Escape

5

I enter the old hut after several minutes of wandering in the near dark. Maybe it's not such a great idea to stay here. Asher and Cassian have seen me here, so if they see any posters of me, they might report seeing me here. Maybe I'll just sleep in the cellar and block the trapdoor somehow.

I make my way toward the cellar door, bumping into objects and walls. I lift the wooden door and walk down the steps. I look around, but the only things I see are the shelves. I walk over to the nearest one and see if I can remove it. My hand slips and part of it breaks and crumbles when I try to remove it. It looks like these shelves aren't going to help much.

I decide to use my bag as a blockade, standing it upright against the bottom of the trap door. Good thing the trapdoor opens inward and isn't as flimsy as the shelves. I settle in the corner and fall asleep on the stone floor.

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I awake with an ache in my neck and shivering all over. Maybe I should have made a small fire. Not much to catch fire and burn down here though. Hopefully, the food I got will last a while. Going into town risks identification with all those posters. I sit up, rub my neck, and brush the dirt off my clothes. I reclaim my bag and duck to avoid hitting my head as I climb out of the cellar.

As I eat the smallest breakfast you can possibly get away with eating, I realize I should have found a way to bar the door. The wall is stone, but I could use glue to stick wood onto the walls on either side of the door. Then any long block of wood would work in barring it. But anyone could easily crawl through the windows. Not if I board up the windows and leave only a small space for looking out. Looks like I will have to go into town.

I decide not to go today, and rather explore the forest some more and familiarize myself with the paths and good hunting grounds. Can't be too good, or they'll be places for people to hunt.

I grab my bow, quiver, knife and some food before hiding my satchel in case anyone does go in, and head out. The bow and arrows in case I find any animals to hunt while I wander around the forest, always remembering which direction is the cottage. I make mental notes of patches of wild berries and squash, as well as places full of poisonous plants. They could be useful in providing food and poison if ever needed. I find a small clear spring which would provide fresh water for me. I refill my long empty canteen and note the streams approximate location.

I get out my bow and nock an arrow when I spot a doe grazing on grass. Her back is to me, and no more than 30 feet away. I pull my arrow back and shoot. The arrow whistles through the air and finds its mark in the doe's neck. She dies in minutes, and I walk over. Pulling the bloody arrow out of her neck, and wiping it on the grass, I start to drag her back towards the hut. Less than halfway there, I tire out and sit down to eat lunch and drink some water under the midday sun.

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After lunch, I start to drag the deer back to the cottage but run into Asher.

"Asher! Sorry, I bumped into you, are you okay?" I say, looking up into Asher's eyes. God, why do his dark blue eyes have to be so beautiful.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you fine, I mean you're dragging a deer that I doubt you killed...."

"For your information, I actually killed this deer on my own. but yeah other than being tired I'm fine," I say before he can finish whatever he was saying.

"Oh, really? You killed that deer like I believe that." Asher says obviously trying to annoy me, but it won't work. I have some experience with boys, you know what with having three brothers and all.