3 Chapter 3 - City Ruins

Xun moved a branch out of his line of sight. He was perched high in a tree, looking over a valley below him. The remains of a city was nestled among the trees. He was watching to see if there was any movement that would signal either monsters or people.

He had traveled for two weeks into the mountains, following the valleys and sleeping high in the trees each night. A stream had led him to this valley where the glint of light off of glass tipped him off to the ruins.

Movement from one of the buildings drew his attention and he watched two men emerge, look around, and proceed to drag a piece of furniture out of a large broken window. Xun thought it might be a table or desk, but he wasn't sure from this distance. Debating with himself for a while, he finally decided to go see if they were part of a compound or not. Even though more people meant a higher chance of being found by the Slavers, it was too late in the year for him to be able to survive the coming winter by himself. He hoped that he still looked young enough to get them to take pity on him, even though he was almost thirteen. Maybe he could offer to help hunt? The last compound had hunters who were willing to teach him, and he had learned a lot.

Climbing down from the tree, he hurried to the edges of the city. Trees and plants had turned the roads into chunks of rock. Xun made his way around the trees and rubble carefully. Monsters were known to make these places their homes due to the ease of making dens. Squirrels and birds filled the place with noise and movement that was distracting in the unfamiliar area. He was peeking into the broken window of a rusting metal heap when he heard a scream from up ahead. It was quickly followed by an angry cry from the second guy and then there was an awful shriek that sent shivers up his spine.

Hurrying to the edge of the ruins of a house, he peeked around to see one guy on the ground bleeding heavily, missing a huge chunk of his back, the other guy was waving a short sword at a large creature that was hunched over the first guy, about to pounce at the second. Xun thought for a moment, and decided to attack it while its back was to him. It jumped at the guy just as Xun got to it, biting him on the shoulder. The guy responded with another scream and stabbed his sword into it as far as he could, reaching up and grabbing it around the neck.

Jumping over the first guy, Xun swung his axe as hard as he could at the things head, and was rewarded with a meaty thump. The second guy fell backwards with it on top of him. Xun's axe was jerked out of his hand, still deeply embedded into the skull of the creature. The guy pushed it off of him and grabbed his neck where blood was pouring out profusely. A few minutes later he lay still in a pool of his own blood.

Breathing hard, Xun crept closer to the monster to make sure it was dead, and saw that it too had stopped breathing. Taking the handle of his axe, he pulled with all his might before it finally slipped free of the monster's head. Stumbling back, he quickly glanced around to make sure nothing else was about to attack since he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. Thankfully there was nothing around.

Hurrying over to the first guy, he rolled him over to see if he was still alive, but he too was dead. Sitting back on his haunches, Xun pondered his situation. This creature looked like a cougar, but was the size of a bear. It had probably claimed this entire valley as its own territory. Looking around at the squirrels and birds that were starting to come back out of hiding after the fight, he decided that he could probably stay here the winter, if he worked hard enough. The trees hadn't changed color yet so he might have time to gather enough food. Looking back at the cat, he decided to skin it and save the hide for his winter clothes.

With a sigh, he began to skin it out. He would need to move fast to find a place to stay for the night. Even if all the larger predators were gone, there would be plenty of smaller ones out soon, and the smell of blood would definitely attract them. The claws and teeth might be useful but he decided to leave them for now. Anything that came to eat the carcass would leave them alone. He could get them later.

Rolling the hide up, he grunted as he threw it over his shoulder and began hunting for a place to stay. The men were hauling a big heavy desk between them, and it wasn't the first piece of furniture they had moved. He was able to follow their tracks to a building that wasn't completely destroyed. As he drew closer, he was surprised to see that two of the walls were supported by mounds of dirt, almost as if the owner had wanted an underground house without it actually being underground. Dropping the heavy hide to the ground he examined the building, it looked like they were trying to fortify it with the heavy furniture.

After much deliberation, Xun decided to camp there for the night. He took a few minutes to build up a good fire before scouting around some more. While disappointed that there weren't more people, he saw that the men had already built up a small supply cache and had started winterizing the space. Blocking off the entrance with the heavy board that was obviously placed for such a job, he spread the hide of the cat out and admired the pattern on the fur. With a sigh he rolled it back up and pulled out some food from his bag.

As he ate, he began to go through the belongings of the two men. There wasn't a lot of personal stuff, to his surprise, until he found a letter. Being able to read was a dying ability amongst the survivors, but Xun's dad had been very insistent that he be able to read. He remembered the struggle of trying to read the letters and words his father had scratched into the dirt in the dying light of a fire and a smile touched the edges of his mouth.

Xun was pretty surprised at how well written the letter was:

-The teachings of the hunters are very good, but they want too much in return. If you can manage to escape their city before they swear you into their gang, it's worth it. Otherwise, don't get too close or they will try to make you join them. Love you guys, good luck. -