Free As The Wind (A Yogscast Fanfic)

Chapter 8 ~ Hat Help

A few days had passed as Luna and Sorrel slowly made their way to the Moon Pool, but they were still miles away and it hadn't been easy. Luna’s injured leg had started to become infected, the painkillers kept off the burning pain but it didn't fend off the infection that had now taken control. This meant continual stops for the small unusual group meaning they weren't making the progress they needed to. 

“Sorrel we need to stop” Luna whimpered leaning against a tree, as she attempted to catch her breath. Sorrel sighed before helping Luna into the shade of a nearby hill, which gave them cover from the increasing winter winds. Shivering against the cold and her festering wound Luna curled up in a ball on the mossy ground while Sorrel started a small fire, they were far enough from the farm to not gain any attention. Runo was currently out hunting and was also reporting back to the pack about their absence, but Luna could not return to the pack, not now, not while she had her injury or this question of the Bonded Ones over her head. Luna missed the warmth of his fur against her skin especially in these cold temperatures. So as she shivered in the darkness the welcoming howl of Runo in the distance, returning with a kill, eased her tightened muscles. 

“Is that the wolf?” Sorrel asked softly as her fire flickered to life, bring warmth and light with it. 

Luna breathed heavily and nodded, “It is, he’s one his way back and his name is Runo, not the wolf” opening her eyes slightly to make the point that Runo was an individual just like anyone else. 

“Sorry” Sorrel replied pulling some stolen vegetables from her pack. Opel stood at Sorrel’s side munching on a carrot but whinnied aggressively as Runo bounded back into camp, a decent sized hare in his mouth. A smile crossed Luna’s face as her wolf friend dropped his kill in front of her and barked happily, he was like a pup bringing back his first ever kill, his tail wagging from side to side. 

“Great kill” Luna congratulated him with a bark and nudge which earned a confused glance from Sorrel who just looked at the dead creature on the grass.  Runo acted as a back rest helping Luna to sit up to carve into the kill with her knife which she luckily still had attacked to her thigh with a piece of leather. Sorrel swallowed hard, watching in disgust while Luna cut into the hare, tearing the meat from body and eating it raw. Opel too did not appreciate the carving of the dead creature which he showed with a snort and turning his back on the two carnivores. “How can you eat that?” Sorrel finally questioned watching as a drip of blood fall from Luna’s chin making Sorrel cringe.

Luna tilted her head in question, “What do you mean? This is what I was brought up on, it brings strength unlike your diet of berries, we only eat berries and roots in dire circumstances” she replied passing and entire leg to Runo who munched on it with a happy glint in his eye. 

Sorrel shivered again thinking of the member of the deer herd that she watched being dragged away, “It’s just so…. so…. wrong” she finally announced but regretted it almost instantly, “I’m sorry, I didn't mean it like that”.

Luna shook her head, “You don’t understand, we don’t just kill for the sake of killing, we never leave a scrap of edible matter on a kill, we don’t waste. And the way we look at it is, when we die we are buried and become the food, the grass, the berries, to those that we hunt, it’s a never-ending look of nature”. When finished Luna completed her meal and got to work to use the skin of the hare to make better foot ware but she soon gave up feeling exhausted. Sorrel sighed knowing the wolf girl had a point, and that she never did see any waste near a wolf den, so admitting defeat in the discussion she settled down for the night.

—~~~~~~~—

Unknown by the small group not far from their camp stood ‘Hat Corp’ a business built off reads and threats. A door slammed as a short man with brown eyes and brown hair stormed into the complex an empty jetpack on his back and an Atomic Disassemble slung over his shoulder, his clothes dripped with water which pooled on the limestone floor, his face full of anger as he shouted into the multi story underground base. “Ross! Stop using the digital miner to add to your already uncontrollably large marble collection”. Reacting to this outburst a taller man with blue eyes and black hair pocked his head out one of the many doors that lead to rooms filled with chests, “Aww come on Trott, I need a good marble supply, I never know when I may have the desire to make a huge sculpture out of marble”. Trott sighted heavily practically throwing his jetpack in the hydrogen generator to recharge before heading back upstairs to the living quarters to change his drenched clothes.