Life Catcher

Chapter Two: Where the Path Continues

2.

I couldn't help feeling sorry for the little guy, but if I spared its life, it would have eaten me. Not to mention it's really, really ugly.

I extend my wings and flap them once, gently sending me about 30 feet in the air. Yes, if you do not already know this, I have wings. Its wicked black with a wingspan of about 14 feet. One look at these bad boys and you would have trembled in fear. Honestly, I don't know if their normal or not, or if everyone else in this foreign land has them.

I found out I had these wings one day when I was simply stretching, and they expanded out of my back sending me sprinting about 2 miles in a few seconds. That was also the time I found out my ability to run at high speeds.

It took me about seven moons to get used to my unusually frightening wings. Every time I glanced at them I would jump about 20 feet in the air knocking my head on about five limbs on the way up. Sending hundreds of birds flocking to the sky from their nests.

Dawn light begins to spread across the sky, and I begin to see the sunrise even though the moon is still out. This is what puzzles me. How can the sun and the moon be out at the same time? It just doesn't make any sense. I gently fly to my living quarters, which I call it my LQ. It's not much though; I just took huge heart shaped leaves and tied them with vines onto sticks about as tall as me. It's more like a hut than a house, but it's my hut. I gently descend to the forest floor about three feet away from my LQ.

Standing there and listening to nature is truly mesmerizing. But I eventually reached my hut and remove the massive leaf that is used as my door, and walk into a neat bed made of even more leaves.

I set my bow and game on the far left hand corner of my LQ, and plop down on my bed exhausted. I clean my wound, wrap moss around it, and tie it down with vines.

I've been out all night hunting and killing, and hunting some more. I did manage to nail a few Nomes and two squirrels, but that took me all night. You could say my hunting skills are lame, but for some reason my forest is running low on food. Not just meat but fruit, nuts, and edible leaves. I have only been in this forest for about three moons and it is already falling apart. Every moon the trees begin to look even more wilted. This is what happens to every forest I live in. Why?

After about an hour of thinking this over, I begin to doze off, but I have to keep watch. What's the use? It's not as if the Nomes are going to eat me in my sleep. Right? That thought wakes me immediately, and I quickly gather my bow and arrows and head outside. The moon has miraculously disappeared leaving the sun shinning brightly on a new day.

However, I haven't slept in three moons, but I quickly discard that thought because it only makes me sleepier. I look up at a blue jay attending her hatchlings, but I'm quickly drawn to a fawn snooping in a rabbit's hole. I slowly reach for my bow and arrow trying to be as stealthy as possible. I freeze as it lifts its head and looks around, but it obviously cannot see me since it continues with its business.

I point my arrow at its forehead and pull the bow back slowly. Then out of nowhere, a dagger flies out of a nearby bush landing right in its heart. It buckles and spews out painful noises then goes silent. Either it's my lucky day, or some ugly Nome is hungry. I stay motionless in fear at the thought of a Nome having a dagger. The way that dagger was thrown I can guess this Nome has pretty good technique.

The bushes rustle where the dagger came out of, and I quickly but noiselessly point my unused arrow in the direction of the bush. The rustling increases and I stiffen readying myself for the incoming threat. A figure darts out in front of me and I hesitate to release my arrow because this creature is a lot bigger than a Nome and less freakish, too.