Hunting Season

Revelations

Both Adira and God crouched behind a bush, watching a small family get together by the edge of a murky lake. The smell of grilled steak traveled through the air and into Adira's flared nostrils. She forgot she hadn't eaten or drank anything in a while and her stomach grumbled angrily.

In front of them was a wife, a husband, and two children. Even a dog accompanied the lovely group, but despite it being such a pleasant image Adira felt horrible.

"How could the husband do this...his family is so perfect. You have to have the wrong people."

"I never said it was the man. It's the woman. In fact, all my disciples are women."

Adira accidentally sneered in disgust, backing away from God as she looked him over, "Of course."

God didn't understand, but he noticed of hint of something in her voice, "What's with that look?"

"I've seen enough movies about crazy female cult people to know where this is headed. They probably run around naked and get used for s-sex or something." Adira felt awkward talking to a beast about personal bedroom things, but she had to remind herself he hopefully knew nothing of the sort.

"You watch too many 'movies'",God confessed in amusement, "My disciples are insane, but it's another type of insanity."

"What do you mean?"

God stood up, making himself visible to the family below them. Adira gasped and tried to yank him down but flinched when she made contact with his cold, sharp fingers. "You're going to get us into trouble! What if they see you?!"

Adira cursed under her breath as she resumed looking at the family. They were all distracted passing plates around for dinner, seemingly in their own world. It wasn't until the wife stopped and looked towards her direction that she knew they were fucked. Adira didn't know where to go. She crawled away towards a tree bark nearby and watched as the woman spoke a few words to her husband, smiling from ear to ear. She must have told him she would be back, for she heard a faint 'serve me a big plate too!' from the distance.

Adira's heart began to beat fast as the sound of footsteps got louder. Her eyes examined God from behind the edge of tree, and the woman who confronted him. She looked like your average housewife wrapped in a cute dog sweater, some jeans and a pair of pink sneakers. Her face seemed kind, but Adira knew appearances could be deceiving.

The wife bowed down in front of God, forehead on the floor as she closed her eyes as if in prayer. God did nothing, but glance down at his worshipper with little acknowledgement.

"Adira," he finally spoke up, "They can't ever seem to understand me. Come out and tell her why we are here."

The young woman was confused, but she cautiously stepped out as the wife lifted her gaze from the floor. God was right. Not one of his followers understood the words coming out of his mouth. To them it was just grunts and growls. He took a chance speaking to Adira, and to his luck she could comprehend him.

"Um...I-," Why was Adira so nervous all of a sudden? She gripped on tight to God's jacket and mustered up all the courage she had. She stepped in front of him and glared at the startled woman.

"I don't know what the hell is wrong with you people and I don't want to know what you do, but you better listen to me." She pulled out her phone and turned it on, showing the woman the picture of Mitch and his friends. "You took them. I want to know where and I want to know now."

The older lady seemed completely cut off guard by the sudden confrontation, and seemingly pleaded to God with her eyes. He merely stood behind Adira, giving no attempt to help.

"You don't understand," the worshipper finally responded, shaking her head as she glanced back at her family, "Everything we do we do for the betterment of the Earth. Nature is innocent to the sins of man. Surely you understand?"

Adira clenched her jaw, hand shaking as she shoved her phone further into the woman's face. "What did you do to him."

"We must give back what we take. We must sacrifice our own blood to appease for the blood of the animals and the trees."

"God...did they fucking k-..." Adira couldn't finish as she dropped her phone to the ground, clutching her necklace and accidentally tearing the chain off. She collapsed backward, and into God's arms. He noticed her face turning pale, and her doe eyes widened as if she was going through shock.

"Breathe," God calmly whispered, laying his companion to one side as he picked up her phone. It was small in his grasp, but he wasn't going to use it. Instead, he began to growl as he threw it at his disciples face. The latter seem to knew what was going on and buried their face in the ground again, whispering frantic pleas, "Forgive me, God. I cannot speak. It will ruin everything. Please forgive-."

She was shut up the second a loud thud echoed through the silent forest. Adira was breathing heavily, her foot throbbing as the forehead of the disciple burned bright red.

"You make me sick," the young woman hissed, raising her hand and balling it into a tight fist. She would have sent it crashing down had it not been for the broken necklace that now dangled between her fingers. She shook as she looked down at her hand, vision getting blurry as she realized what she had done.

"It's broken," Adira sobbed, peeling off God's jacket and throwing it back at him, "You win. kill me now. He's dead and so am I. Please fucking kill me."

God had no more use for his disciple, and he angrily waved her away as she returned to her family like nothing had happened. She would continue to rob people of their life along with the others, for him and their cause. As long as they didn't do anything directly against him he had no point in killing them.

"I can't do this anymore. I will kill myself if you don't," Adira threatened the monster, who grabbed her wrists and pulled her towards him.

"You would die for him. Why?"

Adira didn't want to answer. All she wanted was to evaporate from the world completely whether it was painful or not. Those monsters had killed her lover. There was no way she would allow herself to live life any longer. It just wasn't possible.

"Because I love him. I love him beyond anything this world could possibly give me. I love you, Mitch." Adira whispered as the pain in her heart was all her body and mind could feel.

"You left everything...to find him here? Would you really die for him?" Adira wanted to hit him over and over, but all she could do was weakly lay her palm over his chest in a failed attempt to push him away. Her face was dead, emotionless- until she felt it. A faint heartbeat that echoed in unison with her. It brought back memories of her resting against Mitch's chest- now those memories brought nothing but sorrow. She wished she was gone. Where was her gun when she needed it?

"This is all your fault." Adira whispered, angry tears sliding down her cheeks as she glared up at God. She shook her head, twisting her arms away from the monster. "I hate you," she spat venomously, glaring directly into death's red eyes- the eyes that once terrified her. She was no longer afraid of dying. In fact, she welcomed it.

God watched as the woman started to back away from him. He didn't know what to say as Adira turned away, seemingly determined to commit to whatever action she was going to take next.

"It's not safe," was all he could say as she disappeared from him sight. Contrary to before, he had no will to chase her down this time, despite it not sitting well for him. He would have dropped her then and there, but there was just nothing urging him to. 

"Adira?" God called out when realization set in. He looked around, as if hoping to catch sight of her.

She was gone.