HUNTERS AND PREY

By Chris Partin

The Canadian Wilderness

I’ve been travelling these woods for over three days now. Mainly just getting back to my roots, if ya will. I’ve had too much happen in my lifetime, and these last few weeks haven’t been any different. With the re-opening of the Weapon X Project and all that flooding back into my life, I just needed a break.

I called Xavier’s and let everyone know I was all right. They had heard about my tussle with the Juggernaut and Black Tom in Madripoor a while back, and they heard about the Weapon X ordeal from Heather Hudson.

But all of that is behind me… for now.

Like I was saying, I needed to get back to my roots for a while. I needed a little ‘me’ time and deal with all that’s been happening. A lot of folks really want to bring my past up and I’m not too comfortable with it. The past is a hard thing to deal with, especially when it’s mine. Too many things that aren’t mine are floating around in my head. I’ve been mind wiped and given false memory implants a number of times, and I don’t know what’s mine and what’s not.

Damn, Weapon X.

Well, I’ll eventually get to the bottom of that well, but for now its just me and the woods.

Well, I wish it was just that.

Two nights ago, I began following these four hunters. There aren’t local boys. Locals aren’t as stupid as these guys. The came up here from North Carolina to find a special breed of animal up here. The locals call it the ‘Hunter In Darkness’.

I’ve come up against the Hunter in the past. We’ve gotten a mutual trust between the two of us. It seems I saved its life back while I was a savage beast myself in these woods. When I heard these guys talking it up on how they were gonna “bag” the big one up here, I knew I should keep an eye on them. Not to protect the Hunter, but to protect these rednecks.

Last night, they finally made their move to go deep into the Canadian wilderness. Like I said, the were rednecks, but they knew how to hunt. They even gave me the slip once or twice, but I managed to find them thanks to their one mistake-they loved to take their cheap beer along with them. As soon as I picked up on that scent, I could follow them anywhere.

Bad thing is, I wouldn’t be the only one to pick up on their scent. If they didn’t watch it, they’d end up some very pissed off bear’s dinner tonight. But they had luck on their side when it came to bears.

Only when it came to bears.

They were getting closer to one of the Hunter’s dens. I couldn’t pick up on its scent, but I had that feeling on the back of my neck. I usually don’t go by feelings when my senses can’t pick anything up, but I know the Hunter better than these guys. I know it’s been here-recently.

I track them for another half an hour and then they stop. I guess they’ve had their fill of beer and they need to make camp. I hear one of them tell the others he’d rather wait until morning to track the Hunter. My guess is that’s he’s getting scared. Up to about twelve hours ago, the Hunter was a myth to him. The longer he’s out here, the more he realizes that the myth is close, and I don’t think this hunter wants to find the real Hunter at night.

It won’t matter I think to myself. The Hunter’s a animal like all of us. He won’t do anything to them as long as he doesn’t feel threatened. Fat chance that he’ll feel cozy next to these guys. I track backwards a little ways to be sure I’m out of their way tonight, and I decide to get some sleep of my own. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day, for the hunters and for me.

I’m up with the sun, and so are the hunters. A bit hung over, but I think they’ll manage. I can tell this is a typical hunting trip for them. A few beers at night calms their nerves down about what’s out there just beyond the tree line, and a night’s rest on the cold ground makes them feel they’re roughing it enough to find the Hunter.

I wish I could talk them out of it, but who am I to interfere with natures way of killing off the dead weight of the population. The Darwin Awards would love this I’m sure.

I follow them for hours. They’re not going to find the Hunter. It doesn’t want to be found.

Not yet, at least.

Daylight runs out on my little companions and I can tell they’re getting frustrated. Most of the time they’re yelling at one another about whose idea this was and what a waste of time it has been. This isn’t good. They’re more pissed at each other and they’re not paying attention to what’s around them.

The Hunter is here. Not only is the hair on the back of my neck telling me its here, but I sense him. It’s been a while since I picked up its scent. But I know he’s here. And I know he’s not happy to see these guys in his home.

The Hunter’s not too friendly with folks that want to shoot him up and take him home as a prize. He knows why they’re here. He can feel it just like I can. Just like an animal can sense fear in its prey.

Oh, yes, they fear him. That’s why they’re here- to prove they’re not to each other. But deep down, each one wants to run home and hide under the covers from the Hunter in the Darkness.

And all I do is crouch here in the shadows peering in on these men and watch to make sure the Hunter doesn’t kill them. Where are you, Hunter? I know you’re around here, but where are you….

I see it about one second before he attacks the first hunter. Damn. I didn’t even hear him move in these woods. Damn!

I run as fast as I can and leap into a tree right above the Hunter. I dive from the limb right above the Hunter and grab for his neck. I’ve got to take his attention away from the hunters.

As I hit him, we roll to the ground. He grabs blindly for me and tosses me aside like a damn rag doll. Then he gets up and lunges for one of the hunters.

Damn! Why won’t he forget them and come after me?

I keep my claws sheathed. I don’t want to hurt the Hunter. I just want to keep him occupied while these damn, stupid hunters get away. I knew I shouldn’t have let them get this far.

No time to think, just react. I slam my shoulder square into the Hunter’s back knocking him off balance and into a nearby tree. It doesn’t even faze him. Last time we tussled I had my adamantium. I was a bit heavier and a bit stronger then. Now, he just brushes me off. And that pisses me off. I don’t want to hurt him, I keep telling myself, but I’m gonna have to hurt him if I want to save these hunters.

He grabs one of the hunters, who’s too stupid to run the other way. He runs straight by the Hunter and gets grabbed by the Hunter’s enormous and strong hand. I grab a limb that fell when I jumped into the tree, and broadside the Hunter’s shoulder. He releases the human and stares at me. He turns back toward the hunters who have taken to running away finally.

Good. Now I have to keep….

Damn, he’s running after them. I’m getting too old for this. I drop the limb and take off after the Hunter. We’re in his turf now. He’s got the advantage and we’re just trying to keep up. I can still see the hunters running in front of the Hunter, but they’ll wear out before he does.

Suddenly one of them stops dead in his tracks. What the hell is he doing?!

His rifle?! He fires two shots straight at the Hunter. The first one goes wide and tears through a tree, but the second one connects with the Hunter’s arm. But it doesn’t even startle him. The Hunter just leaps for the human and hits him hard to the ground.

NO! I can’t get there in time. By the time I reach the Hunter, he’s already torn through the first hunter and races after the others. I stop at the dying human and crouch beside him. I can hear him gasping for breath. Damn. There’s no way to save him. I see the wounds the Hunter has inflicted. I shake my head and tell the hunter I’m sorry. I place my fist against his forehead, but he never hears what happens next.

Damn.

I stand up solemnly and shake my head. I could have avoided this. I could have stopped these damn rednecks from getting this far, but I thought it would be fun to see if they actually found the Hunter in the Darkness. I knew they wouldn’t, but I knew he would find them.

Another scream breaks me out of my guilty trance. I start running toward the sound. I can hear the other three hunters screaming. He’s got them cornered. This trail deadens into a cliff. I remember now. What is wrong with me?! I shouldn’t have let this go on this long.

I manage to get closer to where I could see the three surviving hunters. They’re trying to scale the cliff and make it to the top. The Hunter in the Darkness is just watching them.

Why?

He nearly gutted the first hunter. Why is he letting them try and escape without going after them? Does he know something they don’t? Does he know something I don’t?

I keep looking around for something that shouldn’t be here. Why is he… then I see it. Lying in the brush next to the Hunter’s feet, a small bundle of white hair. A child. The Hunter’s child.

I watch the three hunters make it to the top of the cliff and run off screaming. The Hunter in the Darkness leans down and picks up the child. Its motionless in its arms. Is it asleep? No. I know what has happened here. The Hunter’s child is dead. Sometime in the night, one of the hunters… no, the one that shot at the Hunter. He found the child, and killed it.

Why?

Did the child attack him? No. I would have heard the struggle. The Hunter isn’t a predator just to be one. The child doesn’t even look old enough to hunt, yet.

The Hunter in the Darkness turns around and stares at me. It looks down at the child and back at me. Damn. Look what I have done. This shouldn’t have happened. I could have stopped this, and I didn’t. Now there are two dead.

Two souls that I could have stopped from ever meeting. Dead.

The next day I pack up my things at the hotel. Jessica was nice enough to let me keep the room until I decided to leave Canada. I look at my costume as I put it in my bag.

Hero.

Some hero I turned out to be. So many things have changed in my life this last year. Its time to start getting things back the way they use to be. I use to be the best, but I’ve slipped. Not anymore. Its time to get back on that road and be the best again.

Time to return to where I became the best. Where my honor is. Where my heart still is. I pick up the phone and call the airport.

“Yes. I would like to buy a ticket to Japan. Yes, sir. I’m going home.”

NEXT ISSUE: Logan travels to Japan to visit the grave of his one true love – Lady Mariko, and runs into Mariko’s brother, the Silver Samurai! The pact the pair made to each other the night of her death is about to come to pass! Will honor outweigh rage between these two warriors?