The newly found animal seemed edible, at least it smelled quite nice roasted. The meat was firm, with little to no fat. Latter was probably caused by the current lack of food. Somehow my luck with being able to live off of a few herbs and rat-bits seemed quite fortunate. I'd guess the rat-bits were many times faster and more nimble than the lizard creatures. I still didn't figure what I should call them, so at the moment I called it lunch. There was enough meat for a few days to be honest, however I still didn't go on preserving food, so eating the lizard the same day it was cooked - seemed like a plan.
Without salt, the meat tasted bland and dry - like overcooked chicken, not quite what I expected, not even close to the rat-bit meat. Still - I had to finish it today, otherwise it will end up as fish-food, just like its guts and skin. I left the hut feeling full, burping occasionally - after all I've eaten half the thing, along with a bit of boiled stems as a garnish.
"I have to reset the trap today.." - I grabbed a spear and headed over to the place where the trap was. The weather was still the same, hot and wind-less. The forest was quiet, I couldn't even hear birds chirping somewhere at the top layers of the lush forest.
" I wonder if I'll have to change the alignment of the traps or something, just that the animals won't figure a way around them." - The leaves sounded like waves at the beach, occasionally filling the air with slight rustling sounds, that were picked up and echoed ever so slightly. In no time I was already by the spot, the blood dried up in the heat, and there was no smell I could perceive from it.
"At least none of the spikes broke down, so no need to replace them" - I checked the wooden stakes, they were still sharp and usable, I just had to pick some thin sticks from the surrounding area and make a grid for pine needles and moss to go on. The sound of the trees creaking would remind me of the times when I'd go camping with my family or friends. The huge trees would look like reverse pendulums, waving in the wind and quietly creaking due to being bent even slightly.
"Quite the times.." - I reached towards another thin stick, when a wave of cold sweat ran down my spine. There was still no wind.
"..no.." - My palm held tightly to the spear as I started calmly turning my head. The slight creaking coming from the top of the tree didn't stop, but I avoided looking directly at it, never was I so terrified of such a silent sound.
Crra..crr.crrcrrcrr...crrra.. I sounded eerie. In the corner of my eye I could see movement up on the tree to my left, slow - almost unnoticeable.. like a chameleon. It was the same animal that got caught in the trap, it was slowly creeping up on me from the top of the tree.
I moved slowly, pulling on the cord that attached the atatl to my wrist. The end of the spear was secured in place. I slowly made a wide step while stretching my arm a bit, my fingers gripped the handle so hard it could break, my heart was racing. The feeling of being hunted - it was terrifying.. I didn't plan to allow the feeling to consume me. I wasn't just some easy prey. I took a deep breath and my body shot out like a wind up spring, throwing the spear directly at the descending creature, just as it was about to get down to the ground. There wasn't a loud sound from the impact itself, just like something was struck with a nail. I hit it on the back, and heard the thud noise of wood hitting wood.
"Got'em!" - I cheered for just one second, as the familiar yelp echoed through the forest. It was only then that I noticed and acknowledged the silent creaking coming from all around the place. Slight chirping echoed from the top of the trees, and I immediately ran for the spear. The sounds I was hearing at night, and during the day.. wasn’t the birds.. It was them, these lizard like animals dwelling on top of the trees, and now they were hungry and out for me.. smarter than I was, as they set up an ambush at the known hunting location... and I fell for it.
I could see them descending, there was around three that I could see, and a few more by the sound of it, but it felt as if dozens of animals were rushing down from the trees like an avalanche ready to swallow me. I jerked the spear out of the still twitching body of the animal that I killed and turned around ready to face off with the attackers. Or so I thought.
I misjudged the distance they were at, thinking that I had time.. I was barely able to tell that the darkness with slight blinking of lights- was the wide-opened mouth of the creature, aiming for the back of my neck. It jumped really high - as I was a rather tall person. It broke through the striking range of the spear, as well as the atatl, which was too long to fend it off from this proximity. It took a fraction of a second, but I raised my arms in order to cover my neck. It's mouth snapped just like a mousetrap, and I was the mouse.
It bit my forearm with amazing force, slicing and ripping through my skin, the hit knocked me off balance, as I was mid-turn. I could hear growling coming from it, as it's sharp nails sliced through my skin as a paper-knife through cardboard. Its hind legs reached my chest and stomach, clawing at them, leaving long red lines along my body. I felt the air being knocked out of me as my back hit the ground. My left hand tried to rip it off with no success, pain struck like lightning -suddenly crushing my mind, I knew that in a few moments even more of those things would swarm me, and then... I'll be no more.
I pushed my thumb into its only eye with all force I could gather, until it popped like a zit, covering my face with lukewarm blood. The feeling of its insides was gut-wrenching and unpleasant to say the least, the smell of blood was strong as it sprayed all over. It got into my opened mouth, making me taste the metal in the sticky liquid. The animal yelped loudly, I wasn't that far behind it, my own yell thundering in the air... I was finally able to shake it off, rolling away on the ground. Blood streamed down my arm, I could feel pulsing pain going through my whole body, but grabbed the atatl and lowered the center of gravity, pushing myself closer to the ground, being ready for the next animal flying at me.
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The open jaws didn't catch me off guard this time, and I didn't hesitate to strike the flying projectile. With all my might I swung the club diagonally down. I wasn't even aiming, simply reacting on sheer emotion and instinct. I was angry, afraid, terrified even, but I fucking wanted to live - best word to describe me at that very moment would be: "desperate". The triangular part of the atatl hit the thing right on the skull. The crack echoed through the forest, with not much yelping it fell to the ground. I was ready to strike another one, but none of them jumped, there was four or five left. The one I just downed was wheezing slightly as it's body convulsed, it was still breathing apparently - but not for long.
They weren't going closer, but they kept moving. Circling around me. I could hear their claws going through the moss, rustling with every step. I kept twitching and moving, failing to keep all of them at sight. Two of them attacked at the same time, one from the front, one jumping at me from the back. It was only because I was turning, that I was able to drop the one that clawed onto my back off me. It ripped my skin, but I struck the one in front, missing it's head and hitting the neck, which had thick muscles on it, protecting from most of the damage. It was hurt, not dead. Yelps could be heard all around me. The animal was getting back up, twisting its body, and I struck it on the skull as it was about to stand up and run away. It dropped to the ground, but I could tell that my atatl was about to break when I hit the lizard-fox.. between my fingers the wood already split, piercing the hard skin of my palm. With all the pain coursing through my body, I couldn't tell if the splinter went into the muscle.
The last strike didn't kill it, so I yelled as loud as I could and stomped on the head of the downed enemy with all my weight, feeling the already fractured bone giving under the force of my foot and bending inwards. Bone scraped the heel of my foot as brain matter seeped through. There was no giant splatters of blood, everything remained close to earth.
Yelping around me didn't stop, it filled the air mixed along with growling. I really was just fighting to take out as many as I could before going down myself. The animals, however.. seemed hesitant. To them this hunt was already a failure, and they simply got quiet..and scattered to the trees. Climbing upwards rapidly, just like roaches when you turn on the lights. The forest was mostly quiet, the fight was over in an instant, only three bodies littered the ground, one was whining and yelping quietly, unable to see.
"It's quiet once again.. but now... I know that they are watching me.. constantly.." - I could feel the eyes on me, staring, waiting for me to drop my guard, to leave... In reality, I didn't know what they waited for. I didn't wait for anything.. I didn't pick up the spear, I didn't finish of the blinded creature, I headed through my trapped field into the only area void of trees - to my camp. I could feel my fingers and my arms sticking to my own skin because of the blood. I could feel the skin flapping in the place where the first bite hit me, with all the blood it was hard to tell where the skin ended and where the flesh was looking through.. it was all a mess.
I nearly knocked the hut down when I entered it, slamming into the frame when going through the low doorway. I didn't go for the bandages, or the water to clean anything, I went straight for the numb-berries, that I stashed in a pot close to the bed. I didn't take as much as THAT time, but four berries got swallowed after a brief second of chewing. I could tell they did what was expected as the pain subsided within a few minutes. I took a pot of water and downed it over my body, trying to at least somewhat wash the wounds. The ground and the bed got covered in blood mixed with water, to keep myself from falling asleep right there, I took in a mouth-full of pur-map paste, forcing myself to keep at it. Slowly I started bandaging my own wounds, wrapping myself in paper-leaves. The hardest was to wrap the chest and my back, but the leaves simply stuck once in contact with blood for around half a minute, so eventually I started to look like a mummy covered in crimson leaves. I could tell that they were curling up and piercing through my skin and flesh, going deeper into my body. I didn't mind - if a plant saved my life by growing into my body - let it be. Last time - there was no apparent long term damage. I licked my lips, and something felt wrong. Since the pain wasn't as sharp I didn't notice that fast, but the left side of both upper and lower lips was cut clean apart.. Probably by the first clawing lizard. I slapped a paper-leaf onto my face like a band-aid letting it stitch the wound for me. I tasted blood.. figures.
I was able to stand up using a spear I picked from under the bed as a crutch. Slowly I made my way outside, where I didn't hear any rustling - so it was at least seemingly safe. I felt a cool breeze, which would be really dramatic and all if I didn't feel like complete shit right now. Now the real leaves rustled, and at the same time I could hear short howls run through the tops of the trees like a wave, or an orchestra. It was something I've never heard of, it didn't have the same eerie feeling as the yelps of the lizards..but I could tell it was them, it was their song.. cheerful..
"Why? Why the fuck are you happy? Do you think you got me?" - My face, crooked from anger was looking up into the trees, when a drop of rain fell on my cheek.
"...rain.. they are cheering... because of rain..." - Confusion - that was the only thing my face reflected, nothing else.
"..so you couldn't care less about me.. " - I giggled like a maniac, hurting my own stitched body. More and more raindrops fell down, until it was like someone opened a shower full power, and I stood there like a retard, listening to the cheers of tree-dwellers and understanding that I wasn't of interest to them any more.
The excess blood was washed away by the rain by the time I went back into the hut. Water was dripping from me onto the bed, but I simply sat there, appreciating the fact that I was alive. Once again, a close encounter. I have to be ready at any given moment to fight, having a weapon on me was not enough.