The Benevolence of the Force by Spiritofthesky4 (WILL RETURN)

Chapter 2: Nix

[One hour earlier, 2100 hours, Earth, April 7th, 2034]

The beam of my flashlight bounced off the glittering snow, illuminating the surrounding pine forest. Snow was falling fast. Not as fast as a blizzard, though. Yet.

I was hoping to get back to my cozy, well-heated cabin before the worst of the winter storm kicked in and it got hard to drive. The freshly-butchered mule deer carcass on my back certainly did not help my progress through the forest, nor did the freezing cold seeping through my winter jacket and the hard material of my prosthetic leg.

You'd think the extra layers around the stump would keep it warm, but evidently not, I thought. Curse you, whoever decided to make prostheses like this. I'm freezing my damn ass off.

I sighed, freezing air making my breath turn into steam. Out of all my times hunting, this had to win the award for the one that was simultaneously awful and great. On the one hand, I'm freezing. On the other hand, some freshly-grilled venison steaks and some hot cocoa could remedy that quickly. If I made it to the car before I turned into a block of ice.

A short bark caught my attention. Lula, my Tamaskan dog, stood at attention by my side.

"What is it, girl?" I said through chattering teeth. "We've already got a kill. Whatever it is, we can leave it."

The wolfish dog whined and tilted her head, looking up at me before turning her head back to the forest.

"If it's a bear, don't worry. We can scare it off no problem." That was mostly a joke. There were no more bears here anymore. Most of them had died out many years ago, along with most other predators, which is why most people hunted nowadays, otherwise the deer-- and other prey animal-- populations would grow too high, and they'd all starve.

Lula glanced once more at the forest before continuing her trek through the snow, apparently deciding whatever it was, it wasn't worth worrying about anymore. I leaned on my hunting rifle and peered through the trees once more, partially trying to figure out what she'd been worried about and partially taking a short rest. Lula looked back at me, this time with exasperation as if to say, c'mon. Now YOU'RE the slowpoke. I want my damn rib bone from the deer on your back.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm comin'. Y'know, you're grumpier than Alpha-17 sometimes," I grumbled.

Lula gave a woof in response.

"Yeah, you are. I still think that's what I should've named you, silly." I hadn't officially named Lula after Wrecker's stuffed tooka– it was just the name that came to mind when I first got her– but I'd certainly had the reference in my mind. I remembered watching The Bad Batch when I was younger and how Wrecker and his little stuffed toy were definitely one of the cutest parts of the show. The flow of Star Wars content had lessened over the years, but a lot of people were still huge fans, me included. At this point, the 57 years of content had practically become part of our culture and we weren't about to forget it.

Through the worsening snowfall, I spotted the light of my flashlight reflecting off the shiny hood of my truck.

"Finally," I muttered as I lifted the deer carcass into the back of the vehicle and secured my rifle alongside it. After letting Lula into the backseats of the truck, I hopped in the driver's side and let the heating system defrost my flesh. "That's the stuff."

I turned on the music player and "Top of the World" by the Score began to play and I nodded to the beat. I turned on the dirt trail that led back to my house from the edge of the property. The land was a couple hundred acres with a small field that grew thousands of flowers in spring and a river running through it, all of which was wonderful for hiking, biking, hunting, and fishing– the dream home for anyone who liked keeping in touch with nature like me. The only downside was the way it was a 30-minute drive to the grocery store, but it's a small price to pay for the peace and quiet from people the property offered.