Day two: Killer hunter

My head felt groggy, my eyes were still heavy and my legs hurt like hell. "God," I said softly, "this hurts!"
Then, I heard movement around me. I wrapped my poncho close and said timidly "Who's there?"
"Vanessa!" someone hissed. I opened my eyes. A trickle of light had reached the earth and I could just see Vanessa's slim body arranging a pile of what sounded like leaves.
"Vanessa?" I said groggily.
"Yes?" she asnwered.
"What happened?"
Well," she said, and then stopped breathing. "WHAT?" I whispered but she put her cold hand over my mouth. A soft rustle and a hoot let her breathe again - she was just as scared of anything moving as I was.
I realized I was lying on a pile of dead leaves. I sat up and they crunched loudly. "Ellen!" she hissed, "You can sit?"
"Why?" I whispered back, "Did you think I was paralyzed or something?"
"Yes," she said, "When you fell down that slope with me, you pulled your leg mucles and back."
I got to my feet, wincing as pain over-took me.
"Ouch. Ok, where to now?"
The sun was peeking over the horizon, making the mountain blush a lovely shade of magenta. Vanessa's face was caught full in the light and I saw how well she had looked after me and my aches. I also saw she was limping, and her face was gaunt and she looked anorexic. She gasped when she looked at me.
"Your face!"
"WHAT?"
"It's so pale."
As she moved I saw twig scratches and gashes all over her poor tired body. He pants were ripped and her T-shirt was cracked with mud.
I examined myself. No scratches, just lots of mud and a few brusies here and there.
"You've been in the wars," I observed.
"Yeah," she said, sighing, and feeling the gash on her thigh. "Got a plaster?"
"Here," I said, scrambling around, and I found my pack-pack. It crackled. Lifting it gingerly I found it was just very muddy. I found my first-aid kit and found her bleeding gash on her ankle. That explained why her school hat was so red, not maroon.
I set to work, bandaging and pastering Vanessa untill she was the walking first-aid box. All I had left was a splint and three bandages. "These might come in handy." I said, and put it back into my bag.
Then, I heard a horrible gunshot and a roar of laughter. The sun was fully in the sky, and it was probably mid-day.
"Little fan-tail, no hiding from Uncle Mac, no, a delicacy in England I should think!"
Then, slowly but surely, a little Fantail edged out of it's hiding place and flew around us. It made no sound. Vanessa held out her hands and it hopped into the cup. She cooed at it, and slipped it into my bag, and straighted up just as the hunter flew into the clearing.
He had wild red hair, blue eyes like saucers, but he wasn't crazy. Oh no, he simply had been in the forest much too long. "Have you seen a pretty little bird?" he asked us in his english accent, "I want to have him for supper!" "Get away!" I screamed, "Don't! Don't! I heard you, vile, foul egit!" His smile soured to a scowl. He pointed his gun, first to me, and then Vanessa. He slowly pulled the trigger...









If you want to keep reading, go on!






and I knocked her to the ground just as the bullet shot through the air.
I whacked the man in the crutch, and as he doubled over, I knocked his in the head. He dropped the gun and I smacked his head with it. His eyes rolled up into his head and he fell down to the ground.
Vanessa tried to get to her feet, but it was obviously broken. I straighted her leg best I could after I dragged the hunter to a far-away clump to bushes, and set it with the splint and bandaged it with the left-over bandages. I let the fantail free and it chirped a happy song before departing.
"I'm sorry I used your whole first aid kit up," Vanessa sniffed, trying to wipe the tears that were streaming down her cheeks. She had howled her way to misery-moo while I was being doctor for a day.
"Come on," I said, "Let's go and try to find the track. I'll go this way and you go that way. Meet here in twenty minutes."
We went our seperate ways and I walked and walked. My legs were sore and my head was pulsing. I decided to have a little rest. I pulled my pink poncho from my bag and pulled it over me. The sky was blood red as I lay down. I closed my eyes and was dragged into darkness.