Sang
I woke to one of the bucks head-butting my leg only to find myself surrounded by goats, all sleeping in a pile around Arrow and I in the hay. I kicked out at the brown buck who was getting ready to have another run at my leg and he moved away on his own. I dusted myself off from the hay as I got up to dish out some more pellet feed to the hungry grazers, my stallion was looking pampered by the little treat. I went to the bathroom and did my business before feeding Arrow and going back to sit with the boys for breakfast, the sooner we could hunt the better with our food reserves so low.
"So Cupcake what is it we'll be helping you with when we get to Charleston?" Luke's beaming grin was a welcome sight but I wasn't sure how to respond. "In all honesty I'm not sure, I just know it was something very important. My father was somewhat of a scientist before the virus broke out and before he died he mentioned something about going back there, that whatever is there is extremely important. I don't have any details just a place to go to try and find some answers." I sigh out, choosing my words carefully. "Well Peanut we're happy to help." Nate smiled as I nodded towards him in thanks.
"I know we were planning on taking a different route today but I think we need to take the 95 over to get to the Sergeant Jasper Park." I state clearly to the group. "That's a main highway, we'll be far out in the open." Owen states sending a glance towards my new herd of goats. "Yes but it knocks off 7 miles of traveling and will be a lot quicker, I want to get some fresh meat and to do that I need hunting time." I retort, the risk was necessary to keep everyone well fed. It didn't take much convincing once I laid out a few arguments and soon we were packed up and on our way.
I was glad to see that Sean didn't start limping until mile ten on foot, his muscles were starting to handle distance better, I was glad to see him feeling better. We stopped for a short break, and I let Sean ride Nightmare for 6 miles before switching with me again. We made it to Sergeant Jasper park a little after 3 and got to work setting up camp while the goats started to eat the leaves and shrubs nearby, Nightmare went straight to grazing as usual. I made sure to check the area for safety before going off to hunt with Arrow on my own, even if the boys were learning I still enjoyed some alone time.
I set snares along the way but mostly I was keeping a lookout for big game, no signs of deer but wild boar tracks were everywhere. "Arrow we might just have some fresh bacon tonight." I hummed softly as I picked the more heavily trafficked trail in search of our dinner. I even was feeling confident enough to set a trap for larger game, a simple leg snare that might catch a boar when he came down to drink. I set the trap and anchored it tightly to a tree to prevent any catch from running off, at this point I was fine with eating anything, as long as it was disease free. I continued down the path with my bow ready for any passing prey, when Arrow alerted me I knew we were closing in on them.
I slunk along quietly as he went to circle behind them as I caught the glimpse of five big and healthy pigs, two were very large, the rest were half the size of the bigger ones. I pulled a few more arrows from my quiver as I readied my shot at the largest sow. The arrow I sent through her gave her a chance to squeal once before stumbling and falling over, this sent the others off running but Arrow was quick enough to get hold of one of the smaller ones. I helped finish it off as quickly as I could before praising my proud pooch and getting to work gutting our kills. I tossed the guts to Arrow to avoid having to drag them back to camp with all the meat I'd already collected, letting them bleed out as I tied their back hooves together in order to make dragging them a little easier.
It took some effort and a few breaks but progress was decent enough, I was almost to my big game snare when I heard the panicked squeals of a trapped pig. I hurried ahead with my two trailing meaty morsels to find a small piglet caught in the snare, it could only be 20 pounds at most but it was meat. I dropped my extra weight and got an arrow ready to take a shot when I froze at the scene unfolding. The piglet started to struggle even more as if fought to escape, pulling as far from the water as possible, I could see it wasn't scared by me, instead it was frantically trying to escape the prehistoric predator emerging from the waters edge.
I had never seen an alligator outside of a zoo or books so this was certainly new, I was frozen in stunned awe at the giant head on the reptile. I didn't even have time to react as he grabbed the piglet from the bank by it's back before pulling it back into the water. The squealing piglet and alligator were gone in seconds my snare snapped like it was nothing as I stood there in shock at what I'd witnessed. No one had thought of this threat, we were in a marshy area, the perfect habitat for gators, and I distinctly remembered a few of the boys mentioning going for a swim back at camp.
I ordered Arrow to guard our meat before taking off at a spirit down the trail, jumping over rocks and stumps as I raced back towards camp. I knew that I had to warn them of what I saw, I was almost to them when I heard the splash and my heart seemed to stop a beat as I pushed myself faster. I was gasping for breath when I made it into camp, the boys seem startled at my speedy arrival, except for Sean who was treading water in the marshy pond below, not good.
Sean
"I don't see why we couldn't go hunting with Cupcake, she even ordered me to stay at camp and help out." Luke was in a pouting mood over the fact that the bird had wanted some time to herself. "Aggele mou just wants to hunt quietly on her own a bit, she wasn't mad, just trying to get you to stay here instead of follow her." Silas states as he works to strip off his shirt with the others, I was already in my boxers and ready to go. The humidity in the air was making things a lot hotter than usual and the water was looking great for a cool relaxing swim.
"Last one in is a rotten egg!" I shouted as I took a running start and canonballed into the pool below, the water was an instant relief from the sticky air. "Very mature Sean." Owen was frowning while the others were hurrying to toss their shoes and pants and join me. "Come on Owen, don't be a spoil sport, imagine what Pookie will think of you all sweaty and shirtless." I winked as his frown disappeared into something far different. I was about to throw another comment his way when the bird in question came crashing out of the bushes, startling the others on the bank while I grinned up at her.
"Sean I need you to get out of the water." She panted, her out of breath wild eyed look only added to her rugged beauty with the sweat dripping from her forehead. "Well Pookie, why don't you join me, the water is fine..." I purred out getting more than a few glares from my brothers. "Sean I mean it get out of the water!" She was speaking far more sternly now as she readied an arrow in her bow. "Or what, you wouldn't shoot an unarmed man would you Pookie?" I mockingly pouted as her eyes scanned the water around me, strange. "Sean, please." I could hear the pleading in her tone but her words sent my mind to another context that was far more pleasing, although inappropriate.
"Pookie what's wrong?" I voiced my confusion as I shook my distracting thoughts away. "Sean, get out of the water, it's not safe!" She seemed frantic now and that had me treading closer towards the bank. I suddenly realized that her mutt wasn't in his usual spot beside her, then the goats that had been drinking at the bank suddenly shied away with a flurry of nervous bleating. "Sean. Get. Out. Now." Owen had suddenly grown tense as he eyed a spot over my shoulder, Pookie had her bow trained on the same spot.
"Sean I need you to slowly and carefully swim towards the bank and get the h*** out of that water, now. Do not turn around until you are five feet up this bank or I will shoot you." Her words were a command and I followed them, taking in her blank facial features and the panicking looks on the others faces. I was in the shallow water when the bird swore out and in one word commanded me to duck, I hit the deck as her arrow whizzed overhead. I scrambled out onto the bank before turning to see what she'd been aiming at only to find her arrow sticking out of the head of a 6 foot alligator.
Sang was suddenly beside me and firing another arrow into the same quarter sized soft spot on the gators head before lassoing a rope over it's snout and pulling it onto the bank as it spasmed in death. "No more swimming." Her panting breath drew my attention, I nodded my shocked agreement. "How did you know the water wasn't safe?" Victor murmured as he stared down at the still twitching reptile. "I just saw one of those almost swallow a piglet whole and ran back here as fast as I could. We can eat him plus the two pigs I left with Arrow guarding them, if more gator friends don't show up to steal our meal." Sang stated nodding at the dead gator as she called North and Luke to follow her and go get the meat she'd left with her mutt.
"Pookie?" I croaked as she turned back to look at me sitting on the bank, staying far from the water. "Thanks for not letting me get eaten." I puffed out as a smile split across her lips. "Don't mention it, just try not to put yourself on the menu again anytime soon." Her teasing had me smirking back at her, I caught the warning look Owen sent me, but I rarely listened to him anyway. "Well I'll certainly do my best to keep off their menu, no promises when it comes to staying off yours." I purred huskily towards her, eyes widening in understanding she snorted at my words.
"Careful what you wish for Doc, no telling what might happen when you're starving enough, I heard from a cannibals documentary that human tastes like pork." She trails off on a hum as she leads the way into the woods, leaving us to stare after where she disappeared. "Well f*** next time we eat pork make sure everyone is present first, no way do I want to eat one of you f***ers!" Gabe broke the silence brilliantly, bringing out a round of chuckles from the group. We made sure to keep well away from the water as I helped Nathan get to work on preparing the gator for our meal, it was a strange choice but it cooked easy enough.
When Pookie came back with North and Luke we got to work turning the larger of the two pigs into jerky and cooking the small one up for our breakfast tomorrow as we ate the alligator meat. It was a bit rubbery in texture but the taste wasn't bad, not to mention eating something that tried eating you was a bit strange itself. I was shocked when the crazy bird took a turtle shell down to the water to fill only to bring it up for the goats to drink from.
She made a few more trips for the horse and Arrow before making sure all our bottles were filled as well, she went to different spots of the bank each time as an extra precaution despite our protests. Once everything was taken care of she climbed into a large tree looming over our camp and hoisted the mutt up with her as we settled in for the night. We claimed our times on the watch before following Pookie into dreamland, with full stomachs it never took long to drift off, just another reason to fall for the gorgeous little bird.