36-Stacking up the Odds (and bits of wood)

5/2/5/4353 M.A.C - Great Western Rainforest- Late Afternoon

There were still a few hours of sunlight left, but with the pressure of the looming danger, minutes felt as though they lasted a mere handful seconds. The shelter was not overly large, but it housed a large table around which a dozen stools were placed, and still had enough space left over for a dozen bedrolls to be laid out, if one was smart with the placement. It wasn't a living space, and aside from a very large pot, Emi could not see any wardrobes, cupboards, or other large pieces of furniture that could be used to build a barricade.

The hole in the roof covers between a quarter and an eighth of the surface and is in a corner... We don't have the time to secure the hole entirely so we either need to barricade ourselves in the opposite corner or we need to make a kill box underneath the hole. The kill box would work better because if we turtle up in a corner we lose our numbers advantage. Between the table, the two crates, and the stools, we should be able to make a fairly sturdy obstacle for one side, but that would still leave the kill box with one wall missing...

Emi's eyes first drifted to the door but she realized that adding another entrance would defeat the purpose of the kill box.

"Hey, quick question. We are a bit over halfway right? If we only take the food and water we need, along with the bare essentials, could we carry them without the wagon?"

"If it's three day's worth, I can carry my share without slowing down. Will you be fine though? It might be a bit too heavy but maybe I can help carry some of your share."

"Thank you Arctic, but I think Sun Hanukong might be less affected by a bit of extra weight, unless he feels like admitting that you are stronger than him."

Sun Hanukong reeled back with a look of pure disbelief on his face.

"No problem for me. I can carry you share and you without go slow. If no cart and go a bit fast, we can be at human village in two days or less. If keep cart we have things to sell, also cart, so better if we keep. Not enough time to run so why ask?"

"Not for running. We might need to break the cart for my plan to work. I just wanted to make sure we could keep going without it. Let me explain."

---

"That took a bit of effort but it turned out better than I had hoped."

The corner of the room directly beneath the hole had been turned into a death trap. The Majusculus tribe was quite proficient when it came to carpentry as the sturdy build of the shelter indicated. With the help of a wooden mallet, a few knives,some rope and a small hatchet, the two macaques had pulled the large branch in and split it into sections usable for their impromptu wall. As it had been built by the tribe, disassembling the cart had proven a much easier task than Emi had expected. Slotting all the pieces together and tying them with rope proved to be the most time-intensive segment of her plan, but they had managed to pull it off with over an hour to spare.

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"I underestimated you guys. Great job! We have a few stools left over, can you two sharpen their legs and put them upside down on the floor inside the trap? When you are done, please fasten the two knives to some sturdier branches you broke off so that Arctic and I can also have a weapon. We shouldn't need them for building anymore."

As her companions followed her instructions, Emi made a node appear and started dumping all her energy into it. Her energy reserves had been fully replenished over the last hour, as she hadn't been using her Abilities extensively, and she fed it all into the node. Since her last level up, Emi now replenished more energy than her nodes spent passively to sustain themselves, so she decided she might as well start setting it up now to see how big she could manage to make it grow. Over the course of the next ten minutes, Emi kept feeding any surplus energy she recovered into the node.

Diminishing returns? Ever since the node got bigger than my maximum energy reserve, it feels as if every bit of energy I add has less effect on its growth...I still can't sustain the cost to upkeep two nodes without them losing energy over time...Guess I'll just keep this one as is and use whatever isn't spent on its upkeep to refill my reserves a little. My recovery might be slightly worse than back at level 1 but if we get attacked, it might not be until late into the night, so I might still be able to get a decent amount back.

As Emi finished her personal preparations, she noticed that the other two were just about finished with their own tasks. It was still somewhat light outside, and according to what Sun Hanukong had told them, panthers waited for total darkness before setting out on their hunt, so Emi tried to think of what else they could do during the bit of time they had left.

After making the spears we are low on rope, but we still have the large tarp we used to cover the cart, four wheels, a somewhat blunted stone hatchet, and some spare linen tunics and loincloths...Oh! I know!

"Hey guys, could one of you two climb up on the roof for a minute?"

Sun Hanukong looked like he was about to volunteer, but Arctic got in between him and Emi before excitedly signing that he would do it.

"I'm light and I don't wear armor. Let me help, I'm really good at climbing!"

"Sure, shouldn't be dangerous so no problem."

Arctic made his way up to the roof and Emi handed him the large tarp and the four wooden wheels, with Sun Hanukong's help.

"Spread the tarp over the hole then put a wheel on each corner to weigh it down. Unless we get strong winds, or something heavy is placed on it, it should hold. Might give us the element of surprise if a panther falls through without knowing we are ready and waiting."

Arctic finished his task quickly and climbed down the exterior wall before coming back in through the door. With this last addition, their kill box had turned into an above-ground tiger pit with sharp wooden spikes at the bottom. The Impromptu walls they had put up wouldn't hold out as well, or as long, as the traditional underground variant but they had gaps from which they could stab at the victim in exchange.

When Emi realized how proficient the two were when it came to woodworking, she had suggested using the table to fix the roof directly but Sun Hanukong had told her it was a bad idea. When her Ability had translated the name of the animal into panther, Emi had imagined something along the lines of a black leopard, but his description hadn't really matched with that picture. Now, she expected something larger and more powerful, more dangerous. After putting the descriptions together, the image of a large black feline somewhere between a large mountain lion and a tiger had coalesced in her mind.

If what Sun Hanukong said is correct, these barricades will only hold a minute or two at the very best. We'll need to try and do as much damage as possible during the first few seconds of confusion to weaken it. Man, I kinda feel bad about all that mouse hunting I did now that I am the one being hunted. The panthers aren't evil, they need food to survive like everyone. I hunted the mice because they were tainting the food storages, and the tribe isn't averse to eating rodents so it was similar for me, but they are dedicated carnivores so if they want to live, they don't have a choice.

We are not back on Earth though, and without the safety of an apartment in the city, I can't afford lofty ideals when it comes to animal protection. Plus you could argue that I am an animal as well, so those rules shouldn't apply to me anyway. I am am not at the top anymore but just another link in the food chain, I don't think anyone could blame me for fighting back in order to survive. I wouldn't complain if the panther found some other prey and didn't show up tonight though...