Tracks of Life

Chapter 4

I opened my eyes to a canopy of trees, forgetting where I was. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and looking around. Bacon was snoring next to me, his head on my legs. I turned my head the other way and saw Stephen sleeping against a tree.

"Wow, it's great to know that we could've been snuck up on so easily," I said to myself, moving Bacon's head. He just snorted and went back to sleep. I stood up, stretching. I noticed that  my hat had fallen off. I snatched it up, stuffing my blonde hair back into it. Then, I went over and gently shook Stephen. He just fell over, slightly snoring. I sighed, shaking him some more. Stephen snorted, rolling over on the ground.

"Stephen!" I yelled, shaking him roughly. "Wake up!"

Stephen yelped and sat up, looking around. "What the. . . oh, it's you. I thought I was being attacked!"

"I don't think you would be able to wake up during an attack," I said bluntly.

Stephen shrugged, "So I'm a heavy sleeper. Is that a crime?"

"It is now! We need to take shifts sleeping! These are rough times. There are vagabonds in these woods that would clearly take advantage of two sleeping people and would rob us and hurt us! Learn something from this experience," I said, staring into his face.

"How do you know all of this?" he asked suspiciously.

"I used to live on a farm. Lots of people would come by, some not so nice," I said, turning away. "I'm going to find some food, if there is any. Stay here, okay?"

"Um, okay. . ." he answered.

I looked at Bacon, who was watching the two of us. "Bacon, watch Stephen and make sure he stays here."

Bacon snorted affirmatively and sat facing Stephen, watching him. Stephen glared at me. "You don't trust me enough to stay here, so you get your extremely wrong-named pig to watch over me! What the heck is that?!"

"I don't want to go find food for you, and then go have to find you. That would be quite irritating," I smiled, then turned and walked away. I heard Stephen mumble something behind me, but I ignored him. I moved aside some low hanging branches, ducking beneath them, searching the ground for edible mushrooms and the bushes for edible berries. I had finally found a bush and was stuffing my shirt full of berries when I heard rustling nearby. I dropped the berries and ducked inside the bush, remaining absolutley still. A few seconds later, a rabbit jumped out from a bush a few feet away from mine. My stomach growled just thinking of the meat. I pressed my arm over my stomach, trying to silence it. I went back to watching the rabbit as it hopped nearer and nearer to the berries. It stopped in front of my bush, looking around for predators, then started to eat the berries.

I quickly jumped out of the bush, aimed at the rabbit. I went flying. . . but the rabbit quickly scurried away and I landed in my own pile of berries. I sat up, cursing and wiping berry juice off of my face. I hit the ground angrily with my fist a few times, causing some more berries to rupture all over me. By the time I got back to the "camp" with a shirtful of berries and mushrooms, I was covered in the sticky juice. I dropped the food in front of Stephen, who was laughing at me.

"What happened to you?! Was the bush a formidable enemy?" he asked as he stuffed his face full of berries.

"Oh, yeah, that's because it was full of poisonous berries. . ." I started.

"WHAT!!!" he yelled, spitting out his mouthful and wiping his tongue off with his hand. "Are you trying to kill me?"

I laughed at him, holding my stomach. "They're not poisonous. But they should be! Don't laugh at me, anymore, or your next meal will be your last."