Hunted || Wesari

Chapter Sixteen: Shared

He awoke to sunlight shining on his face.

Wes shielded his eyes with his arm, groaning in annoyment. He sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and got out of bed. He got dressed, and went downstairs.

The kitchen was deserted, as was the living room. Wes searched the house, but Mari was nowhere to be seen. He started panicking. Mari had probably run off, so she could come back with Ian and a hundred other people. He shouldn't have trusted her.

He heard the door open, and let out a sigh of relief. Mari was standing in the doorway, a bundle of fish in her hands. Her eyes lit up when she saw him.

"Did ya miss me?" She asked jokingly, nudging him with her shoulder as she walked past him.

"No," Wes said, defending himself. Mari laughed.

He followed her into the kitchen, where she was throwing the fish into the fridge. "How long have you been up for?"

"Two hours?" Mari shrugged. "Possibly three?"

"What?" Wes asked. "The sun's barely risen!"

"I'm a morning person," Mari stated.

Wes rolled his eyes and opened the cupboard, grabbing a can of soup. Mari slapped his arm.

"What the hell?" He asked.

"Save the canned foods for winter," She scolded him. "Eat something from the fridge."

"You made soup yesterday!"

"That was yesterday. Today's today."

Wes sighed. "You're not my mother, Mari. I'll eat the damned soup if I want to."

Faster than he could blink, Mari pressed her arm against his neck, pushing him into the wall. She was applying just enough pressure to keep him pinned, but not enough to stop him from breathing.

"No, you won't," She grinned.

Wes didn't reply, grabbing her arm and pushing her off of him. He couldn't help but feel weak; if she had tried, she could've strangled him, right there and them. He knew that. And it was terrifying.

He put the can of soup back and grabbed a peach from the fridge, sat down, and started to eat. Mari gave him a smile, before grabbing the dish bucket, and starting to load it with dishes from the sink. It seemed like she had already figured out how things worked around here, though Wes didn't know how.

She left the room, leaving him alone. He heard the door open and close. He leaned back in his chair, sinking his teeth into the fruit.

He didn't like this. He didn't like this... arrangement they had, if you could even call it that. She had shown up, killed Courtney and Olivia, and was now running the place like she'd been here from the get-go. He didn't like it one bit.

• • •

Mari had been here for a week.

They'd pretty much settled into a routine. She'd wake up three hours before him, and do whatever she felt like needed to be done. Wes would do whatever he wanted. The only thing they did together was eating meals, while having pointless conversations.

That was what they were doing right now. Wes poked at the cooked fish in front of him, as Mari cut her's up. They'd been having fish rather often, paired with fruits. Mari argued that they should eat everything that could rot before it became unedible, and Wes agreed with her. It didn't make the situation any better, however.

He watched Mari eat. She had her hair done up in a braid, draped over her shoulder. The light of the sunset shined on her, bringing out the purple in her hair.

"How did you know how to find me?" Wes asked, causing Mari to stop eating.

"I was a bounty hunter," She replied. "For the LAPD."

"A what?" Wes asked.

"A bounty hunter," She replied. "You know, someone who tracked down people who were out on bail and didn't show up on their court date. You're far from the first person I've had to track through a forest. I also hunted in my spare time."

"I thought you were a ballerina?" He asked.

"I was," She replied. "When I was younger. I stopped when I was fifteen, mainly because I wanted to get into more physical sports."

"Like?" Wes asked.

"Roller derby, mainly," She replied. "And a little bit of woman's rugby. Then I went to collage, and pretty much gave everything up."

"And studied law, I assume?" Wes asked.

Mari nodded. "Enough about me. What were you?"

"I wanted to be a History Professor," Wes replied. "But then the war started, and I joined the army."

"I knew I recognized you from somewhere!" Mari said excitedly.

"What?" Wes asked.

"I joined the army too!" Mari replied. "You were Maddog Wes, weren't you?"

That was news to Wes. He was surprised that Mari hadn't caught his attention while he was there, with her physical appearance. He and David had used to talk about the female soldiers; he was surprised neither of them had brought her up. Of course, he supposed it was a possibility that they did, and he just didn't remember. He and David had always been attracted to strong women, and they had come in abundant supply at their training facility.

Wes smiled at the old nickname. He had got it from his skill in hand-to-hand combat. "Yeah, I was."

She smiled. "Yeah. You were a sight to behold."

Wes laughed at that. "Was I?"

Mari chuckled. "You have no idea. We all used to talk about you in the barracks; oh, did you see Maddog Wes today? So hot! Omg, girl, I know. I wish he'd wrap those hands around my neck."

"What?" Wes asked, astonished that anyone had said that.

"Yeah, Boze was weird like that," Mari replied, smiling. "That girl had the weirdest kinks; I swear I couldn't even get into it. Did none of you talk about hot girls?"

"Well, of course we did," Wes replied. "We're only human."

"Did I ever make the cut?" She asked playfully.

"Probably," Wes replied. "Just look at you!"

Mari laughed, and Wes' face lit up as he realized what he'd just said.

"You're not so hard on the eyes yourself, Wesley," She said lowly, which sent shivers up Wes' spine. He didn't quite know how the conversation had gotten to this point, but he wanted to bring it to a stop.

"Haha, yeah," Wes scratched the back of his neck. Mari laughed at his obvious embarrassment, before finishing off her fish. She put her plate in the sink.

"I'll see you tomorrow," She told him, before exiting the room. "Goodnight."

"Yeah, you too," Wes muttered, his mind reeling. What had just happened? Had he seriously just told Mari she was attractive, straight to her face? And had she really returned the compliment?

He thought about it as he ate, quickly finishing his fish, before practically running up to his room. He quickly undressed and climbed into his bed.

Mari was a murderer. He couldn't forget that. She's done terrible, terrible things. Even if they had gone to the same boot camp, or shared a mutual attraction for one another. She was a horrible person, and he hated her.

Right?