Chapter 10 A First Love

Sweat trickled down his back as Gabriel set the heavy rock into the wagon. Straightening up with a grimace, he stretched for a moment, looking around. His father had left him here to load up the rocks a while ago, but he had learned that when his father said he was leaving didn't always mean he was actually leaving. Sometimes he just hid and watched him.

With a frown he looked back at the rocks and made a decision. This was stupid. Why was he breaking his back? He was supposed to be the great hunter protecting the people. Glancing at the sky he figured he had enough time to take the wagon back to the river where the women were wanting them to help shore up the washing area before he needed to go hunt for his supper. If more rocks were needed, someone else could grab them.

Pulling the wagon behind him with a grunt, Gabriel made his way back along the path towards the river. Keeping half an eye on the road to avoid potholes and the other half on the surrounding forest. He was outside the wall that surrounded the compound, so there was always a possibility of danger from wild animals and monsters.

Coming up to a curve, he slowed down as a commotion in the trees and brush caught his attention. Something was being chased, and had stopped just around the bend. Setting the wagon handles down slowly, he grabbed his spear and snuck up to a large tree. Peeking around it, he spotted a large grey cat that had just taken down a deer. Licking his lips, he crouched lower so as not to be seen. If he could get the deer, it would be enough meat to feed him for a while. He couldn't just spook the cat away though. It was obviously large enough to take down a full-grown deer. People wouldn't pose a challenge if it decided to hunt one, so it needed to be dealt with.

Thinking quickly, he took a stance and flung the spear at the cat with all his might and charged in. The spear hit the cat in the side, knocking it away from the deer. Gabriel jumped on the deer's back, slitting its throat with one of his throwing knives, while he watched the cat struggle to run away with the spear sticking out of its side. The deer tried to stand up while he was cutting its throat, and Gabriel slid off its back to deal with the cat. The blood would leave a clear trail of where the deer stumbled off to, and he needed to deal with the furious cat.

It hissed at him, with blood flowing freely from its mouth, swiping at him with its sharp claws. Gabriel weighed throwing a couple daggers at it, to kill it quicker, but the spear was doing its job. The cat's strength was already too low to do any real damage. Blood covered the ground, and Gabriel hoped it rained soon. This would definitely attract other predators hoping for an easy meal.

Moving to fetch the deer that had collapsed only a few feet away, Gabriel quickly gutted it and took it over to the wagon. It would bleed on some of the rocks, but since they were going in the river anyway, he didn't think it would be a problem. Then he returned to the cat and watched as it didn't even bother to lift its head as he approached it. Its side was struggling to draw in air to its ravaged lungs, but the huge hole he had made with the spear prevented them from working. Gabriel jerked out the spear and went to return to the wagon, then paused.

It seemed a shame to just leave the carcass here. He knew eating the meat was out, as predator meat tasted awful, but the hide was beautiful with the silver and greys. Maybe some of the people back in the compound would like to do something with it. Glancing around to make sure nothing had come to investigate the area, he stepped closer to the cat. It had stopped breathing, but he didn't feel like doctoring wounds this evening. He already had enough scrapes from moving all of those rocks. Poking it with his spear elicited no response, so he poked it in the eye. Again nothing. With a nod he reached down and grabbed its tail.

Satisfied the cat was dead, Gabriel picked it up and added it to the wagon as well. Replacing his spear, he picked up the handles and started towards the river again. The pain and exhaustion he had been feeling before had disappeared in his excitement of the hunt, and he couldn't wait to see who would be at the washing area.

His father tended to frown on him talking to anyone because of the different way he was raised. Gabriel understood that his father had been unnaturally cruel in the way he was raised, and the people from the compound didn't like it. But he also knew he was capable of doing just about anything any of the adults could do, and he was only thirteen.

The sounds of laughter trickled through the trees over the sounds of the water as he drew closer to the river. There were several women washing clothes at the moment, and Gabriel peered through the trees as he got closer, to see if he knew any of them. The chances were slim that he would recognize anyone, as he hadn't actually met anyone, but he was still hopeful he would recognize a face or two.

As he watched, all but two of them finished and left. The last two were wearing dresses with similar fabric and cut, leading him to wonder if they were related. One was much younger than the other, and as she lifted her face where he could see it, laughing at something the older woman had said, the breath caught in his chest.

She was beautiful!

Gabriel had seen a lot of things in his short life, that could be considered beautiful, but he didn't have an eye for such things. This young woman though, caught his attention and as the they noticed him, he couldn't rip his gaze away from her.

"Gabriel?" asked the older woman, looking startled and surprised to see him. "Is that really you?"

Glancing over at her quickly, to confirm that she was indeed talking to him, he returned his look to the young girl. She was about his age. The sun was shining on hair the color of dark chestnuts and her eyes sparkled with hidden secrets as she looked at him curiously. There wasn't any fear in them, like other people's from the compound.

"Does your father know you are here?" asked the older woman, lifting her skirt with one hand and stepping into the water, closer to him. "I've wanted to see you for so long!"

Gabriel finally tore his gaze away from the young girl as she continued her washing and turned to the woman.

"Who are you?" he finally asked, his mind abuzz with a dozen questions he wanted to ask the young girl, but he couldn't seem to settle on just one. What would she think of him anyway? He didn't look like anyone from the compound, instead he probably looked like a wild animal himself, with his wild unwashed hair and nothing but a loincloth.

"I'm your mother," choked the woman, dropping her skirt into the water to clutch her hands before her.

"My mother?" he asked, frowning.

"I didn't want your father to take you…" she whispered as his frown grew.

The girl was forgotten as he finally realized what she was saying. This woman, who claimed to be his mother, was crying. Why had she let his father treat him the way he had? Why didn't she stop him from beating him and forcing him to fight monsters? Why couldn't he have been a normal boy from the compound, so he could have met this young girl?

The anger at the injustice dealt him erupted all at once. Dropping the handles of the wagon, Gabriel sneered at this woman who pretended to care about him.

"You didn't seem to care enough to stop him, though," he snapped, turning to the wagon and looking over all of the rocks he had loaded into it.

The pain of lifting them returned to his hands and shoulders. His back felt tight and the heat of the day made his head hurt.

"Gabriel, I couldn't!" she whispered. "He's the leader. I didn't know he would be so mean!"

"Well, he was!" Gabriel growled, snatching up his spear and turned to look at the woman, only to see both her and the girl behind her flinch in fear.

All of the anger dropped out of his belly at that moment, as he saw the fear, he had seen in every other set of eyes, appear in the eyes of that beautiful girl. The girl he had fancied with his whole being because not only was she beautiful, she hadn't feared him. And now she did.

Looking down at the ground, Gabriel struggled with the sudden onslaught of guilt and loss that hit him. Tears sprung to his eyes and he gasped at his weakness. Crying was for little boys and he was almost a man. If his father saw him crying, he would whip him.

"I killed a deer and a large cat," he said in the silence between them. "You can have them, if you like. And the stones are to help with the washing area…"

He gestured to the wagon and then towards where the girl still sat. Turning as the woman stuttered a thanks, he darted into the trees. Running would help him clear his fuzzy mind. It always helped before. This time, though, he didn't know where he was running to.