To be perfectly honest I expected...the last week or so to not be so quaint. I thought that I will fall into some new brand of funk but since the day I got violently woken up by roaming lizards...I was calm? Perhaps I finally accepted my new reality and just did not notice? I was sure edgy that morning but as I got into the thick of things, stuff just got done.

Oh sure, there was a bit of annoyance when neighbors came enquiring as to contents of those interestingly smelling baskets, not to mention those fascinating constructs holding meaty strips, bathing in smoke.

Some of those questioners stayed, their bodies displayed on stakes...or a spit over the campfire. It seems others soon learned that inquisitive home calls are not entirely welcome and can cost you your literal skin, in later cases a loud shooing sufficed.

I ask myself why I did not get to hunting smaller game before. A finely sharpened short spear or longer one is a very deadly weapon. And smaller animals here are actually not that fast as I was to believe before. Especially lizards, those are getting more lumbering in their gait the bigger they come. Easy targets and my throws are packing a punch, not to mention getting close and stabby. I do have to train to aim though, this simple weapon is going places here.

I finally decided to move out of the cave, only coming back from time to time to collect the Cure. Junk from the vicinity and the cave itself got cleaned up in a flash of civic duty, which sent me into a laughing fit. Even here, in neck-deep wilderness lightyears away, I’m still conditioned to not litter.

The cave entrance got filled with thick bamboo-filled frames and a simple door with a latch. It should keep smaller guys away but it will definitely not stop a charging Deli. I really outdid myself here though, gluing, hammering, and binding stuff together. I like it.

Now that I see more and more fruits of my labor I begin to feel successful, happy, and a bit content.

A tall tree now sports a fine and stable platform with a leafy roof and the entrance is provided by a rope with knots for supports. I chose one of the biggest on my trail between the cave and the stream. Below the tree are my work tables, flat slate stones in most cases, racks full of drying meat, basket/chests full of my collected items, and others.

Trees in this area are not packed too tight and with my main tree in the center, all trees around in a rough circle will be getting bamboo spikes hammered in between and sharpened. This will be my temporary workshop and lodging until meat is sufficiently smoked. Those will be stored in baskets and hoisted high, on the main tree.

And then I will start the construction in the earnest. I want to have a snazzy house and lots of places to store whatever experiments I might want to carry, things to keep, and a separate area for processing. Skinning and working with animal bodies smells rather strong and even if I’m no longer squeamish, it nice to not have those odors around me 24/7.

Of course...it’s been a couple of days and buddies of my latest catch did not visit, yet. It would be very...unlucky of me to get jumped in the middle of my work. And since we expect the worst...well, there are options.

-&-

My hand traces a deep indentation on the forest floor. Sharp fingers have dug deep under a large weight, a spur visible at the back of the footprint.

They are searching for me.

Yesterday night I have been awoken by hoots and calls coming from the forest and today I have risked investigating. Those tracks, which are getting rather close to my home are both worrying and making me giddy. And since I have reached this place, I might safely assume that they will now pick my scent if they return here.

I was racking my brain to try and understand those Delis and so far my conjectures show that even if they have diurnal capabilities, they might be favoring hunting at night, and lazing during the day. Which makes my first encounter with them a bit perplexing, since I met one at the stream bank in the middle of the day, what was it doing there?

I wonder how much time I have, they will definitely follow the prey. They only saw me running and escaping in panic so far, so I might try making some surprises when they come calling but...I don’t have much time. Not to mention I’m still smoking the last pieces of meat....oh!

-&-

My hands finish laying the trap, casting some dried leaves onto it. This surprise will hurt.

I have debated many ways on how I should approach my two latest problems. I should expect them to adapt to my tactics, so attacks from above will be watched out for after the alpha strike. Their prodigious mass and tough hide will most likely turn away regular spears and I don’t have too many of those with crystal heads.

Since there are two of them and I can at best dance with only one, it means I have to get rid of one pretty fast. Traps then. Big and mean traps that will not take a huge amount of time to make. I have already burned thru a lot of my resources, especially good sticks, bamboo, and rope. I hope this stuff works.

On the stone slab, I check two strong-smelling pouches made of rough skin. Harvesting juice was a harrowing experience and tales of me bomb diving into the stream and risking broken spine will not be told. Yes, my very own, prototype, faulty as heck, Deli’s Delight anti-personnel grenades.

And since they appear to be cautious hunters, as shown by the first Deli, I will probably have to use myself as bait to force them to act swiftly and miss the danger.

I examine my abode and frown, there is still some meat being dried, but it’s good in another way as I think it might be very close to becoming spoiled...speaking of which, how long this meat hold out for already? Ugh, I have no idea how fast meat from before went bad.

They did not came the following night, which gave me another day to prepare myself, and I will keep doing so until they show up. With them gone I will be able to return to construction.

I rise and go to check on Jim, little guy is now a proud owner of a new, portable, and a bit small cage. He is gonna join me up on the tree until this mess blows over.

And it’s gonna end only in one way.

-&-

A loud crunching sound rouses me from my slumber, dreamless sleep dispels itself fast and I crack my eyelids slowly. Darkness. It’s the middle of the night.

Lazy beams of silvery light pierce the roof of the forest, now that I think of it I never paid much attention to the moon here. Surprisingly its...a very regular one, familiar. Pockmarked by meteorites and staying in the full phase much longer due to binary sun, I guess.

It seems I have been found by something.

I lay on my raised platform and listen to my surroundings. Crunching sounds return as big mass crushes small rocks. I have spread a big amount of those around my dwelling as a warning system, and it’s paying dividends now.

I hear rocks crumbling and wood splintering as something is checking my stuff down and...loud crunch and falling sticks. Seems my last smoking rack just got toppled.

Keeping silent I roll gently onto my belly and inch forward to the edge of the platform. As my eyes get more comfortable with darkens, I’m able to spy the shadow rummaging in the center of my camp, just perfect.

As Deli below gorges itself on the bait, my hand sneaks to the rope I’m about to pull. I really hope it’s gonna work since I only have one shot.

It’s too dark and I don’t dare to light a fire, for now, to not alert the animal but I can hardly see its moving shape below. With nothing else to do but pray, I pull the rope.

With a soft crunch, a taut rope finally pulls the safety holding a whole big trunk, which now starts to swing downwards, right to the middle of my camp. Its front is sharpened to hell and back and pockmarked with inserted crystal spikes. It has to hit!

The sounds made the Deli stop its feast and look around.

In a span of a second, this movement took its snout and chest away from the swinging trap but a wet loud crunch that sounded said something was hit. What followed was a loud screech of pain and heavy thud as prodigious mass fell onto the forest floor.

It worked!

As fast as I could I made my way down using carved handholds in the trunk of the tree since I had to reuse all of my rope, and praying that the second Deli is not yet here.

I jumped down the last two meters and sprinted to the campfire. Accompanied by painful wails of Deli I swat away the ash to uncover the still red embers. Fuel got added in but I could spare just a few blows to get fine dried grasses going under the sticks and branches. This is a race against time.

My club and pouches were just where I left them, under the tree. Now ready and armed, the rising glow of the campfire cast the weak light on the destruction in the center of my camp.

Deli got hit, hard. The front rope holding the ram-like trap snapped and fell. And it was still somehow lodged in Deli’s thigh which...was a sick amalgam of shredded meat and bone. Deli is trying to dislodge itself but it’s in a critical state, the pool of blood below it increasing with each second.

Not allowing myself a second more to gawk I tossed the pouch right at its snout which got me another shriek of pain and rage, but this time…

My most powerful overhead strike landed on blinded Deli. With a mighty crack, I could feel something give way under the pressure of my club but I was not taking any chances with this. I gave two more powerful overhead blows to its head and kept a wary eye until it stopped spasming.

The thought of getting another one up over beasts here really made me feel buoyed but I can’t become complacent. Just as the campfire got bigger I took a few still burning sticks off it and took them to other, previously prepared campfires around my camp.

Just as I was tossing the last stick in, a furious hoot of charging Deli got my attention.

Without any thought and weaponless I furiously rolled across the glowing campfire and to the side. How the heck did I miss it approaching?!

Sprinting like a man possessed I got back to my tree to grab the last pouch. In between my movement to toss it backward, something hit my side.

With a thud I was smacked sideways towards and against the tree, Delis taloned foot pressing me, dagger-like claws digging in and fully open jaw, closing in.

Pouch!

Delis’s jaw closed with a loud click as the pouch landed on its tongue, just centimeters in front of my face. I saw its eyes bulging comically, just like when that coyote from cartoons realized something went very wrong. It backpedaled and released me from its hold.

Fucking hell, it wanted to nail me to the tree to keep me from moving, why is it so smart?!

I coughed out blood as my punctured lung made itself known and behind me, fucking Deli was in the middle of regurgitating its stomach contents in between choked screeches.

Get the club and drink, fast, man!

I popped the cork off my emergency vial and just inserted it in my mouth, still half running/jogging towards the Delis ambush point where my club lies. But I’m still kicking, I ain’t dead yet.

Just as the warm glow of regeneration hit me and I got my club, Deli let out a furious howl and again started to advance on me, eyes red and saliva dripping from its opened jaw. But this time I had a plan from the beginning. I used trees as cover to minimize my body being exposed and to hinder its charges and sweeps of its legs.

It was time for the second trap, which was risky as hell but I don’t feel like I can beat Deli in single combat without resorting to some trap. Here goes nothing.

I circled around trying to force maddened Deli to a position but it was frenzied and forego any notion of cautious combat, perfect...not! Just as I was getting ready to spring my trap, Deli rushed me, clamped its jaws on my club, and simply bull-rushed me.

I was sent flying, my wavering strength leaving my fingers and releasing club from my grasp. It was a mixed blessing, Deli was now swinging the club away and getting ready to charge my prone form...yet, I landed where I needed.

As if perfectly choreographed Deli lept at me and me...I pulled the rope towards me while digging my feet into shallowly dug furrows. Accompanied by my own roar a multitude of hidden, roped together, thick bamboo stakes rose from the floor. This is exactly where it dawned on me that this plan went to shit.

Deli crashed into the spiky wall, its mass and bending bamboos sending it forward careening like a flipping car during a car crash.

Right at me.

I tried to roll out of the way but I was too slow, Deli too fast. As I was getting away its weight caught my foot that was still lodged in the furrow. Sickening crunch sounded just as a white flash of agony blinded me.

When my vision returned, among the hot torment in my leg, I saw Deli finishing its wild roll and stopping at the cooling carcass of its mate, blood trailing and spurting behind it like a leaking cistern.

The pain! My God, I can’t think straight. The regeneration...what if my leg heals the wrong way?! Oh no, I have to set it, no no no no...I hear something through the haze of pain and...Deli. It’s still moving. No!

Crying and bawling I grab the last vial and chug it down. I do my damn best to crawl and not hurt my leg even more, towards the tree. The last of my rope was used to make a fast emergency...my God, I can’t think. Deli, I can hear it. No, please no!

It felt like ages, warmth, and pain crashing against my insides like waves and weak sounds of Deli behind me. My one hand grabbed the end of the rope in a crushing vice while the other pulled the stake out of the blocking mechanism.

Screaming in pain as my leg got bounced around, I shot upward, my weight carried by the descending rock tied to the other end of the rope. The rope is creaking but in this moment of certain death by fall and subsequent...NO! I grab the edge of the platform and just for a moment just stay there unmoving, supported by still unbroken rope and platform.

Screaming, whimpering, and bawling in pain I lift myself on the platform, bumping my leg in the process. I almost blacked out because of the crashing white wall of pain and all I could do was hold myself in dead grip, halfway on the platform.

I lie there as if dead but I only extend the inevitable. I know I have to set my leg straight, but the fear of even more pain stays my hand. But...I take a look at my leg and yes, it’s broken, bent at an unnatural angle. no bone is sticking out. Right in the middle between my ankle and knee, oh my God.

I sneak my hand around in madness and grab a thick stick making the roof of my abode. I rip it off, sending my roof in pieces around, and just bite on it. I watch with red eyes as my hands sneak slowly to my leg and...growling like a wounded dog I press.

It snaps straight much easier than I expect...my muted howl adds to cacophony...Deli is still alive? What is it doing? I’m dying....it hurts so much.

Stunned by the pain I give a squeeze to make sure that bone is set right and again am blinded by pain. Another tug. My shaky hands are now searching for the last dose of the Cure, and almost spill it, as I drink carefully.

I fall into unconsciousness and pray that my leg would be working once I awaken...if I awaken.