Chapter 10
I finally built the house, and not a moment too soon, there was a moment where I conidered abandoning the brick house project, and just stackint sticks together then covering it with mud. But if history channels have taught me anything, its that those housing methods weren't safe or sustainable longterm. Looking at the situation now, I believe I made a smart decision. I didn’t expect there to be snow considering what I thought I knew about this area. Based on a few facts I’d assumed that I was in a hotter region of this world. The first clue was bantilas’ I’ve yet to see one in person, and hopefully I never will, but as they are described they seem to be some pre-historic lion. Most of the lions I’ve seen and heard about live in warmer areas like Asia and Africa.
The second clue is the clothing that everyone wears, although it is tough and made of animal hides and furs, it seems to be intentionally light. Heat also passes through it very easily, so during hunts or intense physical labor I don’t overheat. Maybe there is also winter clothing, but in all the memories I have from my last life there weren’t any.
The final, and in my opinion most glaring evidence is my skin color. If this were modern times it wouldn’t matter, a person’s skin color didn’t necessarily directly equate to where they’ve come from. However, in this ancient era I’d think that for the most part people are stuck in the regions they are from, meaning that if a person has darker skin, then they are likely from a more sun-kissed region.
When I first saw my appearance a while ago, when I first drank water from the lake, I wasn’t too shocked. I’ve always been a darker complexion, considering I was an ‘African-American’ in the modern era. When I came here, I didn’t think it was too weird to see a familiar complexion with just slightly different features.
As the months wore on, and I had more downtime in the small hours before sleep, that’s when the differences truly made themselves apparent. Although this new body couldn’t be more than 17, it had strong facial features, large and taut muscles from years of surviving in a hunter-gatherer society, and a height of nearly 200 centimeters. This able-body, muscle memory, and essential knowledge has helped me tremendously during my ongoing effort to survive in this harsh and horrible environment. The results have also been clear! In the 6 months that I’ve been here I’ve learned to hunt, found a water supply, found a safe area to build a home, and properly stocked and prepared for winter! If that isn’t an accomplishment, then I don’t know what is.
I wrap my fur tightly around myself as I prepare to head outside. Once I opened the door, a blast of cold, furious, and snow strewn wind assaulted me.
“FUCK!” I yelled, whilst swiftly closing the door behind me to keep the heat in.
I then began walking to the lake a few hundred meters away from my home. Of course, I could just melt snow over the fire at my home, but that would be a waste of firewood, the firewood that must last me for at least another two months, and that’s only if the winters here are the same length as those back on Earth.
And so, I trudge along the same path that I do every few days towards the lake.
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When I get closer to the lake, which I will call Lake Tural, I hear something that immediately makes me drop to the ground and hug it tightly. I also slowly burrow into the snow to camouflage myself better.
Directly in front of me is my savior, Teddy, and he has been a problem as of late. During these winter months bears and other large predators should be hibernating. Though due to whatever circumstances, whether it lacks fat on its body or something arousing it, the bear has been awake for the last three weeks.
One of the first things it did was sniff out the meat that I had buried outside or left smoking close to my hut and ate it all. If that wasn’t bad enough, it then took my home for a free food area and had plagued it to the extent that I could only barely crack open the door to grab a handful of snow to drink water.
It only left my house alone when I felled a dambi and sprinkled it’s blood over 3km away from my home, bordering on lokin territory, and dumped the corpse there. The reprieve was slight but needed, the event also put me on high alert. If the bear is awake and hungry, what about the other animals? Lokin (wolves) in the snow would be dangerous, I would tire more quickly, and run slower than they would in case of an encounter.
My solution thus far has been this, if a predator is spotted, get low, stay quiet, and wait for it to leave or retreat to a safe location.
“Hurry up and go!” I mutter to the loitering benan (bear) “I’m freezing my nuts off here!”
Finally, after 20 minutes of excruciating cold, the bear lumbered off towards its cave. I take note of the direction the bear was headed before jumping up and shaking the snow off myself. Then while warming up my body, I walk the last few meters to Tural.
The process is simple, efficient, and well-practiced, cut a hole into the ice (which usually takes the longest), slide rope under the ice and pull it out of the lake, lastly fill the jug with fresh water, and drag both the ice chunk and water home.
I use the ice chunks for my “cellar area” to keep all the food I have stored within the house cold, and obviously the water is for drinking, cooking, and cleaning.
Once I make it home, I grab a few pieces of firewood before dragging the entire haul into the domicile and sorting everything. I place the water in the cellar next to the 3 other large pieces of ice and 2 additional water jugs. Then I walk back out and place the pieces of firewood in front of the furnace to dry out before placing them on the already burning logs. Throwing moisture filled wood onto a hot fire is a…
“Rookie mistake…” I chuckle as I remember my first few days of winter.
Once I was properly settled down and warm, I pulled from atop my makeshift bed my newest project. Winter is extremely boring, there is nothing to hunt for and very few things to see or reason to see them. The only option left is to otherwise occupy yourself with daily tasks or small hobbies like this.
“Not too bad.” I mutter while turning the straw hat that was half complete back and forth in my hands.
This is only one of my many projects that I’ve been working on. Everything from learning how to dye my clothes in different colors using berries, to mastering the art of sewing better clothes, to decorating the house with furs. I’ve been very busy, but admittedly most of my time is spent sleeping, other than once every three days when I must get more water.
“Thread in, thread out, thread in, thread….” I repeatedly murmur to myself as I go about the small task. Although it isn’t very useful until perhaps summer, it’s still a nice item to have.
BANG! CRASH!
A sudden thump against my door startles me from my monotonous stupor.