Chương 22: Not Alone

Mark woke from a restless night's sleep. He looked around to make sure he was alone. He looked at his bowl. Still sitting on the crafting bench. Looking around, he could not see anything else out of place. But he felt off. Like something was watching him.

"Relax, if it wanted to hurt me, it would have already." He decided he could not just sit in camp and stress. He needed to check the trap lines.

"That will get my mind off this, maybe shake this feeling." He moved through the trap line quickly. Two catches. A few misfires. Some placements needed adjusting. Nothing unusual— until he found the first one that had been reset wrong. He could sense that it had been successful. As he got closer, he could see the blood and some feathers. The trap wasn't even set back up correctly.

"What's been playing with my traps?"

"That's no animal." He looked around the area. Listened. Nothing. Other than that feeling of being watched.

"…Someone tried to use it." Not just passing through. Not just scavenging. They were trying to use what he built. Learning from it. Mark cleaned up the area, preparing the trap correctly. He continued. Setting, fixing, adjusting. Then he found another triggered trap. Again, no animal, but he could see signs that it had caught something.

"Something is out collecting my traps." As he looked around, he could see signs similar to last night. They looked like something had tried to hide their signs. Without the increased skill, he would not have noticed. Mark adjusted many of his traps while he was out. His senses were so much better. Trap placement was almost second nature now. When he was done with his traps, he returned to camp. As he approached camp, something felt off. Then he heard a sound. He could not place it, but it was not natural.

Not a forest sound. He stopped and looked around. He found nothing. As he walked into camp, he stopped cold. At first glance he found nothing missing. But then he saw them. Stolen story; please report. There were items on the crafting table. He looked around the camp again. Nothing moved. Nothing missing. But something felt… wrong.

"That wasn't there before."

"... Was it?" He walked closer to it. Four small piles. One was some berries similar to the ones he found but different. They were a little bigger. There was something that looked like a herb. He picked a piece up and smelled it.

"That would make my food taste better." The last two items were vegetables, but not like he had found.

"That's new." This was not just something random. Something put it here with purpose. Not an animal. Just then in the forest to the east, a stick snapped. He turned and looked that way.

"Nothing." Then something moved. He caught only a small glimpse of it as it went behind a tree. Mark put down all the tools he was holding and slowly walked in that direction. When he got to the spot, he found nothing. Then he saw a broken stick. That must have caused the sound he heard. He stopped to listen. No sound. The forest had gone quiet. He continued to follow whatever that was. From time to time he could hear a sound. Stop. Listen. His skills kicked in. He could see a track.

Changed directions and followed. This continued deeper into the forest. He lost it. The trail is gone. He turned slowly, scanning. Nothing. Then— There. A shift in the ground. A bent blade of grass. Not gone. Just hidden. After he had passed a few trees, he saw another movement but could not see details. He continued to slowly follow. Whatever this was, it was in no rush. It was trying to be quiet. But he could feel the direction it went. He could sense changes in the woods. See the telltale tracks that were left.

It was moving slowly to not make it easy to see or follow. This continued past more trees. Then he rounded another tree and froze. Something shifted between the trees. Too controlled. Too deliberate. Not like anything he had seen out here. He stepped forward. And stopped. That wasn't an animal. It was a person. They both stopped. No movement. No sound. Just distance between them. Neither of them spoke. Standing between two trees, there was a woman looking at him. She put her hands out.

Showing that she had nothing in them. Not what he expected. She just stood there staring at him. He stood there with his jaw open, saying nothing. She studied him. He just stared back. She was not afraid. What could he say? Who was she? How did she get here? Then he heard her voice.

"The items I left are in exchange for the meat I took." Then before he could think to say anything, she turned on her heel and vanished into the forest. He looked at the space where she had been. Gone. No sound. No trace. Like she had never been there at all. Mark just stood there dumbfound. He finally mumbled.

"Okay." She was the one that took the items from my trap. He felt relief that it was not another beast. The food. She left that. Trade? Mark looked back towards camp, then back in the direction she had left.

"Interesting." Mark just stood there. Should I try and follow her? He could not figure out what to do. Let her go?

"Well, she knows where I live."

"... If she wants to talk, she knows where to find me." Finally, he shrugged and headed back to camp. When he returned, he looked around. She took some meat. Left some vegetables. Not random. Not desperate. Deliberate. Mark looked at the items. Reaching over, he picked up one of the berries and plucked it into his mouth.

"Oh, that tastes wonderful." The sun was setting. Mark sat alone in camp. Not safe. But not worried any more. He slowly made dinner. As he ate, he thought over his day. So much changed today.

"What will tomorrow bring?" Then, as the last of the daylight ended, he climbed into his lean-to. Lying in bed, he mumbled.

"I'm not alone out here." Thinking back to the girl in the forest. The food she left on the table.

"And she's not helpless."