Chapter 1

I honestly didn’t see it coming. I only felt a small metallic copper piercing through my forehead. It was sudden, quick, and confusing. When I lost control like a bird with broken wings and fell down on the frosty ground, I was horrified, and fear exploded in my veins.

How did I become so blind and careless? I was always such a meticulously cautious person who trusted no one. I used to be a very selective man whom I befriended with or invited into my home. Unless it was a very special person that I was attached to or even knew very closely, letting a stranger stay overnight had never happened, especially for a person of my profession. This time, well, this time somehow I was blindsided and misled big time. For that, of course, I paid a dear price with my own precious life.

On the day which became my last day of deer hunting, I met a terrified lady who was covered with mud, shrubs and hid in the cold jungle between the willow trees. She was scared and shivering to death. She looked beautiful and innocent under the circumstances, like a harmless little cub. The glow of her radiance made the wildflowers jealous in the forest.

I was done hunting for the day and packing to head back to my cabin. I almost shot the barely naked poor woman mistaking her with the other wild animals. When I knew she wasn’t maleficent, I lowered my hunting rifle. There was something different about her eyes. She seemed lost and needed my protection. She was petite and slender with green eyes, and about five-feet two, give or take, weighed one hundred-twenty pounds from my estimate of her appearance. She did not seem evil to put my life in danger. I was almost six feet tall and firmly packed at two-twenty-five. I thought, even if I were in danger, I would’ve taken care of myself pretty well.

When our eyes met, I figured she was in trouble, otherwise she couldn’t have ended up in this godforsaken jungle. There are two specific situations why anybody can ever end up here. Someone’s either must have managed and escaped from a dangerous human predator, or subjected to a premeditated murder, where discovering their remains would be near impossible, after being fed to the wild animals. Not that many people survive this jungle. However, my instinct just told me to help her. I didn’t want to scare her away. So, I made her feel safe and made her aware that I wasn’t going to harm her. When I got closer, I guess she already knew that I was safe to be around, she slowly stepped forward into the clearing.

“Help, please help me!” She exclaimed, shivering to her bones.

Her voice broke as she yelled for help. She was so frightened. I saw that she was badly beaten. I rushed towards her. Then I gave her my comfy winter jacket. I looked around to make sure that we weren’t being followed by anybody. I didn’t bombard her with any questions for the time being, because obviously, she was in real danger. I postponed my questions for later times and asked her to follow me. Then I hid her in my secret cave. By now, I had mastered the forest well and knew everything in the back of my head.

A few years ago, the forest became my sanctuary, a place where my new life started. I had to make it my sole mission in exploring and studying about it, for a man of my profession, you must know your surroundings instinctively. Your life depends on all of your senses. I learned the types of wild animals that lived here, how to live with or avoid them by any cost. That’s how during my many hunting seasons, I even found other treasures hidden deep in this forbidden jungle. I discovered precious treasures like gold and antiques, which worth a ton of money. Those locations were selectively marked with codes that nobody could ever decipher.

I reloaded my rifle and sat by the entrance to the hidden place. We stayed inside until the sunset. Once I confirmed that it was safer, we went to my cabin. Though they were too big for her, after taking a hot shower, she changed into a pair of night-clothes. While she was cleaning up, I made a hot chicken rice soup and beef stew with potatoes, served with a loaf of bread. I also roasted some meat I chopped of off the deer’s leg. We dined together. That was the first time I ever brought anyone in a long time to my cabin. Even though it was quite a strange thing to do, sharing meals and your hidden secrets with a complete stranger somehow feels good, because there is another soul breathing equally beside you, under the same roof, when the sun goes to sleep.

After dinner, I poured us some whiskey. She liked drinking whiskey and that even made me like her. In my line of work, I had met few fine women that enjoyed whiskey. We conversed. She knew so much about the outside world beyond the jungle. I told her about the treasures that I’d found. She didn’t seem that much interested with what was lost or found in the jungle, for she brushed off my discovery a few times. I didn’t give up pursuing and overloading her with unnecessary information about the forest life though. The good thing was she listened to me attentively, and only asked few questions. Especially, she asked me about the red dots I marked on the map. I told her that those were the locations of the treasures I found. She looked at them as if she was taking photographs mentally.

It passed midnight. She stated that she was exhausted and needed to rest. So, we said goodnight. She took the bed and I slept on the floor.

Early next morning, it began to snow for the first time in months. She went outside in the snow and danced like a child. Her beauty was more captivating than before, and she looked so happy. I smiled, admiring her and the scenery of nature. I saw how the warm coldness pierced through her soft bones and made her smile. She looked careless and didn’t want to hide how happy she looked. I saw how the snowflakes landed on her nose. All I wanted to do at that point was put my blanket arms around her and dance with her. But, I couldn’t move my body, for the last thing I felt was the coldness of the snow on my face and a taste of my blood in my mouth. I felt my body lying on the ground motionless. I saw the crispy white snowflake covered in red ink. I figured it was the thick blood coming out of my splattered skull. At that point, I thought they finally found me, or I wasn’t the only one who knew the locations the hidden treasures. It all happened on the hours I thought I was a lone wolf in that dangerous and vast forest, where I took my last breath. But, I was dearly mistaken.

Before I closed my eyes, I wanted to know if her mission was business or revenge. But the vibrant glow of her eyes from earlier turned dark and cold, which meant that the mission was personal. I must have taken someone she valued and loved very much. Anyway, in my line of work, you just can’t avoid casualties.

I wondered though, where the fuck did she get the gun from? When I found her, she was barely naked, did not even have an earring. I wanted to ask how and why, as she just stood there and stared at my cold body. Her eyes, however, gave me the answers to my questions. As she began to speak, it was no use, for everything just went blank and my body weighed like a feather.

I heavily sighed and let out the last air in my lungs, searching my memory bank for her identity.