Episode 7

When I came to, I was lying on a cot, wrapped in a warm sleeping bag. I straightened up quickly and immediately winced as my body responded to my abrupt movement with a dragging pain in every imaginable place. Slowly I sank backwards and carefully felt around to find out how much I was hurt.

My shoulder burned and was bandaged, as were my elbows and both knees, my right foot was in a hard shell. I felt like I had countless battles behind me.

There was a rustle to my left and as I turned my head I saw a huge man enter the tent. "You're awake," he said, grabbed a folding chair from the tent entrance and placed it next to the cot on which I was lying. "How do you feel?"

I could see immediately that it was a hunter, even if he wasn't wearing the usual combat gear of the warriors. His hardened body was tucked into black trousers and a short-sleeved gray T-shirt. The bare forearms were streaked with strong veins and covered with the Hunter's mark. Dark ink that had been splashed under the skin, as I had heard several times from isolated stories.

"Shit," I replied, not exactly ladylike, and sighed because speaking was so exhausting. "Where am I here, sir?"

"At a Hunter base," he said, and sat in the chair. His eyes fixed my face and I suddenly recognized him as the person who had already eyed me in this way in the forest. My savior. "We had to disinfect and treat your wounds, otherwise they would have become infected and you would have been fatally infected."

I grimaced at the thought. What bothered me most, however, was that someone had undressed me while I was unconscious. "Thank you," I said finally, feeling for my burning shoulder again. The memory of the wild dogs immediately came to mind. "I was bitten."

"Yes," said the Hunter with a nod. “Fortunately, the bite mark is not deep and will heal quickly. Your foot, on the other hand, will need a little more time before you can use it again without great caution. "

"What else am I okay?"

"You tell me. Do you have a headache or are you dizzy? Nausea?"

I thought for a moment and carefully shook my head. "No sir."

"It's good. No concussion. ”He got up, stepped over to me, and moved my legs a little to sit on the cot. Then he leaned over and cupped my chin while holding up a tiny flashlight with his other hand and shining it in my eyes. I immediately blinked and he told me with gentle certainty to hold still. “No dilation of the pupil. Very good, ”he muttered, more to himself.

"Will I survive?" I couldn't keep my statement from sounding slightly sarcastic.

The corner of his mouth rose in an almost smile. "We hope so." He put the flashlight away and sat back on the chair. “So now you answer a few more questions for me. Okay?"

My answer to that was a hesitant nod.

"What's your name?" He started.

“Riley. Riley McDermont, ”I said bluntly. Why should I lie to him? He had helped me and he was a hunter. I didn't want to mess with him.

In retrospect, I couldn't tell if I was just imagining it, but something flickered in his eyes when I told him my name. Realization was my first thought. But his face was completely blank, so I immediately dismissed that thought. I had never seen the Hunter before, so how would he know me?

"How old are you, Riley?" He went on quietly.

"I do not know exactly. I'm twenty-one according to my calculations. ”After our settlement was raided and I had to flee, I hadn't celebrated any of my birthdays, so I couldn't determine an exact age. "Maybe older too, but not much," I added thoughtfully.

“That's enough answer. Where are you from?"

This time my hesitation lasted so long that he leaned forward and his gaze became more insistent. I wriggled a little under the urgency and replied, "I live in the North Quarter not far from the river."

"Alone?"

"No, with two friends."

"Where?"

"What do you mean where , sir?"

"Do you have a safe place to stay?" He added.

"Yes. We pay for our security. "

"Are you doing something?"

I saw Baris' face contorted with pain, his eyes wide open ... and then I remembered my blouse splattered with blood. Immediately my hands started shaking. "I ..." I couldn't tell him what I'd done. If the Hunter found out I had murdered a businessman, if only out of self-protection, I would surely be punished for it. "No, not me," so I lied. “Just my two friends. They took me in a year ago and have been looking after me ever since. "