Cold Hearted, Cold Blooded

A Hunting Expedition

Prompt: A hunting/fishing expedition

♖ ♖ ♖

This hunting expedition wasn't going the way I wanted it to go. Falling into a river wasn't fun. Neither was getting lost in the forest on the way back to my campsite. Soaking wet from head to toe, I shivered, clutching my rifle close to my chest, trying not to panic at the sight of the steadily darkening sky. I was shivering from the cold like a leaf and I was lacking food supplies, with no way back to my campsite.

Suddenly, I heard a hardly audible sound in the air. Straining my ears, I heard the tell-tale buzzing of bees. Bees! Where there were bees, there was honey! I eagerly looked for the source of the noise, my stomach rumbling in hunger.

I finally found a beehive surrounded by busy buzzing bees hanging from a tree. I could see the golden thick honey inside, glimmering in the dying sunlight, its tantalizing smell enticing me to take a step forward. I cautiously approached, careful not to make any sudden moves and alarm the bees.

I was only a metre away when a branch snapped under my foot. Oh no. The swarm of bees immediately attacked me viciously, their deafening buzzing ringing in my ears. Pain needled my left arm and another sting lit up the back of my neck. In a total panic, I bolted screaming. The bees followed me, stinging me mercilessly in my face, my hips, my neck, my arms, my eyelids—everywhere! The bees surrounded my entire body as I ran away as fast as I can, swatting at them with my hands and my rifle, tears of agony streaming down my face, my entire body wracked with pain.

I didn't get too far. The swarm of bees suddenly dissipated from around my head, but before I could so much as breathe a sigh of relief, a low growl emanated from one of the nearby caves. I stiffened, my swollen eyes widening in horror. I turned around slowly to face a towering, nine-foot tall mama grizzly bear. Her teeth looked sharp enough to bite me in half. She was snarling and growling, furious. I had disturbed her sleep.

The grizzly bear roared. She lunged at me and swiped her clawed paw across my chest, but I stumbled back, causing her talons to rake across my gut instead, eliciting a shriek from me. Pain was the only thing I could register in my tortured mind. I didn't notice the bear slashing at my face until it was too late. I screamed in agony and dropped to my knees. Blood was dripping down my face and my shirt was stained red.

Dimly, my foggy mind reminded me that I had a rifle with me. I blindly felt the ground around me for it in desperation. My clammy hands closed around the cold metal of my rifle. Without further thought, I raised it, struggling to aim at the bear through my swollen eyes. I pulled the trigger.

A shot rang out across the clearing. The bear toppled over with a groundbreaking thud, sporting a new bloody gunshot wound in her furry chest. I stumbled to my feet unsteadily, pain clouding my mind. I ran as fast as I can with all my injuries, away from the bear and the bees. My feet were lead and my vision was blurring alarmingly. My mind yelled at me to stop, but I knew if I did, I'd pass out and bleed to death. I pushed through the haze of torturous pain and persevered, lumbering around like a blind elephant, one puffy eye swollen shut, painful stings covering my sore body.

The faint sound of rushing water greeted my ears. By now, my entire shirt was bloodstained and the hand I was pressing against my gut to keep pressure on the wound wasn't helping. My own blood dripped down into my eyes from the three long slashes across my face. Hobbling carefully towards the source of the water, black spots darkening my failing vision, I spotted a rushing river. I knew I was going to black out from all the pain soon. I limped into the river, my legs weak and unsteady, suffering too much to think of my actions clearly. As soon as I stepped in, I felt the water current tug at me harshly. I lost my balance and crashed into the water, hitting my head on some rocks at the riverbed. Blood spurted from my head, which was now completely submerged in the water. I couldn't go up for air because the river was lugging me along and keeping my head under like vengeful water sprites dragging me to my doom. The water current was too powerful to fight against and I was already weak from all my injuries. The water suffocated me as I struggled weakly, drowning me beneath its mighty waves. My vision was stained red, until I realized that it was my own blood staining the water.

Far too soon, my journey came to an end. Before I knew what was happening, the flowing river tipped me off the edge of the cliff and I careened down the waterfall, meeting my end at the hands of the rocky, unforgiving boulders.

♜ ♜ ♜