"Where did you learn how to hunt?" Deen wants to know, addressing Cale.
"There's not much about it you have to learn, you just have to know how to aim and throw," Cale replies, not answering his question.
"I have terrible aim," Tammie says.
"Then, you can cook," Cale responds. "If we don't have to worry about skinning the animals, we can spend more time out there."
Tammie's eyes widen as she realizes that Cale is serious about her having to cook dead animals.
"We'll need medium sized sticks, big enough to spear an animal when we sharpen the tip, yet small enough so that when they start searching the woods they won't notice it's missing," Tressa adds.
Cale nods.
"Maybe you two should go out first. You clearly know more about hunting than the rest of us do," I suggest.
"Shouldn't we all stay together?" Spenzo asks.
"No, Jade's right we should go out in pairs, have four in the cave, out of sight, and have two out in the woods. It's way easier for two people to hide in the woods than it is for six," Cale replies.
"Yeah, we have to be safe about this. We can't afford to be too big a target," Deen agrees.
"We should leave soon," Tressa rises to a crouch. "The earlier we get back, the safer we'll be."
"Try to get back before noon," Deen advises. "They'll be searching most actively in the middle of the day."
"Here's two spears," Spenzo hands a branch to Cale and Tressa, Cale's branch significantly bigger, but not large enough that it would slow him down.
"Don't we need these for firewood?" Cale asks.
"We can always slip out to get more firewood at night," Spenzo points out.
"Yeah, we only have a few hours before these woods are crawling with guards, we have to use them wisely," Deen agrees.
"Okay," Tressa nods, grabbing her branch tightly.
Cale rises to his feet and stands facing the cave entrance. He looks back at me.
"Will you be okay?" He asks.
I nod. "Be careful guys. If you hear anything, hide first, then worry about what it was you heard."
"We will," Tressa assures me. She stands up, too. She clenches and unclenches her small fists around the branch, looking at it as if she's not quite sure what to do with it. She lets out a few coughs.
"Tressa?" Spenzo calls. Tressa looks up at him. "Have you ever actually hunted before?"
There's a slight pause, and Tressa looks at all of us, almost defiantly, then her shoulders sag a bit, and she loosens her grip on the branch.
"No, I haven't." She admits in a small voice, casting her blue eyes to the floor. "But, I sometimes watched hunting programs on the TVs upstairs."
"Are you sure you want to do this, then? This could be really dangerous," Cale tells her. I can't tell if his concern is for her well-being or for us having enough to eat, it seems it may be a little bit of both.
Tressa looks at the branch for a few more seconds, then she coughs some more. "You're right," Tressa says. "I shouldn't be out in the woods anyway. I'm mildly allergic to trees. You should go, Jade."
"I don't think that's a good idea," I say. After a morning like this one, I don't trust myself holding something that could qualify as a weapon.
"It's not an idea," Cale replies. "We're wasting time, you're coming, Jade. Deen, Spenzo, keep a look out. If there's anything suspicious, crawl to the back of the cave and don't say a word. Tammie, stay calm and prepare to cook when we get back. Tressa, take care of that cough." Cale orders sternly. His no-nonsense tone leads no one to question him. I only notice how tightly he's gripping his spear when I stand up to take the smaller one from him. He's scared, as we all should be.
The cave is a safe place. Its opening is concealed just enough by low hanging branches that unless someone specifically knew where it was, they wouldn't see it. And, even if someone did poke their head inside, the back corners where the sunlight can't reach are perfect spots to hide in. It's the first place I've felt safe in since I woke up here, a place far away from the guards, the doctor, the LEs, and their prying ears. We're about to leave to go out into the woods, a place that will soon be crawling with the people we ran away from, if it isn't already.
"Let's get this over with. We only have a few hours, most likely less," Cale says.
He steps out the opening of the cave and I follow.
The sunlight filters through the canopy of trees overhead, and I'm mesmerized once again by the beauty of nature. I don't waste time taking it in, though, I follow Cale as he steps silently through the woods.
"We're looking for any kind of animal," Cale whispers. "Bird, squirrel, gerbil, if we have to. I'll show you how to get it when we find one. Hope for something low to the ground, it'll make less noise because we won't have to worry about hitting branches."
I nod. We tip-toe for a few more minutes, then Cale holds out his left arm to stop me; I freeze. I'm at first terrified he's spotted a guard, but when I look over his shoulder, I see he's lifted up his spear and aimed it at a small brown animal. In a sharp and precise motion, he jabs the spear into the side of the animal, piercing clean through the bone, and killing it instantly.
He lifts up his spear, examining the impaled animal. "It's a squirrel, not enough for six people. We'd need about two more."
I nod again.
We walk a little while longer, then I see movement in the bushes to my left. I nudge Cale with my elbow and point at the bushes.
I can't see any details, but whatever animal it is, it looks bigger than a squirrel.
I don't even wait for Cale to tell me what to do. As if I've done this before, I creep up behind the animal, close enough to stab it, since with throwing there's always a chance I can miss. Then, I spear the animal right through its little head with force I didn't know I possessed. It doesn't even writhe before it dies. I look back at Cale, wondering if he's as surprised at me as I am with myself. He doesn't seem to be.
"Nice kill," He whispers approvingly.
I lift up my spear, not sure what to do with the animal on the end. Cale comes over and pulls the animal down the pole a bit, leaving room for the tip to stick out the end.
We walk deeper into the woods, keeping in the same direction so we'd know how to get back to the cave.
"Did you know that I could hunt?" I ask him quietly, still keeping my eye out for any other animals.
"I didn't know for sure. But, I figure your dad was smart enough not to teach only about technology." Cale whispers back. "Good thing I was right."
He stops midstride again, and points at an animal burrowing into a hole. He takes slow steps towards it, then plunges the spear into him when he least expects it. This animal dies instantly as well; Cale must know where to hit so the animal dies right away and doesn't suffer.
He lifts up his spear and examines his kill.
"Not sure what it is, it's in between the size of a squirrel and whatever-animal-you-caught," Cale determines. "It will work."
"I'm surprised there's so many animals out this close to winter," I whisper as we start creeping again.
"They're about to hibernate," Cale whispers back. By that he means that they won't be here for long. We have to make good use of today if we expect to spend more than another night in the cave.
We creep through the woods some more and find a few more squirrels and other unidentifiable animals. It gets to the point where if we get anymore, we won't be able to fit them on our spears. I look up at the sky and realize how high the sun is. It's pretty much noon.
"We should head back, it's not safe out here in anymore," Cale says.
I nod. We make our way back the way we came, our silent footsteps blending into the natural sounds of the woods.
A rustling of branches sounds behind us, I turn to look, but I see nothing. But, I do know that no animal in this woods could make a rustle that big.
I elbow Cale and ask him with my eyes if he heard the sound. He nods slightly, telling me that he did.
Are we being followed?
I casually change course, turning away from the cave. Cale doesn't miss a beat in following.
I purposefully walk through a somewhat noisy patch of dry leaves, though I don't make much noise with my bare feet.
A few seconds later, we hear the sound of feet going through the same spot. But, when I glance over my shoulder I see that no one is there.
We pick up the pace, still leading our pursuers away from the cave.
"Can LEs suits' become invisible?" I risk a very low whisper.
"You tell me," Cale whispers back, equally inaudible.
I didn't know whether or not they could. The models of the LE suits I made with my dad were made twenty years ago. A lot could have changed since then.
We walk for a little while longer, listening for the occasional twig naps and crackle of leaves to make sure we're still being followed. Eventually we'll lose our way back to the cave; we have to do something.
I elbow Cale. He looks at me with raised eyebrows. I hold up three fingers, then make a small punching gesture with my empty hand. He nods, getting my meaning.
Normally he would say I was crazy; I guess we both are for coming here.
We walk about five more feet, then I start counting down from three. When my hand returns to a fist, we pivot around and charge at the seemingly empty air. Cale's the one who connects with the guy who was tailing us. He hits him hard enough to knock him clear to the ground, and shut off his invisibility.
Though I was hoping it wasn't true, the figure lying in front of us is a fully suited, armed, LE.
I grab a rock with my left hand and hurl it at his helmet. It bounces off, barely leaving a crack, but the man lets out an audible groan.
Cale grabs a bigger rock and throws that at his helmet. It widens the crack a little, but not significantly, though the man doesn't groan after it bounces off. Cale kicks him in the side, he doesn't stir. He's knocked out cold.
"Run!" Cale hisses and he takes off. We run towards the cave, but we don't take the same route we took earlier, in case the man had back up following. We weave in and out of the trees, making us as hard to follow as possible. Finally, we see the side wall of the cave, but neither Cale nor I slow until we're safely inside it and away from it's opening.
"Guys, what's-?" Tammie starts to cry, but I cover her mouth with my hand.
Cale gestures for everyone to back away from the opening, still holding the pole with animals on it.
I pull Tammie to the far back corner of the wall, as everyone else backs up as far as possible.
I worry about the campfire, but I realize that we'd make too much noise trying to dismantle it now.
We sit, silent as rocks, for what seems like hours. Thankfully, I was able to move my hand from Tammie's mouth towards the beginning.
The silence only gets broken when the outdoor light starts to orange, and we're sure that there are no invisible LEs stalking the cave. Cale, of course, is the one who peeks out the cave opening to make sure they're really gone. He even risks a whisper. He tucks his head back in, stepping away from the cave's opening.
"I think we're clear, for now," He says in a low voice.
"What happened?" Spenzo wants to know.
"We were being tailed," I answer, still hesitating to move from the cover the back of the cave provided.
"By who?" Deen asks.
"An LE, apparently they can make themselves invisible," Cale says.
Tammie's eyes widen. "Invisible?"
"Yes, if we didn't hear him we wouldn't have known he was there," I add.
"So, we're not safe here, anymore?" Spenzo says.
"We're safe for the moment, we clocked him on the head after walking him away from the cave for a few minutes," Cale says. "But, any plans we may have had of spending a few days here aren't happening."
We let that sink in.
"So, it's not safe to start a fire either," Tressa says, eyes on the animal carcasses kabob-ing both of our hunting sticks.
"We can start a small one tonight. We'll have to cook everything, or else, this meat will rot," Cale replies.
Everyone's quiet for a few more seconds.
"Where are we going to go?" Tammie is the one who asks the question we all are thinking about.
"Well..." Deen starts, appearing to be thinking over our limited options in his head. "Going back inland is an obvious no, so our only choice is to walk deeper into the woods, try to get out of range from where they'll search."
"They won't stop till they've combed this whole woods," Spenzo points out.
"If we keep moving we'll be harder to catch," Tressa points out.
"Let's just sit tight for now. No one should leave for a few hours to give them a chance to clear out," I suggest.
"Good plan," Cale nods.
So, that's what we do. We sit quietly and wait for the sun to set. We chatter aimlessly in low voices sometimes, just to break the silence, but we don't really have much to say. When night falls, we set up the campfire again, creating a place to turn the meat on before we light it.
Tammie is surprisingly okay with skinning the squirrels, with Deen, Spenzo and Tressa taking care of the bigger animals.
We start with the smaller animals first, because they can be cooked quickly and more than one at a time. It takes hours to cook all of the meat, but once we do, we set aside some for us to eat now, and Deen and Cale make some sort of bag with the animals' pelts, to put the rest of the meat in.
"It'll be best if we keep this outside. If we put it a foot or so underground, it'll stay fresher than if we leave it in here all night," Deen suggests, tying the animal pelts into a knot with our remainder of cooked meat nestled inside it.
He peeks out the cave first, then steps out, returning about a minute later.
"They're buried," He announces.
Cale hands him his share of the meat, which he and Tressa had divided up while Deen had hidden the rest in the stash.
"Eat up, we may not eat for a while tomorrow." Cale points out, when he notices Tammie skeptically eyeing the mystery meat.
I can see why she's wary of it, given the salmonella incident a few days ago, but, it's cooked all the way through, so I have no complaints.
Tammie takes a bite, and she seems satisfied, as she eats the rest of it.
"Time to kill the fire," Spenzo says, when we've all pretty much finished our provisions. "Throw the scraps in, so we don't attracted anymore unwanted visitors."
I toss the leftover bones into the fire and watch the others do the same.
As they did last night, Deen and Spenzo gather some moist dirt and dump it onto the fire until the flames flicker out.
We don't say much as we return to our sleeping pile. For some reason, I fall asleep much quicker than I normally do. But, I take it as exhaustion from today's hunting excursion, and don't try to stay awake.