Collapsing against a tree, Claire felt sweat pouring down her back. Though it was protecting her, the armor was stifling in the temperate forest after finishing the fight. Wiping away the sweat on her face with her hand, it only reminded her of how dangerous the job they had taken was.
Her eyes looked at the body of the armored bear. Even dead, the sizeable muscled mass was imposing to look at.
"I can't believe we were able to beat that thing," She shook her head in disbelief.
Touching her pistol, holstered to her waist, she could feel that it was warm to the touch from being used so much. The rifle on her back, pressed against her, contributed to the sweat with how warm it was.
"How are we going to be able to bring that thing back with us?" Hannah voiced her thoughts. Like Claire, Hannah was next to Claire and sat on the ground while leaning against the tree. Her breathing was heavy as she tried to recover from their ordeal.
Claire shook her head, not even wanting to expend the energy to talk. At the moment, she just wanted to close her eyes and sleep. It didn't help that the sun was beginning to make their descent.
"Looks like we'll be dragging this thing through the forest in the dark," Heather growled in annoyance, running a hand through her blonde shoulder-length hair.
Hearing the soldiers beginning to discuss moving back to the town, Claire looked over at them as they surrounded the dead animal. Like Heather, going through the forest in the dark wasn't something she was looking forward to.
Selene nodded, saying, "We'll need to keep an eye for any monsters that could attack us."
"The scent from this creature should help keep other monsters away from us, at least for the time being," Emily disagreed. Blowing away some of her red hair that got in her face, "The difficult part is just dragging it with just us."
Sounds of something moving towards them made Claire look over, just in time to see Chelsea walking into the opening with their packs in hand.
"Instead of complaining, we might as well just get it done," Chelsea tossed one of the packs at Heather, who caught it.
"Yeah. Yeah. But I don't need to like it." Heather complained as she undid the straps and began pulling out rope. "Is this even going to be enough?"
"If it's not, then we know who's going to be pushing it from behind," Selene teased, grabbing the rope in Heather's hand. Pointing at Emily, "You get on the other side."
As Emily walked over to the other side of the dead armored bear, Selene tossed the rope. With practice efficiently, Emily began using the rope with Selene's help to make it possible for them to attach more ropes to the bear's body without damaging it.
While watching what they were doing, Claire couldn't help but think about when her mother would tie up the roast before putting it into the oven to prevent it from deforming as it cooked. Considering how cumbersome the bear's body was, it did make sense to create areas where ropes could be attached and help them to drag it back with them.
Thinking how they'd need to help everyone drag the thing back, it made sense to her now why Chelsea and the others suggested that Clarie and Hannah take a breather as they prepared everything. With how exhausted they were feeling, not resting would only lead to hampering the group as they made their way back.
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Currently, it was Claire and Hannah's job to rest up to be ready to lend their strength.
"It's not like we're going to be able to properly act as security, guarding against monsters. Using us for manual labor makes more sense." Claire thought to herself.
Closing her eyes, she tried to feel if there were any changes inside of her body.
Searching inside of herself, Claire could feel that her body had become stronger. Checking again, what surprised her was how much of an improvement her body went through.
"We didn't stay here longer than usual, so what happened?" Claire tried to figure out the cause of the increase. Squeezing her hand, the action only confirmed what she noticed.
Hannah moved closer to Claire, "What's wrong?"
Turning slightly to Hannah, Claire whispered, "Do you feel like your body is a lot stronger than it should be? Especially for how long we've been inside this place?" Though she didn't like to hide things from the other, Claire didn't feel comfortable in sharing what had happened to the two of them.
Raising an eyebrow, Hannah opened her mouth to say something.
"If it happened to me, it probably means it happened to you, too. Just check." Claire hissed, not liking their whispering, attracting the others.
Pressing her lips together, Hannah leaned back against the tree and closed her eyes as though she were meditating.
Seeing that Hannah was checking, Claire glanced at the others to see they were still packaging the armored bear to get it ready to be hauled out of the forest. Returning her attention to Hannah, Claire waited for confirmation.
Quickly opening her eyes, Hannah turned towards Claire, clearly looking confused. "Do you think the others?" Hannah slightly tilted her head at the soldiers.
Shaking her head, Claire said, "I don't think they'd be as stress about hauling the bear out of the forest if they did notice." When Hannah was about to continue and ask more questions, Claire said, "Not right now. I think we should ask Darlina in my room, where we can keep this information between us."
Returning back to resting, there were just as many questions as Hannah was about to ask.
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"Hope the two of you got enough rest," Chelsea's voice called out to them.
Opening her eyes, Claire saw that the bear was ready and waiting to be dragged away.
Standing close to the bear, Heather and Selene were arguing with one another about who was going to be security and who was going to be dragging the corpse.
Getting off of the ground, her hands casually brushed off the dirt and leaves on her bottom and the back of her legs.
Hannah followed suit, dusting herself off of the dirt and leaves.
"We about to drag this thing back?" Claire asked Chelsea, running a hand through her hair to check and see if there were any leaves stuck in it.
Nodding at Claire's question, "We only have a few minutes of sunlight, so it'll be dark as we travel through the forest." Pointing at the ropes, "We only have two, so someone will need to push the bear from behind."
"I can help push," Claire volunteered.
Hearing Claire volunteer, Emily walked over to where Chelsea was talking with the two of them.
"You don't need to push the bear. I'm sure that Heather or Selene can do that. The two of you just need to pull the rope." Emily explained, her face showing concern.
"Yeah," Chelsea said. Facing Selene and Heather, Chelsea yelled, "Heather, you push the bear, and Selene will help keep with the security."
"What?!" Heather looked at Chelsea.
"Selene has a rifle. Since I'll help with security, we only need one person to have a pistol. That means you." Chelsea ordered, pointing at the armored bears behind.
Pressing her lips together, Heather sighed after thinking about it. "Fine."
"Told you that you should've chosen the rifle," Selene gloated.
Walking towards the read of the bear, Heather simply flipped the bird at Selene to show what she thought about Selene's advice.
"Actually, I want to push it. Really." Claire objected. When Chelsea and Emily looked at her in surprise, Claire quickly said, "I just want to train my body. This is a great way to get stronger, right?"
Hearing that Claire wanted to push the animal through the forest, Heather looked at the girl with a face filled with delight. "Yeah! That's right! You girls need to get stronger, like us!"
Emily and Selene looked with disgust at Heather's words, disbelieving how shameless the woman could be to have a child do the most work.