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We knew long before it happened that the end was coming. Like how the air before a thunderstorm tastes of ozone. Life just felt poised on the brink and nobody could put a finger on why. Then, the disappearances started. A handful here and there at first: transients, homeless, runaways. Then suddenly your neighbor down the street was frantically looking for their spouse, or their children, or they were simply gone, too. It took weeks for anyone to realize it was all connected, and months for the first of those to vanish to return. Grateful families welcomed their wayward members back into the fold, happy to ignore claims of no memory as simply some new hysteria or disease passing through. Lord knows we've had enough of those.

Three weeks after the Wayward returned, the Huntsman arrived. Nobody saw him, of course. But his presence invaded your mind and spoke to you from within:

"Those among you who have been touched by my will shall be my Hounds. Flee, prey, for I shall show no mercy."

It's been six weeks since the Grand Hunt started, and six weeks since I last slept easy. Sure, there's strength in numbers, but unless you know everyone in your group, you can't be sure if one of his Hounds is hiding in your midst, waiting for their turn on watch to let the Huntsman into your camp. There are rarely any survivors from those deceptions. It was far safer in my mind to just strike out on my own and hope that I can outlast whatever sick game he was playing. That's how I found myself far from home in the deep woods up north.

It had been at least two weeks since I last saw another person, Hound or otherwise. Nature, however, continued on undisturbed by the spectacle of brutality being carried out globally. It was late autumn, nearly winter, and the crisp air was alive with the sounds of birds calling to their mates and children, squirrels building nests, and the occasional deer tramping through my little camp. If I hadn't been on the run for my life, it'd actually be quite idyllic. As it were, I did feel some semblance of peace here among the ancient pines and I allowed myself a moment of quiet thought as I chopped through firewood to get ready for dinner.

That was when the noises of the forest seemed to fade away slowly, each animal quieting one by one. My skin crawled and adrenaline poured into my veins as I could hear the vague sound of voices and feet crushing the dried leaves of the woods. They spoke in hushed tones, but I'd been alone long enough that even the murmur of their voices was alien enough to recognize human speech. I grabbed my rifle, which I never left far from me, and immediately made for one of my hiding spots.

It sounded like two people, one male, one female. I slid into the blind I had dug into the soft earth at the base of a toppled pine and waited patiently for my intruders to reveal themselves. Time crawled by slowly as I made every effort to be as quiet as possible, my heartbeat so loud I swear it echoed off the walls of my blind. After an eternity of waiting, two people came into view. A pair of young deer, a teenage buck and his older companion, a doe of probably about 20 or so. They looked frightened and malnourished and they both spoke in hushed whispers as their eyes darted about the forest. Were they followed? Did they narrowly escape a Hound? I decided to stay hidden longer and find out what I could.

I crawled out of my hide and moved further into the forest, quietly trailing them as the travelled closer to my camp. Soon, there would be no way to hide the signs of habitation and they would know someone else is here. But, for now, I could try and get my measure of these two and, if necessary, remove a problem. A few minutes passed with the silent brush of hooves across dry leaves and eventually, they found my camp. They stopped just at the edge of the clearing, apparently sizing up what they were seeing and trying to decide if they should risk it. As they came to a stop, I slid into another of my hides that I used to keep watch. The young buck dropped down and grabbed at something, then stood and chucked it at my lean-to. A stick bounced off the olive drab canvas with a dull thump and I smiled to myself at the deer. He was at least brave to risk alerting a Hound, I had to give him that. The doe, however, remained alert behind them, her ears perked. I could just barely make out her face through the tangle of branches, her soft brown eyes suddenly widening in shock. I shifted in my hide and looked for the source of her fear.

There, just about a dozen yards deeper into the woods, stood a large figure adorned in dirty rags wrapped around its torso and face. Gore streaked its forearms and hungry yellow eyes glinted from deep in the shadowy folds of its covering. It was probably a large bovine before the Huntsman's Mark. Now, it was just a musclebound killing machine and it had spotted prey. I sighed internally. I had two choices as I saw it. The first option was to let this monster kill the two deer and hope it decided to not hang around, assuming that the camp was theirs. Second was to kill the Hound and commit to finding a new hideaway. It was really not a question, but I had spent so long on the run, this place had started to feel like home.

I cycled the bolt on the aged hunting rifle and checked that a round was in the chamber. Satisfied that I was as prepared as ever, I raised my rifle to my shoulder and centered the crosshairs between the two golden, hateful orbs. I took in a slow breath and held it for a space of only a handful of heartbeats. Just as my finger tightened on the trigger, the beast bellowed and I flinched, my shot jerking wide and tearing a path down the side of the Hound's skull instead, ripping free some of the rag mask it wore. The monster's face was a macabre mash of bull and scar tissue, clearly having fought prey up close and come out the winner. The golden orbs turned to my hide, the supernatural senses of the hound easily locating me. It bellowed again, charging towards me, rapidly closing the distance as I efficiently cycled the bolt again, dropping another round into the chamber. The bolt slammed home and I sighted again, pulling the trigger. This shot rang true and the Hound's forward momentum dropped its broad head into the soft earth and dug a short trench, a single hole in the skull steaming in the cool air.

I waited several seconds to ensure the great beast of a Hound was truly down before slowly pulling myself out of my hide and revealing myself to the two deer. The young buck seemed somewhat surprised to see someone of my stature effectively crawl out of a hole in the ground, but the doe had a look of iron resolve on her face, placing herself in front and drawing a small hunting knife.

"You're welcome," I said in a voice that was rough with disuse. The doe perked an eyebrow and I realized I was not understood. I cleared my throat and came several steps closer, my nearly seven feet of height allowing me to look down on her. "I said, 'You're welcome.' For killing the Hound. That probably would have turned you both into paste."

The doe cast a glance towards the massive corpse of the bull-hound then back to me. "How long were you following us?" She asked.

I smiled, "Ever since you scared off the local wildlife and let me know someone was coming. Poor move, that, by the way. Any Hound you hoped to not find here would've been able to find you without any difficulty by the sound you weren't causing."

The buck pushed forwards a little, "Well, you could've said something. We were looking for other survivors, after all."

The doe pushed him back, never dropping her eyes from mine, "Who are you?"

I slung the rifle over my shoulder and stepped closer again, the distance between myself and the doe now only a few feet. "I'm Benji. This is my camp. Thanks to you two, now I've got to pack up and leave." I turned from her and moved towards my lean-to and made to duck inside.

"Why?" Asked the buck.

I turned and looked at him in disbelief, "Because if there was one Hound, there's bound to be more. And who are you, kid?"

The doe slid the knife back into a holster on her hip and spoke, "I'm Anna, this is my brother Seth. We're from out west. We heard about this National Park and thought it'd be safe. I guess we were wrong."

"You were, and you cost me what little bit of peace I've had in ages," I said, slipping under the flap of my shelter and going for my hiking bag. I opened the clasps and checked to make sure my supplies were in order.

"Do you have to leave?" The buck asked again. "You clearly know your shit and can take care of yourself.

"Five miles," I said.

"What?" The doe asked.

"That's how far those two rifle shots I made can travel on a clear day like today. Maybe less thanks to the thick trees. Let's call it two or three if we're lucky. That means if there's any Hounds that far from us, they'll know someone is here. That means I need to cover at least twice that distance before nightfall," I said, hefting my bag onto my shoulder.

"We're sorry," the buck said, dropping his gaze from mine.

"Don't be sorry, learn. It's the only way to survive out here," I said.

The doe looked up at me again, "Could we... could we come with you?"

I gazed at both of them evenly, weighing my options. I knew travelling as a group would both slow me down and create more risk. I also knew that two weeks of absolute isolation had left me starved for attention and interaction. The doe kept her gaze level and unconcerned, refusing to betray any feeling. The buck shuffled slightly, a grimace barely formed on his face.

I nodded and adjusted the straps on my bag. "Okay. You both have a few minutes to take a breather while I break camp. Then we're out of here as fast as we can go."

The two deer nodded, moving off a short distance and talking to each other in lowered voices. I pulled the tarp down from my lean-to and wrapped it around my sleeping bag, then attached the bundle to my backpack. I heaped handfulls of dirt onto my meager fire and made sure the embers went out, then turned to the pair. "Time to go. We've got to clear five miles as quickly as possible as quietly as possible. Follow my lead and we'll be ok."

They both squared their shoulders and fell into step behind me and we made our way out of the area. It took over two hours of tense, slow progress to get to what I thought was relative safety before I stopped our march and allowed us to take a break. I dropped with a grunt onto a fallen log and took a drink from my canteen.

Anna helped her brother unsling his load and they both did the same with their own supplies. She turned to me and cocked her head, "So how is it you're such a badass out here? I wouldn't have expected a horse as tall as a house to be so good."

I smiled at her and capped my canteen. "Would you believe that it mostly comes from books?"

She shook her head with a chuckle, "No, but if you tell me that's the case, I'm going to have to believe it."

I leaned forward on my makeshift bench, "Before the Hunt, I was fresh out of the military working as a night watchman for an office building. In the military, I was a cook. So between those two skillsets I can cook a mean hamburger and keep an eye on a building nobody wanted to break into. I did read a ton of books about wilderness survival though. Mostly because I had fantasies of striking out on my own and living off the land." I dropped my gaze and looked at my hooves, "Turns out reality wasn't as fun as I thought it'd be."

Anna stepped a little closer and rested a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, at least you survived this long. You also saved us."

Seth shrugged and leaned against a tree. "Whatever. What's next? Where are we headed?"

I thought for a minute, "Well, we should be out of any immediate danger, but we'll still have to be alert. I know if we head farther north into the mountains the terrain should get harder and it'll be harder to follow us."

I stood up and shouldered my pack, "If we get started now, we should be able to find a good spot to camp well away from my old area for the night at least."

Anna and Seth grabbed their things and followed. Several hours later, the sun had long since dipped behind the looming mountains and night had started to set in heavily on our little party of survivors. The only thing of note to happen since we had set off was that we found the shredded remains of another survivor's camp, although it had clearly been abandoned for at least a week if not more. Seth was helping me gather firewood while Anna surprised me with a quick study of how to build a proper shelter, improving on my admittedly amateurish lean-to with something that resembled a squat shed made of branches and brush with the tarp layered in for water proofing.

My tall frame required me to stoop in all but the tallest of shelters, so I didn't notice much of a difference in height with the new one, but there was definitely more room and, more importantly, warmth. We started a small fire in the center of our makeshift hut and settled in to eat our dinner of foraged berries and a few eggs Seth had found in a birds nest that had fallen during our hunt for wood. With our stomachs somewhat more full, I headed out of the hut to sit first watch. It was a relief to finally be able to sleep almost entirely through the night, so I was going to capitalize on the chance to sleep to sunrise.

Time on watch passed slowly and I settled into a comfortable rhythm of movement to keep myself alert through my turn. In what felt like only an hour, Anna appeared with a gentle tap on my shoulder. I smiled at her and received one in turn and slipped inside to sleep, gratefully pulling the sleeping bag up to the bottom of my chin and quickly falling asleep.

I awoke with a start to the sound of feet brushing past me, my brain kicking me into full alert before I realized that it was only Anna coming to wake Seth for his morning turn on watch. A quick whisper and the buck shuffled somewhat sleepily outside. I turned back over to go to sleep, but found a soft hand on my side and felt Anna lean over me. I rolled back to face her again and saw she had an odd look on her face. "I just wanted to thank you," she said. "For saving us."

"I already said you're welcome," I said, smiling at her. "It was just the decent thing to do."

"All the same," she whispered. "I, uh, wanted to pay you back."

I cocked an eyebrow, confused for a moment, until I noticed one of her hands move to the zipper of her jacket, slowly working it down. That got the other eyebrow to raise and I quickly stammered, "I don't want you to feel like you have to do anything like that."

Anna giggled slightly, the zipper continuing to descend and revealing the hint of cleavage thanks to her small bust, her soft chestnut-colored fur peeking over the collar of her t-shirt. "I don't feel like I have to, Benji. You're a pretty handsome guy for someone who has lived in a hole in the ground for a month." I chuckled and blushed under her appraising gaze.

She finished removing her jacket and dropped it on the ground next to her, "So, are you going to open that sleeping bag or am I just going to freeze on my own?" I paused for only a moment before undoing the zipper and allowing the lithe doe to slide in next to me. Her hands immediately found the buttons on my clothes and she quickly was working them open while I returned the favor for her. Articles of clothing were awkwardly shuffled out of the sleeping bag into a makeshift padding under me as she gently rolled to rest on top of me, her brown eyes taking on a golden hue in the dying firelight.

I felt her hand shift between us as she took my member in her hand, giving it an appreciative squeeze. I let out a soft sigh of pleasure as I stiffened rapidly in her warm hands, her other hand working in between her own legs. I could feel how excited she was by the sheer warmth radiating from her body and the slowly building moisture on my pelvis. She ducked her head under my chin and I slid my hands down to caress her slender yet curvy body, settling on her toned, runner's rump. I gave her a return squeeze and she half gasped, half giggled as I gently spread her cheeks.

In short order, I was hard enough to her satisfaction that she pressed the blunt tip of my shaft to her warm folds, my pre meeting her already slick lips to allow me to enter with relative ease. She bit her lip and closed her eyes as she pressed her hips down towards mine and worked each inch of my cock into her agonizingly slowly. It took every ounce of my will not to force her down the rest right there, my heaving sack pent up with nearly-forgotten lust already clenching slightly from just penetration. After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, she finally hilted me as her tunnel gripped me with crushing need. She rolled her hips slightly, adjusting to my girth as she laid down onto my chest.

"You have no idea how much I needed this," she whispered into my neck. I wrapped my arms around her and gave a slight forward roll of my own pelvis, eliciting a slight shiver from her.

"The feeling is mutual," I said. Anna pushed herself back up, the sleeping bag falling away slightly allowing the dim light of our campfire to cast sharp contrast to her small, perky nipples and give her bust deep, harsh shadows. I leaned forward and took one of the protruding nubs between my teeth and gently bit down. The doe arched her back slightly and I felt her depths squeeze even harder somehow. She rolled her hips and slowly pushed back up off me, the parts of my shaft exiting her now painfully cool compared to the heavenly heat of her body.

I was only left wanting for a moment before she descended again, slightly faster this time as she grew used to my girth. With a barely-contained moan, she began to ride me with urgent need, our hips clapping together as she worked up and down my shaft, my hands exploring every inch of her body as she did. We worked up a steady rhythm and in short order, the hut was hotter than when we had started as the heat of our coupling had both of us sweating and panting.

Anna climaxed first, her tunnel clamping down on one heavy downstroke and her body going rigid, small shudders travelling her spine as she wrung every last ounce of pleasure she could out of my dick. We paused for a moment as her legs trembled under her and threatened to give out, so I rolled her gently onto her side, our natural lubricant allowing my shaft to rotate inside her with delightful results. I faced her away from me and hooked an arm under her leg, granting myself better leverage as I began to thrust, shaking her smaller frame with the weight of my lust.

She climaxed once more and my own pleasure spiked massively, but I held out, wanting to thoroughly pleasure this wonderful doe before I ended it for the night. I humped hard into her, her gasps and moans now loud enough for her brother to hear for sure, but neither of us cared. Her slick tunnel squeezed and released as I pumped into her with greedy urgency.

"Anna, I'm close," I panted into the nape of her neck.

"Let me feel it, Benji," was her reply.

I leaned over her now, my hands circling her hips as I thumped her into the padding of our discarded clothing. Her fingers curled urgently, grabbing uselessly at the fabric of my sleeping bag before I buried myself to the hilt, my large balls pulsing against her as I began to throb deep inside her. My seed poured into her and I could feel her orgasm for a third time. I pressed as deep as I could as my pent-up lust sought out every inch of her to coat. I gently rolled us back onto our sides, my dick throbbing happily inside her as we both came down from climax. I pulled her to my chest as I felt her breathing even out as the effort of our coupling sapped the last of her energy. I decided to join her in sleep and gently moved to close the bag around us before nestling in and drifting off myself, the rhythmic rise and fall of Anna's body a welcome metronome to lose my thoughts to. I finally slipped under with a smile.

I woke up to the smell of pinewood on an open fire and the sound of birds calling in the trees. Anna's body was still pressed up against me, but something felt different. I groggily lifted my head and realized that I was no longer in my sleeping bag, but now rested on a large, rustic four-poster bed with curtains drawn and the soft light of dawn entering through the window of a wall of rough-hewn logs. Trying not to wake the doe with me, I still felt my pulse raise as I took in my unfamiliar surroundings and realized I was both not dreaming and not where I had fallen asleep. I slowly drew myself up, quietly slipped from bed and noticed that my clothes had also disappeared to be replaced with a simple terrycloth robe of rich, emerald green, almost the same color as my eyes. With nothing better to wear, I slipped the robe on and opened the door to the bedroom and peeked outside, hoping to figure out where I was.

I apparently had been taken to a log cabin out of some sort of luxury catalogue, with comfortable modern furnishings decorating a spacious living room. In one corner stood a kitchen with brushed-aluminum furnishings and granite counter tops. I looked around in bewilderment and headed for what was apparently the front door. Pulling it open, I was let out onto a porch in the midst of a foggy forest under the morning sunrise, the mist around me glowing with an ethereal light. I had no idea where I was, and more importantly who brought me here. I heard footsteps in the mist and tensed slightly until I saw Seth step out of the fog carrying firewood. He looked up at me evenly, as if he was completely unsurprised to find himself somewhere completely new when he woke up every day.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked. Seth just shook his head and brushed past me, dropping the firewood in a cast iron holder before disappearing down a hallway. I noticed Anna was now up, standing in the doorway completely nude. I was confused, as I could have sworn that door was sized for me and I didn't even have to duck, but she filled it out in its entirety. I also could have sworn her curves were more pronounced and her bust larger, but that could just be the light working in her favor again. She motioned for me to follow her as she went down the same hallway as her brother, soft taps of her hooved feet the only sound.

I followed, having no better option right now, and opened the door at the end of the hallway I saw her disappear into. I found myself in a spacious study, easily as big as the rest of the cabin combined, and there in the center, seated on a red leather armchair was Anna. I scanned the roomed, finding that the walls were adorned with what had to be hunting trophies of animals both familiar and foreign. Some were even grotesque and barely recognizable as animals if it weren't for the proximity of the other mounts.

"Anna, what is this? Where are we?" I asked. Anna smirked at me, crossing a shapely leg over the other and snapping her fingers. Seth appeared out of the corner of my eye brandishing a tray with two wine glasses. She took one for herself and then Seth walked over and offered one two me, his expression completely neutral.

"Benji, it's time I tell you the truth. Although, you're a sharp boy. You've probably already figured out some of it," she said, sipping the rich red as I held mine at a small distance, unsure of what to do with it. It clicked then where this place was familiar from. It was a hunting lodge I had seen once as a child, my father taking me to visit a rich friend in the mountains. The only difference was the replacement of the trophies with ones I could not recognize.

"You're the Hunstman," I said, my blood running cold. Anna smiled and I was surprised to find it still friendly.

"Correct! I'm so glad you're sharp enough for that. But as for the details, let me let you into the fun," she purred. She shifted her weight again and my eyes were drawn involuntarily to her breasts. I quickly snapped my eyes back to hers but my attention was noticed. "I am the Hunstman, but I'm not a monster. Think of me more as a conservationist." I cocked a confused eyebrow and idly swirled the wine.

"When a species of animal exhausts its territory, it must decrease in number or face extinction. In your more modern era, you allow sport hunters to cull the numbers for the good of the whole species," she said, spreading her arms out in a presenting gesture. "I do the same, but for the more intelligent species. Your world is not the first. It will not be the last. Those that survive my hunt will be those most worthy to inherit the world that remains, I promise you that."

I felt sick at her words but couldn't find myself able to voice my protest. I must've betrayed something in my face, because she pouted slightly. "Come now, Benji. I promise, I'm not a monster. I don't even enjoy my task, I'm just very good at it by now. I answer to someone far more powerful than me and I'd rather do it than have to worry about someone else doing it wrong." I shuddered at the implication.

"Now, I'm sure you're wondering why, despite all the stories of Hounds and the Hunstman, why we're even having this conversation."

I nodded nervously and nearly jumped as Seth materialized out of nowhere, literally, and took Anna's empty wine glass before fading into a swirl of mist again. "Oh, don't mind him. He's just moody that I'm the one in charge and not him. But that's for another time. Anyway, as to you. Honestly, I like you, Benji. You're not the most skilled of your kind nor are you the smartest, but you definitely have been fascinating to watch adapt and learn to survive my little hunt. I've grown attached if you will."

"You've been watching me?" I asked.

"Since the very start. This place is my realm and I can use it to observe wherever in the vast expanse of reality I want to. At the start of a Hunt, there's really nothing worth seeing. I do detest the actual bloodshed, but it's a necessary part of my work so I check in when I'm needed. But you," she cooed, leaning towards me again. "You were actually fun to watch! So, I knew that I had to meet you for myself. Learn the true measure of the man, if you will." She gestured at my wine glass. "You can drink that, dear, it's quite good, I promise."

I raised it and took an uncertain sip, then another when I found it to be rich and delightful and thinking that I could probably use the alcohol as well.

"Anyway, now that we've met and I like what I've seen," she said, licking her lips and dropping her eyes towards my groin. "I'd like to make a proposal."

"A proposal? Is this one of those offers that cannot be refused?" I asked incredulously.

"Oh, nothing so terrible. If you don't accept, you'll awake back in that forest in your camp and the Hunt will end as planned in another two weeks. You'll survive, of course. You're good at it," she said with a wink. "However, I do like you, Benji. I'd like to offer you to stay and join me on my Hunts. You have the talent for it, unlike what I have seen for a very long time." She stood and stepped lightly towards me. She slid a gentle hand across my chest and tugged lightly at the knotted robe belt. I closed my eyes and sighed, enjoying her touch and thinking deeply about the paths in front of me. She said nothing as I stared her down, her soft browns meeting my sharp greens.

After an age, I opened my mouth to speak.

I rolled over with a tired yawn as another day broke on the camp. It had been seven weeks since the Hunt started. I just hoped it would end soon.