Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I messed up. I really messed up this time.

It was a hunt like any other, or so I thought.

Hatchet in hand, I had successfully cornered an innocent prey into a ditch. I smiled. I would have a great dinner tonight.

His pleas for mercy, cries for help, and sobs of pain were like music to my ears, he was shaking like a leaf, his left leg bleeding from the cut that doomed his very life.

I should probably have ended his life sooner since a loud enough scream could completely change the situation I was in.

And it did.

I killed him, sure, but it was already too late.

And now, here I am, running away from the sloppiest kill I’ve ever done, with the police hot on my tail.

I didn’t even think twice before leaving the corpse and my weapon behind and running away from that ditch into the main roads.

It was the dead of night, almost no one was awake at this hour.

I didn’t care about my bloody clothes or anything of the matter. I didn’t care about the few people still in the streets that saw me.

For right now, all I care about is getting out of this.

My cover was blown, at this point, everyone in town would soon know my face. I knew that sooner or later I would be found and sent to jail. There must even already be a cell waiting for me there.

I just wanted to stay alive.

At the first opportunity I had, I ran into the dirt roads that led to the outskirts of town. It would be easier to foil the police’s search.

I entered the forest. They would never find me there, I was confident in it so I took a breather.

Just as I thought I had finally shaken off the cops, I heard it.

Barking.

They brought DOGS to aid in chasing me. I never liked those furry little creatures and their incessant annoying barkings and unnecessary energy, but now…

I have never felt more hatred towards anything in my life. I now regret dearly leaving my hatchet behind.

So I ran.

I ran for dear life.

And I kept running until my legs couldn’t anymore.

It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered.

They knew where I was, you see, dogs are very good at smelling stuff, and I just so happened to be covered in the scent of blood and sweat.

No matter how fast or for how long I keep on running, they will only get closer and closer. I didn’t look back, so I couldn’t have known how close they actually were. But I could feel them close.

Then I felt it. My body didn’t register at first, but I tripped. Not even a second later those disgusting dogs reached me.

It hurt. Everything hurt.

They bit and clawed at me, barked and growled, loudly announcing to anyone near that they had done it. They caught their target.

I could feel my consciousness slowly slip away. Either from exhaustion or blood loss, likely both.

After what I could only assume to be a few minutes later, I heard the faint footsteps of the police.

They yelled things at me, I couldn’t hear a single thing they were saying though. So I stayed still, lying on the ground, breathing harshly with the taste of blood in my mouth.

Eventually, it looked like I could have damn well passed out, but I didn’t. The dogs finally got off me, and as a last hope of getting out of this alive, I tried to stand up. To run away.

I hadn't even lifted myself off the ground when I heard the last sound I would ever hear in my life. A gunshot. Aimed straight at my head.

Chapter Text

Another successful hunt. Another body to hide.

I can't just leave them to rot where they last stood. Oh no, that would simply be barbaric. I have standards, you see?

I'll put this one together with the others, in my favorite hiding spot for hunting deer. Although this one is no such creature.

The hunting grounds aren't that far from the city, so it's not too much trouble carrying the corpse all the way over there. Better yet, it's the middle of the night, so nobody is out at this hour anyway. 

The travel isn't too eventful. There are buildings, then a meadow, then a forest. There is the sound of silence, and then of crickets, and then of owls and the rustling of leaves on the wind.

I reach the spot. A shallow depression on the ground, well hidden by bushes and low trees, nearly invisible among all the undergrowth of the forest's heart.

I leave the body there, together with other, older corpses of previous prey. I may have a use for them at a later date.

I hear a stick breaking. Something is near. I look around and see nothing but a deer. I'm not here for those right now. 

Surely enough, in the opposite direction of the deer, I hear barking. Dogs, the kind that catches your prey for you so you need only finish it. Disgusting things I tell you, completely destroy the thrill of the hunt.

If there are hunter dogs, there is a hunter nearby. I realise, much to my dismay, that I am between the prey and the hunter. The dogs get to me before they get to the deer, which has already ran away as soon as the barking started.

And then, I hear the sound of a shotgun clicking. Now on the ground, I look up, and barely make out the figure of a person. I try to speak but it is too late. Between the shadows of the forest at midnight, it's simply impossible to distinguish prey from predator.

And just like that, I went from predator to prey.