OC_BigBang Fanfic- Blackwood Creek 2/12
Title- Blackwood Creek 2/12
Fandom- Supernatural, focusing on OCs
Ship- Logan(OMC)/Jake(OMC)
Rating- PG-13
Genre- slash, action, drama, romance, plotty
Warnings- violence, m/m kissing
Wordcount- 2,900
Summary- Jake arrives at camp, sees old friend, and meets a new camper.
A/N- written for 2011 oc_bigbang
Disclaimer- I did not come up with this world, but the idea of a hunters’ summer camp is mine. I did not create the Winchesters or Elkins, but all the rest of the characters mentioned in here are mine.
Beta- skylar_matthews
*** Previous Chapter *** Master Post *** Next Chapter ***
Jake, who had slowed to a walk as the last two miles of his journey began to wear on him, put on a last burst of speed as he approached the farm he knew so well. He sprang past the farmhouse itself, knowing that most of the people would be in the barn. As he passed through the faded red doors his heart leapt at the familiar sounds and smells. His duffle bag dropped from his shoulder and for a moment Jake simply stood by, watching and listening to the commotion of early camp activity.
The barn had been cleared of anything that might have once been used to house cows. The bare cement floor now held a bathroom of two toilet stalls and two shower stalls in one corner, a small kitchenette in another, a long dining table, a wall-mounted wired phone, several recliners and beanbag chairs, and a pool table. The upper floor, which at one point had held hay for the cows, now contained ten small beds with low dressers at their sides, each encircled with a privacy curtain. At the moment both floors were alive with movement and noise as campers attempted to haul their bags up the ladder to the loft, examined the contents of the refrigerator, or simply played a game of pool while they reacquainted themselves with their surroundings and their fellow campers.
“Jake!” a female voice called, and before he could respond Jake found himself wrapped up in a bear hug from Rae Stevens, another camper.
“Rae!” he greeted in return, hugging her back. “It’s great to see you again! How you been?”
“Ah!” Rae laughed as she released him. “Same old, same old. Getting dragged cross-country by mom’n’dad. Transferring to a record of eleven different schools to finish off my senior year with the highest GPA at the last one, though they wouldn’t recognize me for it since I’d only been there a month. Can hardly believe I actually got into college. Can’t wait to go. Still haven’t gotten to go on a hunt. You?”
“Stuck in Indianapolis. Fucking boring. Did win state championship in soccer, though. Almost failed my art class, God knows how. Forced to apply to college; don’t wanna go. Still haven’t gotten to go on a hunt. Hoping my dad takes me after camp.”
“Girlfriend?” Rea asked as she threw an arm around his shoulders and dragged him over to the pool table to watch the game that was going on between Jeremy Stern, a boy a few years younger than Jake and Rae, and Megan Ross, who had just turned eleven. Megan was taking aim at the eight ball, and the table was covered in solids.
“Nah,” Jake answered Rae’s question, and gave her a sidelong look. “You?”
“For a while,” she replied, a smirk spreading across her lips. “But she broke up with me a few days before my family left.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Oh, a few,” Rae said dismissively. “Nothing more than a couple weeks. You know how it is. Or, well, maybe you don’t.”
“Yeah, yeah, rub it in.” Jake pulled away from Rae as Megan shot the eight ball into the corner pocket. Rae nodded to him in dismissal as she took up the pool cue from Jeremy, and Jake nodded in return. He scooped up his duffle bag from where he’d dropped it at the doorway and set about helping Will Hess, the youngest camper at only nine, get his own bag up the ladder.
The five of them, Jake, Rae, Jeremy, Megan, and Will, had been together the previous year and had gotten to know each other fairly well. Jake knew that both Rae and Jeremy traveled full time with at least one hunter parent, though neither of them had ever been allowed to hunt with them. Both also aspired to abandon the hunter’s life, something Jake did not understand. Megan’s father was a retired hunter who owned a bar and her much older sister was a hunter, but Megan’s passion was fixing up old cars and it was suspected that she’d end up taking over her father’s business. Will, the youngest, had the same peculiar arrangement as Jake -a normal life during the school year, and a hunter’s life in the summer- and he, too, wanted nothing more than to be a hunter.
On the second story, Jake dropped Will’s bag on the bed the younger boy indicated and then placed his own on his chosen bed. Looking around, Jake saw that another bed already had a bag resting on it, although he was sure that Rae, Jeremy, and Megan had all left theirs downstairs. Jake frowned as he stared at the unfamiliar bag. Had there been a sixth camper on the ground floor? If there had, the person had escaped his notice.
Jake went to the ladder and looked down, but he could only see the three people who had been there when he left as well as Vince Barrett, the owner of the camp. Barrett noticed Jake looking through the hole in the ceiling and motioned for him to come down. Jake did.
“Kaylo will bring the food out in about an hour,” Barrett told Jake. “And as soon as the sun sets, you can move the kids over to the fire pit and start up the bonfire, and she’ll bring out the chocolate and marshmallows. After it’s gotten dark we’ll start with the fireworks, and when that’s done just herd them all back here and get them to bed. Training starts bright and early tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir!” Jake said excitedly. The camp always began on the fourth of July with a cookout, bonfire, and fireworks. After that, it was hard training and hard play until they all left for home on the first of August.
Jake started to go over to the other campers to tell them of the event schedule, but paused when something came back to his mind. His sharp eyes caught three duffle bags strewn about the ground floor, making a total of six with the three upstairs. Jake turned back to Barrett. “Mr. Barrett, how many campers are there this year?”
“Oh, six,” Barrett answered, as though it had slipped his mind. “Yes, a sixth boy was dropped off unexpectedly this morning, a kid named Logan Taylor. He’s about your and Rae’s age. I wonder where he’s gotten to,” Barrett murmured thoughtfully as he looked around. “Ah, well. I wouldn’t worry about him. The boy’s been hunting with his father since he hit thirteen; I’m sure he can handle himself.”
Barrett turned and left, oblivious to Jake’s slack-jawed stare that followed him from the barn. Jake wished the man had stayed so he could ask more. He just had to meet this Logan guy.
By the time night had fallen, Jake was so preoccupied with food and fire-starting and keeping the youngest campers from running off that he’d all but forgotten about that mysterious sixth camper. He laughed along with the others at a joke Megan had made, fighting the marshmallow sticking to his teeth. The five of them sat around a huge bonfire making s’mores and exchanging stories from the school year. Firelight danced on their laughing faces as the stars began to come out overhead and they waited for the fireworks to start.
The spray of colored sparks was the first thing to appear, followed seconds later by the thunder-like report, and Jake turned to look at the sky as the first firework fizzled out. He watched the next few, an insuppressible grin on his face as the vibrant sparks blossomed against the inky backdrop and then faded away. After a few minutes Jake glanced at Rae sitting beside him, enjoying the childlike awe on her face, and something caught his eye.
Another figure was standing outside of the circle, a little ways off. The flashes of light threw into contrast sharp masculine features set in a surprisingly neutral expression. Jake watched as the stranger’s face was bathed in colored light and shadow, feeling somewhat self-conscious for his immature wonder of the fireworks when this man, who looked no older than Jake himself but whose poise demanded the title of man, was so unfazed by them. The man turned his head, and Jake went still as their eyes met. He suddenly felt very exposed; it reminded him of a dream he’d once had of going to school naked and being relieved when nobody noticed, only to have the vice principal show up and clearly see what no one else had.
Then the man turned away, his expression as impassive as before. Jake continued to watch him for a moment before slowly turning back to the fireworks. That had to be the elusive Logan, he was sure.
Later that night, when the fireworks ended and Jake ushered the younger campers off to bed, he was oddly not surprised that the man who had been standing by them had disappeared. He was somewhat surprised, however, when there was no one waiting for them in the loft. As tired “goodnight”s fluttered around the room and bedside lamps were switched off, Jake waited for the telltale creak of the ladder as someone climbed it, hoping to see this Logan in a regular light, and perhaps talk with him before they both fell asleep. Try as he might, though, Jake found himself nodding off before Logan returned. Just as he was slipping into sleep he thought he heard the ladder creaking, but then he was lost to dreams.
When Jake woke at the crack of dawn the next morning, the other four campers were still in their beds, snoring softly. The sixth bed, however, was neatly made, and its occupant was nowhere in sight. With a groan Jake levered himself from bed and stretched his arms above his head. A few beds down, Rae rolled over, moaning softly, and Jake watched for a moment to see if she would wake up. When she settled back in bed and made no other signs of moving, he padded across the wooden floor to the ladder and went down to the ground floor.
It wasn’t until Jake was at the bottom of the ladder that he noticed someone was sitting at the long table at one end of the room. One hand still resting on the ladder, Jake watched the other person as they ate. It was the man from last night, though without the sharp shadows of the previous night his features appeared boyish enough that he no longer commanded the title. Jake could see now that he had close-cropped hair that curled slightly in the places where it had grown out, mostly a light brown but sun-bleached to near blonde at the top of his head. He wore blue jeans and a brown T-shirt, though Jake couldn’t make out the faded image on the front. The teen paused in eating and looked up, his eyes locking with Jake’s, and Jake saw that they were a green-brown color. Slowly the other teen bowed his head and went back to his food, and Jake let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
Jake went over to the table and stood near the other boy, his hands coming to rest on the back of a chair. “I’m Jake,” he introduced himself awkwardly. “And I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.”
“Logan,” the other boy greeted in return as he stood up from the table, his plate empty. “Yeah, this is my first time here.”
“I heard,” Jake began, but paused when Logan turned away from him and started carrying his plate towards the kitchen. Jake followed. “I heard you’ve gone hunting with your dad.”
Logan nodded as he dropped the plate into the sink and turned the water on. “Since my thirteenth birthday.” His lips quirked in a sort of smile, but Jake knew instinctively that there was nothing happy in it. “Y’know, some kids get a new dirt bike or game system or something. I got to help my dad get rid of a poltergeist.”
“That’s so cool,” Jake said in awe. Logan just shrugged and put the cleaned and dried dishes away. He started towards the door and Jake followed. “You’ve been on a lot of hunts?”
“I guess I have,” Logan murmured as he stepped out into the early morning sun.
“So what’re you doing here?” Jake asked, overcome with curiosity for this boy. He wanted to know all about this young man his own age who had been hunting since he was thirteen. “I mean, don’t you already know everything they teach here?”
“Possibly.” Logan shrugged. “Hunters are always finding new and better ways to kill things.”
“So you’re here to learn new things?”
Logan stopped walking and stared across the field before them, his face blank. Jake followed his gaze but saw nothing. He looked back to Logan expectantly. Now that the other boy was standing, Jake saw that Logan had maybe an inch and ten pounds on him, and his body was all lean muscle. Jake’s eyes caught on a flash of metal, and they widened in surprise when he saw that it was a revolver tucked into the other boy’s jeans pocket.
“I’m here,” Logan said, his voice surprising Jake from his thoughts. “That’s all you need to know.” With that he turned and walked away, leaving Jake staring after him. A bell rang back within the barn and Jake shook himself from his thoughts and hurried inside to get his breakfast from Kaylo before the other campers ate it all.
Jake spent the rest of the day watching Logan as he went through the activities of the camp. He was an amazing shot, not only with the revolver he carried but also with a shotgun, a rifle, and even a crossbow. He could deconstruct and clean a gun in record time, but his every movement was efficient, and upon inspection the gun proved to be completely spotless. He could pack salt cartridges and pick locks faster than anyone Jake had seen, and draw Devil’s Traps from memory. Jake was in awe of him.
That evening when they were sitting around the bonfire once more, Logan again apart from the others, Jake went over to the other teen. Logan didn’t look up when he approached, nor did her say anything when Jake sat next to him.
“You’re really amazing,” Jake said softly. “I’ve never seen anyone as good as you.”
Logan shrugged. “When your life is always in danger, your skills get sharper faster.”
“I guess so. I’ve been training here for years, but I’m not nearly as good.” Jake looked over at him almost shyly. “What’s it like?” he asked, with barely contained eagerness. “Hunting? What does it feel like when you’re actually fighting against something like that? When you kill it?”
“You’ve never been?”
“No.” Jake shook his head. “I’ve always wanted to, though. I’m hoping my dad will take me after camp ends.” Jake’s voice became more and more excited as he spoke of his plans. “We’ll spend all of August driving around finding things to kill, saving people. In September I’m gonna buy a car and start hunting on my own, just like my dad. I’m not gonna go back to my mom’s house and go to college.” Jake stopped talking and sighed heavily. When he spoke again his words came more slowly. “All my life I’ve spent the school year with my mom; she’s a teacher, a civilian. I lived just like a normal kid most of the year. It was so incredibly boring, and all I wanted was to go with my dad on his hunting trips. But,” Jake laughed softly and turned his attention back to Logan, “I guess you don’t know what it feels like, being stuck in a civilian life.”
Logan stared into the fire, a serious expression on his face. “No,” he said softly. “I don’t.”
“So tell me,” Jake pressed. “What’s it like to travel around and hunt things? You’re so lucky! I can’t wait until I can do that!”
Logan snorted derisively and Jake pulled back from him in surprise. For the first time, Logan turned to look directly at Jake. “You’re going to be a hunter?” he asked, his voice dripping with contempt. “You? You’re just some stupid kid playing a make-believe game. You don’t know what it’s like to really hunt; you don’t know anything. You’re just a stupid, naïve, inexperienced brat with no idea what the real world is like. Grow up.” With that he stood up from the bench and walked away, not looking back.
Jake stared off after him, stunned. Slowly his shock turned to anger and he got up from the bench and paced a few steps from the fire pit, fuming. Who was this guy to insult him? So maybe he was almost eighteen and had never been on a hunt, while Logan had been hunting since thirteen. That didn’t give the guy the right to act so superior! That didn’t make Jake stupid or naïve! That didn’t make him a kid playing at being a hunter! He was a serious hunter, going through training in order to be prepared for what was out there. He could handle himself! He could! All he needed was an opportunity to prove it.
*** Previous Chapter *** Master Post *** Next Chapter ***
Fandom- Supernatural, focusing on OCs
Ship- Logan(OMC)/Jake(OMC)
Rating- PG-13
Genre- slash, action, drama, romance, plotty
Warnings- violence, m/m kissing
Wordcount- 2,900
Summary- Jake arrives at camp, sees old friend, and meets a new camper.
A/N- written for 2011 oc_bigbang
Disclaimer- I did not come up with this world, but the idea of a hunters’ summer camp is mine. I did not create the Winchesters or Elkins, but all the rest of the characters mentioned in here are mine.
Beta- skylar_matthews
*** Previous Chapter *** Master Post *** Next Chapter ***
Jake, who had slowed to a walk as the last two miles of his journey began to wear on him, put on a last burst of speed as he approached the farm he knew so well. He sprang past the farmhouse itself, knowing that most of the people would be in the barn. As he passed through the faded red doors his heart leapt at the familiar sounds and smells. His duffle bag dropped from his shoulder and for a moment Jake simply stood by, watching and listening to the commotion of early camp activity.
The barn had been cleared of anything that might have once been used to house cows. The bare cement floor now held a bathroom of two toilet stalls and two shower stalls in one corner, a small kitchenette in another, a long dining table, a wall-mounted wired phone, several recliners and beanbag chairs, and a pool table. The upper floor, which at one point had held hay for the cows, now contained ten small beds with low dressers at their sides, each encircled with a privacy curtain. At the moment both floors were alive with movement and noise as campers attempted to haul their bags up the ladder to the loft, examined the contents of the refrigerator, or simply played a game of pool while they reacquainted themselves with their surroundings and their fellow campers.
“Jake!” a female voice called, and before he could respond Jake found himself wrapped up in a bear hug from Rae Stevens, another camper.
“Rae!” he greeted in return, hugging her back. “It’s great to see you again! How you been?”
“Ah!” Rae laughed as she released him. “Same old, same old. Getting dragged cross-country by mom’n’dad. Transferring to a record of eleven different schools to finish off my senior year with the highest GPA at the last one, though they wouldn’t recognize me for it since I’d only been there a month. Can hardly believe I actually got into college. Can’t wait to go. Still haven’t gotten to go on a hunt. You?”
“Stuck in Indianapolis. Fucking boring. Did win state championship in soccer, though. Almost failed my art class, God knows how. Forced to apply to college; don’t wanna go. Still haven’t gotten to go on a hunt. Hoping my dad takes me after camp.”
“Girlfriend?” Rea asked as she threw an arm around his shoulders and dragged him over to the pool table to watch the game that was going on between Jeremy Stern, a boy a few years younger than Jake and Rae, and Megan Ross, who had just turned eleven. Megan was taking aim at the eight ball, and the table was covered in solids.
“Nah,” Jake answered Rae’s question, and gave her a sidelong look. “You?”
“For a while,” she replied, a smirk spreading across her lips. “But she broke up with me a few days before my family left.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Oh, a few,” Rae said dismissively. “Nothing more than a couple weeks. You know how it is. Or, well, maybe you don’t.”
“Yeah, yeah, rub it in.” Jake pulled away from Rae as Megan shot the eight ball into the corner pocket. Rae nodded to him in dismissal as she took up the pool cue from Jeremy, and Jake nodded in return. He scooped up his duffle bag from where he’d dropped it at the doorway and set about helping Will Hess, the youngest camper at only nine, get his own bag up the ladder.
The five of them, Jake, Rae, Jeremy, Megan, and Will, had been together the previous year and had gotten to know each other fairly well. Jake knew that both Rae and Jeremy traveled full time with at least one hunter parent, though neither of them had ever been allowed to hunt with them. Both also aspired to abandon the hunter’s life, something Jake did not understand. Megan’s father was a retired hunter who owned a bar and her much older sister was a hunter, but Megan’s passion was fixing up old cars and it was suspected that she’d end up taking over her father’s business. Will, the youngest, had the same peculiar arrangement as Jake -a normal life during the school year, and a hunter’s life in the summer- and he, too, wanted nothing more than to be a hunter.
On the second story, Jake dropped Will’s bag on the bed the younger boy indicated and then placed his own on his chosen bed. Looking around, Jake saw that another bed already had a bag resting on it, although he was sure that Rae, Jeremy, and Megan had all left theirs downstairs. Jake frowned as he stared at the unfamiliar bag. Had there been a sixth camper on the ground floor? If there had, the person had escaped his notice.
Jake went to the ladder and looked down, but he could only see the three people who had been there when he left as well as Vince Barrett, the owner of the camp. Barrett noticed Jake looking through the hole in the ceiling and motioned for him to come down. Jake did.
“Kaylo will bring the food out in about an hour,” Barrett told Jake. “And as soon as the sun sets, you can move the kids over to the fire pit and start up the bonfire, and she’ll bring out the chocolate and marshmallows. After it’s gotten dark we’ll start with the fireworks, and when that’s done just herd them all back here and get them to bed. Training starts bright and early tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir!” Jake said excitedly. The camp always began on the fourth of July with a cookout, bonfire, and fireworks. After that, it was hard training and hard play until they all left for home on the first of August.
Jake started to go over to the other campers to tell them of the event schedule, but paused when something came back to his mind. His sharp eyes caught three duffle bags strewn about the ground floor, making a total of six with the three upstairs. Jake turned back to Barrett. “Mr. Barrett, how many campers are there this year?”
“Oh, six,” Barrett answered, as though it had slipped his mind. “Yes, a sixth boy was dropped off unexpectedly this morning, a kid named Logan Taylor. He’s about your and Rae’s age. I wonder where he’s gotten to,” Barrett murmured thoughtfully as he looked around. “Ah, well. I wouldn’t worry about him. The boy’s been hunting with his father since he hit thirteen; I’m sure he can handle himself.”
Barrett turned and left, oblivious to Jake’s slack-jawed stare that followed him from the barn. Jake wished the man had stayed so he could ask more. He just had to meet this Logan guy.
By the time night had fallen, Jake was so preoccupied with food and fire-starting and keeping the youngest campers from running off that he’d all but forgotten about that mysterious sixth camper. He laughed along with the others at a joke Megan had made, fighting the marshmallow sticking to his teeth. The five of them sat around a huge bonfire making s’mores and exchanging stories from the school year. Firelight danced on their laughing faces as the stars began to come out overhead and they waited for the fireworks to start.
The spray of colored sparks was the first thing to appear, followed seconds later by the thunder-like report, and Jake turned to look at the sky as the first firework fizzled out. He watched the next few, an insuppressible grin on his face as the vibrant sparks blossomed against the inky backdrop and then faded away. After a few minutes Jake glanced at Rae sitting beside him, enjoying the childlike awe on her face, and something caught his eye.
Another figure was standing outside of the circle, a little ways off. The flashes of light threw into contrast sharp masculine features set in a surprisingly neutral expression. Jake watched as the stranger’s face was bathed in colored light and shadow, feeling somewhat self-conscious for his immature wonder of the fireworks when this man, who looked no older than Jake himself but whose poise demanded the title of man, was so unfazed by them. The man turned his head, and Jake went still as their eyes met. He suddenly felt very exposed; it reminded him of a dream he’d once had of going to school naked and being relieved when nobody noticed, only to have the vice principal show up and clearly see what no one else had.
Then the man turned away, his expression as impassive as before. Jake continued to watch him for a moment before slowly turning back to the fireworks. That had to be the elusive Logan, he was sure.
Later that night, when the fireworks ended and Jake ushered the younger campers off to bed, he was oddly not surprised that the man who had been standing by them had disappeared. He was somewhat surprised, however, when there was no one waiting for them in the loft. As tired “goodnight”s fluttered around the room and bedside lamps were switched off, Jake waited for the telltale creak of the ladder as someone climbed it, hoping to see this Logan in a regular light, and perhaps talk with him before they both fell asleep. Try as he might, though, Jake found himself nodding off before Logan returned. Just as he was slipping into sleep he thought he heard the ladder creaking, but then he was lost to dreams.
When Jake woke at the crack of dawn the next morning, the other four campers were still in their beds, snoring softly. The sixth bed, however, was neatly made, and its occupant was nowhere in sight. With a groan Jake levered himself from bed and stretched his arms above his head. A few beds down, Rae rolled over, moaning softly, and Jake watched for a moment to see if she would wake up. When she settled back in bed and made no other signs of moving, he padded across the wooden floor to the ladder and went down to the ground floor.
It wasn’t until Jake was at the bottom of the ladder that he noticed someone was sitting at the long table at one end of the room. One hand still resting on the ladder, Jake watched the other person as they ate. It was the man from last night, though without the sharp shadows of the previous night his features appeared boyish enough that he no longer commanded the title. Jake could see now that he had close-cropped hair that curled slightly in the places where it had grown out, mostly a light brown but sun-bleached to near blonde at the top of his head. He wore blue jeans and a brown T-shirt, though Jake couldn’t make out the faded image on the front. The teen paused in eating and looked up, his eyes locking with Jake’s, and Jake saw that they were a green-brown color. Slowly the other teen bowed his head and went back to his food, and Jake let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
Jake went over to the table and stood near the other boy, his hands coming to rest on the back of a chair. “I’m Jake,” he introduced himself awkwardly. “And I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.”
“Logan,” the other boy greeted in return as he stood up from the table, his plate empty. “Yeah, this is my first time here.”
“I heard,” Jake began, but paused when Logan turned away from him and started carrying his plate towards the kitchen. Jake followed. “I heard you’ve gone hunting with your dad.”
Logan nodded as he dropped the plate into the sink and turned the water on. “Since my thirteenth birthday.” His lips quirked in a sort of smile, but Jake knew instinctively that there was nothing happy in it. “Y’know, some kids get a new dirt bike or game system or something. I got to help my dad get rid of a poltergeist.”
“That’s so cool,” Jake said in awe. Logan just shrugged and put the cleaned and dried dishes away. He started towards the door and Jake followed. “You’ve been on a lot of hunts?”
“I guess I have,” Logan murmured as he stepped out into the early morning sun.
“So what’re you doing here?” Jake asked, overcome with curiosity for this boy. He wanted to know all about this young man his own age who had been hunting since he was thirteen. “I mean, don’t you already know everything they teach here?”
“Possibly.” Logan shrugged. “Hunters are always finding new and better ways to kill things.”
“So you’re here to learn new things?”
Logan stopped walking and stared across the field before them, his face blank. Jake followed his gaze but saw nothing. He looked back to Logan expectantly. Now that the other boy was standing, Jake saw that Logan had maybe an inch and ten pounds on him, and his body was all lean muscle. Jake’s eyes caught on a flash of metal, and they widened in surprise when he saw that it was a revolver tucked into the other boy’s jeans pocket.
“I’m here,” Logan said, his voice surprising Jake from his thoughts. “That’s all you need to know.” With that he turned and walked away, leaving Jake staring after him. A bell rang back within the barn and Jake shook himself from his thoughts and hurried inside to get his breakfast from Kaylo before the other campers ate it all.
Jake spent the rest of the day watching Logan as he went through the activities of the camp. He was an amazing shot, not only with the revolver he carried but also with a shotgun, a rifle, and even a crossbow. He could deconstruct and clean a gun in record time, but his every movement was efficient, and upon inspection the gun proved to be completely spotless. He could pack salt cartridges and pick locks faster than anyone Jake had seen, and draw Devil’s Traps from memory. Jake was in awe of him.
That evening when they were sitting around the bonfire once more, Logan again apart from the others, Jake went over to the other teen. Logan didn’t look up when he approached, nor did her say anything when Jake sat next to him.
“You’re really amazing,” Jake said softly. “I’ve never seen anyone as good as you.”
Logan shrugged. “When your life is always in danger, your skills get sharper faster.”
“I guess so. I’ve been training here for years, but I’m not nearly as good.” Jake looked over at him almost shyly. “What’s it like?” he asked, with barely contained eagerness. “Hunting? What does it feel like when you’re actually fighting against something like that? When you kill it?”
“You’ve never been?”
“No.” Jake shook his head. “I’ve always wanted to, though. I’m hoping my dad will take me after camp ends.” Jake’s voice became more and more excited as he spoke of his plans. “We’ll spend all of August driving around finding things to kill, saving people. In September I’m gonna buy a car and start hunting on my own, just like my dad. I’m not gonna go back to my mom’s house and go to college.” Jake stopped talking and sighed heavily. When he spoke again his words came more slowly. “All my life I’ve spent the school year with my mom; she’s a teacher, a civilian. I lived just like a normal kid most of the year. It was so incredibly boring, and all I wanted was to go with my dad on his hunting trips. But,” Jake laughed softly and turned his attention back to Logan, “I guess you don’t know what it feels like, being stuck in a civilian life.”
Logan stared into the fire, a serious expression on his face. “No,” he said softly. “I don’t.”
“So tell me,” Jake pressed. “What’s it like to travel around and hunt things? You’re so lucky! I can’t wait until I can do that!”
Logan snorted derisively and Jake pulled back from him in surprise. For the first time, Logan turned to look directly at Jake. “You’re going to be a hunter?” he asked, his voice dripping with contempt. “You? You’re just some stupid kid playing a make-believe game. You don’t know what it’s like to really hunt; you don’t know anything. You’re just a stupid, naïve, inexperienced brat with no idea what the real world is like. Grow up.” With that he stood up from the bench and walked away, not looking back.
Jake stared off after him, stunned. Slowly his shock turned to anger and he got up from the bench and paced a few steps from the fire pit, fuming. Who was this guy to insult him? So maybe he was almost eighteen and had never been on a hunt, while Logan had been hunting since thirteen. That didn’t give the guy the right to act so superior! That didn’t make Jake stupid or naïve! That didn’t make him a kid playing at being a hunter! He was a serious hunter, going through training in order to be prepared for what was out there. He could handle himself! He could! All he needed was an opportunity to prove it.
*** Previous Chapter *** Master Post *** Next Chapter ***