minute. The boys were slower eaters. A lot slower.

"So, do any of you know why we're here exactly?" Jake asked in between bites.

"Yeah, I may have a hunch." I muttered, feeling the bump that the mysterious men had left on my neck.

The two boys looked at me expectingly.

"Right after my animal ceremony, there were these weird men wearing black. They came in these animals that had round paws that spun around and around. After that, everything was kind of a blur, but when I woke up, everybody was gone except the kids. And me." I decided not to tell them about getting shot with those weird sticks.

"Did they leave tracks?" Miles questioned.

"What?" I asked.

"Did they leave tracks?" He repeated. "Every animal leaves tracks."

"I didn't look." I responded.

"Then that's where we should start." Miles said thoughtfully. He grabbed his bag as he stood up."We can see if they left tracks. If there aren't any, then you or Jake can track their scent."