Chapter 1

My mind is blown. Not literally, but you understand, right? So, here I was walking towards the big tree that was in the forest of my backyard when, suddenly, there stands a guy in the middle of my path to said tree. This guy looked strangely familiar, not the: I – know – him kind of familiar, more like the I – know – him – from – a – noun type. Noun meaning the person, place, or thing, got it? So the guy was dressed even more strangely cause he looked like a half hunter, half military kind of look; he looked about 6'2", about 250 pounds, bulky linebacker build, and wearing a wooded snow camouflaged vest over what looked like a wool sweater (Kevlar?), a black ski mask, a splotched black and white pair of cargo jeans, a pair of black combat boots, a scoped rifle on his back, and a small black messenger bag that was strapped over his left shoulder. I was kind of gaping at him and was kind of embarrassed because of the clothes that I was wearing didn't match the weather of the forest that I was in. I was wearing solid green hoodie, a black hat with the lion's logo on the front, a tan vest over a tan coat, a pair of dark blue jeans, and some sneakers.

I noticed him first because I was looking forward where his back was facing me, but he was already turning around when I stopped and stared and of course, I wasn't quiet when walking towards my quiet place in the forest. Nearly all the animals know of me, because I am frequent to the tree and as long as I don't bother them they don't bother me, so generally, I can be as loud as I want. So, naturally, the guy had heard that I was approaching. To matters more inconvenient I had my hand on the bowie knife that I had just bought that day, and was ready if said guy was going to attack me for any reason. He didn't even move even when my hand went to the knife, or sometimes called blade, but his eyes did widen a fraction of an inch, but he simply stood there with his hands at his sides. After I was done staring at him I gathered my courage to question him suspiciously.

"Who are you?" I ask.

The guy, at first, just looks at me like I asked a really silly question, but after what seemed like five minutes replied with an amused answer, "A stranger."

"I …I meant what is your name?" I stuttered. Wow, never stuttered before, like never ever before, and no, I was not scared! As I reiterated the question I was slowly pulling the knife out of the sheathe, but stopped about half-way when the guy folded his arms across his chest in an aggravated kind of gesture that kind of felt like a "Really?" and a "Are you serious?" kind of expression that I was receiving from the body language. I felt myself gulp.

"Oh, was that what you were wanting. Why didn't you say so in the first place? I apologize, brat." He said quite airily. "My name is … … … none of your business" he said this and I swear I heard him smile, since he had a mask on, I couldn't officially see for certain.

I growled at the comment "brat", but I kept my tongue civil and cold. "Well, no matter, anyway, what are you doing here in my forest? This place is off – limits and you are trespassing."

He replied calmly that he was tracking a herd of deer and that the trail had ended here on this path, but as he had found the trail again is when I came upon him starting to leave for the hunt. He said that I was being rude, loud, and that I might have scared away his intended targets with all my loud noises. I growled softly at his reply, and I slightly relaxed my guard to tell him where he might find the herd that he was looking for, which he accepted reluctantly. As he was turning away, he stopped and looked back at me with a guarded expression on his face and said, "You know, I was debating whether or not I should simply kill you or let you live. Since I'm walking away, I guess that answers that question, but had you brought out that knife any further I would have had no choice but to kill you in self – defense of course." Then he left without me having any time to reply except a short huff that sounded more like "Pfft" than a huff. I waited until I could no longer see him before I slid the knife back into its holder and continued my walk to the tree. I now had some other reason to visit the tree besides relaxing, and that was to beat up the dummies that I made since I'm dirt poor. I had to practice my karate anyway especially if I wanted to rank up in belt stripe, but also because I needed to make sure my skills didn't get rusty.