Chương 29: Separate Paths

Ava crawled out of her lean-to and looked at the fire. It was almost gone, but it was morning, so that was ok. She glanced at Mark's lean-to. He was already waking. She ate the fish leftovers she had saved from the night before. She tried to sneak off for her first solo trap run—but it didn't look like she'd get away before Mark was up. As he crawled out of his tent, he said, "Good morning, Ava. You're up early."

"I am going to check the traps like you asked."

"Okay, did you need help?"

"I remember what you showed me. I will take it slow and be careful." She sighed. Adults always think they have to baby you. She quickly took the little carrier and put the stalker in it. She stored the tools Mark made her and quickly headed into the forest before Mark thought to follow her. She could handle this. It was going to be easy. The first trap was empty. As Mark had shown her, she checked it for any signs of wear and made sure it was ready. Two traps later and she found the first animal.

When she set the cage down with the stalker, it saw the squirrel and started to snarl at it. This caused the squirrel to freak out and start bouncing around the cage. Ava tried to kill the squirrel, but it was so agitated from the stalker that she ended up knocking the trap over, and the door opened, and the squirrel got away.

"You know that was your fault, right?" The stalker just sat there looking back at her.

"If you keep misbehaving, you're not getting food." The stalker just sat down and put its paws over its face.

"Argh." She sat down and fixed the trap. She had broken it when she fell over it. It took her a while, and it was probably not up to Mark's standards, but it would work. She picked up the cage and turned toward the next trap. Something moved to her left. She stopped and searched in that direction and found nothing. Something was out there, but she could not figure out what it was. She more cautiously headed to the next trap. It was empty, but she noticed it had been triggered, so she fixed it.

The next trap had a mouse. The stalker started to growl, and Ava looked it in the eyes and said, "Be nice. If you don't make me lose this one, you can have it to eat." The stalker sat down as if it understood what she had told it. Placing the cage down, she went to work killing and collecting the mouse. She had learned after her first kill that she had to get it to calm down so that she could quickly kill it.

As she watched the mouse, she was surprised it, like the stalker, seemed to calm down when she looked at it. She quickly finished the job and looted it. When she went to open the cage to give the stalker the mouse to eat, it jumped out between her hands. Ava looked at it as she said, "Hey, you!" The stalker stopped running and sat down. She looked surprised. She thought that now that it was out, it would try to run off. But instead, when she talked to it, it sat down. She just watched it while it was sitting there.

After a few minutes she pulled out the mouse and dropped it. The stalker looked at her, then back at the mouse, and slowly inched towards it like it was hunting. About a foot from the mouse, it pounced. Ava giggled.

"You know if it was not already dead, you would have never caught it." After it had finished the mouse, she bent down to pick it up.

"Let's go get back in the cage." Just before she was about to touch it, it darted away.

"Fine, whatever. If you get lost, it's your own fault." She turned around and headed toward the next trap. After a step, she glanced back to see what it was doing. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. And it was just sitting on the ground. After a few more steps she finally heard it rooting around a bush just a step behind her. They continued through the traps, finding another squirrel. She killed and looted it.

And the stalker just followed along looking in every bush. They were almost to the stream when she heard a growl, and it darted behind a tree. Then a yip—and it ran back out. It ran behind her legs and hid. Nothing was following it, so she reached down to pick it up. That was when she saw the blood. Something had taken a bite on her nose.

"Aren't you the mighty hunter?"

"Enough running around back in the cage." Before it could dart away, she scooped it up and put it back into the cage. She finally made it to the stream. She set the cage on the bank and waded in and found a fish in the trap, which she collected. She was about to wade upstream to the other trap when it started to yip in its cage. Its nose was rubbing the cord she used to tie the cage closed. She walked over and said, "What do you want out?" It hopped up and down some.

She opened the cage, and it darted over and jumped into the stream. After a few seconds it realized it was deeper than it thought and started to whine as it could not figure out how to swim back to the edge. Ava grabbed it before it drowned and sat it back on the bank. This time it just stuck its head in the water and got a drink. It then slowly headed upstream, following Ava. There was nothing in the other trap, so she waded back to shore.

The stalker was now dirty with the water and dirt from the bank all rubbed into it. Ava looked at it and sighed. Picking it up, she went back into the stream and dunked it, washing off the dirt. It did not seem so happy with that and tried to nip her fingers. Before it could get dirty again, she put it back in its carrier and started heading back to camp. About halfway there she again saw something in the trees. This time she was pretty sure it was that other lady.

But it slipped away before she could tell for sure.

"What's her deal?" With no one there to answer, she went back to camp, put the stalker back in the cage, and sat down on her chair.

"I did it." Mark walked into the forest heading east. As he walked, he watched tracks and trails. Last night he and Ava had put out two traps heading east. Today he continued that same path. Passing the two from yesterday, he continued making a line mostly heading east. He could tell by the tracks and worn paths that the animals were bigger here than those in the west. He placed 8 more, making a string of 10 traps going east. When he finally neared the eastern border of the zone, he turned north.

He continued scouting out locations for traps. Heading north, the spacing was wider apart as the area got rougher and the paths more densely stacked together. He was just about to put his third trap down when the sounds in the forest stopped. Mark stood up and looked around, not able to figure out what caused the animals to stop making noises. After about 10 minutes the noises slowly started up but were more subdued than before. He finished placing the trap and continued north.

He started seeing signs of something larger. He could see patches of dirt that had been dug up and bushes that had been torn out or knocked down. He slowed as he continued north. He then saw a tree that had been mauled. Claw marks going down the trunk starting about a foot above his head. Mark started to feel really uneasy. Something had been through here. Something bigger than he could handle. His pace slowed to almost a stop as he inched forward. When he got to the tree, he examined it. The claw marks were deep.

Whatever that was, if it hit him, he was dead. He passed a few more trees and found another dug up area. He went over and moved some dirt to see what was there. He could see the remains of some vegetable he had not seen before. He was about to turn around and head back when a noise to his right startled him. He looked that direction and froze. Something was there. It was huge. Mark could not identify it. Then he realized it had heard him, and it was turning in his direction. It moved. Slow—but too large.

Not something he could fight. Before he could think, he was running away from it through the forest. He went crashing past bushes and trees, making a huge amount of noise. Then he realized he was making a mistake; with that much noise, it would find him. Stopping looking back in the direction it came from, he realized he had lost it. More likely, it just wasn't worth the effort. He was just starting to calm down when behind him he heard a snort. His chest started pounding again; it was behind him.

He turned; wait, it was something else. His vision flashed. [Ironhide Boar] It was standing around 50 feet away. It just stood there looking at him. This was bigger than the rootback he had killed. Much bigger. But it was nothing in size to what Mark had run from. Mark stood there looking at the boar. He had made a huge mistake. He ran from one problem right into another. As he looked at it, he considered how he would trap it. The trap that killed the rootback would not stop this thing. But he could make something.

Bigger, stronger. The beast then took a step forward. Then another. By the third step, it was picking up speed. Without thinking, Mark pulled out his bow and quickly shot off an arrow. The arrow grazed it. He slowed his breath and aimed again, taking another shot. He hit it this time. It hardly scratched it. But it stopped. It shook its head. Snorted. Then turned away.

"I'm still alive." Mark stood there shaking. He finally turned back south heading back towards his new trapline and camp. He needed bigger and better traps.

"This isn't the same forest."

"This is worse than I thought." His shaking had gone away by the time he reached camp. When he arrived, he could see Ava sitting on her chair. She was safe. He needed to keep her that way. He had just sat down on his chair when Cora walked out of the woods in front of him. She walked over and placed a few more items on the table. Mark picked up the three items he had made her and handed them to her.

"I went east and then north today and found something huge."

"Is it whatever clawed up the trees?"

"Yes, that area. Be careful; it's huge." Cora turned to walk away, then stopped, turning back and looking toward Ava; she quietly said.

"You're sending her out alone now?"

"She needs to learn."

"She's not ready…"

"... but she's not useless." He already knew that. But hearing it from Cora— made it real.