My stomach is growling like it never did before. I could skip building a fire and find something to sustain my hunger for some time if it wasn't for that damn freezing weather!

At least I got something to defend myself if another skeleton appears.

If another skeleton appears, I never thought I ever use such as this. What will come next, ghost and goblins?

Now, now. Where can I find food? I know some edible mushrooms and berries grow in winter. Maybe some herbs can be found used for medicine. Animals such as rabbits will probably be sleeping in their dens, so finding one can mean easy food.

But even though my options are quite a lot, I can't find anything without wandering. Talking has no meaning for now, and it isn't the first time I walked inside a forest in winter. Neither the first time, I needed to forage and hunt for food.

*****

Well, it would be easy to lose my precious shelter in this alien forest, but I have my reliable swiss army knife and enough brains to graze my road back to the trees I pass by.

I even find some little treasure on some trees, like edible nuts.

Thanks to a trick I learned when I was a child, pressing hard points of two or more nuts into each other, I can crack them open and enjoy my little treat while searching for the main course.

Thankfully most nuts are high in calories and nutrients, but I can't have an appetite just made out of nuts. Even if I can't find meat, I still need anything else than nuts for food.

*****

As I moved deeper into the forest, the number of things I found increased, like edible mushrooms (hopefully), some wild herbs, wild garlic, and my main course, rabbit.

Simply by luck, I accidentally stumbled on what appears to be a rabbit nest. I won't risk the chance of anything venomous being inside there biting me by putting my hand in it.

I can build a small fire near its gate and direct the smoke. Anything inside will try to escape from smoke by exiting the nest.

Collect some twigs make them a stack, add some papers as an igniter, and light the fire. Sparks will turn into flames, and smoke will come out of it right after.

Like taking candy from a baby, now I only need to direct that. Why not use my primate hands once more?

*****

After some time, the first rabbit dashed outside and directly jumped into my lap, and the second rabbit moved out right after it.

I caught the first rabbit with no problem, but the second one almost fleed from my hands. Thankfully I managed to jump on it and stop it from escaping.

Missing any food will be bad considering it is still wintertime.

I killed both rabbits by snapping their necks, and I began moving towards the cave with vegetables and herbs in my pocket and meat in my hand. Thankfully the graving I left helped me to find my shelter with ease.

*****

I built a campfire near the cave I found for cooking the rabbits.

And to cook them, I sharpened some sticks I found and made some skewers, then skinned the rabbit and cleaned the garlic much as I could with tools in my hand.

It is time for my outdoor survival cooking skills to make their show.

I cut open the rabbit's legs and put a clove of wild garlic, herbs, and some fat I got from the other parts of the rabbits.

To make something to hold the skewers, I pilled some stones and used them as a holder for my skewer.

While the fire slowly grilled the rabbit legs, I used my free time to clean the rabbit's interiors.

I dried some parts under the fire to stop them from rotting.

I need those parts to make a waterskin, which has a gross process, but I will skip the details.

I used the rabbit's skin and stomach and some sap from a nearby tree knowing that would be enough.

Now back to less gross meat. I smoked the remaining meat using the campfire, so it should still be edible for some more time. But the taste of the main course.

It tasted better than most food cooked outside with little to no equipment. It would be nicer if it had any salt, but garlic and herbs did good enough.

I am still waiting for my two waterskins to dry, so I can use them to drink some water, but I hope some finds me before that.

*****

Campfire is still burning, stars shine in the sky with all their power, I am having a hard time sleeping on the ground, but everything else is going great. There are no insects or creatures that can harm me while I sleep around.

Warm of the fire is enough for me to be comfortable. My stomach is happy and full. If everything goes like this, I am okay for one more day in this forest.

Now, thinking, how long it has been since I had this quite a day, the last time I went into a forest, not for the military purpose, was before I joined the army. More than ten years before.

I am getting older. Thirty-five years might not be much for many people, but I don't know how long I will live with the things I endured during the war.

I should see my grandpa sometime. Maybe right after escaping this forest. He will know how to deal with this emptiness if he didn't go all nuts after my father's death.

What did I do wrong in my life? Why I am feeling so disconnected from all the people in my life. Did my life even mean anything to others?

I was a soldier for more than ten years. I killed countless people and did tasks considered impossible, but what did I do before the war?

Wasn't I the top student in my class? Didn't I finish mechanical engineering but then leave my peaceful life for revenge.

My father got killed in a suicide bombing right before my country got into a war, and I did something stupid. I quit my job and applied to the army, just like my father wanted when he was alive.

I became a soulless killer. There was one thing in my head for three years, revenge. Take your father's revenge.

What happened then? I got addicted to the killing. I wanted more, more and more. I didn't care about how they died. I only killed.

And now, I am not in the army anymore. I lost the purpose of my life, the middle of a forest that I don't know, where skeletons somehow can walk.

Just over my words! Another skeleton, wearing a fur coat and carrying a spear, is approaching.

"The same sound I heard before. Someone is behind me, and it isn't a human. What could it be?" I jumped on the skeleton and knocked him down. "I only want some peace. Is that too much for your kind?"

I began hitting the skeleton's head into the ground, but it wasn't hard enough to break its skull.

I grabbed the skeleton and raised it to the air. "I only wanted some peace, but no, it isn't about your kind. Life doesn't want me to have that. I am a soldier, a murderer, a psychopath. Why does someone like me deserve a quiet life?"

I threw the skeleton towards the cave's wall and smashed his skull to the wall using all my force with an after punch.

I picked the mace of the skeleton that I killed earlier from the ground and pushed it into the new skeleton's mouth.

"Even though how weak you are, you wouldn't let me in peace?"

I used the mace as leverage to dismantle the skeleton's jaw from its skull.

"I don't need no help or be saved. It won't come how much I pray or cry. I am not in the world that I know. Neither you nor the rabbit I killed was normal." I crushed the skeleton's skull using the mace.

"The thing threw me here. You created something that you wished that you would not."

The figure, that thing isn't divine or anything. That thing is the devil itself!

I picked the fur cloak skeleton was wearing and wore it. I walked next to the campfire. "Then devil, let me play by your rules now, and we see who conquers who first."