The rogue's adventures

Talon's POV

"How about we go hunting tonight and probably have some fun?" Jake suggested, when the school bell rang for us to go home.

Everyone of us agreed to the suggestion, most especially me, as I was tired of watching evening news with my dad.

He also made sure I sat with him to watch the news even if it was against my wish. "You need to know about things happening around you, news keeps you up to date." He always said whenever I tried to shrug off the idea of watching the news with him. He has been doing since I was an infant and I'm still nowhere near the ball park of getting used to it.

It was dark already and time for us to go hunting. I knew my dad wasn't going to let me go to the hunting with my friends especially after the recent killings that's been happening around the community, so I didn't inform him.

I sneaked out through my window and walked for few minutes before getting to the junction we had planned to meet.

"What did your daddy say about you missing the evening news?" Clinton asked, and everyone laughed all at once.

"I sneaked out and I know I'm going to face a lot of questions when I get back, but let's just go get some meat." I said, cheering my friends on.

"Okay then, let's get moving, Jake said.

We got to a place in the woods and Maya asked us to stop. "That's enough, I can't go farther than this. We can start our hunt from here." She said as she stopped walking, dropped her bags on the ground and put her hands on her waist.

"There's no way girls are still fighting for gender equality when they are all so soft and scared." I said, mockingly.

Maya clicked her tongue and whispered "Mmm, whatever."

We walked back to where Maya stood and dropped our bags too. We camped there and we all picked our rifles except for Maya that uses arrows and bows.

We all headed out deep into the woods and marked out a place we would meet should any of us get separated from the group.

We spent over two hours looking for game, but we couldn't find any and when we still couldn't find anything, I suggested for us to stop the search.

"That's enough, let's head back and eat the snacks we brought then, go home." I said.

Nobody uttered a word, but Clinton was smiling like he thought about something in his mind which I knew he did.

"Say it." I moved my head to signal Clinton.

"Say what?" Clinton said as he continued to smile.

"We know already, Clinton. Just say it," Maya supported my claim that something was on Clinton's mind.

"Just say what you want. We know it's a Talon and dad joke." Jake joined in on persuading Clinton.

Clinton moved back a little bit in anticipation of me coming after him.

"I know for sure that Talon is trying to still salvage a night without an ass whooping that's why he suggested that we should go home so early." Clinton said still smiling.

"Was that supposed to make us laugh?" I asked him, mocking his dry joke.

"What's supposed to make us laugh is the fact that you call Maya soft and scared when you are the only bitch in our midst." Clinton said and both Maya and Jake bursted into laughter.

I dropped my rifle and quickly took off after him and he started running away while laughing loudly.

I pursued him in circles and he finally fell to the ground as he ran out of breath.

I jumped on him. "You got a big mouth, right?" I said as I playfully punched him and we both laughed and laid on the grasses.

Maya and Jake started running slowly. "Snake! Snake!" They yelled as they ran.

We quickly got up, from where we laid, picked up our rifles and started running too, but somehow we lost track of Jake and Maya.

We ran to the marked spot we agreed to meet if we got separated and we met Jake and Maya there, but Maya laid on the ground screaming "My leg! My leg!"

"The snake bit her!" Jake yelled and we both ran over to them.

Immediately we got there, Jake and Maya bursted into laughter. "You should look at your faces." Jake said as he snickered.

Clinton and I both breathed out heavily. "You'd have given me a heart attack." I said as I panted.

"You mean you care about me? You love me?" Maya said with an almost whispering tone.

"Nobody loves you, stupid." I said, and we all laughed hard.

"Let's go." Clinton said, and we both helped Maya and Jake up. Then, we all headed back to the camp.

We played games and took the snacks we brought with us.

When we finished eating the snacks, we all laid on our backs outside our tents and gazed at the stars.

"It's already too dark, we'll spend the night here and go home very early in the morning." Jake said.

I quickly got up and sat right.

"Okay, let's not even talk about the fact that my dad would be angry that I spent the night somewhere without telling him. I took my dad's rifle for godsake." I said, worryingly.

"So did the rest of us." They all replied me at once.

"Okay, okay. That's relieving." I said as I nodded my headed several times then, I laid down again.

"Daddy's boy." Clinton whispered.

"If you think I'll run after you again, you lie." I replied.

"You won't else, your dad will whoop your ass if he found out." Clinton said, jokingly and we all laughed.

"Finally, a funny joke from you." I responded.

"Will you guys just... Keep quiet for once?" Maya said, frustratingly.

I gestured zipping my mouth with my fingers.

The tent became silent and I was deep in my thoughts thinking about my mom.

My mom died when she was giving birth to me. Well, that was what my dad told me and I believed him.

That's why sometimes I don't blame him for being so hard on me. He was trying very hard to protect me from any harm, but I only wanted a normal life like Jake, Maya and Clinton.

I laid down on the green pastures still deep in my thoughts till I began to dose off and eventually became somehow unconscious then, I slept off. At least that was what I thought happened.

While I was sleeping, it was like I was dreaming as I heard screams as a wild animal attacked some group of people that went camping.

I tried as hard as I could to wake myself from the dream, but I couldn't. So, I finally fell asleep as the screams stopped.

I woke up the following morning and I saw shreds of our tents on the ground and blood on my hands. I quickly rubbed my face as my eyes where still blurry.

I quickly sat right and I saw people laying on the ground with blood all over them and I went over to them only to find out that it was my friends laying dead, all torn to pieces, gruesomely murdered like it was an animal attack, but to my surprise not even a single injury was on my body, just blood on my hands.

While I was still trying to make sense of the situation, I heard agonizing groans and I rushed over to the person. It was Jake who wriggled in his own pool of blood.

"What... What happened?" I asked as my voice stuttered in fear and shock while I placed my hands on his chest trying to stop the bleeding.

"You, turned... into an animal... Like a werewolf and you attacked..." Jake couldn't complete his story then, he gave up.

I laid over his body and cried. Bereaved by the death of my friends and wallowing in guilt, I began to think I was responsible for the recent killings because the description I do see on the TV matched the one I just witnessed, bite marks on the neck, claw injuries on the chest and bellies of victims and some body parts dismantled from the body of the victims like hands and legs. Also, countless times I've waken up to meet blood on my hands, but I never understood what happened neither did I tell my dad about it.I didn't know what to do, so I decided to commit suicide. I was going to get arrested anyways.

So I walked over to the edge of the cliff close by. My hands shaking in shock as I was scared of what my dad would do if he found out about what had happened. All the expectations he had of me, failed and even worse just because of a stupid hunting trip. I got tired of thinking about possibilities and jumped off.