From a near distance, Anastasia could see a slight shadow from someone thanks to the moonlight. She didn’t want to take any chances by waiting to see if it was a girl, so she quickly jumped on the nearby branch, her heart thundering in her chest as she gripped the branch hard the way her life depended on it.
The person behind the shadows came out and Anastasia confirmed it was one of the hunters. Her heart nearly sank into her chest as she silently prayed for the man to leave that spot already.
If she slipped or even made the slightest sound, she was done for. The man would shoot her down until she was dead. Just the thought of dying when she was close to escaping made her cold chill run down her spine.
"Hey, kitty kitty kitty..." The man sang, confirming he was a lunatic. "I know you’re here. Just show yourself to me and I won’t hurt you."
Anastasia believed the man thought he was probably talking to a child.
"Come on now, show yourself to me already."
Anastasia silently cursed. Her grip on the branch was starting to loosen as sweat glistened on her forehead. All of a sudden, she felt a slithering thing around her hand.
Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she saw the slithering snake, curling around her hand that was gripped hard on the branch. She suddenly felt like crying her eyes out as tears pooled in them. The snake didn’t make any attempt to bite her—it was just there, and it probably didn’t sense she could be a threat.
Anastasia looked down at the man who was still singing for her to show herself. His arrow was pulled back, reading to shoot at anything moving.
Then she heard the tree branch snapping a little—it was soft but not loud enough for the man to hear—and her heart sank even further.
His arrow was pulled even further when he seemed to have heard some footsteps, and in the next second, Anastasia found Angelina standing in front of the man, her eyes trembling when she realized she was standing in front of the hunter.
"There you are," the man sang, and although Anastasia couldn’t see his face at the moment, she could feel the grin stretching on his lips.
Angelina was now trembling with no attempt to run.
The branch snapped further, signaling it couldn’t build her weight anymore.
Anastasia decided to intervene, she couldn’t stay hanging and watch Angelina get killed.
She pulled herself down with the branch, gaining their attention. The man looked shocked for a second before he tried to fire the arrows in her direction. But she didn’t give him the chance to do so.
Swiftly, Anastasia took the branch and hit him across the face, drawing blood from him instead. Then, she palmed his mouth before he could scream.
They heard the snake that had fallen on the ground hiss before it ventured further into the forest.
"You little piece of shit!!" He cursed, ready to push her away, but she hit him across the face again with the branch, this time, harder.
"It says to finish a kill once you’re able to draw out blood. It would only be wise if I followed that rule, don’t you think sir?" She asked, hitting him one more time on the head with the branch and he fell t on the ground, still conscious but his grip had loosened on the bow and arrow.
She quickly grabbed the weapon, and pulled the arrow at him as he tried to get up.
His eyes widened in shock when he saw the arrow pointed at him.
"WHA—!!" He didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence when Anastasia shot him with the arrow that sharply drove into his chest, killing him on the spot.
Angelina gasped, her hand over her mouth while Anastasia took a quiver from the dead man after recovering from the shock she’d just killed someone.
"We are going to get in deep trouble when they find out we’ve killed one of the hunters."
Anastasia was a little touched when Angelina said <i>We </i>instead of just <i>You</i>, but there was no time to start feeling emotional. She’d killed someone because she needed to protect herself, else, she would have been in the same position her victim was if she hadn’t acted fast.
"Let’s go," she said.