It took just a bit of explaining before Walter understood what was happening. He listened, though, he kept gutting and skinning the bear, but he listened. When Walter finished skinning the bear, he wanted our help carrying the heavy thing back. So we got a log, plus some leftover rope, and lashed together the arms and legs of the bear. Then we stuck the log through the tied-up arms and legs.
At this point in the day, the sun was getting close to the horizon, so we had to hurry up. Alexei moved to one end of the log, and I moved to the other. The german was just standing around and watching us do the work. Well, to be fair, that is what we did for the last hour or two while he skinned and gutted the thing. So, I guess it’s our turn to put in some work.
I looked over to Alexei, who gave me a questioning look, then flicked his eyes to the german and then back to me. I just gave him a shrug and grabbed my end of the log, and took a deep breath through the gunsmoke-filled air. Alexei, following my lead, held the other end of the log.
“On three. One, Two, THREE!” I half yelled, half grunted, as I lifted the log up and onto my shoulder.
I was grateful for my good-quality gloves because I could feel how ruff the wood was even after getting rid of the bark. It was slow going because the grass was still damp and slippery in places. But, aside from me almost overbalancing halfway down the hill due to a loose rock, the way down was relatively uneventful.
Walter ran ahead of us, looking like a kid waiting for his old man to catch up because when he was about 20 feet ahead of us, he would stop and look back at us while waiting for us to catch up just to run off again. Alexei and I were tired when we dropped the carcass near the fireplace I had made earlier.
Well, what now? I think we are supposed to let the blood drain out of it or something. But, you know what fuck it. We are just going to roast this thing. I glanced around the campsite for Walter. I found him collecting firewood over by the tarp-covered cave entrance.
“Hey, Walter, come over here. I want to talk to you for a sec.” I said as I laid down on the soft, damp, ground. I stretched out my legs and placed one booted foot on top of another. When you are a grunt, you learn the different types of ground. For example, sleeping on hard sandstone sucks, but an excellent grassy field, and I will sleep on that easily. Almost too easily, I fell half-asleep before Walter came within easy talking distance, and him saying,
“you wanted to see me?” snapped me out of it with a slight uptick in my heart rate.
“Yea, I did. There is a hand ax in the cave by my rucksack. My ruck is Multicam and has a patch with a yellow snake with ‘coffee or die’ on a black rectangle. Get me a couple of small logs so we can make a spit.”
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Walter nodded and went to the cave entrance. Then he passed through the tarp covering, causing me to lose sight. I let out a sigh. The past week has been fucken insane, and I haven’t had the time to think about it. Alexei patted me on the shoulder and said, “We can’t let him do all the work.” in a friendly chastising tone. I got up while groining and waving him off.
Alexei and me went around finding logs and rocks and moving them around the campfire. By the time we had gotten the 3rd log to the campfire, Walter had gotten a couple of small logs placed by the campfire. Taking this opportunity to escape hauling heavy logs around, I started making a spit. As I sit down to get to work, I see Walter prepping the campfire with some small logs and sticks.
The process of making a spit isn’t that hard. I walked into the cave, grabbed my E-tool (an entrenching tool, a small shovel), dug two small holes then placed two small logs in. I then stood one log up, hammered it into the ground with my E-tool, filled the hole with dirt, and packed the soil down. Doing the same with the other log, I crossed the logs and then tied them together for the log holding the bear’s carcass to be placed on. I did the same on the other side, all the while Alexei had a sit-down and watched me do the hard work.
After I finished getting up off the ground, I dusted my hands off and looked at Alexei, and said.
“Alright, let’s get this thing cooken.”
Me and Alexei placed the bear on the spit just in time for Walter to finish making the tepee-like structure for the campfire. The campfire was ready to be set a light. I grabbed my lighter out of my pocket. I wish It was my grandpa’s old zippo lighter he used in Vietnam. He used to love that little thing. Whenever it was one of his ‘bad days,’ he would sit in a rocking chair on the front porch flicking that lighter open and closed.
I reached into the stick tepee and lit the paper scraps we had managed to scrape together. We all just sat around the fire for a bit. We were just zoning out while gazing into the moving flames of the campfire while nightfall enveloped us. The German was the first to break the ice.
“So, what are we going to do for defenses?”
Alexei and I snapped out of our minor trances. I respond with.
“To be honest, I was just trying to survive, let alone start building shit.”
That kicked off an hour-long discussion about how we could build a defensible position while we ate bear meat. We eventually made a plan.
The plan was this,
Without calling in a supply drop:
We would make a ring of sharped logs around the camp and use our E-tools to make berms, trenches, and dugouts, depending on how long we were here.
With calling a supply drop:
We could get some barbed wire to surround the camp with and claymores or other mines as a backup. If we start spending time here, we could get some Hesco barriers and make a proper firebase or mini-FOB.
We decided to go with the supply drop option in the end. Mainly because we want to stock up on ammo and get some sleeping cots. Not that there was anything wrong with sleeping on the floor. It's just when you get the option to not rest on the floor, you take it.