A Soviet's Struggle

Четы́ре

The wild boar rushed past the trees and the leaves crunched as it passed over. It and its herd snorted and squealed as they darted left and right. The trees above the herd rustled around them. The remaining leaves on the trees fell as the branches shook. The creature looked for the fattest boar and began the chase. Darting from tree to tree became rather challenging as the pigs began to head for the clearing. The creature took a sharp breath and leapt from the tree and aimed for it's target. The fat swine squealed as the heavy mass slammed on top of it and it tried to squirm free from it's grasp. The creature turned the pig over forcefully to expose its neck. The pig began to panic as the creature's paws grabbed the boar and revealed sharp piercing claws, protruding forward from the creature's fingers. In one fell swoop, the claws slashed down on the throat. The pig shook uncontrollably to the loss of blood. The claws retracted back into the fingers of the creature.

Mariya wiped the blood from her half fleshed-half crystallized hands. She stuck her tongue out like someone drinking sour milk, slightly disgusted by the texture of the metallic substance. The death of the pig, however, how it squealed and shrieked, kicked and squirmed - it pleased her. It made her adrenaline kick in. She relished the kill; looking at the blood pouring from the swine's neck. Getting up, she tossed the boar over her shoulder and trotted back to camp.

Silsina, who was squatting promptly next to their fire, stared into the flames. The sun was setting around them - and she waited calmly for the water elevated over the fire to boil and purify. Her throat was dry and parched. "Come on, hurry up." The Ave muttered, hovering her hands over the flames to keep warm; being careful to not have her short fur caught in the flame. Mariya made way into the clearing, the dead boar on her shoulder. Silsina turned around to face her and stood up: "That's a fat one."

Mariya nodded, and threw it to the ground - a mix of dirt, grass and dead leaves. "Winter is coming upon us soon. The remaining trees are losing their leaves." Silsina acknowledged Mariya's observation, looking up at her kin; mildly disturbed by how only half of her jaw moved, with the other side lagging behind.

The two have been on the road for about 3 weeks now - nearing the end of November. Silsina went back to the fire and let Mariya have her fun with the butchering. Silsina secretly enjoyed the butchering too - watching it from a distance. It was just part of their sadistic nature. Silsina was always surprised by how neat Mariya was with cutting, how she pulled the hide away carefully to expose the muscle - then cutting it into small cubes to put on a Kebab. Silsina's eyes dilated with excitement as Mariya began to cut the skin of the swine away. It was just so satisfying - like pure ecstacy.

"Mariya?" Silsina asked, making the Hybrid stop and look towards the fire.

"What is it?" She muttered, stopping her cuts for a slight moment.

The Russian, while waiting for about 10 or so seconds, decided to return to cutting, and instead just pay close attention to what Silsina was going to say.

"I've wondered... when have you gotten so precise with cutting? I knew you and mom used to cook food together all the time. But, you're like... perfect!"

Mariya chuckled, cutting at slabs of meat. Her hands were bloody, but it didn't bother her.

"Well," Mariya kept her eyes on the meat in front of her. "I woke up in that grave and just got better at it I guess. I'm honestly not sure. I mean, I was always into Anatomy and Biology. Mom used to talk about how good I was at dicing vegetables and stuff like that."

Silsina acknowledged her, nodding in silence. She watched the water again, grabbing the makeshift spit by the ends and putting it off to the side to cool. Mariya walked to the fire, cubes of meat dribbling with juice.