Chapter 11 A Monster  

Falling to his knees, Gabriel struggled to pull a breath into his lungs. He had run until he couldn't run any more. The trees towered over him as the sound of his heart beating in his ears drowned out everything around him.

How could his mother have allowed his father to treat him like he had? Gabriel had seen how the boys in the compound were treated, and it was nothing like what he had experienced. Did she not know everything his father had done? Or did his father have her too scared to speak up?

With a frown Gabriel decided it had to be the later. His father was too hard for anyone to speak to.

Glancing around the area, now that his heart had slowed and the lack of birdsong registered, Gabriel was suddenly on alert. How could he have dropped his guard so easily? He knew there were monsters in the forest and he had been running through it without paying any attention to anything but his hurt emotions.

After several minutes, the birds began singing again, and he realized he was the reason everything had gone quiet. Blinking in astonishment, Gabriel kept a close eye on his surroundings as he stood up and started making his way back. The trail he had left in his headlong rush was easy to follow and Gabriel found himself getting angry again. Even the birds were scared of him, and it was all his father's fault! He was supposed to be a protector of the compound, better at keeping the people safe than any other guard, but instead everyone feared him.

Clenching his teeth as he drew closer to the compound, he couldn't help but think about that girl again and the look of fear she had in her eyes before he left. He was going to stop doing all of the stupid tasks his father wanted him to do and become the guardian he was supposed to be. He was going to prove to everyone he was on their side and not something to be afraid of!

Spying his father approaching him, he paused. It was late and he still hadn't eaten anything. If he stopped to talk to his father now, the man would send him to bed like a boy without his supper. Turning away from the trail he had been following, and that his father was obviously following to find him, Gabriel headed deeper into the forest. By the time his father found where he had double backed and left the trail, Gabriel would have found something to eat.

Stepping lightly on rocks and tree roots, he kept an ear out for his father following him, and an eye out for his supper. Ahead of him he spotted a berry patch and kneeled to study it. There had to be something there to hunt.

A rabbit hunched down under the thickly thorned branches, nibbling the lower branches, but Gabriel was wanting more than a bite for supper. Several squirrels sat up in a tree chattering to each other, when he spotted several pigs working their way around the edge of the patch. Slinking back around the tree before he was seen, Gabriel quickly climbed up into the low hanging branches and readied his spear. He only needed one and he would have a decent amount of meat for a while.

The old sow was too large and her meat would be tougher than he wanted. There were about a dozen tiny piglets that seemed too small to care about the berries running around her, that Gabriel ignored as well. What he wanted was one of the half-grown pigs that were gobbling up every berry they could reach and ignoring the thorns that couldn't pierce their thick hide.

The squirrels didn't care for his new position, as it was closer to them, and started chattering at him. He ignored them, keeping a close eye on the pigs, waiting for them to get close enough to strike. A twig snapped just as he lunged with his spear, and everything around him exploded in action. One of the pigs squealed as his spear went through its shoulder, off from where he wanted to hit because of the interruption, but Gabriel knew it would be easy enough to track it.

Turning to see his father glaring at him, he sighed inwardly, only giving the man a frown.

"What do you think you are doing?" his father growled.

"What does it look like?" snapped Gabriel, jumping out of the tree and picking up his spear.

He turned just in time to see his father's fist traveling towards his face and he reacted, dodging under the blow and kicking out with a foot. He caught him, knocking his father to the ground.

Jumping back as the old man tried to kick out at him, he turned and ran after the injured hog. His father would follow him, he knew, but he needed to kill the pig before something else did. He could fight with his father later.

"Don't you run from me!" cried his father, but Gabriel didn't stop.

The pig had darted under the roots of a tree and was breathing hard. The blow he had dealt it must have been more than he thought. Slinking closer to it, he readied his spear to stab at it again. The other pigs had run off so he didn't have to worry about them attacking him. Stabbing quickly, he dodged out of the way, pulling the spear back from where it had hit the pig, and stabbed again. This time the spear went through its side and pinned it to the ground. With a loud squeal, Gabriel jumped on its back and slashed its throat with his knife while avoiding its small tusks.

Standing up with the bloody knife in his hand, he watched as his father approached him.

"I will not put up with this crap!" his father growled at him, pausing just out of his reach.

"Then don't," said Gabriel, stepping away from the pig and pulling his spear out of it. "I'm done being your lackey."

"As leader, you will show me respect!"

"No, I won't!"

Gabriel flared his nostrils and glared at the man before him.

"I cared for you all these years, taught you how to be a hunter and a man!" spat his father.

"You locked me in a shed and starved me!" yelled Gabriel. "Tortured me and threw me to wild animals that could have killed me! I've become a hunter and a killer, but not a man!"

"No, you're right," said his father with a scowl, standing up straight and looking at Gabriel with disgust. "You're no man."

Gabriel didn't respond to him, merely glared at him, waiting to see what he would do.

"From now on, I have no son. Don't you show your face in the compound again, unless you're begging for forgiveness!" he growled, turning away from Gabriel and heading back towards the compound.

The world turned red for Gabriel. This man, who had taken everything from him, was now going to take everything else! If he couldn't go to the compound, he couldn't ever speak to his mother, or find out who that girl was!

Breathing hard, he charged at him, the spear left forgotten on the ground behind him. He clutched the knife he had just slit the pig's throat with and aimed for his father's back. However, just before Gabriel could hit him, the man stepped to the side and elbowed Gabriel in the face.

He hit the ground hard, rolling to his side and holding his crushed nose as blood gushed everywhere.

"Don't ever threaten me again," said his father in a low voice. "I will end you. Did you really think you could harm me? I have trained hundreds of fighters. You are nothing without what I've given you. Have your freedom, if you want, but don't you dare step foot in that compound again. And if I find out you've been talking to your mother again, I'll kill you."

Gabriel gasped past the blood, trying to fight past the pain, and managed to roll over onto his hands and knees. How had his father known? Had he seen him talking to her? Had she told him?

Long after his father had left, he still struggled to stand up. The pain in his head threatened to overwhelm him. He had been hurt many times, and his father had forced him to endure it, but this was the first time he couldn't seem to overcome it. Tears mingled with the blood, and he finally understood that the pain wasn't all from his nose.

Fine.

If his father thought he would come back begging for forgiveness, Gabriel would prove him wrong. The man who called himself, his father, was insane. Gabriel would practice becoming a shadow in the trees until even his father couldn't see him. Then he would talk to his mother and find out who that girl was.