Survival For The Fittest

The next day raises itself up for the team, the sunlight warming the tent and the past reminding them of the amazing food they ate, even Pandemonium, who didn't seem like the type to enjoy such human novelties, took some comfort in it; this entire day was free for them to do as they pleased.

Since this was going to be their last break, they might as well enjoy it before their grand finale. Hino today decided after getting up from the tent that he would go polish his hunting skills up a bit since he hasn't even tried hunting any animals at their stay in Shilo due to the access to food being as easy as him walking into the place.

K4, on the other hand, wants to just take in the environment and try making use of their time by trying to learn how to wood carve. She wasn't really sure how it's done, but knowing they had a knife and after talking with Pandemonium, it was her best course of action while she waits for Hino to return.

"I'm off to hunt!" Hino, with his bow and quiver, walks away from the campsite where K4 sits upon a wooden trunk with a piece of wood in her hand; the sharp knife was sharpened to make sure that the dullness of a blade could not interfere with her artwork.

The bushy, thick forest, filled with a wild amount of vegetation and trees, blocked a lot of good angle points Hino was trying to get. He walked around the forest, hoping for the sound of a bear or deer of sorts, with no avail. He tested his surroundings, looking at the huge, towering trees, gripping them to see if they were climbable for future use.

His path continues ragged with sharp bushes and slippery dirt, but the need to find some fresh food was a must for him today, as he can't disappoint K4. He walks for hours on end with nothing in sight and finally decides to head back towards the campsite.

'Hm, do I hear something?' He leans past a tree, taking out his ear, noticing similar sounds emitting from a deer and bear with rapid movement, like a chase almost.

He instantly rushes his way quietly towards the sounds in the distance of the forest, hoping that he could find some sort of food.

After a minute of walking towards the sound, he starts climbing the tree for a better view and angle upon the source of the sound. Using his past skills and newfound strength, he manages to go up around three metres off of the surface onto a sturdy branch that would provide him with a good footing place.

'There it is.' Looking onwards, he sees a bear devouring a deer, probably from before. It seems to be entangled in some sort of trap made by previous people; its fate was already sealed as it hung suspended slightly in the air, slowly allowing the bear to feast. The bear itself seemed to be a fully mature female with kids behind the deer, out of sight.

Hino takes his bow and takes out one of his arrows, slowly putting it into the head of the bow, and pulling back the string causes the air to tense with this suspense. He looks upon the bear, distracted by the mass feast, and aims exactly at its neck, where its weak spot would be. His knowledge from Ox was very helpful for hunting such common prey.

Arrow pierces the air, swooshing past the resistance that tries stopping it, with a swift motion hitting the bear slightly underneath the intended spot, causing it to growl out loud in pain and anger, its attention focusing onto the source of the damage as it stares at Hino sitting on top of the tree with his bow.

grrrr

The growl shivers Hino a bit as he prepares his next strike instantly.

'fallen off for sure, it seems' He remembers the past, where he used to hunt animals like it was nothing, but it seems those days are over, as he got used to the city life a bit too much.

The bear runs rapidly towards Hino's tree; the ground underneath shakes a bit due to the approaching 400-kilogram monster heading to its prey. The targets change in a mere moment Ashino is the one who will have to ensure his life now. He loads the arrow onto his bow.

Swooshing past into the air, the arrow hits the bear once more in its main body. It does little damage due to the fat of the muscle of the bear; it was like a tank taking the arrows with ease, leaving Hino with not many options.

Having reached the tree trunk, it starts trying to scale up; a barrage of arrows rains down upon the bear trying their best to immobilise it. The arrows hit some important vital spots, enough to keep it climbing for now but nothing serious. The bear starts to wait around for it to quickly regain strength to climb again.

After a minute or two, Hino didn't know; the bear seems to have recovered itself pretty well as it attempts in a fuming manner to scale the tree again. This time, however, it succeeds in reaching a height half of where Hino was. Hino looks around his clothing uniform hoping for some sort of weapon for this.

'A knife and gun.' He stares upon the gun, knowing it would be an easy kill, but the pride of a hunter prevented him. These were the moments where Ox would always tell him that it's your choice to either give up the way of hunting or continue it.

'Damn you, Ox!' He takes out the knife and jumps down onto the bear from the tree. He stabs the neck repeatedly, hoping for its movement to halt. The bear jumps around randomly and violently, trying to throw him off, but after various wounds, it plummets onto the ground.

Hino, getting off from its back, notices the children running towards him. With no choice, he takes out an arrow and lines up his shot. The bear children run towards him, but before the moment to shoot comes, they manage to turn direction in fear for their lives.

With a sigh of relief, he lowers his bow and looks down upon the body. He takes out the same knife, cutting open the bear and cutting out all the parts that he could be able to carry with him back; he makes sure not to contaminate the food by hitting the stomach, and he cuts out a lump of meat, fitting both of his hands and more.

'This will taste wonderful!' His ecstatic joy immediately starts causing him to rush back over to the campsite with the piece of meat in hand; the path backwards almost felt easier due to how much closer it was and his reward of eating this freshly hunted meat.

The sun was still setting, but there wasn't any sign of it diminishing anytime soon. Reaching back to the campsite, Hino looks at K4 cutting out wooden decorations; it seemed like the exact same piece from before he left.

"Welcome back!" K4 meets Hino and helps him carry the meat towards the campfire which K4 set up during her free time; the campfire starts to cook the meat roughly after they put a spear through it and take a seat.

Hino takes a glance at the wooden decoration. "What did you make during this time?"

"Just a cute little thing", K4 showcases her sculpture to Hino. It was almost like a bird; it had two straight wings and a beak, and the rounded belly with its two feet hitting the ground was impressive for a newcomer, but there were obvious faults within, like the details being lacklustre.

"It's pretty good; compared to your new skills, it seems mine have fallen off." Hino takes a look at the campfire as the meat cooks.

"You haven't hunted in months; don't kill yourself over it." K4 gives some comforting advice to Hino, who seems pretty disappointed with himself.

"It's just that we weren't really made for society that well; Ox was the closest that home felt like, and it feels rather daunting that I broke away from that, like losing a part of myself." His deep words cut a bit into K4, who gave herself up to pandemonium also.

"You came here with me; that's all that matters. You stayed true to yourself, so don't be gloomy over it."

"You're right." He gives a weak smile towards K4, who already seems to be preparing to sleep.

"I'm going early tonight, going upstream for better fish tomorrow." She walks off into the tent, closing it behind her, leaving the whole meat piece to Hino to consume. He doesn't reject it and starts checking it out, taking in the smell and eventually biting down.

'She doesn't even need to sleep, but whatever.' For the rest of the night, Hino enjoys his own silence and the atmosphere around him, staying true to himself and feeling a bit more motivated once more, knowing that he didn't betray Ox