Regrets--ch 2

This is the 2nd chapter of this book I began a while back. It's still rough and parts may be hard to understand, but please tell me what you think.

Chapter 2

"Alice!" A voice Cried. 

"Alice please!" small hands clutched my shoulders shaking me from my slumber. 

"Please get up Alice Please!" I gasped at the first thing my eyes adjusted to; The all too familiar red embers of a crackling flame, a much alive one.

 The heat radiated off my frozen skin; every inch of me melting away to the intensity of the heat. The searing pain grasping everything I am and everything I ever wanted to be as my cheeks flushed scarlet I began to hear the screams. "

Their attacking! Their attacking!" 

Everything seemed to move in slow motion, the world I once knew gone. The pained screams of my younger sister filled my ears as her blonde hair was eaten by the flames. Her face greedily being licked as it attempted to destroy its new found toy. Blisters formed over my tender skin and I closed my eyes wishing for the flames to destroy me to.

"I’m sorry" I whispered as the tears caught in my eyes and the misery of loss had set itself into my brain. 

"I’m sorry I couldn't protect you Rose." As the flames enveloped my body I spread my arms out waiting for my death when my eyes opened and it was not flames that covered my body, but a quilt made of furs.

 “Gees Alice you’re burning up.” I heard Roses small voice mew as she laid a cool cloth on my forehead and despite my efforts I released a sigh of relief as I sat up. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

 “Rose.” I grinned as my non-blistered hands caressed her much alive slender face. She smiled at me like she always did. Smiled through the pain. Smiled through her hunger. She never burdened me with her wants nor her needs that I so desperately wanted to fulfill. Although it was quite obvious she was burdened by the grip of starvation, her steps were heavier than mine, her skin pale as the white snow, as even her lovely pristine smile seemed to take force. Hmm maybe if I just- 

"Hey your cloth!" Rose chimed as it fell to the straw bedded floor;

 for a moment I ignore her to overcome as I took another deep breath of the clean air, with joy that it was not filled with the black smoke from my dreams. I swallowed a gulp of it as if to fill my empty stomach before I spoke knowing full well the simple treasure of clean air as I braced myself for how my sister would react to my next statement. 

"I’m going hunting again Rose we need food."

 "No Alice! She choked. 

"You know it’s dangerous and your getting sick and...and" She seemed puzzled as she attempted to make more excuses for me to stay.

 "Rose." I whispered taking her shoulders. "Look the village needs food. Just look around if I am getting sick I won't last long with nothing to eat. I need to hunt while I still can." 

I had gotten sick very few times in sixteen years of living. Rather it is luck or the gods preferring I watch my loved ones suffer before they punish me for my own sins. 

"But Alice...Please!" She begged her eyes watering like they always did when I left her. 

"Rose? Don't cry I'll be back soon I promise." As I wiped her tears away with my sleeve 

"I promise I’ll be here if anything happens I’m not going to let anyone hurt you."

 She peered up at me through those watering blue eyes before whispering

 "I believe you Alice...I believe you." 

"I'll be back by nightfall I promise." I placed a kiss upon her cold cheek before turning.

 I pushed on another fur coat and stuffed some straw into the soles of my worn boots, for they were old and had about as many holes as my heart did. impatiently I paced towards the fire. It was barely managing a flame with the frozen air floating around inside our hut. My greedy fingers reached to the pit and spread the hot ash across my arms and some on my face. The burning embers warmed my skin and would protect me from the cold, not to mention hide my scent from the unsuspecting prey I hoped to catch, but animals were wise, and there was surely more able bodied hunters out there other than me. Finally I grabbed by bow and hoisted it on my stiff back that was sore from yesterday’s wounds. I can't let my pain show, not in front of Rose. With this in mind I set out of the hut and into the village not once complaining to Rose of the pain, if I did she'd probably tell me not to leave again. I walked by the huts inspecting them with penetrating icy eyes. Not one of them billowing the black smoke from my nightmares. "Alice." I heard a scraggly voice croaking.

 "It's Alice." I peered up to meet the gaze of old Thomas.

 He's an old beggar now but his stories are good and he'll only tell them for a foot from my rabbit. He really believes their good luck! How? I can't tell because none of them have brought me anything but a few extra scraps of meat. I paced to the old solider grasping his hands in mine and helping him off the cobblestones where he usually lied for hours after his regular falls, no one ever bothers to pick him up but me. "Just An old soldier." they whisper "Just an old enemy. Some believe he's a spy for King Alex but I don't think so. He can barely walk a few yards without stopping, yet along walk all the way to that wretched kingdom that hates us so. He came to our village 21 years before the war ever began. Wounded and claiming he ran away. Our tiny village wouldn't swoop so low as to kill a hurt man so we let him stay and he's been here ever since. The only downfall to his arrival is that we had no medicine to give him. Our town was poor then and has only dwindled to an even more immense poverty since this damned war began. Now the only memories he has of the painful wounds lay in the jagged scars across his sagging skin. It's hard for me to imagine what could have made such a monstrous wound let along what it had once looked like.

"Thank you my dear." 

"No problem Thomas." I whispered bluntly, for this seemed like a regular conversation by now. 

"Where ya off to now Alice?"

 "Hunting" 

"Ah that’s my Alice, perhaps you be gettin yourself another rabbit eh?" 

"Maybe" I whispered hoping I would be lucky enough to score such a prize. 

Ever since the war began animals have been steering clear of Lykos. They called it the city of wolfs from the Stem "Lykos" meaning wolf. They called us savages but I didn't mind let them think were savages then maybe the kings armies will keep their distance. Not only did they think of us as wolfs. They thought we were wolfs. Werewolves. I had never run into one because I know my limits. Beyond my home stretch was theirs. Since their deadly territorial I would not risk crossing paths with them. Maybe that was why the king hasn't attacked lately. Hoping the werewolf’s wouldn't go against him. Their strong jaws could rip his men to shreds, but if they sided with him.... I shivered, I couldn't bear to think about it. I heard their vicious from old Thomas whose claimed he saw one before in his fighting days. They rip their enemies head's off.  He had exclaimed.  So no, let’s not run into werewolf’s today. "Well Thomas I'll be off, got to get your rabbit" I winked. Saying this would give me the extra encouragement I needed to keep myself from leaving till a kill was made. I paced onwards as he waved goodbye. "Oh and Alice, be careful I heard a lynx has been in those woods lately."

 "Hu?!? Where'd you hear that?" Sure there was always a good chance old tom might be bonkers but he's the only information source I got.

 “That Eli of yours told me to tell you." I paused at his name wondering why he would care if I got mauled by a lynx. Perhaps maybe he'd even laugh. For the Eli I looked at now was not mine. He was a stranger who had gone cold. Since he hunted the same prey I did, we were practically competitors.

 I looked into the grey sky for a long time, trying to clear my mind as I walked, setting out for the forest. My hopes high as I crept deeper into the village, It was as if every step took effort, my breath raspy from only a short walk. Rose was right. My body was weakening from sickness, yet I'd never felt such a sensation quite like this. I soon began to see the familiar sights of the children clutching their homemade dolls and nibbling at bark found on the ashy ground their ribs showing threw their fragile skin as if one small bone could rip out at any moment, Dark eyes looked at me almost hopefully, no beggingly,

 "I have to make a kill" I whispered to them, and they only hung there heads down quietly, some closing their eyes and curling on the cracked cobble stone. I knew I couldn't let them down. Not now, not when our small village needed it the most. As the huts made way to dense forest I went into stealth mode. Praying for fresh blood. Praying for something to come. Praying for a kill. The woods were clouded with the morning’s fog wrapping everything in its misty arms. Squinting my eyes as I tried to see through the wispy haze, listening intently for any noise. It seemed like years before I heard the familiar sniffles of a rabbit, its nose twitching cautiously its heart pounding like it was my own, right in my ears. I held my breath and aimed as it wiggled its whiskers. It's head lifted cautiously as if it heard something, “Snap!” My arrow pierced straight through its eye. Bingo. Now it was my heart that pounded as I glided across the earth to claim my prize. Nice. The rabbit was a good five pounds at least. Apparently its wise tactics it had took to gain that weight had not been smart enough to protect itself from me and my arrows. I stuffed the rabbit into my hunting bag after removing the arrow, not taking the time to skin it. Immediately going back to the hunt, I stalked around looking for prints now, taking Thomas’s advice and staying away from the fresh blood that the lynx might linger to. Now that I at least made a kill the load on my shoulders had lessened, yet suddenly one kill wasn’t enough. I had to make more. The tingle of adrenaline rushed through my veins as the need for a kill increased. I felt myself transforming into something more than just a girl, a hunter. I felt like a true huntress. An un-found spirit was unleashing itself from me, and my body was no longer in my control. I fell to the ground now wrenching into pain, my joy gone. I was changing....but into what?

Author's Note

I'll appreciate any feed back I receive, thanks! There is a lot of mistakes in this, And truly I wasn't quite sure if I should post it yet, but I've decided against it. Please, be honest- Thanks.

Reviews

[Inject Positivity]

Well this is interesting Misty.....I think you have enormous potential and i think you can be a well known writer, this is what i honestly feel reading these 2 chapters......Go ahead frnd.......You are talented believe me......

[Misty.C]

Thank you friend! I appreciate your sweet words. My work isn't the greatest: and what you're reading is very old. But It touches me none the less. :) You are very talented too. ^__^