The Mindless Man's Paradise

Chapter seventy-four

The following day, everyone chipped in to help pack for the trip. Jensen selected our guns, making sure we had enough ammunition, and Kian helped found knives for skinning and sacs for putting the dead animals.

  The hunting trip would take a few days, and it was the first time Cyrus and I would be going on our own. Usually Kian or Jensen would tag along, but this time, they gave us our space. Most likely so that we would have some time to think about the ultimatum that Axel had proposed. Although that would be a topic to be touched on, it was obvious that would not be the only thing.

  After a few hours, we were all packed and ready to go. Each of us had a large pack with food and blankets and other necessities. We had our tent (not an instant one) in a bag and then we had our guns and game sacs in a duffel bag.

  Jensen patted us on the back proudly, seemingly loving to see his son hunt again.

  Why Cyrus had ever stopped, I didn’t know, but I chose not to pry.

  Soon enough, we were out the door, marching into the woods.

  I could feel that fall was, indeed on the brink of winter. The air was beginning to nip at me, and I found myself using a blanket to shield myself from the cold winds.

  After about an hour’s hike, we made camp, and set up lines to hang our kills from, a fire pit, and then hung our food.

  As soon as we had finished, we grabbed our guns, the rifle being my favorite, and the pistol being Cyrus’s.

  I enjoyed hunting, although at first, I was hesitant. The idea of killing something as innocent as a bunny, a deer, or even a bear had made my stomach flip. But after a while, I had gotten used to realizing that it was the circle of life. Bears kill deer, deer eat grass, and then the humans eat the bear. Or the deer. It was a balancing act of sorts, because if the bear wasn’t around to eat the deer, there would be too many deer, and then not enough grass for other animals.

  So, I chose to believe I was balancing things out by killing the woodland animals for game.

  Hunting became a bonding activity of sorts. I loved watching Cyrus has his mind transported from reality to his woodland world, as I liked to call it.

  I found myself beginning to have one of my own woodland worlds, where I would fall silent for hours, concentrating on tracking one kill after the next, and to me it felt like it was only minutes. I had become very good at anticipating my prey’s moves, as well as stealth-like movements in the wilderness.

  Cyrus had been rubbing off on me more than I had noticed.

  By the end of our first day of hunting, we had more than enough game to survive us the entire winter, spring, and summer combined.

  We could have returned to the cottage the following day, and survived all through the winter without a worry.

  But of course, Cyrus and I had other activities on the agenda.

  With him, he had brought two handmade canvases, along with our handmade brushes and paints. Twilight was falling around us, and I found myself painting the moon, as well as it’s reflection off of a lake that was a quarter-mile from our camp. Cyrus had told me he wanted to accompany me, and we sat on the shore of the lake, painting in silence.

  I began with a giant white circle, but began mixing in different shades of pale yellows to show the true color of the moon. And then I added grays to create a shadowy effect as well as craters.

  The lake was the harder part, many different hues of blue were involved, and the most difficult part was to paint the rippled appearance of the moon’s reflection. I drew pine trees along the far shoreline, and soon enough, I had finished.