Adam smiled. They were all seated around a small camp fire. It was their third day in the clearing. Luckily, the forest had more than just horrifying baby-faced spider monsters. Several deer had run through the clearing the previous afternoon, and they had managed to catch a few. Carl, somewhat unsurprisingly, knew how to clean and butcher the deer. What was surprising to most of them, however, was Raven’s knowledge. She was just as capable as Carl, working quickly and efficiently on one of the corpses. By that evening, they were having their first meal in days.

“You know, that’s something that has been bothering me,” Carl sprayed through a mouthful of venison.

Adam leaned back, ignoring the fat running over his hands. He felt filthy all over. They hadn’t sorted out a good system for cleaning themselves yet. “What?”

Carl chewed a few more times, then swallowed. “Hunger. I mean, yeah, I was hungry. But I wasn’t three-days-without-food hungry.”

“Five,” Kyra said.

“What?”

“It’s been five days,” she said. She looked up through her hair. “Two days in the facility place, then three here.”

Carl nodded. “Well, yeah, that’s right. So, five days without food. With the level of exertion we’ve all been dealing with, it should have had us weak to the point of being unable to move. We should have been dying of starvation. But I just felt… grumpy? Tired? Like I skipped a meal or two, not five days.”

Adam nodded. “I noticed that too. Normally, I eat about three-thousand calories a day. That’s just maintenance, I eat more when I’m bulking for comp.”

Liz and Kyra both eyed him, while Carl stared daggers. Raven focused on her food. He thought the different reactions were interesting.

“I don’t feel like I’ve lost weight though, and after five days, I definitely would have noticed.”

Carl ripped another chunk of meat off his skewer with such force it broke the stick. He scrambled to keep his food from hitting the ground. Adam was looking over at the newly expanded area when Carl looked back up.

“To add to that, I’m stronger. I was strong before, I mean, I was training for a local comp that could have put me on the path to nationals for bodybuilding and lifting. But now? Now I can lift twice as much while barely breaking a sweat.”

“What level are you?” Carl looked at the larger man. He appeared to weigh around two-hundred-thirty pounds. He carried it well on his large frame.

“Uh, still two, I think.”

Adam pulled up his character sheet and saw it was true. “I’m almost to level three, though.”

“What is your strength at?”

“Twelve.”

Kyra choked on her food, coughing and spluttering. Adam looked down in concern, then put his large hand on her back and rubbed in circles. She nodded to answer his unspoken question that she was okay. Another cough, and she sat back up.

“Thanks. Swallowed wrong.”

Carl glared some more, then gave it up. That much effort was exhausting. “I theorized that ten was peak of humanity. Twelve would put you above that, and not by a small margin.

Adam looked down at his free hand and clenched it. He could hear his skin tightening. He smiled. “Cool.”

Carl shook his head. “Where is the extra energy coming from?”

“I don’t know, but I can tell you,” Liz said as she tore another bite from her skewer. “This is the best meal I’ve ever had.”

Kyra looked around. “Raven, why aren’t you eating?”

“I’m a vegan.”

Adam stifled a sigh. “Is it a moral stance, or one about allergies?”

Raven shook her head. “The meat industry is evil!”

He nodded. “You’re not wrong. That’s a good moral stance to hold. This, though,” he said as we waved his food. “This is ethical. We hunted it ourselves. Cleaned and cooked it ourselves. We are using the meat, the skin, the bones, we’re going to make that deer’s sacrifice mean something. Our survival depends on us hunting. If we can find some edible plants, I would love that.”

Kyra moaned. “Oh, I would kill for a Caesar right now.”

“Like, to suppress the plebs, or just for authoritarian fun?” Adam smirked at her.

She punched him in the arm. “A Caesar salad, jerk.”

“That’s how they market them, you know,” Carl said with a bit of a put-on accent. He looked at the group. Nothing happened for a long moment.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“You hears about one, and you wants one,” Liz said slowly.

“That’s a Texas-sized ten-four, good buddy,” Adam finished.

Carl gaped for a moment, then smiled widely. He looked between Liz and Adam and for the first time in a very long time, wore a genuine smile.

“What the hell was that,” Kyra said.

“Quoting a show,” Adam said. “You never saw Letterkenny?”

Kyra shook her head. “Usually couldn’t stay awake long enough on the rare occasions when I could watch TV.”

“What? Why–” Adam cut himself off. “Oh, right.”

“The cancer thing,” Kyra said. “At the end, I slept most of the time. It was the only way I could reliably deal with the pain. I hated the opiates.”

“That’s whats I appreciates about you,” Liz said softly.

“What? And why do you keep improperly pluralizing words?”

She laughed and wiped a tear away from her eye. “It’s another reference to my favorite character on the show.”

“Okay… but what does it mean?”

“It means, miss badass, that I think you’re absolutely incredible.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t you just say you turned down opiates?”

“Yeah. So?”

Liz shook her head. “I’ve seen what opiates can do to someone. Even if they needed them. You, turning them down, even though you were already dying? You’re hardcore.”

Adam nodded. “She’s right.” He turned to Liz. “Squirrely Dan is your favorite?”

“Of course. He’s handsome, funny, and a truly good guy.”

“Oh, he’s a great guy,” Adam parroted. He smiled. She returned it.

“Well, what about you? Who was your favorite?”

“The hockey kids.”

“Whaaaat?” Liz laughed. “Why them?”

“Because I did sports in school. I knew so many guys like them. None were as good, though. Sure, they were always up for a scrap, but they talked shit to everybody and struggled to complete their remedial homework. The hockey kids were the idealized version of those meatheads. It was comforting.”

Carl raised his hand, and the others looked at him expectantly. “Glen.”

“Haha!” Adam slapped his knee with a free hand. “Glen was a character for sure!”

Raven took a hesitant bite of her food. Her eyes went wide, and she chewed ravenously for a moment while listening to the others razz each other. Finally, when she came up for breath, she made a comment. “I liked McMurray.”

“McMurray’s a piece of shit!” Adam practically shouted it. Liz said it at the same time, and they laughed.

“Why is he a piece of shit?” Kyra looked between Liz and Adam.

“Well, he just is. Always talking about nasty things, cheating on his wife…” Adam shrugged.

“I think that was a running joke that went too far,” Raven said. “I mean, think about it. Any time anybody called him, whether it be for a favor, work, or a fight, he showed up.”

Adam nodded, looking critically at Raven. “Yeah. That’s true.”

“Sounds like I need to watch the show,” Kyra said. “I think there’s a lot of things I need to catch up on. It was a rough couple of years.”

Though it wasn’t her intention, the conversation fell off there. They ate in silence for a few more minutes. Finally, all five sat back in contemplation. The fire sparked and sizzled as meat continued to cook.

“Well, I’m not tired.” Adam stood, stretching his body out. “I’m going to get back to work. I think, at this rate, I can get a few more trees felled, then we can get some shelters set up.”

Carl nodded. “I can’t really help there, but I can get back on recon. Last time I was out, I thought I heard something to the north.”

“Which way is north?” Adam looked around the clearing, then up at the sky. He hadn’t really been paying attention, instead working on cutting trees and spiders down.

Carl pointed past Adam to the tree line. “I haven’t gone that way yet. But I think I heard a river or something.”

“That would be perfect,” Liz said. “And if there is a river, I’m taking a bath.”

Carl looked over at her.

“Easy, boy. I’m not showing you the goods just like that.” She smirked as he blushed.

The group broke apart. Raven stuck with Kyra as they scoured the nearby woods for resources. Carl and Liz went north into the trees looking for water. Adam set back to work cutting trees down. He was amazed the sword hadn’t dulled with the hard work he was putting it through. It wasn’t ideal, though, and he found himself spending as much time wrenching the blade free as he did actually chopping.

The night passed in relative quiet. The sky started to lighten, only noticeable by the beginning of gray touching the eastern sky. That was when the monsters attacked. Kyra was first to notice. She grabbed Raven’s hand and yanked her to a stop, then quickly and quietly led them back to the clearing. She kept Raven from talking with a finger pressed to her lips. They waved at Adam, but he was too busy limbing the latest tree to notice them. Kyra pushed to her limits to get to Adam in time. She could just hear the soft footsteps of the monsters as they left the forest.

“Adam!” Her hissed whisper-shout finally broke his concentration and drew his attention. He looked at her, then stood and assumed a combat stance.

“How many?”

She shook her head. “I’m not sure. At least three.”

He growled. “I wish the other two were here.”

“They’re not. Get ready, I have your back.”

He nodded and stepped toward the center of the clearing. The three monsters stayed near the edge, partially cloaked by the dense shadows. It was hard to get a good look. They moved quickly and quietly. Two stayed in front, but he heard something just at the edge of his hearing. The third was working to flank him. He held the sword at the ready, but quickly lost sight of the third monster.

“Guys, I can’t see the last one.”

Raven stepped in near him, then Kyra pushed in to form the last side of a triangle. “We’ve got your back.”

He nodded. It was closer than they needed to be, but it would work for the moment. He heard the curious noise again, then noted a shift in the body language of the two in front of him. The first one stepped into the half-light of the clearing and he finally got a good look.

The creature, for it was a creature and not a monster, had a long, sleek body. It had to be about three meters long, and though stout, did not look to be fat. Instead, it looked like the whole trunk was muscle coiled under fat. The coat was short and dappled, making it harder to see as it moved. He couldn’t tell what color the thing was. It had four relatively short legs ending in hooved toes, making its shoulders about chest high to him. At the rear it had a long, strong tail clearly meant for swimming. He could just make out a set of small, oval ears near the crown of its sleek, yet bulbous head. Weirdest of all was the long proboscis that moved constantly at the end of its long mouth. It looked like the trunk of an elephant, yet was too short.

“What the hell is that thing?”

The first one let out a coughing grunt, though the noise was far too loud for how little it moved. Then the sound repeated, and this time it was loud enough to stun him. It charged, little feet throwing clods of dirt as it closed the distance. He was helpless, hands paralyzed around the hilt of the sword he couldn’t swing. He couldn’t even blink, looking at the charging creature with fear and anger.