A ruined and fallen world where it's every man for himself, it's kill or be killed in the eyes of Crow, who's experienced a pain that he chooses to tell no one. His stone cold heart is challenged upon meeting one young girl, as they venture through...
The cool and gentle wind blew through the woods while the leaves tumble and toil under foot. A lone deer wanders into an opening between the trees to feed.
Crouching behind a fallen tree, I turn and whisper, "Alright, you remember what I taught you?"
"Yeah I think so..." Ellie replied while bolting my hunting rifle.
"Keep it tight on your shoulder..."
"Turn off the safety..."
"Relax your breathing..."
"And aim right next to the shoulder...are you sure you trust me with this Crow?" Ellie said glancing up at me. She looked like she expected me to say no honestly.
"I do Ellie. Just take your time and gently squeeze that trigger when you're ready." She looked down the scope as the deer stayed grazing in the field. Ellie inhale and exhaled slowly, then the air was filled with silence, time seemed to have stood still. With one last exhale, she pulled the trigger. The rifle shattered the silence as the deer jumped and ran into the thicket.
"I think I got him!" Ellie turned to me with a smile of relief.
"You nailed him!" I exclaimed even with a little chuckle. I was genuinely impressed and proud of her, honestly couldn't have done it any better myself...I wouldn't tell her that of course. Not yet at least. I did offer her a high five though, which she received with a lot more excitement than expected.
We waited about an hour then started following the blood trail, along the way I taught Ellie how to find blood easier and other tricks on tracking, she actually seemed interested in learning even the basic things from me.
"Alright now lead the way Ellie." She turned to me looking confused.
"Lead the way? I don't know- what if I get us lost?" She nervously twiddled her fingers.
"You'll be fine, I'm here if you need me but I know you can find your buck." Smiling to reassure her, she nodded and took the lead. After only about thirty minutes of searching we find the deer laying in the woods. Ellie's face lights up as we get closer to the buck. She grabbed him by his antlers and took a good look at him. A beautiful animal and a beautiful blessing it was. Now the fun part...gutting it. And dragging it. Yay. Ahem I'll spare you the details of that.
As we were walking I did notice a blue butterfly patch on her backpack, it struck my curiosity for some odd reason, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
"Come on keep up will ya?" said the sarcastic Ellie a few yards in front of me.
"Oh forgive me for having a little bit of extra weight." I replied out of breathe while patting the deer on it's side. Finally though after what felt like a century of dragging that beast through the woods, we reached our humble little hideout. We're only staying here while I figure out what on earth to do next.
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