The One Who's Fallen

Chapter 3

The fish darts away and I groan in disappointment when my knife hits a mossy rock instead. I frown, mentally going over it again. It must have seen my shadow. I'll have to be more careful next time.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement that isn't from the river. The dark shape is definitely moving. I stand up, water rippling from where my hands were in the river, and stumble back. The shape unfurls and I watch in horror as a snake like thing swims with frightening speed toward me. The water I'm in is shallow, so I should be safe, but I get my ass out of the water as fast as I can anyway.

I didn't make it to the ground just so I could die by being eaten by a giant water snake.

After a moment, it moves back to its cove and I feel like I can breathe again. Once my mind catches up, I let out a confused huff. I haven't heard of any creature like this in my Earth Studies class. No matter how much I disagree with Pike and his morals (or lack of them), he was a good teacher and taught us every but of information we might need on earth. Luckily, I excelled in that class so hopefully I won't die of starvation or exposure or something survival related.

I let go of my curiosity about the demon snake and crouch down, watching the dark spot. I slowly fill the canteen, careful not to make too many ripples. If my theory is correct, the snake's skin (or scales, I was too busy surviving to look intently at it) are sensitive and it can feel when something moves in the water.

Knowing it'll bug me for the rest of the day at least, I decide to confirm my theory. I pick up a small rock from the shallow part of the river and throw it into the deeper part. In a flash, the snake goes over. Theory confirmed.

Satisfied, I cap the canteen and begin walking back to my camp. I try to keep my steps light and quiet, keeping and ear out for anything edible. Something rustles in a tree above me and I turn, holding my knife. That sounded too big to be an animal. Could it be a human? No, of course not. They all died when the bombs went off. Right?

I eye the tree suspiciously before turning back towards the direction of the camp. Then, there's a noise in the bushes below the tree. I crouch again, quietly making my way around it to see what I'm dealing with. To my surprise, it's a rabbit. But it isn't small like the books said. It's up to my knees in height with long, thin legs.

I'm behind it and out of its sight, but I know it's sense of smell and hearing will be the greatest difficulty if it's anything like the Old Earth rabbits.

Once I'm in a good stance, I pounce. I grab it's body as it squeals angrily beneath me, gnashing its teeth together. I plunge my knife into its neck, knowing I hit it's carotid artery. Blood seeps from it's wound and soaks brown fur as I pull my knife out. It lets out a soft growl before it drops, dead.

I ignore the guilt rolling in my stomach and pick it up. I head back to my make shift camp. I set the rabbit on the seat in the pod and close the door to keep predators out.

I hike the surrounding area, picking up herbs and plants I recognize as edible and not poisonous as well as sticks. My arms fill quickly and I have to make frequent trips back to put the herbs with the rabbit and the sticks on the ground outside the pod. I make a mental note to make baskets out of the reeds I saw near the river.

Once I've gathered enough sticks, I make a circle of rocks a few meters away from the pod. I set up the sticks and put in a few dead leaves, grabbing the two rocks I picked up earlier. I lean over the tent of sticks and strike them against each other like we were shown on class. Because oxygen in the Ark is always an issue, Pike showed us using two stones that would not ignite.

To my surprise, after half a dozen tries sparks begin to fly and smoke comes from my fire pit. After another two, there's a small fire and I let out a victorious whoop.

I set up a rig to hold up the rabbit. I get it from the pod and make sure to close the door behind me. I grab some rope like things I saw hanging from trees and use them to tie it's feet to the rig. It dangles over the fire and the smell of cooking meat makes my mouth water. If it smells that amazing, it must taste fantastic.

Once it seems cooked, I slice at it to make sure and feel pride in my chest when it looks good. I set it on a nearby stump that I cleaned earlier, grimacing at the thought of the germs and bugs and making a mental note to make plates and bowls too.

I use my knife to cut into it, taking what I know I'll be able to eat and put the rest back in the pod. I'll definitely need to make a storage unit so it's not in my sleeping space later. I eat as the sun sets, marveling at the sight as the reds and yellows turn to purple before everything goes dark.

I yawn, exhausted after such an eventful day and get back into the pod. I move everything away from the seat and settle into it. I close my eyes and fall asleep almost instantly.

There will probably be a time jump next chapter... I love Clarke being badass and smart. There'll definitely be more of that! Thank you all for your lovely comments (I swear one of them nearly had me in tears, you guys are incredibly sweet)! Thanks for reading and stay awesome!