Chelae

The large cavern was silent.

No sound reverberated in the dark expanse other than the faint echoes of countless water droplets falling from its vaulted ceiling, each one had flowed from the surface through the many layers and hidden veins of the huge underground system, following the path of innumerable copies of itself and paving it for numberless more.

That day, however, was a special one, because something that hadn’t happened in many years would finally transpire.

A new predator would be establishing itself at the apex of the local food chain.

Or so claimed Alice in her silent psych-up talk.

I’m a killer, the entire human race is made of killers, we destroy entire species for breakfast.

It’s only a matter of time until all of you become dodos.

This is just the first step.

She was standing onto the now familiar limestone platform, her trusted club was propped against her feet while several rocks and bones she had collected were piled into a small heap in front of her, ready to be thrown.

In her hands was the leather rope she had laboriously crafted the previous day.

One end of the rope was wrapped around her wrist —she wasn’t going to lose it because it slipped from her grip— while the other was dangling by her side, weighed down by a screechling’s torso she had kept for the occasion.

She had drunk all of her water reserves and had her new knife tucked in the waistband of her pajama pants.

She was as ready as an almost naked lady in a cave could be.

Which, in her opinion, was quite ready.

Here goes nothing.

65%. She turned on the light and instantly started tossing the stones she had collected to the far side of the cave, the rocks arching in the air and soon clattering loudly on the hard ground.

As soon as she saw the first shapes gliding down, eagerly following the source of the noise, the girl started swinging her rope, making sure not to hit the walls behind her but feeding the rotation more and more lengths of cord.

She let the sound of the fighting reach its apex before letting the bait fly.

The weighted rope soared through the air for a few seconds before dropping with a wet plop in the center of one of the closest pools, the previously still surface now rippling with small, concentrical waves.

She waited only a couple seconds before slowly starting to draw back the rope, dragging the chunk of flesh to the edge of the pool and then gradually sliding it across the ground.

A few moments later, the water parted with an almost inaudible burble as a huge crayfish clambered out of the pool on its eight jointed legs. It immediately tried to snatch the bait with one of its large pincers, but she luckily managed to yank it back in time, the claw loudly snapping at the air.

She kept slowly coiling the rope, stopping every time the crustacean seemed too far away or to be losing interest.

Three quarters of the rope were already at her feet when she noticed that the cacophony was slowly fading; with a glance, she realized the bats were already trying to escape from their predators.

It was in that moment of distraction that the crawfish lunged, its larger, hammer-like claw finally catching the tied meat in its grip.

The creature started retreating to its aquatic home.

Oh no, you don’t! she exclaimed in her head.

62%. Alice started pulling on the rope with all her strength, the sudden tightening of the line causing the monster’s legs to skid on the incline, not finding purchase on the slick limestone.

Despite the surprise, it luckily didn’t seem to have any intention of dropping its prey, its claw firmly shut around the gory bundle.

Knowing the skins wouldn’t hold that amount of stress for a long time, the girl got as close as possible to the edge of the platform and started hauling up the crayfish, her heels trying to dig on the hard ground as she pulled on the straining rope.

61%. The screechlings were climbing the walls, the remaining fights quickly ending, and yet she was still pulling the creature up. With a final, strained grunt, Alice hoisted the animal onto the ledge, the rope snapping just as it managed to clamber up, causing her to painfully fall on her butt with a startled cry.

The crustacean in front of her was longer than one of her legs; a pinkish-white shell covered its segmented body and its eyeless front was a mess of palps, mandibles, and whiskers, each one moving separately as they turned the bait into a gory mulch.

The large claws of the crayfish were now wide open; clearly annoyed at the treatment it had received, the creature kept snapping them in the air as it tried to reorient itself.

Alice did not give it the chance.

58%. The girl gripped her club and got up on her feet.

Just as the crustacean turned towards her, following the noise, the smoothed stalagmite club descended on its armored head, the impact causing a wet crunching sound that resonated in the entire cave.

The crayfish’s claws dropped to the ground, each one of its limbs spasming randomly when the head of the creature was caved in. Panting, she dropped the club, now covered in blue fluids and pieces of carapace and started working on the carcass.

She didn’t have much time.

57%. Alice grabbed the remaining rope and, staying as far as possible from the still clicking claws, she wrapped it around the monster. An instant later she was dragging the dead creature through the opening.

Even with the adrenaline coursing through her system, it took her quite a long time to reach her base, the carcass getting stuck more than a couple of times on the slick but uneven ground.

Only when she had finally rebuilt the palisade behind her did she breathe in relief.

Ignoring the hissing bat, she left the crayfish body near the entrance and proceeded to drop down near the pool. She stirred the fluid, causing it to light up, its mesmerizing lights helping her calm down.

“I did it. I really did. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but today I’m the victor.” She murmured to herself.

When her heart started finally beating normally, the young huntress got up and started pacing around, already focused on the next step.

I have to go back there and retrieve my club, I also might as well get an extra one from the antechamber, I’ll smooth it by grinding out the bowl a bit more.

When she finally felt enough time had passed since her intrusion, she quickly retraced her steps and, within a few minutes, she was back in the cave, her club in her hands and a second one ready to be smoothed out and improved with a little elbow grease.

Alice dragged the crayfish close to the pool, its increasingly bright and numerous specks enough to illuminate her work.

I bet they are multiplying faster since they received more food, if it keeps going like this I might be able to use the Bra-torchTM once again.

As she had done with the screechlings, before trying to butcher the creature she decided to inspect it, hoping to glean something useful from the engorged crustacean.

The animal was at least a meter long and a bit wider than her torso. As she had previously noticed, the creature was almost completely lacking in the pigmentation department, the only note of color a pinkish hue to the otherwise white carapace.

Its head was bashed in, and also really ugly, so she didn’t spend too much time looking at it, only noticing the blue blood that was coating it which, as far as she knew, was normal for crustaceans.

The legs of the crayfish were segmented, each one around four centimeters in diameter on their longest segment.

Its most impressive characteristic were the claws. The right one was as long as her forearm; thin and serrated, it was made for cutting and ripping through flesh while the left one was instead far wider, thicker, and smoother; probably to grab onto the prey and never let go.

“Apart from your size there is nothing really special about you, I’ll name you Giant Cave Crayfish.” She told the dead monster conversationally before unsheathing her knife and starting to cut.

“Now let’s try not to waste anything alright?”

First, she ripped away the legs, using the tip of the knife to cut through the joints and neatly piling them on one side.

Removing the claws proved to be a far more difficult endeavor, the knife simply unable to cut through even the thinner parts of the chitinous shell.

She broke through the joints by repeatedly smashing them with the club.

And these two are gonna be particularly useful, at least I hope so. She thought as she admired the two massive pincers.

It was now time to strip the rest of the body.

Alice started by turning the creature on its back, exposing the weaker bottom of its shell.

Since she wanted to keep the carapace as intact as possible, she proceeded to punch through the chitin with the point of her knife.

It took her a lot of effort but, in the end, she managed to break through the segmentations, finally exposing the pink flesh of the cave lobster.

I’d prefer it with some soy sauce and wasabi, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Using the edge of her knife, Alice carved a large slab of meat, making sure not to puncture the simple intestinal tract of the crustacean as she sliced.

When the food first entered her mouth, she wasn’t prepared for the sweet flavor and firmness of the meat and, in a matter of seconds, she was cramming her mouth full of crawfish, her hunger increasing tenfold at every bite.

“This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.” She mumbled between each bite.

Also, I need to stop. I haven’t eaten anything in a long time. If I eat too much too quickly I’m gonna be ill. But at the same time, I maybe have half a day before all this goodness is wasted and rotting.

Damn it, I’m hungry!

She forcefully stopped herself from taking more of the meat, waiting to see if she was starting to feel sick but, after waiting a while, her hunger won out and she decided to store up a bit more energy, this time taking small bites and savoring the delicious food for as long as possible.

In a span of many hours, the girl consumed as much of the crustacean as possible, feeding the screechling with another slab and then dragging the carcass into the pool, hoping it would be consumed during her sleep.

When Alice woke up many hours later, the tiredness of the previous day was all but gone. Her stomach still felt full of shellfish, but after her fasting days it was a good feeling on her book.

After checking for nightly intrusions and relieving herself, she checked the pool, noticing how the crawfish had started being consumed by the glowing organisms, its body mass already halved.

She proceeded to drink from her bowl, which had thankfully filled overnight, and then once again started to grind down the limestone with her newly acquired stalagmite. While performing her monotonous task, Alice tried to find ways to improve her living and safety situation; despite having improved from its previous, pitiful condition, it was still a very rough one.

Her first thought was about improving her protection against intruders, specifically a certain giant salamander which had yet to show up again.

Inspecting her domain while slowly turning around the bowl, she eyed the small enclosure of her only captive.

The screechling was now positively bloated and softly snoring over the dull sound of ground stone.

Alice took a break from hollowing duty to approach the stone cage; on a whim, she removed the top of the stone cage as the little fat bat immediately attempted to scamper away. In vain.

As she grabbed it from the wings and held its squirming body aloft, the creature started hissing, screeching, and ineffectually trying to bite her hand.

“No more free food for you. You are very noisy. Ever heard of the term ‘canary in the coal mine’? I guess you are gonna learn it very soon,” she said softly, until a whiff of the creature reached her nose “Ew, you are also very stinky”.

Scrunching up her nose, she carried the hissing bat to the pool and quickly dumped him in it, washing away the worst of the guano that had caked its fur in the time spent in the tight enclosure.

“I’m sorry little guy, I do feel a bit bad, but there isn’t any other way for me to keep you alive. I’ll keep feeding you in exchange for your services.” She promised to the enraged bundle of dripping fur.

In the next hour, Alice proceeded to create a second, larger cage near the entrance.

Cutting away a small section of the rope, she then unbraided it and tied the strands together in a thinner, longer cord, which she tied around the screechling’s neck.

Finally, she tied the other end of the leash to one of the heavier stalagmites of the fence.

“When something comes you’ll scream and hiss a lot and warn me okay? You will probably be eaten but until then you’ll be feasting like a king.”

After that, she left her newly appointed guard dog near the palisade and resumed grinding, only stopping when the new weapon was smooth and rounded, and the cavity at least twice as deep.

With her stomach starting to growl anew, the girl approached the legs and chelae of the lobster. She was hoping the meat would still be fresh.

She grabbed one of the thin appendages and sniffed at it, checking for the telltale smell of ammonia in the flesh contained within and finding out that Lady Luck had once again been in her favor; the meat seemed to still be relatively fresh with the only change being in its texture; now far softer, but still palatable.

Alice spent the rest of the hour pulling out and eating the meat from all the limbs, trying to empty them without breaking the tough carapace. The claws were the easiest ones of the bunch, their tough chitin easily withstanding her prying and pulling, while the legs had a worse fate, most of the segments soon breaking apart under the rough treatment.

While digesting her hearty meal, Alice inspected her results.

She had two intact and empty claws, four legs without evident holes in their shell, and a mess of broken pieces of exoskeleton, neatly piled up beside the undamaged pieces.

Now that they are empty, the legs are too weak to be useful as weapons or tools, but I already have an idea for them.

She kneeled by the pool and filled one of them with the fluid, smiling at the light shining through the shell.

Not only they are waterproof; since the vessel is biological and dead it’s gonna keep glowing until it’s consumed.

My only problem is the fact that it won’t last very long, but at least I now have a transportable torch!

She quickly emptied her new lighting implement and proceeded to fill it all with the smallest bits of the chitin she could find. They would hopefully act as fuel and allow the torch to last a bit more.

Leaving the legs near the pool, Alice then inspected the claws; the thin and sharp one she left beside the hideout, to work as a piercing weapon in case of necessity. The big one, instead, she thoroughly cleaned of as much leftover meat as possible and propped right under a stalactite with the help of some rocks, soon obtaining yet another container, this one for potable water.

I have a full belly, half an armory of weapons and a very small and fat guardian, it’s dark out and I’m holding a crab torch.

Hit it.