ANNA
"Alright, Vee," Gabe said as we walked into a small, densely wooded clearing. I was surprised that there was a forest large enough that we could hunt in less than a day away from the headquarters-- much less a forest near us at all. Octaveus limped a little ahead of the rest of us into the clearing and sniffed the air, his tail floating just above the grass behind him. He was wearing his tight black combat clothes, but to me they didn't look like combat clothes without the huge black cylinder strapped to his back that held his staff. The form of his muscular body was clearly visible through the tight Kevlar tank top and black skinny jeans.
"What's he doing?" I asked Gabe, who was watching Octaveus's movements closely.
   "Octaveus is our tracker," Gabe replied.
   "Tracker?" All of the choroni have different hunting patterns, and mine is the eldest in the group locate and take down the prey, while the younger herd it into a designated area for the most capable oldest in the group to kill. There was no "tracker", only older and younger.
   "He has the best nose," Gabe started to explain. "So he locates a trail for us to follow and tracks the prey until he can guess a spot that the rest of us can sneak up to it and take it down."
   "Oh," I returned my attention to Octaveus, but Gabe wasn't done talking.
   "Usually, we have two trackers. One locates a scent trail and directs the other to where the prey is heading, and both follow the trail until the prey is in sight and in a good position to attack, then the one that didn't locate runs back to the rest of the group and takes them to where the other tracker is." He said, glancing at me. "Our other tracker used to be Jessie, but both have been refusing to track together anymore, and whenever they did cooperate with each other earlier, they always ended up arguing over who locates and who follows."
   "Oh."
   Octaveus limped in a circle around the clearing, occasionally tilting his head upward to check the air, then glaring at the ground and sniffing. He paced past a clump of shrubs on the farthest side of the clearing away from us and suddenly stared off into the woods behind the shrubs. He glared into the woods, then turned around to face us again.
   "There's a herd of whitetail about half a mile north." He reported, and I began to fully appreciate how good his sense of smell was. "Small, maybe five or six females. We should be able to catch them by the time they reach the edge of this swath of forest, if we hurry."
   Gabe smiled wide and clapped his son on the shoulder. "Good. Scout ahead and we'll follow."
   Octaveus nodded and started to limp into the shadow of the trees when Gabe called him back again.
   "Why don't you take Anna with you?" He said, making it sound more like an order than a suggestion. "You can catch her up on our hunting techniques." Oc smiled and nodded.
   "Got it." He gestured for me to follow him and limped into the woods, the shadows swallowing him so that all I could see of him were his paper-white arms and neck. I quickly followed him into the woods before I couldn't see him at all and hurried to catch up to him. (He is a surprisingly fast walker for a cripple. No offense to him.)
   I finally caught up to him as he stopped at the base of a large oak tree and dragged his unsheathed claws over the surface of the trunk, carving five parallel grooves in the bark. I've heard of some choroni doing this during wars; marking trees with a certain pattern so that the rest of their team can identify who it was that had passed by and where they were headed. Some choroni even use these marks to deliver messages to others in their team.
   Octaveus finished marking the tree and sheathed his claws, sniffing the air and turning toward me. "There's two female whitetails traveling a little away from the herd. We should be able to get one of them before they cross the edge of the forest."
   I walked alongside him as he limped northward. "How can you tell so much just by scent?"
   He smiled to himself. "You don't usually hunt in pairs, do you?"
   "Usually we hunt as a group, we don't split up into different roles."
   Vee nodded. "The stronger the scent is determines how many of the prey there was, and if they were traveling in a group." I nodded.
   "So how does the rest of your group find you when you're hunting like this?"
   "They follow the trail we leave," he said, indicating the claw marks on the tree.
   "Oh," I said, feeling stupid. "Right. I knew that."
   Octaveus smirked at me. "Of course you did." I made a face at him, but his smirk only widened.
   "C'mon," he started limping again and I followed. I could hear him talking, telling me how being the "tracker" works and how to track larger prey versus smaller prey, but I wasn't exactly listening. I was too distracted, watching the way the sunlight filtering through the trees illuminated his pale skin, reflecting out of his yellow eyes and making them look almost gold. The light filtering through his hair shadowed the top half of his face, making his cheekbones look more defined. He looked ethereal, sometimes half covered in shadow, the faint sunlight rippling over him making his skin look like he was glowing. His tail swayed gracefully behind him, blending in with the shadows.
Eventually I realized that he'd stopped talking and was watching me back, a slightly amused expression on his face. I looked away from him, my face burning.
   "So," I said to break the silence. "How long do you think it'll take to catch up to the deer?"
   Octaveus looked ahead of us again. "Maybe an hour? The herd is moving quickly, we'll probably have to track them until they stop to rest, then lead one away from the buck."
   That part I understand. The male deer are always the most aggressive, especially when they're traveling with does. You do not want to get anywhere near a buck's antlers or hooves, unless you want a broken spine.
   Octaveus and I walked for a while longer, Octaveus stopping occasionally to check the air or mark a tree. When we finally stopped in a thicketed clearing, the sun was already starting to dip below the horizon.
   Octaveus limped to the far edge of the clearing and peered through the thickets. His tail flicked lightly and he stepped away from the thickets and turned to me beside him. "The herd's on the other side of these thickets." I nodded.
   "How are we going to get through the thickets though?"
   Octaveus smiled slyly and pointed upward. I followed his finger with my eyes.
   "Oh, no, I am not a tree climber," I protested, but Vee was already halfway to the nearest oak.
   "C'mon, it's not that hard," he raised his arms and hooked his claws deep into the bark of the tree. I walked to the base of the tree but didn't prepare to climb.
   "Isn't there a way through the thickets?" I asked, but even as I said it I knew there wasn't.
   "Not unless you want a butt full of thorns there isn't." Vee said, smirking.
I grumbled and walked over to him. He smirked at me and pulled himself up onto the lowest bough of the tree, me right behind him. It took me a little more struggle to get there than it had taken him, because I wasn't already six feet tall and couldn't lift twice my own body weight with only my arms. Then again, Vee wasn't able to use his legs to help him climb, so he basically had to be able to carry his own weight on his arms. It was that or get a butt full of thorns.
   I reached the branch Vee was crouched on, and he said, "Just one more branch and we should be able to get a clear shot of the herd."
   I nodded and he got ready to climb, tensing his legs and unsheathing his claws. When his claws were visible, I could see why whenever he and Jessie fought Jessie always came out with deep scratches on his arms; Vee's claws were night-black and about two inches long, curved like an eagle's talons and sharpened to a point at the end, making them as sharp as talons as well. How he hid those in his fingertips, I have no idea. What I did know, I would not want to get into a fight with those claws.
   Vee jumped and latched his claws into the bark of the branch above us, which was about two feet higher up than the other one was from the ground. He hung from his hands for a second, rearranging his claws in the bark to get a better grip, before pulling himself up to the branch. I could see the muscles in his upper body tense as he pulled himself up level with the branch and swung his leg over the top, straddling the branch. I moved down a little farther and prepared myself to jump, grabbing the bark a couple feet in front of him and pulling myself up to sit on the branch.
   Once we were both on the second branch, I got a clear view of the sun's current position in the sky. The sky was starting to turn orange and pink and red, about half of the sun itself still visible through the branches of the other trees. I rotated slightly to look at Octaveus, and he silently pointed toward the ground a little bit in front of our tree, on the other side of the thickets. There, five does and a buck grazed in a large clearing in the trees, the sunset turning their light brown fur almost orange.
   "That's our target." Octaveus indicated a smaller doe grazing a few feet away from the herd. She had a lighter coat the the rest, the black lines under her jaw standing out more. "If we catch her quick enough we might be able to get to her before the buck can get us."
   I nodded as Octaveus gazed around, studying the other trees near us. A light wind blew in from the east and ruffled his long feathery black hair, pushing it a little bit out of his face. His tail twitched slightly as he turned at the waist to look down at the area where we'd entered the clearing. I watched the sunset, turning the sky from a pink-orange color to a scarlet-red. The wind blew my French braided hair over my shoulder and I noticed that the setting sun had turned my hair an orange color.
   "There they are," Octaveus muttered and I turned to follow his gaze. Gabe, Jessie, Gwen, and Alice entered the clearing and looked around, probably looking for another marked tree.
   Octaveus whistled quietly to get their attention and Gabe was the first to see him; he waved and Octaveus and he had a quick conversation in CSL— Choronian Sign Language— before he walked to the base of the tree to the right of our oak, Alice, Gwen, and Jessie following him. I could see him sign something to Jessie in Choronian and Jessie took off, running around the thickets and to the other side of the herd. Gabe turned back to Vee and they had another signed conversation, this time one I could follow:

You distract buck when Jessie goes for doe.

   Octaveus signed back:
K.

   Octaveus turned his gaze to the pale doe again, watching the forest around her for any signs of his brother. He saw something and slid down the tree again, using his claws as brakes by dragging them above his head in the bark. I followed him down the oak and joined him by his family at the base of the other tree.

   Octaveus crouched by the edge of the thickets while his dad signed to Alice and Gwen.
   Suddenly Octaveus jumped forward, squeezing himself through a narrow deer path through the thickets and dashing toward the herd. Alice beckoned to me and Gwen and she led us through the trees to the far west side of the clearing. The deer herd was crowded in the left side of the clearing, leaving a large area partially separated by a thin grove of small pines. Alice led me and Gwen to the clear area beyond the pines and we started to set up a camp.
   Alice signed to me:

We may need to camp for the night.

   I nodded and wandered around our side of the clearing a collected sticks and pieces of dry tree bark for a fire. As I started carrying my first load of sticks back to the ring of stones Alice had made for the fire, I heard a bellow from the male deer and a loud cat-like snarl from the other side of the pines. I dropped the sticks I had gathered into the ring of stones and went over to the edge of the pines where Gwen was standing to watch the hunt.
   Jessie had the pale doe cornered and was striking blows to her face and legs to disable her. Octaveus was facing off the buck, his lips peeled back in a snarl. The buck threw his head and tried to hit Vee with his antlers, but Vee jumped back, his fangs snapping out of his jaw and claws unsheathed. He hissed, his fangs now protruding two inches out of his jaw, his face contorting into a menacing glare. His hiss sounded almost snake-like. I could see Gabe in the shadows, watching for a place where he's needed. I ducked back into our makeshift camp and started collecting more sticks and bark until I had a pile about the size of a large campfire within the ring of stones.
   I was just about to ask Alice if she had anything else I could do when I heard an ear-splitting shriek. Alice dropped the leaves she was carrying-- for makeshift beds-- and ran over to the edge of the pines, Gwen and me right behind her. We gathered at the edge of the pines again and took in the scene on the other side.
   Gabe was crouched in front of the buck this time, his teeth bared and ears back against his head. He lashed his tail and lashed out at the buck with his claws unsheathed, driving the buck back toward where his herd had fled out of the clearing. Jessie was still wrestling with the paler doe, and before I could look away he had grabbed the doe's head and ripped it sideways with a sickening snap. I turned my head away, squeezing my eyes shut, before realizing something. I looked back and scanned the scene with my eyes. Then I saw the buck charge forward with his antlers lowered and Gabe jumped back as if to protect something behind him. Octaveus was curled into a ball on his side on the ground behind his father, clutching his leg and not moving. Jessie joined Gabe fighting off the buck and clawed at the deer's legs, eventually forcing the buck to follow his herd.
   Gabe and Jessie chased the buck out of the clearing and into the woods, and Alice, Gwen, and I hurried over to Octaveus on the ground. Luckily, he hadn't been moving because he had been playing dead, which was probably a smart idea; as soon as Jessie and Gabe chased the buck out of the clearing he sat up, his hands wrapped around his left leg just above the knee. His face was tight in pain.
   Alice kneeled on the ground next to him and promptly said, "Hands."
   He took his hands away from his leg so that his mother could examine it. There was blood smeared on the black denim on the inside of his thigh, just above his knee joint, which had stained his hands red. Alice lightly touched the blood smear on his jeans and he winced in pain.
   "Gwen, grab the First Aid kit from the camp for me," she said and Gwen got up and quickly ran to get the kit. "Okay," she turned her attention back to Vee. "Roll up your pant leg."
   Octaveus looked like he wanted to protest, but decided not to argue with his mother and reluctantly rolled up the leg of his jeans.
   I winced in sympathy. Just above his knee joint, on the inside of his thigh, a bloody black hoof mark stood out against his paper-white skin. There was blood smeared around the wound and the edges of the ripped skin was black. Gwen returned with the First Aid kit and sat next to Vee's shoulder while Alice calmly opened the kit and took out a bottle of cleaning alcohol.
   "This is going to sting," she warned before pouring a portion of the alcohol onto the wound.
   Vee's leg immediately tensed and he bit his lip to refrain from crying out. His expression gradually relaxed as the alcohol on his leg foamed on the wound, picking up any germs and dirt that had gotten under the skin. Alice grabbed a small spray bottle from the First Aid kit and unscrewed the lid, pouring the water that was inside onto Vee's leg to wash off the alcohol foam, then wrapped the wound with a layer of bandages. Gabe and Jessie came back from chasing the buck as Alice was wrapping Vee's leg and came over to see how bad the wound was.
   "Not deadly," Alice said when Gabe asked. "The hoof barely cut through the skin, it was just a matter of cleaning the cut."
   Gabe nodded, then turned to Vee quickly before helping Jessie with the doe. "S'il vous plaît soyez plus prudent la prochaine fois, d'accord?"
   "Je sais, je vais essayer," Vee muttered, not meeting his father's eyes.
   "Vous savez que vous ne pouvez pas avoir beaucoup plus de blessures à la jambe, ou. . ." Gabe said quietly.
   "Je connais," Vee said, and I have no idea what they were conversing about in French, but he sounded like he was ashamed. "Comme je l'ai déjà dit, je vais essayer." Gabe nodded, though he didn't look too satisfied with his answer, and went to help Jessie carry to doe's body into our makeshift camp.
   "Do you think you can walk?" Alice asked Vee, but the tone in her voice said, 'You can walk, get up'.
   Vee nodded, gladly pulling the leg of his jeans back over the bandaged cut and getting to his feet. Alice studied the way he was standing for a second and said, "Anna, can you just make sure he doesn't fall on his way to the camp?"
   Vee looked like he was going to protest, but before he could I responded, "Sure, no problem." He shot a mocking glare at me and I smiled back at him.
   Alice nodded. "Gwen, help me with the fire before your dad decides to eat the deer raw." Gwen nodded and they made their way over to the camp, leaving me and Vee alone in the other side of the clearing.
   We looked at each other awkwardly for a second before Vee said, "I lied; I don't think I can walk."
   I rolled my eyes at him. Leave it to a guy to hide his true feelings. "Well, I'm not going to carry you, if that's what you're asking."
   His face turned pink. "That's. . . that's not. . ." He shifted feet uncomfortably, but almost immediately returned to leaning his weight on his not-recently injured leg.
   I smirked at him. "C'mon," I said, wrapping my arm around his waist to help support him. He put his muscular arm over my shoulders-- which was easy for him since he was four inches taller than me-- and we started walking toward the makeshift camp, Vee limping heavily on his recently-injured leg, which made it feel a little weird to me supporting him. Well, I mean, more weird to me, helping the guy I've had a growing crush on since I was four limp to our makeshift camp.

After we ate-- Gabe is really good at cooking a deer-- the sun had already fully set, casting darkness over us. Alice moved the spit, taking the wood and feeding it to the fire while the rest of us found spots to sleep around the ring of stones. Vee lay down under the branches of a broad oak, Gwen curling up against him for warmth. He put one arm around her, then looked at me a little ways away from them. He spread his free arm out to me invitingly, but I said, "I'm good."
   He shrugged. "Feel free if you change your mind," he said, half-rolling over and curling himself around his sister, flicking his tail around them. I leaned back against a tree, hugging myself and rubbing my arms. The temperature had dropped several degrees since the sun set, and it was starting to feel chilly. I tried to fall asleep, but the sounds of owls hooting in the trees kept me awake.
   After a couple minutes of me trying-- and failing-- to fall asleep, I heard Vee shift from his place curled around Gwen. He rolled over to look at me, half cradling Gwen's sleeping form against him.
   "Still considering that offer?" He whispered to me, spreading his arm out to me again. This time I moved over to lay beside him; he rolled onto his back and put his arm around me so that I could use his shoulder as a pillow. His chest radiated heat like a little hearth fire; warm and comforting. I curled up near him, leaving a little space between us, but he pulled me closer, half rolling over to face me.
   "Come on," he whispered, trying not to wake Gwen or his parents or Jessie. "I won't bite." I nodded and he pressed me against his body, curling himself around me the same way he'd curled around Gwen. Now I know why she fell asleep so quickly; as soon as he curled himself around me I was enveloped with warmth. His body was so warm that it made me feel drowsy and calm, like after taking a hot shower, just minus the water.
   Vee must've been pretty tired, because after a few seconds his breathing slowed and his body relaxed around me. I cuddled up to him and soon the warmth of his body had lulled me to sleep.

"Anna," Jessie's voice hissed in my ear.
"What do you want," I grumbled, cuddling closer to my warm pillow. Then I remembered that my 'warm pillow' was Octaveus and jumped back a little.
Jessie laughed. "Did you sleep well?" He taunted.
"Shut up Jess," I said, sitting up. "You cuddled with Gwen."
"Yeah, but Gwen's my sister," Jessie replied. "Vee's not your brother. Therefore--"
"Stop. Talking." I interrupted before he continued his sentence. He smirked.
"Why did you need me so badly?" I asked.
"Watch this," he lightly pushed me away from Vee and rolled him onto his back.
"What are you doing?" I asked. Jessie put one finger up to his lips in a be quiet gesture and started to scratch under Vee's chin; Vee responded by throwing his head, then started purring. I watched, though I had no idea why I needed to see this so badly. Jessie continued to scratch behind Vee's ear and under his chin simultaneously, Vee's purring getting louder. Then suddenly Vee rolled back over on his back and curled his body into a crescent shape, baring his stomach to Jessie the same way a cat might invite you to rub their stomach. Jessie bit his lip to refrain from laughing and waking Vee and I shook my head at him. It was a little funny to see Vee on his back in a crescent shape with his arms and legs in the air, but it was mostly cute.
"Stop harassing your brother, Jess," Gabe called from where he and Alice had been sleeping. Jessie reluctantly moved away from Vee, who promptly muttered several cuss words and rolled over.
  "Leave me alone motherfucker." He muttered sleepily.
  Mom kicked his leg. "Language."
  "Sorry," he muttered and sat up, rubbing the side of his head.
We spent the next day traveling back to the headquarters, then halfway to the tunnels having to drag Vee, whom had either passed out or fallen asleep, I couldn't tell which. Apparently that happened a lot though, so I wasn't supposed to worry about it.