Red Rock

Chapter 11: The Best of Instincts (Part 2)

The next few days were filled with intensive labor. Jacob designated the three closest forests as resource pits. All stones, wood, and water would come from those forests. Since there was so much commotion in the resource pits, Jacob would alternate the traps in the non-working forests.

The forests' diameters ranged anywhere from fifty to a hundred meters long, depending on the size of the pond in the middle. Animals would wander between forests during the daytime in search of food and retire in one at night for shelter. Daire even spotted wandering deer between the open landscapes. They pranced along without a care in the world, keeping clear of him and Jacob. It didn't matter anyway. Neither of them knew how to hunt with a bow, making it very difficult to capture animals larger than a rabbit.

*

Daire sat back to admire his work on the cabin. Jacob had tasked him to pour water on the log roof and seal any leaks with tree sap that made its way inside. It was the kind of job that Daire wouldn't have even thought of until it was a cold and rainy day and the roof was leaking. When he was finished, not a single drop of water could get through the roof or walls which were now soaked in sap.

Night was nearing again and Daire grabbed small pieces of dry grass, twigs, and bark for tinder. Jacob would be coming back soon with full traps and there would already be a fire going to cook the small furry beasts. Daire and Jacob didn't have to rely on Maria's glasses and the sun anymore for fire. Jacob had found a flint-like rock that created many sparks with friction from the machete. Daire scraped the flint rock off the steel of the machete, making little sparkles of fireballs flutter off the rock onto the tinder, starting an open flame. He smiled, he was getting better at being an outdoorsmen.

"Put it out!" Jacob said kicking the small fire over with his boots.

"What the hell was that for?" Daire replied, watching the little flame dwindle on the spread out tinder.

Jacob pointed to the horizon. "That's smoke."

"So?"

"It means there's a fire and it's not ours," he explained, taking the machete from Daire. "Grab your bow, you might need it."

*

After a mile of walking and creeping through the fields, the smoke was getting closer. Darkness was about to take over the sky but it was no matter, Jacob knew exactly where they were. Daire could hear loud boisterous voices, laughing and yelling in the forest ahead.

Jacob turned around to Daire. "Alright, listen up," he instructed. "I'm going to go into the forest and you're going to follow me the exact way I'm doing it. OK? No fuckups!"

Daire nodded, knowing the need for silence.

Jacob walked on the balls of his feet and tiptoed on the large roots of the trees for quietness. Not a sound was made. Daire was going at his own pace, moving significantly louder and slower than Jacob, trying to keep within eye distance of him. The forest was almost completely dark, making the floor of the woods a shadow of multiple shades, slowing Daire down even more. He no longer knew where to step without making a noise. It seemed wherever he put his foot a loud 'crunch!' or 'crack!' would follow, sending Daire into a deep still cringe. The voices ahead didn't notice, carrying on with their loud conversation. The trees around him had a slight orange tinge to them from the fire ahead. He knew he was getting close. Daire gave a silent sigh of relief as he saw Jacob crouched over in an army crawl behind a fallen tree.

Crawling to his side, Jacob paid little attention to Daire and zeroed in on the five men ahead. They all sat around a bon fire in an open space in the forest, drunkenly throwing whatever they could find in the fire. "I'm telling ya! She had to be one of the finest pieces of meat I've ever had!" one of them yelled, laughing with the rest of them.