Camping trip and memories
"Those damn jocks are infuriating. All I ask for is one good student, just one. 'SIGH' Well, at least there's Cara, she's a great kid." I just got done subbing for the science teacher at the local Highschool. Science isn't exactly a favorite among students, especially those thrice damned jocks, but I try to make it interesting. I even brought a whole pound of sodium and an Iron box filled with water, and only when I set my shirt on fire did any of them pay even an ounce of attention. Luckily in this county, the district knows how 'well' subs are treated and we get payed quite a bit. I was able to afford a nice house in a decent neighborhood. Good car and decorations. But this life is just to... Ordely. I need something unexpected. 'DING' Oh that's genious.
(Marcus)
'RRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIINNNNGGGGGG' 'RRRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGG' 'RRRRR-CLICK' "Marcus Matthews. Ah, Alex, what can I do for you? Vacation? Whatever for? Oh I see. Well, you've been working with us for almost 5 years so I guess a week or two couldn't hurt, but Alex, you're the only person I know that can handle some of these kids, so we're gonna miss you in the time you're gone. Your'e welcome Alex. Goodbye." 'CLICK' 'SIGH'
"Everything all right dad?"
"Yes Cara, it's just that one of our best subs is calling in a vacation. You know Mr. Relis?"
"Yes! I love Mr. Relis. He's such a fun teacher. Is he the one taking vacation?" She frowns a bit.
"I'm afraid so honey. He's been working a while so he's going to Colorado for a camping trip." I'm suddenly hit with an idea. "You know, I was actually an old teacher of his in school. Me and him are still best friends." I grin.
"Cool. But why are you telling me this?"
"Well... I've never had the time to actually take you somewhere out in the open so I would be open to asking if you could go with him, as long as you keep your phone with you."
"REALLY!? THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!"
"Hahaha. So you want to see if he'll let you come with?"
"YES!"
"Hahaha. Alright, I'll call him."
(Alex)
'RRR-CLICK' "Hello? Marcus? Something you need, I can wait an extra day if need be. Not a job? Then what is it.... Oh. That's quite a request, but I'll gladly accept if you and Cara are okay with it."
"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!" Comes from the other end of the line.
"Hahahahaha, well, I gues she wants to go then? Alright, I'm leaving tommorow, meet me at the airport at 1:00, and tell Cara to bring a sleeping bag, 'cause I only have one. Alright, see you later. 'CLICK' Well, this could get interesting" I amke my way to the garage to get my camping equipment. I grab a tent, my hunting rifle, a book on wild plants and animals (Substitute teacher), A large briefcase to put some samples in, and my sleeping bag. I go upstairs to my room to grab som more things like my army knife, my spare ammunition, and some pillows. I look at the clock.
"6:00, got some time to kill." Despite my profession, I still thoroughly enjoy videogames. I grab my old copy of Skyrim and pop it into the system.
"I've only got three more levels till I reach 100 on destruction. I'll go to the sepulchre."
'BEEP' 'BEEP' 'BEEP' 'BEE-CLICK' "11:00. Time to go." I set the alarm for eleven in case I overslept. I actualy woke up at nine so that when the alarm went off, I'd know it was time to go. I grab everything and double-check that everything is there.
"All right, lets go."
(Cara)
"DAD! It's 11:00! We've go to leave now or we'll never make it in time!" I called downstairs. I had packed all the camping supplies I had, and Dad had bought some more things to make the trip more comfortable like boots, heavy clothes, a backpack, a hat and sunglasses.
"Alright Cara, but come here a second." I jump down the stairs, still energized from the excitement.
"Yes Dad?"
"Alright Cara, I know you're eighteen, but I still want you to listen to Mr. Relis when you go on the trip, alright?" I nod. "Call every night, stay with him at all times and most of all, have fun." He smiles.
"All right Dad, I promise."
"Okay, let's go." He kisses me on the forehead.
(Alex)
"1:00, the flight leaves in two hours, they should be here any minute." I was waiting at the front entrance for Cara and Marcus. I had brought a generator as well, although small, it would allow cara to charge her phone, and for me to charge my mp3. I wait for another ten or twelve minutes before they finally get here.
"Alex!"
"Mr. Relis!"
Marcus walks up to me, however Cara runs to me and gives me a hug. She's thin, but not unhealthily so, and she has fine pale skin. Her brown hair goes down to her shoulder blades, framing bright blue eyes, perfectly eye level with me. Overall, she was a fine looking young woman, like her mother. I have seen some students hug their teachers, but I havn't been hugged in years, so it was a little surprising for me. I gladly returned it.
"What a cute couple." Marcus says with a wry grin.
Cara's face turns as red as a tomato and she immediately lets go. "Dad!" She then looks at me. "Sorry Mr. Relis." She mumbles.
"Hahaha, no need Cara, I havn't had a hug in a long time, so that was a little refreshing." I then turn to Marcus. "Thanks for bringing her here Mr. Matt- Marcus." I still have trouble with that. "I'm sure she'll have a great time."
Cara immediately brightens. "Yeah! I've never been camping before. I wonder what new things we'll learn." THAT is why Iike Cara, always eager to learn.
"Well, I brought some books on flora and fauna, so we'll learn quite a few things."
Marcus laughs. "Well I hope you enjoy it Cara. Now why don't you hug your father too?"
Cara turns and hugs her father as requested. "Bye Dad. I'll be back soon. I promise I'll call every night."
Marcus returns the embrace. "I love you Cara."
"Love you too Dad."
They hug for a little longer, and when they let go, Marcus becons me over. "Alex, I trust you with her, and I'm your friend, but she's still my daughter. Keep her safe." He fixes me with the most serious stare I've ever seen, seeing as how I've never been in this type of situation before.
"Of course Marcus. As long as she's with me, no harm will come to her. Now, we have some time before the plane leaves, so why don't the three of us get something to eat. I'll pay for it."
"Yeah! Can we Dad?" Cara asks with big, hopeful eyes that are actually quite adorable.
"Okay Cara. So where do you plan on going?"
"OH, OH! Can we go to Cinnabon!?" Cara's enthusiasm about Cinnabon is shared by me.
"That's a great idea! I saw one down in the food court." I set off, motioning for the other two to follow.
When we finish at Cinnabon, Cara has a small content smile on her face, Marcus has a cup of coffe, and I reflect Cara. The intercom sounds overhead. "Flight 736, Denver Colorado, due to leave in ten minutes.
"CRAP! Alright Cara, I love you, call every night, get to the plane." They share a quick hug and Marcus turns to me. "Remember what I said Alex."
"Of course Marcus."
"Pardon my disrespect Mr. Relis, but we gotta go now. Bye Dad!"
"Bye honey!"
And with that we run down the hall with all of our luggage in tow.
We get on the plane and take our seats at the back. We're the only ones back here so Cara gets both armrests, and I get the window. I look over and notice she's gripping the seat very tightly. "Afraid of hights?"
She nods. "I've never been on a plane before either, it's a little nerve wracking."
"Don't worry, a plane is one of the safest things in the world to be on." I reassure her.
She visibly relaxes at that, a clear display of how much she trusts me. Every time I've told someone else that, they havn't believed me, so I feel a new warmth spread into my heart.
The intercom sounds off again. "Buckle in ladies and gentlemen, we're ready for takeoff." Cara and I buckle in.
"Ready Cara?"
"Mhmm."
The plane moves smoothly forard as it gains speed.
When we get out of the Denver airport, a taxi is waiting for us.
"Alright Cara, this taxi will take us to the edge of the forest where we'll be camping. Anything you need to do before we go?"
"No."
"Okay then, let's go."
We approach the taxi side by side. The driver is a gruff looking man, though he is not intimidating because of the large, jovial, and best of all, honest smile he wore like a badge. "Hi! Alex Relis and Cara Matthews?"
"Thats us. We're making a trip to Gunnison National Forest. Can you take us ther?"
He adopts a mock offended look. "Can I take you there? Man, I've been working this taxi service for twenty years. I can take you anywhere in the great state of Colorado. Hop in, we'll be there within the hour." We get in and, as promised, are there within an hour of leaving the airport.
"Thank you sir, here you go." I hand him my credit card and he strikes it through the machine.
"Not a problem man. Watch out though, the forest can get a little 'Chaotic'." He laughs, though I could have sworn his eyes had flashed yellow. I write it off as my imagination playing tricks on me. He drives off after we grab our backpacks, because carrying a luggage cart through the forest didn't seem like a good idea, and set out.
"So, we just gonna keep walking until we find a good campsite?" Cara asks after about 40 minutes of nonstop walking.
"Mhmm, when we find a river, we'll follow it until we reach a clearing, and set up camp there. While we're here, I can teach you some stone carving and whittling techniques I learned in school, and we can make our own bows and spears for hunting. I'll take the rifle just in case we meet a bigger creature. But that's only in extreme situations." We walk for about another 13 minutes before I spot a river. We follow for another 17 minutes, according to my watch, before we find a clearing. Next to us the river has become shallow, giving us easy acces to some stones. The claring is also surrounded by trees, making a good resource for shafts for spears and arrows, as well as material for bows. I then notice just how lucky we are when I see lots of vines hanging on a tree nearby.
"Alright Cara, this place is perfect."
'THUMP' "Oh thank christ. I'm SOOOO tired."
"Ah, ah, ah. We still need to set up the tent."
"Okay Mr. Relis."
"Please, just call me Alex. Only here though, I don't want any of the other students to know my name."
"Okay... Alex." She smile adorably.
"Hehehe, alright, let's set up that tent."
--20 minutes later--
"Phew! Why are the bars so heavy Mr. R- Alex." She has a hard time with it too. But its more adorable when she does it.
"To keep them mounted into the ground so they don't blow away." The tent is big, though it's only a one room tent. "Lets rest up for the night, there's a storm coming in." I say as I look up. There is a large storm cloud brewing overhead.
"O-okay." She quickly grabs her sleeping bag while I go the other way to my backpack with the pillows and my sleeping bag in it. I come back just as Cara is setting down her sleeping bag. I place the pillow where her head will be when she goes to sleep.
"Thanks, Alex." She smiles greatfully. I go to my own spot across the tent and lay my bedding down there. I glance at Cara and see that she's already laid down. I lay down as well and let myself drift off into yet another dreamless sleep.
--20 minutes later--
(Cara)
'CRASH' "Eep!"
(Uggh. Eighteen years old, still afraid of lightning. I should have outgrown this by now, that was so long ago. I just... juat... NO! No tears Cara, she's gone, you couldn't do anything about it.) I lay there in my sleeping bag, on the verge of tears, remembering one of the worst nights of my life. My mom was outside, the dog had just gotten out.
--12 years ago--
"Cara, get back inside. I'll go look for Evelyn." She walked out the door. Evelyn was my pet beagle. She was still young, still a puppy, and had gone out into the storm. My mom went after her, telling me to stay inside. I was only six at the time so I didn't listen. I grabbed my raincoat and ran out the door after her. We lived on a farm at the time, with my dad teaching me kindergarten subjects. He'd told me I was the best student he had besides another boy named Alex. I had asked if I could meet him and he said that I could, but that Alex was in College, so he was too busy. I ran after my mom and found her in a field chasing after Evelyn. Evelyn started running towards me and jumped into my arms. My mother sighed and started walking towards me.
"Cara, I thought I told you to-" 'CRASH'
The lightning struck, I closed my eyes only mildly afraid at the time, and practiced the techniques my dad taught me.
After I finished I opened my eyes and my breath caught in my throat. My mom was laying there on the gound, unmoving, with a huge acorch mark on her back. "MOOOOOOOOOM!" I didn't think, I just ran to the house to get dad.
I burst into the house bawling my eyes out.
"Cara!? What's wrong?"
"I-i-it's 'sob' Mom, sh-sh-she 'sob' she's not m-m-moving 'sob'." He didn't say anything else as I led him out of the house and to where mom was still laying on the ground.
"VALORIE!" Dad ran over to mom with me still holding Evelyn. He crouched down beside her and rolled her onto her back. I started crying again. Her eyes were open, not seeing, but still staring, glazed over.
"No, nononoNONONONO! NO, VALORIE!" Dad continued to scream at my mother's body, the rain beating his back. I sunk to my knees and cried, my arms falling to my sides. Evelyn fell onto her paws and ran to my mother. She sniffed and her ears and tail drooped. She layed her chin onto my mothers chest. I knew then that my mother was gone.
--Present--
I couldn't take it anymore. I crawled out of my sleeping bag, my hands shaking violently, and made my way over too Alex's sleeping form. I tried not to wake him as I crawled into the bag next to him, him facing me, as I set my head onto his shoulder. I shouldn't be acting like this, I'm eighteen, not four. I silently cry into his shoulder, releasing a sob ebery once in a while. I freeze up though when he wraps his arms around me in a warm embrace.
"You still miss her, don't you?"
"Y-yes."
"It's okay, I know it's not fine, and the pain never goes away, but your mother would want you to move on, live your life without crying about her." He strokes my hair, and I am surprised at how much it calms me.
"It's just... so h-hard." I'm audibly crying now, wrapping my arms tighter around him, needing a strong embrace to keep me from losing myself in my sorrow.
"It will always be hard, but you will get stronger, as you learn to honor her memory in any way you can, and learn the hardships of life. All you can do, is pull through it."
I'm crying harder than I ever have before, but it feels liberating to have a houlder to cry on, and to have someones arms wrapped around me. After about twenty minutes I stop crying, and just lay there with my arms wrapped around Alex, and his arms wrapped around me. I fall asleep before he does, with him keeping a constant vigil to keep from interrupting my tears. He must have experianced a similar loss, and release of sorrowful tears to know exactly what to say, how to say it, and what to do. These are my final thoughts before I drift off into a dreamless sleep.
(Alex)
I fell asleep just after Cara did. Except this time, something happened that I had only ever heard about, never experienced. I had a dream. It felt so real. I was standing in a large meadow, with tall grass and the most beutiful, colorful flowers I had ever seen. I was standing on a trail, behind me was the meadow, no trail, in front of me the trail continued on. I walked down the trail, expecting to see birds or bees or something of that nature, but instead I saw the weirdest thing ever concieved. It was tall and lanky, with a falcon wing on one side and a bat wing on the other. It had the right claw of an eagle, though it had thumbs, and a left lion paw. It had the tail of what could only be described as a dragon, a moose leg, and a dragon leg. It also had antlers, one deer, one goat. But the thing that struck me the most were the eyes. Yellow with red pupils. Like the taxi driver for that one moment.
"Why hello there, human. Like the little dreamscape I've created for you? It's a lucid dream so you can do anything you want. Just don't make things too predictable. Or you could just immediately talk to me, but I thought I'd give you a dream because you've never experienced one before. Oh, by the way, the girl will be here soon as well, Fluttershy said you felt good when you did nice things." He mumbled that last part to himself.
Being that this was all just a figmant of my imagination, I decided to have a little fun. My back felt tingly, stronger, more ridgid. My mouth started to ache and my chest felt like it was burning. My eyes grew more focused, and my hands became more slende. Suddenly my back ripped open, and out soputed two leathery wings. My whole body felt like it was on fire, but yet, it didn't hurt in the slightest. When the transformation was complete, I was twenty times bigger and in the form of someone I knew well. Alduin.
"Interesting, Nordic dragon god of death. Not the most pleasent drake around, and he always cheats in poker." The monster firmly scowled at the last bit. I ignored him. When I changed back to my regular form, it was just a flash of light and 'Poof' I was human.
'POP' I turned around to the noise. (I didn't do that.) was my first thought. Standing there was Cara.
"Ah good, you're both here, now lets get things started, shall we? Your world is by far the most chaotic in the universe, so I picked out of. a hat-" he snapped his fingers and a bowler hat the size of my fist appeared in his hand. "-and out of all seven billion of you, you two came up." He reached into the small bowler hat up to his shoulder and pulled out an ornate, life-sized, DaVinci style painting of me, and an even bigger roman-style statue of Cara. "So, I'm going to send you to my world for an unprecedented amount of time. Time here will be put to a standstill, so when you get back, you can have that little camping trip you planned. Oh, and no guns. The peoples of my world would not take too kindly to a weapon of such calibur. Anyways, arivadercci!" And he snapped again. A blinding flash of light erupted from his lion-paw and I woke with a start.
"Ah!" I take a deep breath to calm myself and look at Cara. She's in much the same position I am, taking deep calming breathes. She looks at me.
"Weird dragon goat thing?"
"Yep."
"Let's go assess the damage." And with that, she crawls out of the sleeping bag and opens the tent.
"Alex, are there any rainforests in Colorado?"
"No."
"Well this place bears a striking resemblance to the Amazon."
"Shhhii-talking mushrooms."
I walk outside with Cara at my side. We were still by a river shallow in a clearing, but the trees were a lot thcker, vines were hanging from almost all of them, and the foliage surrounded the clearing, completely obscuring the rest of the forest. There is a path leading away from the clearing, deeper into the forest.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god! Alex, what do we do!?" Cara's eyes are wide and she looks on the verge of panic.
"Hey, hey, it's okay, we'll get out of this. We'll still do as we planned and document some animals and plant life, if only to keep us occupied. This could be a great learning experience for us." Despite what I say, I'm just as panicked as Cara. In a completely foreign world, with no sembiance of where we are, it is quite worrying.
"Promise?" I look deep into her eyes.
"Promise." She takes a shaky breath. "O-okay, I believe you. I believe you." She starts taking deep breathes again.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm okay."
"Okay." We walk further into the clearing. Being in an unknown area, I decided that any weapons at all would be a good idea. I climb up one of the trees and grab some of the thicker vines and ten branches. After I get these materials, I go down to the tent, grab a rucksack, and collect some shapely rocks from the river shallow "Cara! C'mere!" I hear her footsteps from where I'm standing, and when I turn around, I'm quite surprised at what I see. Cara has changed into a different outfit. A camo tank top that hugs her form perfectly with cargo pants of the same color, and matching combat boots to go with it. She tied her hair up into a braid, letting her bangs frame her face. Overall... Damn.
"Yeah?" I just stared like a dumbass. "Uh, Alex? Hello?" Suddenly she was right in front of me, waving in my face.
"Oh! Uh... Sorry. Anyways, since we're here in a completely foreign place, and we have no idea what is here, I've decided to teach you whittling, stone carving, advanced knotting, and the essentials of hunting."
"Oh. Okay." She looks at me.
"Oh! Alright, uh let's get started."
So for an hour we whittled, carved, and tied our own ropes, spears, and arrows. She caught on to whittling and carving quite quickly, but had trouble with the knots. When we were finished, we had four spears, two bow skeletons, and sixty arrow shafts from branches I had collected in the middle of our session. "Alright Cara. We've got the equipment we need, but we just need a couple more things. And we can get all of these by hunting." I get up and motion for her to follow me. "We're going to have to start an exercise and training regimen for you so we can better survive in case civilization is not nearby."
"You know how to fight?" She asks with a skeptical eyebrow.
"My dad thought it would be a good idea to live in a forest, away from civilization. I learned survival skills ever since I could talk, and when I turned fourteen, mom moved us into the city where I got a formal education. I went to college after that and got a masters in psychology, teaching, and astrology. I was planning on applying for physics after I got out of the teaching business."
"When were you planning on doing that?"
"Uh, actually, you are pretty much the only student that I like so, once you went into college, I guess." I feel heat rise up into my face. I look at her and see that her face has taken a crimson tint as well.
"Really?" She smiles a little. I just nod. Her smile grows wider. "That's one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me. A little weird, but still."
"Yeah, yeah." My cheeks just grow hotter. "Anyway, uh, let's get started." So we set out onto the path.
We encounter a few things as we go. Cara even managed a perfect spear throw right into the head of an elk. We made a few trips back and forth on our hunting trip. We were on our third trip when we heard it. 'CRASH' It was loud and sudden, out of nowhere. We both turned toward the sound, emenating from the left.
"What was that!?" Cara is down low, tensed and ready to flee.
"I don't know, and I'd rather not find out." We start for the camp, which just happens to be in the direction of the sound.
"Shit." I look at Cara. "Hey, I'm eighteen, I can say what I want."
"That's fine, just don't let your dad catch you doing that." We continue towards the sound, spears at the ready. When we hanive, I almost piss myself. Standing there, with my torn up sleeping bag and an elk in its hand, was a giant blue bear.
Giant Blue Carebear of DEATH
(Cara)
Almost everything was undamaged, except for Alex's sleeping bag and the tent, both of which were torn to shreds. Oh, and not to mention the fact that there was a bear the size of my HOUSE on top of it.
"Cara, we need to kill that thing."
"What!? Why!?" I am thoroughly conivinced that he is crazy.
"Because it is huge, allowing for far more honed tracking skills, and the fact that we could never outrun that thing."
"That's all well and good, but you're forgetting that it it's so big, one of its nostrils is the size of a door!"
"And that's perfect, because we need to stab it in the head to kill it." He looks at me. "I'm going to distract it. The only way to take out something bigger than you is to kill it from a distance. Stay safe, alright?"
"No, I can't let you do that alone. That thing will crush you!"
"I don't care if I die, as long as you're safe."
"Where the hell is your sense of self preservation!? You are not doing that alone!"
'CRASH' The bear had just ripped a tree out of the ground. "Fine! Than what we need to do is go around and trap it. Compared to it, we're pretty small, so although we can't outrun it we can outmaneuver it. See those vines over there?" He points to a nearby tree. I nod. "Grab those vines and braid them together. Tie a knot at the end to streothern the rope. I'll go to the other side and do the same. On my signal we go and tie its legs. It won't hold it long, so we need to kill it when we get the chance."
"How will we distract it?"
"Stay hidden. I'll bang my spear on a tree to gain its attention from my side."
'CRACK' It just snapped the tree in half. I look at it. The bear has a curious look on its face. It, as much as it surprises me, is still a cub.
"Yeah, I noticed that too, which is why the distraction will work better on this one than on a full grown. Let's get started." And with that he tiptoed around the clearing, slowly, silently. I climbed the tree and pulled the vines off the tree and started to braid them.
'CLACK' 'CLACK' 'CLACK' As I was completing the final knot, I heard Alex banging his spear on the tree. I saw him sneak around from where he was, downwind of the bear. It looked up, eyes narrowed and ears perked, searching for the creature that dared to disrupt its investigation.
I snuck around to the side opposite Alex and waited for the signal. The bear approached the bush where Alex was and stuck its head in. Alex raised his spear and pointed at the bear. We both charged at the same time, weaving around its legs, tying them together and immobilizing it. Both of our ropes were tied to our spears, ensuring that the ropes stayed secured to the ground. We stabbed or tied spears into the ground to keep it stuck. The bear was confused, confounded even, that anything would dare interrupt, nay, attack it. I ran to where our spare spears were while Alex held the spears down. I threw one to him, he released the spears and caught the one I threw to him, quickly pivoting and stabbing the bear in the eye. It howled in a mixture of rage and pain. Alex pulled the spear out and ran around the star spangled bear.
"Cara! Jump onto its back and cut the spinal column!" He cuts both hamstrings in its legs, crippling its hind legs so I can climb on. I run towards the bear.
(I've always wanted to say this.) "LLEEEEROOOOYYY JEEEEENNNNKIIINNNS!!!!!!" I jump onto its back and stab just below the neck, killing it instantly.
I look down and notice Alex is on the ground, howling with laughter. I just smile. He's usually so serious, so it's nice to see him so jovial. I start giggling to, before I'm also in a full on laughing fit.
"You-you killed a giant Charmin bear, and screamed Leroy Jenkins in the process! HAHAHAHA!"
"No, WE killed a giant Charmin bear. I just screamed Leroy jenkins, HAHAHAHA!"
We continued on like this for a full minute, never stopping laughing for more than three seconds.
"Okay, let's get this thing stripped and dried before something else comes along." I went over to the paw of the bear.
"Hey Alex! These claws are weird! They aren't blunt, like normal bear claws! They're more cat like!"
"That's good! Grab some, we might need them to carve the bear!" He answered from the other side of the bear. I set about prying the claws of the bear from its paw with the spear. It gave me time to think. What's out here? This place could be filled with dangers and death just waiting to strike.
When I finally got most of the claws out I turned to and walked in Alex's direction.
"Hey, Alex, I got two claws for each of us. They're pretty thick so we might need to embed them and secure them instead of just straight up tying them." He raised an eyebrow at me.
"You might have a point there Cara. I'll grab a rock and start sharpening the bases so that we can sttart fileting this thing." He walked over to the river and started digging around for a stone. I took this time to look at the bear more properly. It was large and blue with an eight pointed star in the middle of its head. The fangs of the thing were sharp as well, so I pulled those out too.
"We should probably harvest its body for the meat and bones and whatnot. I'll get a fire going to dry the meat and skin so we can make leather and jerky." I nodded at his suggestions. I had a feeling he had done this a lot. It was in how he held himself, mostly calm and collected. But even then, he had an air of caution around him, normal in this kind of situation, bar that he also wreaked of anxiety up .
We set to harvesting the titanic carcass of the bear, who will thusly be named, cleverly, Charmin. After about three hours, we had stripped the hide and meat from the remains of the carcass. Alex walked over and grabbed a rather large bone. He had a hard time with it at first but eventually got it.
"If I'm correct, this bone should be very strong so as to support the bear's weight. I can get the whittling tools so we could carve these into some form of weapon." He walked over to a large rock, set the bone down, picked the rock up, and set it adjacent to another boulder. He then retrieved and set the femur like bone on the rocks, balancing it.
"I really hope this works." He walked over and grabbed another bone.
"Yeah, I really REALLY hope this works." He raised the bone I've his head and struck the femur.
'CRACK'
The bone bounced off the femur.
"YES! And not only that, but we have our selves a decent set of hammers, warhammers, maces, clubs... We have a large supply of blunt weaponry." He had a manic look in his eye and a huge grin plastered on his face.
"Let's grab some vines so we can bundle this stuff up. We've already discovered that the bones meat and carcass are too heavy to carry altogether, so we have to take everything we can and leave the rest here." We divided into shifts of what each of us would work on. I whittled the bones into spears, which took hours to do one, and swords, which took days with the both of us.
At the end we had one set of weapons for both of us. Two swords, two spears, two clubs, two work hammers and two warhammers. It was very VERY heavy.
