Sex, Death, and the Hunt

Sex, Death, and the Hunt: The Tale of a Collage Student
K. A. Maples
RedAnubis336

Chapter 1

It was like any other morning, her small, crappy dorm was a drab sight to see. But it was all her's. Single. Plenty of room for research, and no worry of getting any humans caught up in the business, so to speak. Yuri opened the Venicen blinds a crack and unplugged her microwave so she could plug in her coffee maker. She took half a second to don her bathrobe and run down to the water fountain to fill the pot, then ran back and started the brew. Next came the TV turned in to MSNBC. Coffee was usually the only thing she made in her room. The rest she could get at the student union.

The halls were mostly empty when she went to get the water. The coffee maker quietly did it's duty, slowly making it's life giving brew. The TV clicked on, and the news began to chatter with all it's phoney smiles and carefully toned voices. The main subject seemed to be Iraq. She checked CNN, which was much the same. The only thing different was the faces. After a few minutes, she flipped through the various early national news shows on the network, before settling on The Fairly Odd Parents on Nick.

"Thats a silly name, call it the Timmy." The TV sounded as it was clicked onto the cartoons. There was a message on her machine, but seeing as how her grand mother hadn't yet called this week yet, it was probably her. Yuri snorted as she flicked a strand of long black hair out of her face. She could almost hear what Obaasan would say. She'd probably already lined up a date with another nice young man. Or was just bugging her about finding someone, settling down, and having children. Which would kind of put a damper on her recent knowledge. Kind of hard to fight the good fight with 40+ more pounds. She hadn't met any other Hunters yet either...

But frome ome of the horror stories she'd read on that list, she didn't think she *wanted* to.

A quick look at her clock told her that what she was going to do right now was go to class. She dressed quickly and grabbed her backpack and her winter coat, heading out the door and locking it. The coffee might actually be worthwhile when she got back. Aging. Today was a good year for coffee. The campus was bustling with talk the the such, she could pick up bits about 'fatal' and 'cure'.

Yuri headed straight for a little knot of students that she kfromfrom her Women's Lib. class, her backpack swinging over a lithe arm covered in her too large winter coat. Her friends were off doing other things as she made her way to class. The bulletin board had flyers for game clubs, baby sitters, and so on. The students looked up and smiled at her friendly like. "Heya Lily." "Hi!" "How are you ?"

"Not dead yet. What's the buzz?"

r tor today ? The local hospital is getting results with a new treatmet they've been testing on patients with AIDs or cancer, they are showing signs of improvement, and it *might* just be a cure! Wouldn't that be wonderful for those poor people?"

"If they can get it past those FDA government pigs before its too late to help most of them." Yuri said with a nod.

"We'll just have to wait and see, but if the results are good enough, they'll probably go right ahead from there. An AIDs or cancer vaccine, all across the nation, then the world, would be quite the proverbial feather in the country's cap."

"Or just another thing to hold over the heads of all the other nations of the world. It's just another scheme to make the One World Nation under Dubya."

"I don't think Dubya can spell one world nation." The group chuckled a little bit. "But you're right. It would be powerful leverage."

"If it's even legit. Could be another hoax, you know."

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see or something. I hope it's real though.... I think it's in this morning's paper."

"I'll pick one up after class. Speaking of which..." she held up her wrist and tapped her watch before heading off.

They waved to her. "Goodbye Lily, see you later." The group continued to talk amongst itself as she left.

Yuri he rig right for the Psyc department and slid into her seat just as the professor entered the room. The class went on as was normal, every day. The professor liked the sound of his own voice, but was intelligent. And he apparently knew it. Yuri scribbled down note in her notebook, all written in her own little secret code, to be deciphered later. Incase her notebook ever fell into the 'wrong hands', at least they'd never know what the hell it meant. Kept people out of her business.

If anyone bothered to look, they would find odd little symbols all over her notes, in no particular order. Just kind of sketched in, and utterly meaningless to anyone but her. Meaningly, unless someone went through elaborate methods to decipher it. But who'd want to do that ? Thankfully the class wasn't too long, and was dismissed. Wasn't anything terribly important and she'd gotten to think a lot.

She packed up her notebooks and headed down to the student union for breakfast. The food was normal, tasted bland, but it was warm and it was filling. It'd go good with the coffee she had brewing in her dorm. She watched people come and go while she ate. That was something she did a lot, when she wasn't up on the soapbox.

It was almost disturbing sometimes, watching people. Before it was easy enough, people going about, ignoring her.... But now, who knew who might not be there the next day ? Or who wasn't whom see seemed to be.. She laid her notebook on the table, a pencil in one hand, and watched. She was really waiting for some kind of sign, some indication that someone was not what they seemed.

Everyone looked so normal, laughing, chatting, making out occasionally. Even if she did see them.. What would she do ? Stalk the monster ? Confront it right there ? So many ways to do it... The people on the List also had many different views. And methods. It really depended on the situation. The dead ones.... those probably needed to be gotten rid of ASAP.

A newspaper was left resting on the table by her, and the lead story was, of course, what had been mentioned earlier. There was a picture, she noticed when she started reading over the article. And she noticed something that was in *no* way a good sign. Barely noticeable on the side of the building, around a corner, she could see a hunter sign. Squinting at it for a few moments brought about it's meaning. Corrupted.

Hells and damnation. And today was starting out so well, too. Another good day, shot to hell. Was just her luck. At least she knew another Hunter was in town. But was that really a good thing? Some of the others she'd read about were real nut jobs.

There would be only one way to find out anyways. She'd have to find whoever it was. Maybe they even had some friends that would help? First stop would be the research building to check out the symbol. Or maybe hae hardware store to get some spray paint. Both would likely good ideas. She could leave some symbols of her own here and there, and maybe find out what exactly *was* corrupted.

She finished her food without really tasting it and grabbed her backpack. It was going to be a long day. She might just make Buffy proud yet.