Hey folks! I really wasn't liking where I'd taken things with the end of chapter 3 and what I'd written for chapter 4. It was just too soon to be facing big angry predators and all the solutions felt a little too plot armourish, so I've decided to re-write the end of chapter 3, flushing it out to a better size in the process and taking things in a direction I'm much happier with.

For those who don't want to re-read the whole chapter, I'll Include just the changed section here.

Thanks for your patience while I learn this whole ~writing~ thing and I hope you like Chapter 3 MK II!

  As he started to come down from the stress and excitement the stinging pain of his cut-up fingers started to become more and more pronounced. Though the bleeding had mostly stopped he was still worried about infection. There wasn't much he could do about it though, he hadn't seen any plants he knew he could use and he didn't even have soap to wash his hands with. The best he could do is rinse them off and try to keep them clean. With any luck, he'd find some pine sap in the morning that he could use to seal the cuts. Derek was sure that there must be something nearby he could use but he wasn't about to start slathering his hands in random plant stuffs.

  The fire was good enough now for him to boil his water so he set the pot on the fire and got to thinking about how to spend the night. He knew that he didn't have enough fire to last the night so he'd either have to wrap up and hope it didn't get too cold or go out in the dark and gather more firewood. Both had their risks. If the night was too cold he risked hypothermia, his kilt could only do so much. On the other hand, if he went out to get more firewood in the dark he'd be seriously risking an injury and be leaving the relative safety of the fire. Beasts didn't like fire and hopefully, the light and smell of smoke would spook them off. That reminded him that he didn't have a weapon yet, not even a walking stick.

  Deciding that however, he was going to be spending his night, being unarmed wasn't an option, Derek stoked the fire so it would last a while without his tending and went off into the woods with the larger chunk of flint to look for something workable he could use as a weapon. He did a few circles around his camp, each time moving a bit further away until he found a sapling of some sort that he figured was good enough. He'd have time to get a better weapon together later, for now, he just needed something. Using the chunk of flint as a crude hand ax he took a few minutes to fell the sapling, which he then dragged back to the light of the fire. The section he wanted was about 4 feet long and a bit thicker than his thumb along most of it, It wasn't the straightest thing, nor did it seem the hardest but it would do for now.

  Derek spent the next hour carving a spear while sipping hot water as the stock of firewood dwindled and dwindled. Once the “spear” was done Derek decided that he'd just tuck himself under the fallen tree, wrap himself up as best he could and rough it through the night, hopefully getting some sleep. Mind made up, he stripped all the junidar bark from the sticks he had left and layered it out under his improvised shelter to use as bedding. He fed the fire until the last of the wood was used up then wrapped himself up and crawled into “bed”. It was going to be an uncomfortable night, but he resolved to be better prepared for the next.

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