A Hunter Karma – Chapter 3: Obeah Fruit and Fox Minds
Author's Note: I'll keep calling him Jimmy until he receives his name in this life. Please understand. Thank you.
Something licked his face.
Warm. Rough. Relentless.
Jimmy groaned, lips curling like sour tamarind.
"Lawd Jesus, mi deh hell? Dis Satan tongue?"
Another lick dragged across his cheek, slow and deliberate. It stopped right at the tip of his nose.
He cracked one swollen eye open—
and stared straight into a pair of glowing amber eyes, slitted and sharp.
"…Yuh lick mi?! What kinda weird jungle affection dis now?"
The fox sat beside him like she ruled the jungle, tail curled beneath her, head high, watching him like he was a walking breakfast patty. She looked better—still crusted in dried blood, but calm. Her leg? No longer stiff. She stood light on her paws.
Jimmy groaned and rolled to his side. Every joint snapped like dry bamboo under foot.
"Mi still alive. Again. Dat alone deserve a standing ovation. But mi leg mash up same way."
He sat up, body protesting.
"Mi tail feel like bruk stick. Mi ribs feel like jerked pork skin. An mi face? Probably look like spoiled mango."
He looked sideways at the fox. "And mi waking up next to the same gyal fox weh try murder mi last night. Mi life full a comedy."
She tilted her head.
Silent.
But something… felt off.
Jimmy rubbed his snout. "Animals nuh talk," he muttered. Then paused. Narrowed his gaze.
"…Unless… yuh cursed too. Yuh used to be human, fox gyal?"
Still nothing.
But the air around her shimmered strange. Like heat without flame.
She stood. Limped to the edge of the clearing. Looked back.
Jimmy frowned.
"…Yuh want mi follow yuh?"
She huffed softly—half snort, half laugh—and padded into the forest.
He hesitated. Checked his wounds. Still sore, still leaking… but moving was possible.
"Fine. But if yuh set mi up fi ambush, mi a haunt yuh bloodline, hear dat?"
He limped after her, legs dragging like bricks tied to bones. Tongue dry. Heart racing. But the fox moved with purpose. Not fast. But focused. Like she knew something.
They walked through twisted trees, past bones white as chalk, claw-slashed bark, rotting scents soaked into the earth. The deeper they went, the heavier the air.
Then—
They entered a clearing.
Jimmy froze.
Bones everywhere. Shattered skulls, snapped ribs, rusted armor, weapons broken and buried. Human. Beast. Some things unrecognizable.
And in the middle—
A tree.
Not normal. No roots should move like that. No bark should shimmer like trapped lightning. And from one low-hanging branch—
Three glowing red-orange fruits, pulsing like heartbeats.
Jimmy's stomach twisted like a snake curling in fire.
"…Yuh bring mi here fi eat?" he whispered. "Is… is it safe?"
The fox stepped forward. Bit one fruit. It popped free with a hiss. She rolled it toward him.
He blinked.
"Mi 'bout to eat haunted fruit from a death tree. Mi definitely mad now."
But the hunger… it overruled caution.
He sniffed the fruit.
Then bit.
BOOM.
Flavors lit up his senses like fireworks in a hurricane.
Sweet. Hot. Spicy. Bitter. Like mango, citrus, fire, blood, rum, and thunder.
His heart pounded. His vision shimmered.
Pain flared… then vanished.
Claws glowed red. Fur shimmered. Ears sharpened.
Something inside him pulsed. Changed.
"What… what happen to mi?" he whispered.
The fox watched.
Then took a fruit of her own. Bit. Swallowed.
And glowed.
Her breath steadied. Her body relaxed. Her eyes sharpened.
They locked eyes.
No more predator and prey.
Survivors.
Allies.
Jimmy dropped beneath the tree. "Mi still nuh trust yuh, but mi respect yuh."
She lay beside him.
The jungle whispered in wind and distant roars, but the tree glowed warm and calm.
And for the first time since this nightmare began—
Jimmy felt peace.
Time passed.
Jimmy lay there, staring at the tree's glowing roots, thoughts turning like wheels in mud.
Who really send mi here? God? Satan? ar probably The Obeah man from back in St. Mary?
He sighed. Mi jus' want fi go home…
Then—
A voice.
In his head.
Soft. Feminine. Clear as a whisper inside his soul.
"Are you okay now?"
Jimmy sprang up like a madman.
"BLOODCLAAT!"
He spun, tail puffed, claws out.
"God?! Mi sorry mi call yuh Satan! Please, mi a beg! Turn mi back human! Mi nah guh hunt again, not even roach!"
No reply.
He dropped to his knees, shouting at the sky.
"Mi DEAD once! That nuh enough?! Mi almost drown! Mi get bite! Mi almost get eaten! And STILL yuh quiet?!"
His fury boiled.
"SUCK YUH MADDA, SATAN! MI A GUH FIND YUH! MI A GUH BOX YUH RIGHT IN YUH HORNS, YUH PUSSYOLE!"
He stomped around the tree, roaring into the sky.
"YUH HEAR MI?! YUH MINIONS ALMOST KILL MI! MI A HONEY BADGER, NOT NO DEMON! YUH JOKE TOO MUCH, SATAN!"
The fox watched calmly. Her eyes narrowed slightly.
But inside Jimmy's head—
"You are loud."
Jimmy froze.
He turned.
Stared at the fox.
"…a what di rassclaat—fox gyal?! How yuh talkin' inna mi head?! The Obiya Fruit?!"
He backed up, waving his claws in crosses.
"THE BLOOD OF JESUS 'GAINST YUH! Yuh try tie mi wid obeah fruit?! Dem obeah fruit heal mi?!"
The fox blinked.
"So… the fruit was good, yes?"
Jimmy blinked. "So yuh is di obeah priest then?! Tie mi wid magic healing fruit?!"
She tilted her head again.
She couldn't understand his words, but she could read his thoughts.
All of them.
The fear. The confusion. The rage. The guilt.
She whispered into his mind again.
"You're not like any beast I've met. You have no demon blood. No divine spark. But your thoughts… they are loud. Too clear. Too… human."
Jimmy stiffened.
His heart skipped. His breath hitched.
His mind screamed:
Don't say it. Don't think it.
But it was too late.
She already knew.
"You were human… in another world."
A pause.
"And now… you are a honey badger."
Her voice softened.
"What is… a honey badger?"