“Phyritta!” She says, then notices the red eyes and sad expression, “What happened?”
“T… th… the…” She can’t talk.
“What happened?” She tries again. Phyritta turns on the TV. A reporter shows up.
“Today the hunt continued. This time targeting a house on broad street,” She reporter says, “When we walked in there were signs of a struggle and definitely violence.
“Wait that’s your house,”She Finally realizes. She gasps, “Phyritta.” She hugs her friend. Phyritta keeps her eyes locked on the screen.
“The people living in this home were the Fires.” A family picture of the family. Two young girls, an older boy, a mother, and father. All with black hair and blue eyes.
“General Starian, what do you want to say about this, disaster?” The reporter says in front of the house with a microphone held up to the general’s face. TheGeneral is a tall, well built man with blonde hair and blue eyes
“Well Stacy, these hunts are being brutal.The Fires were great people,and will be missed greatly,” General Starian replies.
“What did you see while searching the house?” Reporter Stacy asks.
“Well there was the most violence in the main bedroom. There was the body of Daria Fire, their youngest daughter, Mrs. Fire and Mr. Fire. My men found the body of John Fire in the back yard. We assume he was thrown out of the window and upon impact of the ground was killed,” The General says.
“What about Phryitta Fire?” Stacy asks.
“We did not see her body. We assume that she was either taken captive, or has left,” Starian says.
“What are your thoughts on the upcoming choosing of the new Protector?” Stacy asks.
“I think that the elders should be fast in their choosing. The longer there is no protector of this town,the longer these attacks will last,” Starian looks around, “Now nokore questions, we will get back to this tomorrow.”
Phyritta turns off the TV. The girls sit in silence for awhile. She looks down. They hear the door open.
“Greta! I’m home!” A voice booms. A man walks in.
“Hello, there General Starian,” Gretta jokes.
“Hello there Phyritta,” He says waving. She waves back. He starts to walk away, but then he stops dead.
“PHYRITTA!” He exclaims,”But you… you… lived!”
“Yeah,” She says.
“She came over not too long ago, we got to see you talk to Reporter Stacy,” Gretta says.
“Ah,we have to tell officials!One Fire survived,” He says.
“No,then they’re going to bring me to darksmallrooms for interrogation to ask about what happened and to describe the people attacking, i just want to lay low,” Phyritta says.
“What?” Starian questions.
“Look, I understand that, you must be feeling terrible right, now but we need answers if we want to stops the hunts every once a week,” Gretta puts her hand on Phyritta’s. She sighs.
“Okay, but no press or reporters, but i’ll do the she’s alive and interrogation, but nothing else,” Phyritta says.They both nod.
“Done. You can stay here in Greta’s room as long as you need to,” Starian says.
“Thank you,” They all start to settle down for the rest of the night. Phyritte closes her eyes. Sleeps drifts over her quickly. She dreams about The Hunt. She’s sitting watching as the masked men run a dagger through her mother’s heart. Her father ushers everyone up the stairs. It was a fatal move,they get trapped.They attempt to go out the window, the masked men push John out the window. She watches as he hits the ground. She turns and sees a man with a sword. He slashes at her. She is able to jump away but is then cornered. She hears a scream and then a sword blade goes through the man cornering her. Her father Wielding a sword is revealed when the man falls.Then another scream of pain goes through the house.They both turn to see Daria bleeding on the ground, face draining of life. Only her and her father are left.
“Get behind me, Phyritta,” He tells her. She stands behind her peering over at the men. There are about 20 “hunters”, one 14 year old kid, and a man wielding a sword. The odds are very bad. A person shoots an arrow and it just grazes her ear. SHe winces in pain. Then he heard a shocked voice. Her father drops down to the ground. He gets up,but she can see the blood trickling from his arm. He is able to fight off a bunch of the hunters. Enough of them make a path.They run out of the room. Then her father drops to the ground unable to move on.
“Run as far as you can, get out, and don't look back, remember I love you,” Her Father's Voice rings.
She jolts awake, she’s hot and sweating. She curls into herself. She wants to go back to sleep, but every time she closes her eyes the images come back. SHe then just cries. Greta notices,but doesn't bother her. It’s better to get it out.
A few days pass and Phyritta is called for the interrogation. They thought that letting her get over it slowly will be better than putting her on the spot so soon after the incident. Everyone is getting anxious it’s getting close to the next week and then the Hunt will be on again. Phyritta, Greta, and General Starian walk to the station. They get to the room. Greta and General Starian are ordered to wait. Phyritta walks into the room not knowing what to expect. Outside Gerta and General Starian sit, they wait and wait, then they hear a loud ear splitting cry. They quickly get up and run in the direction it came from. They walk up to the small room where Phyritta was and can’t believe the sight.