Hunters or hunted

Gunnar sat there for a moment as he continued to watch the teacher. "Why the fuck not? What's the worst that can happen?" asked the man as his face split into a small smile. "You're a fucking idiot. I hope you know that." commented the man as he carefully positioned himself by the back door of the van, waiting for his friend to give the word for them to jump out.

"Oh just a buck shot through the chest. But you know, isn't there a guy who got shot and survived?" Jeff thought as he has always have a habit of learning random info from online.

Mr.Heartlock was lugging the luggage to his car showing strain. He opened the trunk and tried to lift the suitcase but realized it was heavier then he thought.
He placed the shotgun onto the top of the car, closest to Gunnar's side.
Now was probably the only chance they would get.

Jeff pushed the back door open just a little bit to help him.
With a loud creak and some other noise he was sure Gunnar wasn't happy coming from his van, he pushed the door open and jumped out.
Mr.Heartlock dropped the suitcase and it slid out of the trunk hitting the ground with a echoing thud.
Jeff didn't exactly know what to do but he didn't want the teacher to get back to the shot gun so he did what he thought first. Jumping straight at him Jeff wrapped his arms around the teachers waist and they both tripped over the case and crashing into the car, and they both fell to the ground.

As Jeff jumped at the teacher, Gunnar lunged for the shotgun. Feeling his hand hit the wood grip, his fingers tightened on the weapon as he pointed it at the two on the ground. "Alright, Heartlock. Real slow, let go of Jeff and stand. You're gonna tell us what's going on." said the man quietly. It had been a long time since he had used a weapon, though he remembered the mechanics behind it.

"Ow fuck- hey don't point it at me jackass!" Jeff quickly tried to untangle himself and push away, as the teacher didn't put up a fight to keep him down.

Jeff got up awkwardly and stood besides his friend. "Trigger discipline asshole." Jeff said even though he hadn't used guns that often before.

"Go ahead and shoot." Mr.Heartlock said as he stood himself up, brushing the dirt and rocks that had gotten into his suit. "It's just rock salt you idiots." He grumbled to the two students.

"I've got you." muttered Gunnar while Jeff stood next to him. Still pointing the weapon at Heartlock, the man nodded as he moved a finger to check the safety was off. "I have a feeling it would still hurt like hell." replied Gunnar. "Now tell us what the fuck that was in there. Now." spoke the man in a tone that gave away the fact his mind had started down the original track of finding out what was going on.

"You say that like I haven't been shot before." Mr.Heartlock muttered.

"What's going on, is something that you boys don't need to know." He glared at them.
"I'll keep this short and sweet. Forget everything that happened. That's it. If you want to be able to go home tonight, and not worry about having your throat slit and your loved ones killed, just forget it and ignore anything you hear otherwise."

There was silence as Jeff and Gunnar stared down the teacher.


".... Fuck that." Jeff broke the silence.

"Gotta agree with Jeff here. Fuck that." spoke Gunnar as he continued to point the weapon at the teacher. "You've dragged us into this and I don't feel like we can go back. Now tell us what the fuck is going on." demanded the man.

Gunnar wasn't freaked out so much anymore as he was pissed off that something like that had happened and the teacher wasn't giving them the common courtesy of giving them at least minor details.

"Are you fucking... Go back? I'm fucking trying to help your asses. You saw what that was. You really want to know huh?" Mr.Heartlock looked exasperated as he seemed to be giving up.

Jeff looked over at Gunnar quickly before going back to their teacher that looked like he was having a mental break down.

"You idiots it was a fucking demon. God damn it." Mr.Heartlock put his hand to his forehead as he massaged it as if he had a headache. "I have to fucking explain this again." He muttered.

"Maybe you should explain it the first time. Since we have such extensive knowledge of.... Wait. A what?" asked the man as he stared at the teacher in front of them. "Demon... You really expect us to believe that shit? You're fucking losing it, old man." stated Gunnar.

He wasn't above believing in ghosts and shit like that. But it was always something that he figured didn't exist since he had never seen one. If Heartlock was telling the truth, then he was definitely going to reevaluate his stance on the subject.

"Well let's look at the bullet points here." Mr. Heartlock held up his hand and started counting off fingers. "He had black eyes."
Jeff hadn't noticed his eyes. Then again, he tend to not look at people's eye colour.
"Slaughtered goats. Which by the way where the fuck did you get so- fucking besides the point." Mr.Heartlock just waved his hand
"He burned at holy water."
"That's what was in your flask?" Jeff butt into the man talking.
"Yes, because whiskey just burns people doesn't it?" He mock smiled.
"Not to mention of course, you both saw the demon as he flew out of the man he had possessed. He's dead by the way." Mr.Heartlock added.

Gunnar was attempting to take in everything Mr. Heartlock was saying, but it all seemed like something out of a horror movie. "You just expect us to believe that? I thought demons had horns and pointy tails." stated the man as he kept the shotgun leveled on the teacher.

"How do we know he wasn't just some freak with a vendetta against the school?" asked Gunnar as he tried to explain away the situation.

Jeff was easier to believe the fact then Gunnar. Mostly because he wanted it to be true.

"Black smoke? Holy water? Latin exorcism?" Mr.Heartlock gave Gunnar a baffled look.
"What are you not getting here?"

"Oh I don't know. The fact that you're telling us a fucking demon possessed a man and attempted to kill us for one." replied Gunnar harshly though he was starting to see that the teacher was telling some sort of truth to them. The sort of thing they had just seen didn't just happen for no reason. "Alright. You've got my attention. So did you kill the thing? Or just send it back to wherever it came from?"

Mr.Heartlock just rolled his eyes at the man.

Jeff was mostly silent during all of this. His eyes were just locked on the ground in front of the teacher as his mind was thinking.

"Yes. No. It's... complicated." Mr.Heartlock held up his hand. "You can't.. kill a demon. Well you can, but you can't. And exorcising it is... finicky. Sometimes the demon goes back to hell, but if for example, a stronger demon keeps it here it can stay."

"Look the point is." Mr.Heartlock grabbed the suit case off the ground and finally pulled it up and into the trunk where it visually sagged the back of the car down a bit. "I have to keep moving. And you two." Mr.Heartlock looked at the boys. His eyes were slightly angry but a hint of sadness was almost seen. As if he saw something in them. "You... need to forget ever hearing about this. And.. go to your family and tell them you love them. Because you're never safe." He sighed.

Jeff made a slight scoffing noise and rolled his eyes. He had gotten a little angry at the teachers words.

Gunnar was having difficulty wrapping his head around what he'd been told. All he knew is that no one could make that sort of story up on the fly like that. So Mr. Heartlock had to be telling the truth. Leaning over to Jeff as he scoffed, he whispered to the man. "What should we do? Let him go? Or try and get some more out of him?" asked the man uncertainly. He had doubts they would get anymore out of the man.

Jeff's face had lost it's normal shine and was now almost cold. "Fuck it. Just let him go. What good would it for him to tell us more anyway." His voice had gotten rather dark.

"He's right." Heartlock said as he closed the trunk. "Anything more and all I'd bring you is misery. It's how my job works."
His eyes fell on the gun that was in his students hands.
"Keep it. You'll know when to use it." He sighed.

His own gaze dropping to the shotgun that he had been white knuckling the entire time fell to his side in a loose grip. "Alright. We'll let you get out of here. Looks like that's what you're planning on doing anyway. C'mon Jeff." said the man as he put the shotgun underneath a blanket in the back of the van and shut the doors.

The sound of the vehicle starting up could be heard as he waited for Jeff to get into the vehicle.

Jeff silently agreed with his friend and backed up till he turned on his heels and walked to the van. His friend was faster then him and had already gotten inside and started the thing. Jeff looked over his shoulder at Heartlock as he got into his own car.

Jeff stepped inside the van and closed the door behind him. Sitting in the back of the van he let his arms rest on his knees as his mind began thinking about what Heartlock had said, and even more as his mind fantasized about what was true and what wasn't.

Glancing over at his friend, he saw the look on his face. It was that look that begged he be left alone until he could wrap his head around everything. Putting the van in gear, he started out of the school parking lot as he reached into the center for the HU cd Jeff had left there last time Gunnar had let him borrow the van and put it into the player. He didn't know the song, but he figured his friend would want something more his pace while he thought.

He wasn't voicing his thoughts, but he was pissed and becoming more so with each passing second. He was trying to wrap his head around the entire scenario and was trying to explain away the things he couldn't understand. One thing they all seemed to agree on was that thing was a demon.

"How you doing, brother?" asked the man as he noticed they were in front of Jeff's house.

Jeff felt the car bump and glide as it rode across the roads. He knew Gunnar had put on HU but his brain was too loud and it was mostly drowned out.

The car slowed and stopped, just in time for his brain to be quiet enough to actually hear his friend.
Jeff was scratching at the back of his hand and it was turning red.
"Won't be sleeping." He said back. It didn't quite answer his friends question but he wasn't quite sure how to answer it anyway.
Pulling at the latch he let the back door of the van open and he stepped out. "See ya mate." He said as he closed it behind him and walked towards the front door of his house.


He didn't bother checking for his key because he knew the door was probably unlocked. As the door knob turned and he pushed it open he was right.
A smell of cigarets hit his nose but by now he was so used to it he just didn't care.
"Where have you been?" A man asked. The man was sitting at a small round table that was not far from the front door, behind a counter with a toaster. It counted as a kitchen.
Jeff just wanted to go to his room. "Detention." He avoided any eye contact.
"It's 8 'o clock at night." The man said. In his hand was the source of the burning tabbaco.
"And I went out with friends after, what does it fucking matter?" Jeff's voice growled slightly.
"Watch your mouth." The man said angrily. "Be happy I cooked your fucking dinner."
"I'm not hungry." Jeff said quickly.
"Course you aren't. Do something nice and you'll just ignore it like always why don't you." The man got up and began walking towards Jeff. He wasn't as tall as the boy, but he was rather wide and muscly.
Jeff's hand was aching. He hadn't noticed it but he was digging his nails into the back of his hand.
The man walked past Jeff and opened the door he had just came in.
"Have the house clean when I get home from work." He said.
Out of no where Jeff received and strong smack on the arm. Not enough for a bruise but he felt the sting. "And no more getting fucking detentions. You get kicked out of this school I'm not fucking helping you." He said as he walked out the door, slamming it shut.

Jeff could feel blood trickling down his hand, where he had split open the back of his hand with his nails.
Tell your family you love them. Jeff remembered Heartlock's words.
There was a bang that echoed in the house as Jeff had punched the wall. "Fuck him. Fuck him fuck him fuck him." Dark muttering could be heard as Jeff made his way up the stairs to his room.

Gunnar waited for a moment to make sure his friend got inside alright. What seemed like a few seconds later, he saw Jeff's father exit the house not even looking in his direction. That was fine with the man as he couldn't stand his friend's father.

Feeling the phone vibrating before he heard the ring, he glanced down at the device before answering it. "Hey, beautiful. What's up?" asked the man as he heard Annabel's voice telling him to meet her at his house. She had a surprise for him. "A surprise? Oh fuck. I completely forgot. It's our anniversary isn't it?" asked Gunnar as he waited for her angry reply.

"It's your birthday dumbass. Remember?" replied Annabel's even tone. Gunnar physically smacked himself in the forehead as he drove home. "Alright. I'll be there in a minute.... Bel... I love you." said the man as Heartlock's words echoed in the back of his mind. He heard Annabel tell him the same before she hung up the phone.

Finally arriving home, he saw his mother wasn't home yet. His father's truck was there, but he had been in Afghanistan with the Ranger's for months and wasn't expected home for at least half a year. The lights were all off as well. Gunner found it a little odd as he walked into the house after seeing Annabel's car sitting on the road.

"Bel?" called the man as he shoved his car keys in his pocket and shut the front door.

"Upstairs!" The voice of Gunnar's girlfriend could be heard from the dark.

A sound of sheets rustling and the springs of a bed could be heard from Gunnar's room.

A chuckle left his throat, though it wasn't his normal chuckle. He was still upset and the thought of doing anything with Annabel was farthest from his mind. He wanted to talk to her and find out her thoughts on the matter. Make sure he wasn't going crazy. She was more than likely to understand his confusion and anger on the matter.

"I'm coming." called Gunnar as he made his way up the stairs toward his room. Pushing the door open, he flicked on the light. Or at least the light would of flicked on. Trying the switch a few more times, before mumbling something along the lines of "Fuck the light." and giving up. Carefully maneuvering past all the shit on his floor, he hit his bed with a slight thud.

"Might want to be careful there." Annabel laughed lightly besides Gunnar. She was sitting at the end of the bed. "You're a big guy. You wouldn't want to hurt the poor girl."

There was a scrapping noise and a spark started up as a lighter was struck. It was held up, illuminating Annabel's face, as she lit a cigaret.
"Neither would I, but I didn't really have a choice right?" A coy smile was illuminated on her lips from the flame.

Gunnar had rolled over on the bed so he was laying on his back as he looked at Annabel. The way she said what she had sounded off, but he wasn't about to question it. "Sorry, Bel. You wouldn't believe the day I just had." spoke the man as he caught up with the tail end of her last statement.

"Wait. What? Didn't have a choice about what? What are you talking about?" asked the man as he sat up and watched her light the cigarette. Something was off about her. She never smoked unless she had been drinking.