Faded by Jordan Wadley (free reads .txt) 📕

"May I ask why you’re staring at me ?" She asked bluntly, slightly agitated with the brunette next to her. Sapphire noticed he'd stared at her for five minutes max, bugging her that he hadn't even blinked, yet keeping her face emotionless. The mask she wore on a daily bases seemed to be her one and only armor, without her mask she didn't know how she might survive the journey before her.

"I’m sorry; I-I didn’t mean to stare." He stuttered, already used to her bluntness when spoken to, but more nervous that he'd stared at her the entire time.

"It's quite uncomfortable, and I have to hunt. Sorry sir but you may want to leave, I can't hunt when you have the footsteps of an oversized elephant." Her words were clipped and bothered but her tone was kind and polite, her poker face in place giving nothing away. He gulped when her cloudy blank eyes connected with his and nodded once before breaking eye contact. A slow amused smile crept its way onto Sapphire's face; she couldn’t help the excitement that rushed through her when people feared her. She fed off of the stench and Tom’s shaky hands only added to this. Though she wasn't physically smiling, since it seemed impossible since the last visit with Darkening Sunset Pack, she smiled internally.

"I thought you were looking for wood?" She asked skeptically still trying to get away from the large man. Tom however only fretted with his words, procrastinated and regretting leaving the woman alone. Sapphire caught his attention the moment they met when she helped him escape from the police. Believe it or not she saved the rest of the crew as well, yet only keeping minimum contact with the strange people. Tom was intrigued with the small female, she looked so frail and young you wouldn’t guess she killed for a living.

"Right," He pondered when she suddenly turned away from him, whipping out her long blade for a small hunt.

Sapphire didn’t like the vibe the strange man gave off, she knew he wasn’t of any true harm but the idea that he could catch her off guard sent her into a trail of chills. Standing still in the small forest she listened for Tom listening intently as he stepped away to search for wood. Smiling at herself once more she crept quietly into the woods, watching from all points of vision to spot something, anything, to eat.

Her eyes landed on the small twitch of the leaves in the trees indicating something was watching her as well. She crept closer without any noise with movements as she crawled to the tree; she pressed her hands gently into the base of the trees only leaving small scraps of blood in its trace. Closing her eyes she listened with her hands, feeling the slight sway of the tree then the twitch again, this time further away.

Looking up, her eyes caught the movement of a small squirrel reaching out to a smaller limb on a nearby tree. Grinning wickedly she had to give the creature credit, it was smart enough to keep hidden but not smart enough to keep quiet. She tensed her arm, slinging it back with such force it almost had her tumbling back. Catching herself at the last moment, she whipped her hand forward with great oblige before releasing the blade when her angle and aim was directed on the small form of the creature.

Yelping in surprise the small thing fell to the ground, followed by her bloody blade sticking from the small creature’s abdomen. A small creepy smile led its way to her face when she approached it with caution; she knew how dangerous these creatures were when approaching without caution from past experience.

Sapphire grabbed the fluffy tail when she checked the creature for any movement, once approved she pinned the tail of the squirrel to her belt loop and continued into the forest, careful with her steps.

She wanted to laugh with joy when she spotted a small rabbit two hundred yards from her location. It seemed rare to spot more than one feeding in the same area but didn’t protest when she pulled the bow and arrow from her shoulder.

Placing the blade between her fingers while setting the hilt of the blade gently against the string and pulling it back, resting her back on the trunk of a tree to keep her aim in line. She crouched down on the balls of her feet and inhaled a deep breath before exhaling once more. Repeating this exercise several times she stretched more distance between her bow and the string, insuring her aim to kill the being. She also knew from experience if she missed this shot, the rabbit would run and with only her two legs against the creature’s four legs dinner would only be served with a squirrel.

Inhaling one last deep breath she released the string of the bow and watched all in slow motion as the blade slowly approached the rabbit. Noticing the danger, the rabbit’s head stuck up to observe it’s surrounding and noticed at the last painful seconds of its life that early death was approaching. The blade swung with great power, penetrating and snapping the creature’s neck all in one beautiful motion.

Sapphire ran up to the rabbit, wiping the spattered blood on her muddied jeans to clean her dagger before fitting it back into the hilt of her belt. Her jeans had four more grips to hold more food and with the lucky rabbit she had plenty of time to search for more apposing food.

Hours seemed to pass before all four loops were filled with mouth watering foods to heat once back at the camp site. Without waiting another moment, she cut through the paths of the trees and ran back to the five men and women standing near the fire to warm their own bodies.

When everyone noticed Sapphire approaching them with different types of animals hanging from her latch, their stomachs growled with appreciation before slicing the food into pieces and hanging their disconnected bodies above the fire.

She could only watch as the other picked an animal of their liking, the way they ate like savages only had Sapphire's stomach growling from disgust.

"I may leave soon, sorry for the abrupt request but my quest has yet to be finished." Sapphire declared. Everyone stopped eating and looked at her with weariness. They all knew they wouldn’t survive a day without her, the skills she provided with captured by the spies and the killings of the creatures of the night provided them with life. If she left they were dead and she knew this as well.

"Why?" One of the younger men, Kyle, asked, watching her with caution. In the woods you learned to trust no one, he learned this from Sapphire herself because of his likings of her. She wasn’t much older than the rest of them but her skills gave her the advantage to live life in the wild unlike the rest. He liked her because instead of being immature and inexperienced with the outside world like girls in his school, she wasn't.

"I have people to kill, I don’t need others getting in the way and killing innocent people isn’t’ how I live, sorry." She spoke with truth and elegance, she truly didn’t want these people to get hurt and she vowed to teach each and every one of them how to survive without living off of another survivor. She wanted, no she needed, them to escape the life they lived now or they would die. She couldn’t let these innocent people die and they knew this about her.

"We understand," One of the women spoke, standing before wiping her hands on her jeans. She was the eldest of them all, her grey hair gave this away, but her eyes held playfulness when around the rest. As of now she stood and walked to over to the raven haired girl with pride before sticking her hand out in a gentle manner. Sapphire couldn't help but feel as though she's seen her before, and more than once. "I’m very grateful you helped me escape from that horrid prison. I know your intentions weren’t of any harm and only care, in which I owe much to you for, but if you really are eager to leave into the world we need your training and guidance. We need to train long and hard and I may know some friends on the way that could help. She doesn’t live too far from here, and actually a good day’s hike would work well. Once you’ve succeeded your duty we won’t stop you from leaving, since your number one goal is to seek revenge then I won't stop you."

Sapphire watched with great admiration as she spoke, but a strange jolt startled her. She hadn't mentioned to anyone she was seeking revenge, only the few details of killing a few people. Something about the woman unnerved her, yet she trusted her at the same time.

Anne could only watch Sapphire while she regarded her with caution; this was the person everyone has come to know. This was the life everyone had grown to accept and Sapphire kept all of them alive, if she wanted to finish her task then Anne would do everything in her power to help her. The rest of the group went into a chorus of honor and bravery making Sapphire's heart swell with pride. She helped these people grow, she kept minimal contact with the group but never did she once turn her back on any of the people that stood before her.

She mentally smiled lightly at the elderly woman before taking her soft delicate and boney hands into her own firm ones.

"You need to sleep well, we'll wake at dawn before beginning our days travel. Eat now, save some later and when we arrive we’ll decide what and where we'll go by then." Sapphire's speech must’ve encouraged some, almost as soon as she mentioned the dinner awaiting their mouths they turned from her and smiled with glee while shoving the foods down their throats. She found herself doing this as well considering she wasting plenty of energy searching for the food.

Sapphire rarely hunted; only in emergencies did she take her time to hunt. It caused dangers, some in which she wasn’t ready for. Someone could sneak from behind and attack seeing as she would be rendered useless. She couldn't bring back up because of the noise made when doing so. She would keep ears and eyes open at all times, the people needed her and she vowed to keep her promise.

"Thank you," They blessed her once before returning to their own pallets in the thick mossy grass and leading off into a soft peaceful slumber. Sapphire nodded in acknowledgment before heading to her daily post, she didn’t need to sleep as much as the others. Sapphire had been trained day and night to protect, the packs and her family had taught her so much even if she was so young. She had Alpha blood running in her viens resulting in a higher ability to protect and fight for those she'd vowed to take care of.

"It was no trouble, sleep well."

I will finish this task, travel into the mountains to ready the others for survival, leave and continue my task for my father. I will keep the promise I made to him in my heart, I promise papa.