Warnings: kidnapping, threats of violence, threats of death, gun, gunshot
Whumpee sat down on the riverbank, watching the water flow lazily by. It had been a while since they had come to the riverside and think. It was peaceful and quiet here. They needed to sit and think. So much had happened in such a short time. They just needed some time to process.
Their phone buzzed in their pocket. Whumpee pulled it out. Caretaker.
As much as they wanted to speak with Caretaker, to explain themself, they needed more time to think. More time to process and gather their thoughts. So they could explain everything.
"Put that down," a voice that had Whumpee's heart seizing in their chest. Whumpee heard the sound of a revolver being cocked. "I won't ask a second time."
Whumpee tossed their phone out of reach. "You don't have to do this," they began. They could talk Whumper out of this. They had to.
"You're right. I don't. But I want to." Whumper stepped in close to Whumpee, pressing the gun to the back of Whumpee's head.
"Where are you taking me?" Whumpee tried and failed to keep the fear out of their voice.
"Where no one will find you." And Whumper lifted the gun and fired it next to Whumpee's ear.
Thanks again to my always whumperful crew. @sparrowsage @whumpcereal @quietly-by-myself and @oddsconvert for the fantastic beta job on today's entry.
Warnings: Human's as prey, Human's being hunted, death of a minor character, vacation gone wrong.
I swear I'm not copying The Most Dangerous Game, but, like... look at the prompt list, it write's itself.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. It was supposed to be a vacation. Darren was amazed at how quickly circumstances could change, his world flipped upside down in a heartbeat. Less than 48 hours ago he’d set sail for his first ever deep sea fishing trip with his buddy Barrett. They were celebrating Barrett’s 23rd birthday.
Where was Barrett? He hadn’t seen him in hours. Had it been more than a day?
They had landed on what was supposed to be an uninhabited island for some shore time and swimming. They’d been there mere minutes when the captain of their sailing boat took an arrow to the neck. Who the hell uses a bow and arrow? Darren and Barret ran for the jungle not knowing where to find safety.
“What the fuck was that?” Barrett cried as they crouched among a thicket of tropical ferns. Barrett kept trying to wipe the captain’s blood from his face. His position relative to the captain meant he’s been covered in the sticky spurts. The red blood was at odds with Barrett’s pale complexion.
Darren clamped his bronze colored hand over Barrett’s mouth as their stalker wandered past them.
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but we’re getting off this island,” Darren whispered in Barrett’s ear. “We just have to elude him long enough for someone to figure out where we are. Now be quiet and stay low. Let’s find somewhere to hide.”
“This is his Island,” Barrett hissed, panic suffusing every word. “Surely he knows every hiding place.” Fear and terror had replaced all thoughts about the birthday fishing trip.
“Don’t think like that. We just gotta stay one step ahead. Now let’s get moving.” Darren grabbed Barrett’s t-shirt and shoved him along. Barrett liked to fish. He liked things calm and quiet. This was not that.
They stayed together as long as they could, but they were being hunted. They’d heard him. Footsteps trudging and squelching in the mud, bowstring string stretching with a grgrgrgrrrr. He’d called to them.
“Come out and I won’t kill you.”
Yeah, right. After what happened to the captain, no fucking way!
Eventually they’d had to split up. Strength in numbers did not work in this situation and if one of them got caught, it might give the other a chance to figure out a way to get help or get off the island. It was not a good option, but they didn’t have any good options.
Several hours after they’d split up, Darren heard the scream he knew was Barrett. He slapped his palm over his mouth to muffle his own scream. Darren didn’t know if his childhood best friend was dead or alive. He didn’t know why Barret screamed. He just knew that now, he was hiding on an island, all alone, with a mad man on his tail, stalking him relentlessly.
Hours had passed since that scream. Darren had found a cavern that he could shelter in for the night. He didn’t dare light a fire, and he curled up against the wall in the deepest shadows he could find.
Darren was a hunter. He’d won awards. The man hunting him was good, masterful even. Darren didn’t think he would ever find out what it felt like to be the prey instead of the predator. He didn’t like it. Humans weren’t supposed to be at the bottom of the food chain.
TIn the morning, just after waking, the hair on the back of his neck prickled and there was an unexplainable shift in the atmosphere. Darren whirled around and came face to face with the tip of an arrow on a string mere millimeters from his face.
He froze, his entire body quivering with fight or flight instincts at war within him. His eyes slowly moved from the shaft of the arrow to the bow itself, then slowly to the broad chest, up to a burly neck and then up further to a terrifying wide grin and wild sea-green eyes alight with malice.
“Hello. You really shouldn’t have come here.” The hunter’s voice was softer than Darren expected, but no less deadly.
“We… we didn’t know,” Darren stumbled over his own words, trembling hands raising up surrender style, “It was just a pit stop. Our captain-”
“They always blame the captain. And they may be right. It’s why I always take out the captain first. But you have a choice. I can shoot you now, right through the eye, you’ll be dead before you hit the ground, or I can take you back to my place, give you a meal, clean you up and then you play the games I want you to play the way I want you to play them. What’ll it be?”
Darren swallowed, this couldn’t be happening. “Wh-where’s Barrett?”
“Barrett?” The hunter cocked his head as if trying out the name on his tongue. “Oh, the little one, the screamer. He chose to come back with me. He’s all snug in his little cage right now, had to gag him to shut him up. Damn, that one is a whiner.”
Darren swallowed again. “Wh-what sort of g-games?”
“Oh, all sorts of fun ones. Even more fun since there’s two of you.”
“You’re going to hunt us, aren’t you?”
“Yes. But that won’t be for a bit if you choose to come with me. I have all sorts of other activities that I’m sure you will not enjoy. I like to play with my toys, break them in a bit before I finish with them. But who knows, you might win and get a chance at making it off this island. I couldn’t say, but it’s possible.”
Hope, dangled out in front of him like a fucking carrot. It wasn’t fair. Something about the way that Barrett had screamed told Darren he should choose death, but he couldn’t. He might live. The captain never had a shot, but Darren and Barrett could, right? He knew it was a trap. Short of a miracle, they didn’t have a chance in hell at getting off this island. But the thought of survival gave him the will to keep fighting. It was cruel. Darren could see it in the hunter’s eyes, but he couldn’t force his own brain into not believing there was a chance. As long as I’m still breathing, right?
The hunter’s smile grew impossibly wider. “I can see you’ve made your choice, so let’s get on with it. Kneel and put your hands behind your back.”
To his ever loving shame, Darren knelt and did as he was told.
Tags: Tagging List: @i-can-even-burn-salad @peachy-panic @deluxewhump @arwenadreamer @whumpcereal @melancholy-in-the-morning @dont-touch-my-soup @whumpsday @keeper-of-all-the-random-things @whump-for-all-and-all-for-whump @oddsconvert @melennui @susiequaz12 @morning-star-whump @crystalquartzwhump @whump-and-other-things @mylifeisonthebookshelf @reflected-pain@hold-him-down@quietshae@sparrowsage@quietly-by-myself@castielamigos-whump-side-blog@darlingwhump@hold-him-down@quietshae@no-terms-and-conditions-apply @there-will-always-be-blood @sowhumpful (I hope I’m not forgetting anyone - please let me know if I am and I’ll fix it. I’m still getting used to this)
[Bow and Arrow | Stalking | Cavern]
(tw: character death, murder, bow and arrow, stalking)
[Merry Whump of May Masterpost]
Caretaker stepped carefully forward, arrow drawn but pointed at the floor. Cautious.
They kept their steps quiet, rocks crunching as silently as possible under their feet - barely enough to echo a whisper through the dark cavern as they followed the sound of their target.
Light and shadow flickered across the walls, stronger the closer they got.
The arrow peeked around the corner, finding Whumper crouching by a small fire, hands held near the base to warm.
Technically, they could leave Whumper alone.
They were on the run, Caretaker didn’t need to hurt them. That’s what Caretaker would want. When Whumpee gave them the chance at a fresh start, they took it.
Whumper took it, too.
Do unto others as you would bla bla bla…
The arrow sliced through the air just as easily with or without the ‘golden rule’ ringing in their ears.
“Quick, it went this way!” Prince Arthur hissed, leading the way into the cave.
Merlin furrowed his brow, panting, and shifted his pack further up on his shoulder. He stopped at the threshold of the cave entrance and looked up at the rocky ceiling and darkness within. Arthur was rapidly disappearing, his quiver of arrows on his back the last thing to vanish.
Something curdled in Merlin’s gut. They should not be going into this cave.
Besides, why would a startled deer run into a cave for safety?
A moment later, Merlin ducked into the cool dim shadows of the rock. He followed Arthur as best as he could, stumbling over loose stones.
“Torch!” Arthur whispered from somewhere up ahead. “Now, Merlin!”
Merlin swung the bag off his shoulder and grabbed one of the torches, fumbling with his flint.
When he raised the lit torch, hissing with fire, Arthur sighed. The Prince turned back.
“Finally.”
“Sorry.” Merlin grumbled.
Arthur continued into the cave.
“Do you-” Merlin started, but Arthur shushed him.
Merlin lowered his voice to a whisper. “Do you really think the deer ran in here?”
“Where else would it go?”
They had lost sight of the doe several times in the chase. Merlin speculated that it was probably anywhere in the forest but here.
“I suppose.” He sighed, following the Prince.
As they walked, Merlin noticed something dark on the cave walls. He paused. Then moved over to it and raised the torch. The cave wall was covered in paintings. Very old paintings. In colors of dark brown, black, and reddish clay. And it looked like they were all paintings of the same thing.
Merlin swung the torch around. The entire cave was covered in paintings of bears.
Very large bears.
“Uhh, Arthur?” Merlin took a few steps back, back towards the entrance of the cave. “Arthur, I think we should go.”
Arthur turned back to Merlin, face illuminated in the torchlight. “Really, Merlin? It’s just a cave!”
The torchlight also illuminated a pair of yellow reflective eyes in the darkness behind Arthur. They blinked once.
“Arthur, run!” Merlin cried, and ran towards him.
Arthur faced the eyes and a low growl echoed around them, so loud that it bounced and seemed to come from all sides at once. Arthur raised his bow and nocked arrow, letting it fly towards the beast in the darkness.
An earsplitting roar shook the cave.
They ran together. Stumbling and falling towards the distant daylight. The torch went out. Darkness fell suddenly. Merlin lost track of Arthur. The beast’s snorting and rumbling growls coming from all sides at once.
He was blind.
Merlin fell to the ground. His head bounced off a rock. Something wet and hot trickled down the side of his face.
He peered into the darkness, using his gift to part the gloom for his eyes.
He saw Arthur on the ground.
He saw a massive bear over him.
Merlin scrambled over. He jumped between the Prince and the bear.
He had to stop it. So they could escape.
Merlin extended a hand to the cave ceiling and reached with magic. Reached, and twisted, and tore a rock from the cave.
A fiery pain erupted into his back. Merlin screamed.
He could not breathe.
Did a falling rock hit him?
He did not stop and pulled the rock from the ceiling so that it fell between them and the bear. A small barrier, but enough to give them a chance to outrun the beast.
“Come on!” Arthur was still blind in the dark so Merlin grabbed him by the collar and pulled him towards the daylight. Towards the entrance. They ran and ran.
The full light of the outside hit them and they were surrounded by the green forest again, a cacophony of colors. And they kept running.
Merlin fell behind. Every breath was an agony. He saw Arthur disappear over a small hill. He was gone. Oh well.
Merlin felt his knees hit the mossy ground. He was dizzy. And he could not breathe.
Oh well.
The next thing he knew, his cheek was pressed against damp, earthy-smelling moss. Someone was calling his name. Merlin cracked his eyes open and the daylight hurt. His head throbbed. His back, around his left shoulder-blade, burned and raged. Every breath an effort.
He was turned onto his side, the movement jostling the wound in his back. Merlin cried out, wheezing.
He looked up.
His head was in Arthur’s lap. Prince Arthur’s eyes were wide and he was pale.
“I shot you.”
“What?” Merlin rasped.
“There’s an arrow in your back, Merlin. I shot you.”
“Oh.” Merlin closed his eyes.
So that’s why it hurt so much.
“Wake up!”
Arthur’s voice hurts too. But Merlin opens his eyes.
Arthur’s face is closer. “I’m taking you back right now. But not if you’re going to die on the way. I’m not going to the trouble of carrying a corpse all the way back, alright?” Arthur’s voice trembles and there are tears in his eyes.
Merlin nodded a little. “I would carry your body back, you idiot.”
“Yes, well.” Arthur wiped his eyes. “Do unto others as you would, you know, blah blah. Right?”
“I wouldn’t shoot anyone in the back either.” Merlin whispered.
Arthur hiccuped out a laugh. “Would you be willing to tell everyone you shot yourself in the back?”
@themerrywhumpofmay: bow and arrow
@mediwhumpmay 5: no response
(Snippet from Hidden Killer)
Fandom: Transformers
Rating: M
Warning: murder
Austin works on finding his next target, William Lawrence—the judge who agreed to send him to the asylum.
"This will be easy," he says while reading the judge goes to a country club that does a sport called archery golf. No torture or causing fear, but I'll be causing panic if others are with him."
Austin first needs to get a good idea of the layout of the country club. Finding ways to sneak in, good places to hide, and hit his target. This is going to take a while. Add the challenge of not blowing his cover.
Austin's research takes two weeks. He's annoyed at how long this took but wants to wait to blow his cover. He can get what he needs and plan how to execute his kill.
William Lawrence and five other people enjoy a game of archery golf. A small crowd watches the game from a safe distance.
Austin lets them have fun.
Ten minutes into the game, disaster strikes.
No one sees the arrow until William goes down. One female screams and tries to rush to the man, and she breaks free from the hold two other men have on her and rushes to her husband.
"William, wake up!" She cries, "Will!"
The man is unresponsive.
"Don't try to remove it," a man tells the frantic woman.
Everyone at the scene worries about what the arrow hit. Hoping the amount of blood doesn't indicate how severe the injury is.
Austin smiles, hearing William is dead.
"The arrow stabbed his heart," the paramedic tells the police, "dead before he landed on the ground."
Austin leaves the area with the bow, knowing the police will look for clues as to who did the murder. Wondering who his next victim should be.
Day Five - "Do unto others as you would bla bla bla..."
|Bow and Arrow|Stalking|Cavern|
cw: blood, arrow wound
A sharp searing pain tore into her shoulder and she cried, collapsing to the floor. Blood oozed out from where the arrow had pierced like a bolt of lightning.
A man approached and stood over her. She looked at him pleadingly, but his face made no expression as he lifted his leg.
His foot came down hard on her shoulder and she cried out. White shocks dashed through her arm as the arrow twisted further in.
She grabbed at his leg desperately.
"I saved you," she panted. "I-I saved your life."
He looked up into the distance and stroked his chin. Then a smile broke out across his face.
"I believe-" He grabbed the arrow, and her eyes widened. With a hard pull, he ripped the arrow from her shoulder and she screamed, her whole body going numb as her wound flared with the scorching pain of a thousand suns.
