On his way back to the campsite Jason had picked up a little friend. It was the coyote cub that had ran away at the start of the fight. He had found it trying to eat the remains of the panther that Jason had killed through a battle of stamina and attrition.

Jason had immediately ran over and stopped it afraid that eating a monster that had been infected with a parasite would give the young cub that very same parasite. He wouldn’t have wished that on his worst enemy. Even though the coyote cub was scratching and trying to bite Jason on the hand, arms, and face when Jason brought him close enough Jason decided to take it with him to the campsite.

Maybe there was a skill for taming animals in the Control branch of the Utility skill tree, but even if there wasn’t Jason could just do it the old fashion way. There’s no need for a skill when food, water, and a place to stay would do the same thing just a bit slower. Jason was going to see if Caleb could raise him so that he’d have something similar to a hunting hound that some hunters used back on Earth.

If Caleb got a hunting coyote then he could kill prey and then focus on hunting more as the coyote brought the kill back. Or if he didn’t kill something outright the coyote would go in and kill it while it was weak from being shot. Really Jason thought it was a good idea all around. He seemed to forget that they were the ones who killed the coyotes pack which would make it harder to tame.

As Jason trudged back to camp he kept an ear out so that he could avoid anything that was unfriendly. It was after about an hour or walking that Jason made it back to camp and was stunned by what he saw. These bastards haven’t moved at all! Caleb even went back to bed. I could’ve died or something and they wouldn’t have even known. These assholes! Once they see my wounds their gonna… My wounds are gone! DAMMIT!

Looking at the other two sleeping members like an abused puppy Jason tossed the coyote cub right at Caleb. Once the cub landed on Caleb it sent a growl Jason’s way and started to gnaw on Caleb’s hand which was resting on his stomach. Caleb shot awake knocking the poor thing off of his chest.

“Ow abyss. Jason, why'd you poke me?” Caleb looked to the side. “My h-hp even went down three.” Caleb looked at Jason and then seemed to notice the small thing at his ankles. “Oh… hello. Hello little guy. I s-see you’ve met our ba-barbaric friend here. I hope he di-didn’t hurt you.” Caleb immediately started fussing over the cub like a momma bear over her own.

Jason turned to wake up Selene only to find that she was sitting up staring at the cub. She then walked over to it and picked it up holding it in her arms. She even rubbed her mask against its fur. She seemed to stop and remember that she had a mask on and after that realization she sat down and somehow even when showing no skin or facial expression managed to look depressed.

Ignoring the two children Jason started to make some proper food with the water he got and the coyote meat. It only took a bit less than an hour to completely finish the meal and give it out to everyone. As they were eating the coyote tried to have some of Caleb’s. Caleb was even going to give it to him before Selene shot him down.

“What’re you trying to do?” She harshly berated him.

“I-I’m trying to give him food.” Jason wasn’t very sure when they checked to see if it was a boy or girl because he could’ve sworn he never saw them check.

“With coyote meat.” With that Caleb finally seemed to understand his offense and looked at Jason pleadingly. All this fuss over a baby cub that can’t even be used for anything productive yet. I’ll never understand. Jason ignored that tiny voice in the back of his head that was reminding him of how he had had a dog named Chica and loved her all the way up until she died even though it did nothing but lay around and sometimes play with him.

Sighting to himself about how crazy people were Jason pulled out some wolf meat from the pendant and gave it to Caleb. The pendant didn’t have the function of keeping everything fresh so that was wolf meat they had gathered just this morning and they were going to eat that tonight if they had failed to get any other animal. Jason put the rest of the rotten, rotting, or soon to be rotting meat head in the pendant in the “to be burned” pile which Caleb still hadn’t done anything about.

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“You going to do something about this pile Caleb? Any longer and the stench will be permanent.” Jason remarked as he tossed the meat in the pile. Caleb turned and saw what Jason was talking about, blanched, and then got up after handing the cub to Selene.

“Yes yes s-sorry.” Caleb went as he got an arrow from his quiver. He stabbed the arrow into the top of the pile and focused. Not even a second later Jason could see flame wriggling around within the pile. Nodding to himself Jason went and sat back down along with Caleb.

“I fought a blood-mad panther today.” Was how Jason opened up the conversation. Selene and Caleb immediately started at that and turned to stare at Jason.

“Blood-Mad? Are you sure that’s what the system called it?” Selene asked carefully. Jason nodded his head before he verbally answered.

“Yup that’s what it was. It was a panther with giant pulsating red veins all through its body. Took a while for it to die and after it died I pulled a blood parasite from its head that I subsequently squashed into multiple pieces and then buried those pieces.” Selene and Caleb both sighed with relief.

“G-good choice Jason. Those th-things are terrifying. G-given the t-time and right sc-scenarios a blood parasite could breed and infect hundreds. It st-still may h-happen. We don’t k-know if there are m-more.” Caleb seemed to be actively trying to scare himself into not sleeping that night so Jason marked him down to take first watch. Or maybe second so that he can get all the anxiety out before he goes on watch. Selene was still in thought from how her head was tilted.

“It’s still odd because they’re habitat is the desert. We fought desert coyotes yes but we should still be a distance away from the desert.”

“That’s the other thing I saw. About an hour's walk from here is an entrance into the desert.” Jason excitedly told them about how he managed to find the entrance and exactly how far it was. We’re finally going to get to explore a new area! Selene and Caleb were markedly less excited than he was.

“Why’re you guys not excited?” They looked at each other and then to him.

“There’s a lot of planning to be done now. For example: How do we get our water? What creatures should we prepare for? How many days will we be there?” Jason finally got why they weren’t as excited. It wasn’t that they weren't, it's that they were already exhausted and deciding all these subjects was going to be time consuming and at the same time completely boring.

“I see. Well I’m going to bed then.” Jason immediately retired to his tent and started sleeping. Barely even catching the last part of what they said before drifting off.

“Of course he is that lazy ---” Jason was out.

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Caleb’s POV

Jason with his wolf skins went to his tent and almost immediately his snoring was heard throughout the camp. After Selene did her customary complaining about Jason’s relaxed attitude towards planning Caleb and her got down to business.

Caleb was going to be in charge of procuring water for the group as he while he couldn’t move as fast as Jason he was a whole lot more stealthy. If Caleb couldn’t find water in the time it took for the sun to move a quarter of the way across the sky or four hours as Jason was calling it then they would retreat to their previous campsite where they could find water.

They decided that desert monsters usually deal with stealth and camouflage which should be fine because they had Jason, but they also dealt with poison. Selene had multiple antidotes for different poisons and they had multiple herbs so that she could whip an antidote up as long as she had the original poison as well. If what was attacking them was a Decaying Scorpion or something similar which injects a poison which rots the flesh of the enemy then there wasn’t much she could do. She was no cleric.

As for how many days? It was laughable to even start to try and answer that question. All they knew was that they were looking for a place to breakthrough in and they were trying to find therianthrope settlements. Although they hadn’t been looking particularly hard for either of those things.

All in all it took Selene and Caleb a good portion of dusk to figure everything out. By the time they finished dusk had ended and night had truly begun.

“Alright Caleb I’ll take the first watch. Go to bed and I’ll wake you up for second. Then wake that big idiot up for third ok.”

“I got first w-watch, Selene. Y-you go to bed. You’re ex-exhausted.” Selene was about to protest it seemed like, but then she yawned mid attempt. Sheepishly nodding Selene went to her tent and laid down inside.

It’s nice having companions. I agree the savage brings good strength and even better prey. The other one is different though. Watch for her there’s something… off. I’m aware, Braedon, but she’s been nothing but good. I’m not going to keep someone who has only ever been helpful on the watch list just because you feel something is off. Whatever you wish Caleb just do not make us regret your choices. I won’t Braedon.

With his head falling into a comfortable silence Caleb took guard facing away from the fire while petting the sleeping cub. Protecting his companions, his friends.