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"We have a policy here that the lowest scoring archer collects the stray arrows." He glanced down at his clipboard, his pen running over the tally. My stomach dropped because I knew it was going to be me. I'd barely landed an arrow on the target. And damn if it didn't grate. I was still proving myself. Still finding my feet. Hopefully, my failure here didn't lose me respect.
"Brody! You're on arrow collection." Carl gave me a grin that was completely wholesome. Unlike the one that Josh threw my way. Jenny patted me on the arm with a commiserating look.
"I'm sure I was almost at the bottom, too. It's just meant to be fun," she said with a shrug. "Don't let him get to you. He's only pissed because you beat him for the job."
"Thanks," I said wryly.
Carl approached me next and handed me a torch and the keys for the utility shed. "You might need the extra light. Dark under the trees. Look for the bright nocks on the arrows and you'll be fine." He stepped past me, then turned back. "Oh, and if you're not back in an hour, I'll let Cruise know to come and grab you. Don't want to be out in the woods when it gets dark."
The man glanced at the trees. It looked like he was stifling a shudder, and that didn't fill me with confidence. I didn't watch as he left though, didn't want to think about the look on his face. I shoved the keys into my pocket and set off for the far end of the row. Macey had landed most of her arrows on the target, so it wasn't hard to clean up after her. It seemed like we'd somehow lined up from best to worse because as I got toward my end, there were more and more arrows to be found in the grass behind the targets.
Mine had just one arrow on the target and as I stepped behind it, I noticed how the hulking tower of hay bales blocked out the light. I was closer to the woods here, and after I'd spent ten minutes scouring the ground and only finding a few, I knew I was going to have to go deeper. Steeling myself, I stepped beneath the trees.
Only dappled light reached the ground
I really needed the torch here, and was thankful that at least at the edges there wasn't a lot of undergrowth. I only had a few more to find, so I moved deeper. Clearly, my issue wasn't with force, but with aim. Dammit. I'd always struggled to know where to aim myself, so it felt like a personal condemnation that I couldn't hit the fucking target.
Kicking at the grass and leaves, I unearthed another arrow. Two more to go. I moved the torch and stepped back at the sight of thick red blood on the ground.
Shit.
I must have hit something. But what?
I moved the light around, scanning the ground for something small and furry. What else could be out here? I thought back to the look on Carl's face and decided that perhaps that didn't bear thinking about. He wouldn't send me out here if I was in danger though, and whatever I'd hit couldn't have gotten far with that amount of blood loss. All I could find was a trail of blood, though.
Dammit.
I had to track it down and make sure it was dead or put it out of its misery if it couldn't be saved; and I really didn't think it could. Keeping my light on the trail, I walked deeper into the woods, daylight getting dimmer and dimmer through the thick canopy of leaves. Thank fuck I had a torch.
The bushes along this faint trail seemed to have been flattened in places, more damage than a rabbit or squirrel could have done. A thread of tension pulsed in my temple, and I just had to hope that I wasn't getting myself into more trouble than I could handle.
The droplets of blood were getting smaller now, though one seemed to be smeared like a handprint against the base of a tree. That couldn't be right though. Surely, there were no people in these woods; that seemed the height of stupidity for someone to be hiding behind the targets. Watching.
A shudder ran down my spine, and I couldn't help but worry. It was ridiculous, though. I squared my shoulders, making myself taller and striking my most dominant pose; the one I practiced in the mirror sometimes so that I could put it on before I stepped into the office every day.
It didn't come naturally to me, but I knew it was the only way to forward my career.
The trail of blood seemed to end, but there was no body waiting for me. I flashed the light around, trying to spot it. Off to the left there was a large tree with a curved hollow in the base, as if a large rock had once been there but now disintegrated. It was large enough for something to have crawled in there to die, so I knew what I had to do.
I switched the torch to my left hand and drew an arrow from the quiver with my right. It was lousy as a weapon, but the best I could do under the circumstances. I wasn't sure if I could actually kill a wounded animal, but I had to take responsibility for what I'd done. Approaching slowly, I ducked down to peer into the hollow, flashing my light around the interior, braced for the screams of some animal.
My light found pale feathers, and then a dark thigh. Like a human thigh. Connected to feathered ankles and vicious looking clawed feet.
What. The. Fuck.
My brain struggled to comprehend what I was seeing. I scanned the other way, gaze landing on a humanlike torso, wings tucked against her sides, full chest, covered in rough bindings, only enough to keep her modesty, before resting on a beautiful face. She had feathers around the edges and large, fearful eyes which locked directly on mine.
Selene
The human.He was here.
I chittered, freezing again when he frowned. My breath came in ragged pants, my chest heaving with them. It had taken all of my energy to find this safe place, but now he was here, too. We had been discovered.
Mother was going to kill me.
If he didn't first.
She'd told me all about his kind, how they came with their guns and their dogs and killed most of our kind, how they had raped and brutalized us.
