OVERPOPULAS

Chapter 28

"Quiet." William whispered to me as we were hunched over in a bush. "Make sure it stops moving."

The deer pranced right in front of us and bent its neck down to eat some of the overgrown grass. The chomping of its teeth and the tearing at the grass filled the air as some birds chirped. The sun beamed down on us on the hot summer morning.

I had my rifle aimed directly at the huge mass of its body as it kept feeding itself. I aimed down the iron sight and made sure my aim was steady, resting it on my bent knee.

"Now fire." He commanded me.

My finger hovered over the trigger and in one millisecond it was pressed down. The rifle fired off a bullet, gaining massive recoil almost knocking me on my ass. The bullet traveled through the air and hit the deer in its side. It jolted to the floor and let off a really loud whimper as it fell to the ground. It squirmed around for a bit as blood stained the grass around it.

"Now let's put it out of its misery." He stood up from the cover of the bushes and over to the worming deer.

I followed alongside him and approached the deer. I grabbed the holstered knife that was around my waist and whipped it out. I kneeled down to its face and saw its eyes peer up at me as it continued to quail. I didn't hesitate to take the knife and plunged it deep into its skull, making it come to a shocking stop and its body to go limp.

"Great, that was your first big kill!" He patted me on the back as he congratulated me. "Better than your last time."

"I know." I responded. "I've been getting better every time we do this."

I was used to just killing small rabbits, but now ever since we've got one of the rifles we found in a closet working, we've been able to hunt bigger animals.

"Soon we'll have to teach Fred." I said as I began to skin the deer. "He needs to know sooner or later."

"He's too focused on guarding the farm. He won't even get off his post for even a second."

"I know, and he's helping a lot. But what if we need someone else besides me to hunt."

"Fair point. You'll just have to talk to him."

I completely skinned the deer, leaving its bloody meat exposed. I hoisted the fur over to William, who put it over his shoulder. I picked up the rest of the carcass, struggling to get up over my back.

"Speaking of teaching people." William continued on. "Aren't you going to teach Alice how to shoot a gun?"

"Yeah, it's just that she's been shaken up ever since she killed someone."

"Understandable she's pretty young, yet so are you."

"I'll teach her first thing when we get back."

"Great, there should be a pistol in the parents bedroom."

We started trotting along the faded path we followed out through many truffles of bushes and greenery. Both of us conversed about how we've progressed so much even though we've taken control of the farm for only a month now. Time seems to fly by so much that it's really relaxing to take it all in and look back on it. At the same time it hurts looking back at all the pain we've suffered just to get here. Mom and Dad dying, Eric getting killed right before my eyes. And...

Slinca, Ian, and Penny.

Before I could sulk even more about the departed we walked out of the shaded forest and onto the sunlit farm. Outside was a thriving garden growing with a variety of crops, ranging from corn to radishes. Multiple beautiful flowers blossomed and glowed exquisitely in the light yellow cast from the sun. Nancy was there gracefully watering the plants alongside Alice. Alice perked up with excitement as her glance shot our way as we made our way to the front gate.