Bullets didn't break them as they moved and the hunters didn't stop them but hunger did. Hunger was slower and crueler and it turned survivors into something far more dangerous.
The first sign was silence as they journeyed three days without food and no one talked anymore not because they didn't want to but because talking wasted energy and breathing felt heavier, their steps felt longer as time stretched by. You could literally see them dragging their footsteps with their eyes losing sharpness except for Jasper's, he took note of who was fading and hiding it and close to breaking as well because hunger didn't hit everyone equally as it fully exposed their differences including strength and control. The two survivors were the weakest link and as they moved, they were the ones struggling the most and as well breathing so unevenly. Their steps were very unstable too with their desperate and daunting eyes. One of them stumbled again and didn't get up immediately. Instantly, the group stopped reluctantly out of necessity, because if one stopped they were all slowed and slowing down got you killed.
"We can't keep this pace," one of them muttered.
"We can't stop either," Stan replied.
It was the bitter reality as cold and cruel as it was. Stacey watched Jasper because she already knew that it was the kind of moment that defined him in survival.
Do they keep everyone?
Or cut weight?
They all thought about that but no one dares to say it out loud and as they all waited for someone else to say it out loud first and finally Jasper breaked the silence.
"Water first," he said.
The group all looked at him listening with keen interest and no one dared question him. He was actually taking control without asking for their permission.
"There's a low ground ahead," he continued.
"Shade, Possible runoff."
"How do you know?" someone asked.
Jasper didn't hesitate.
"Because the terrain tells you."
And he moved without their trust but a need for direction and he had it at the moment. As they descended slowly in search for water, the rock formation narrowed with the air slightly cooler and the environment changing slightly. Jasper scanned everything, including vegetation signs and color changes and then he found it, down th slope was a shallow stream thin and weak but real. The group rushed forward and just then Jasper raised a hand instantly.
"Stop."
With a sharp commanding tone.
"What now?" And then Stan snapped.
Jasper crouched, studied the water including the edges and the ground and he saw tracks. His voice dropped.
"We're not the first here." He said
Immediately everyone froze, they all had their weapons ready and as they scanned the terrain hunger was forgotten for a moment. There were fresh tracks to confirm it, more like footprints of multiple hunters or worse. It was a choice to drink and risk being found or to move and weaken further.
One of the survivors dropped to his knees.
"I don't care," he said weakly.
"I need this."
And before anyone could stop them, they already reached for the water. Jasper moved fast, grabbed them and pulled them back
"Wait." He said.
The survivor struggled weakly.
"Let me go…"
"Or you die faster," Jasper snapped.
Just as Jasper tested the water, he moved along the edge watching and waiting and then he picked up a small object and tossed it into the stream after some seconds had passed nothing happened and then a sudden and sharp ripple was heard. Something moved beneath which didn't look safe and was quite disturbing.
"Contaminated," Jasper said quietly.
"Or worse it's trapped."
There was a sharp exhale and curse under their breath from some members of the group because hope was gone again.
"This is pointless," one of them said.
"We're wasting time!"
"We're dying anyway!"
Hunger did that first it stripped discipline and also exposed fear.
"Enough." Stacy said
But even she was feeling it.
Jasper didn't argue or shouted, He just said:
"Then leave."
After a moment of silence, the challenge landed hard because no one expected it and not also in that tone. They all knew the truth behind it that leaving meant death. From that moment the group stopped questioning him as much because they understood something that he wasn't afraid to survive without them. As they continued walking in a slower pace now they were more focused, the sun dropped lower as their energy drained faster, even the strong among them felt it.
Stacy quietly walked beside him.
"You've done this before."
Jasper didn't look at her.
"Yes." He said
"How long?"
After a moment he said
"Long enough to know what comes next."
And with it was a different kind of danger. They had to find a partial cover with collapsed structure which was barely defensible, still there was no fire to keep them warm or food to quench their hunger. As they settled in an uneasy manner taking their position and rotation set, no one rested fully because hunger doesn't sleep. One one the weaker one stared shaking and as Jasper approached him with fixed sharp eyes, he realized that he was dehydrated and as a result of that he was quite unstable.
"I can't… I can't do this…"
He said it over and over and no one could help him because they all felt it too but not as close as him. Stacy knelt beside them holding him, Jasper was still and watched him for a while calculating what comes next.
The survivors suddenly went still and their eyes snapped wide open and as they grabbed Stacy hard, they panicked.
"You're all going to die!" they screamed
"They are already here…"
Just behind them a metal sound interrupted everything. Jasper's eyes lifted slowly into the darkness and what he saw…confirmed the one thing worse than hunger that they were never alone.