An unexpected guess

The wild forest in Alaska is covered in knee-deep snow and the Elk are on their way to find food. Only they were being followed but an experienced hunter.

-Kris POV-

It has been seven years since I came out here, and it has been one heck of a challenge. I am looking out onto the plain of snow to gather how far away the Elk is from me. Hard to say if I could hit one with my bow but it's worth a try.

Pulling out one of many better-crafted arrows than the nail heads from before, I ready my shot and adjusted it according to the wind and distance. The bow itself has also been upgraded to an insanely powerful hunting bow. If the average person tried to use it, they wouldn't even be able to pull back the string by an inch.

I tried steadying the bow as much as possible even tho I'm still shaking. My eyes closed for a moment before opening to reveal my red-eye. The bow instantly became bead still. Everything around me seemed to slow down, almost as if time itself was being affected. All that is left is me and my bow and arrow, ready to kill. The largest Elk stop to make sure it's not missing a herd member, only for it to hear the whistle of an arrow lodging itself between the Elk's ribs. While the Elk was thrown to the ground by the arrow, I ran towards it to claim my prize. As I came close to the still struggling Elk, a large white Direwolf came over the snow and kill the Elk. Gracefully putting the elk out of its misery. The wolf then sat down and waited for me. I knew who this was and called out to them "You know Hati I could have handled that by myself."

She replied, "But you were talking so long and I didn't want the Elk to hurt any longer."

Hati is a snow-white Direwolf I found three years ago as a little pup. Now she's as tall as me and can talk telepathically. Staring at her deep-sea blue eyes I wonder how such a little pup could grow so big. Hati was staring at me and I wasn't sure why until she said "ah Kris, your eye is still..."

"Oh right. I'm still getting used to it."

A year ago I found out that I do have some abilities I can use and to my surprise, I realized I had them much earlier in my life but never knew it. Leading up to now I spent time masters all of them but my eye is the hardest so far. Now with my red-eye back to normal, I noticed Hati staring in the distance with a questioning look.

"What?"

"Nothing really, I just wanted to know who's turn it is to carry the Elk."

I noticed Hati was not paying much attention right now and a grin grew on my face. Hati still looking around, felt a slightly warm feeling oozing down her back and her reaction is priceless. She screamed at the top of her lungs "AHHHHH! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!? WE MUST DRAIN THE BLOOD OUT!"

I was unable to hold back my laugher and almost fell to the ground.

"Damn it, Kris! You know that it takes forever to clean!"

I couldn't hear her through my laughing.

"Fine!"

I could see her preparing to do something but I had no idea what it was "Wait, Hati what are you."

Hati, being sick of my little joke, threw the Elk on top of me sending me crashing down into the snow.

With the Elk on top of me, I said, "Oh haha, a great way to get back at me."

Hati with a slight annoyance said, "Well it's what you deserve."

"Yip... I guess I do deserve that. I'm sorry for scaring you. How about we go back home and I can help clean the blood off."

Her annoyance turned into a thoughtful look, "That would be nice..."

"Alright, I'll carry the Elk."

The walk home was uneventful, other than Hati chasing a Coyote now and then.

We finally got home in the afternoon and just as I opened the door, Hati and I both shot our heads to face the same direction.

She asked, "Do you hear that. It sounds so weird."

The sound was very faint but thanks to the dead quiet of the forest I was able to make it out.

"That... sounds like a car. No, a van. Three to four of them."

Excitement bubbled up within Hati and she just couldn't hold it in as she said, "Ohhhhhh. You mean that thing you broke down to make your arrows."

I stayed silent. It is weird to have someone drive up here. It has never happened in the years I've been here and now all of a sudden multiple vans are coming this way. Something doesn't feel right to me so, in a hurried voice, I said, "Hati, get inside now."

"What? Why? I want to meet some new people."

"Trust me. It's better to find out who it is before showing yourself."

"Does something feel wrong about this?"

I nod my head to say yes and Hati went inside, peeking through a window with excitement. It wasn't long before four silver metal vans drove up and stop violently upon seeing my house. There's an awkward silence and out of the corner of my eye, a man got out and pointed a crossbow at me. As quick as lightning I aimed my bow and arrow right for his chest. The tension grew so thick a person could cut it with a knife and just as it is getting too tense that one of us would fire, another man got out and said in a calming voice, "Now, now there's no need for violence here. JIMMY!! Put the god damn weapon down."

The man called Jimmy replied, "I don't like this fella boss. He seems too wild for civilized talk."

These men were clearly not from around here, given their southern accent. The boss on the other hand had a more modern American accent. I could tell when he said, "Well we won't know that if you kill him!"

I took the opportunity to show then I could talk by saying, "Or he won't know if I kill him."

"You see he can talk now the crossbow down. I'm sorry about that fella, we've been on the road for for while and are a little tense."

Both Jimmy and I lower our weapons however I still kept my arrow nocked. I turn my attention to the 'boss' to find out why they are here. Maybe he just doesn't like me one bit or he just wants to loot me for Jimmy fires his crossbow at my head. Hearing the trigger and the bolt shot towards me, I dodge it just in time. Jimmy is terrified as he tries to reload his crossbow. The boss just sighed, "Jimmy, you know my rules for disobeying my..."

The boss was interrupted by Jimmy's blood-curdling screams, I fired my bow sending Jimmy flying into a tree. Timmy, being six feet off the ground, was pinned to the tree, slowly losing consciousness. He could do nothing but hold the arrow pinning him and slowly letting his head hang down. The boss, with a shocked look on his face, said in a seemingly calm voice, "shit... A-again I'm sorry but now the idiot is gone we can start all over. My name is Oliver and this is my hunting party."

"A lot of men for a hunting party, don't you think?"

"Well, we are hunting something very dangerous. A white-furred fox."

I couldn't believe it. This many.

"Your joking right. This many for a fox. Your gonna make me laugh."

"This ain't no ordinary fox. They say it uses magic to kill"

Well, this is new. I have heard about animals using magic but the only one around here died or ran away.

"Sorry, but I have never seen a fox you're looking for out here. Only the normal ones."

Oliver Sighed, "Alright then, we'll be on our way."

He turned around and headed back to his van as I went back to the house. As he was entering his van he called out to me, "Oh by the way I didn't catch your name!"

"I know. I never gave it to you."

And with that final statement, I slammed the boor. As soon as I was out of sight, my body started to shake uncontrollably. Hati is still picking through the window though she is a lot less excited than before. She stared at two others trying to get Jimmy down from the tree as I sat down. She spoke as soon as I sat down, "Are all humans like that?"

I couldn't say anything. The realization that I just killed a man hit me faster than a train.

"Kris?"

"I-I c-can't stop s-shacking."

My hands and arms were shaking violently.

"Kris, what's wrong?"

In a shaky voice, I replied, "I killed a person... and I didn't even know... until after I..."

Hati remains quiet watching the final van drive away. She was surprised at her first encounter with other humans. A long time passed until Hati said, "How about tomorrow we go exploring. We haven't seen what there is to the west."

"Yeah... sure, that sounds nice."

"There's not much but at least the view is good!" I said as staring out into the vast valley.

We are standing on a cliff looking out onto the valley below. Hati was taken by the view, just stares with wide eyes. Exploring has always been a favorite pass time of Hati. She loves finding new creatures and areas like this view, I was getting tired so I tried to speed things up. "Can we go now?"

"Just a minute."

"But you said that two hours ago."

"And now you will wait two hours."

I could do nothing but sigh as I walked to the closest tree and sat down. It wasn't comfortable at all. The cold, wet snow froze my ass and prevented me from taking a quick nap.

Finally, Hati said, after staring at the view for what felt like forever, "Ok I'm good to go."

Being annoyed I said, "About bloody time. I think if I stayed there for a bit longer I would have had frostbite on my ass."

"Stop complaining. It lovely view and you didn't have to work on the Elk today."

"Yeah, you're right but I don't want to leave it for tomorrow."

"Then let's go."

On our way home I noticed something on the ground. Blood and a set tracks. The tracks are fresh and are heading south but it's the blood that's got my attention. Hati sniffed it and grew a confused look. I asked, "Is it new?"

"Yes. It is"

"Then what are we waiting for, let's track it down"

Both of us followed the tracks south. The only thing I could gather from the tracks and blood was that it was some sort of small canine and it was in a hurry. We followed the tracks for a few minutes when I noticed a difference. The tracks were now that of a human and showed signs of slowing down. Both of us looked at each other in confusion until we heard a faint sound coming from behind a small mound. It sounded like something collapsing on the floor. I singled to Hati to wait as I approached the mound. What I saw completely shocked me. It was a woman with fox ears and a tail lying in a small pool of blood. Before I even consider approaching, I looked around to see if there was any immediate danger. Once making sure the coast is clear I signal Hati. She looked a little confused as she saw the woman and said, "What is going on here."

"I'm not sure but it looks like she is wounded and it's hard to say whether she is alive or not."

"What are we going to do?"

It took me a moment to answer but after carefully thinking about it I gave Hati my thoughts.

"She's probably dead and there's nothing we can do but leave."

Hati hesitated for a bit but agreed and we both started heading back home but then I heard something so weak and silents not even Hati heard it.

"help..."