The Monster Hero

Chapter 16 - Tomorrow

Tomorrow came with the sun. The sun managed to get me up by shining in my eyes. As I sit up I remember where we are. In a tree, in a forest, in the middle of nowhere. I look to my side, where Red is sleeping. Before going to bed, Red had dragged the walls she had made, into the tree and laid them against the interior.

"Red. Wake up," I say.

"Leave me alone," Red answers, rolling over.

I try again.

"I thought I said go away!" Red grumbles.

I roll my eyes. For someone who wasn't tired, she sure is sleepy. I walk to the tree entrance. The birds are singing and the forest is alive. I grab a left over branch from my project yesterday. I go back into the tree, where Red has fallen back to sleep.

I go a few steps away from the tree and.....Crack! I break the branch in half. Red bolts up.

"What! What! What'd I miss!" Red mumbles as she looks around for the source of the noise.

When she sees me holding the two halves of the branch her surprised face turns angry.

"Seriously?!" Red yells.

She stands up and starts walking towards me. She grabs a branch from the pile and breaks it in half. I drop my branch halves and start to back away. She gets closer. I start running backwards and at the last minute, I run straight at Red.

She looks surprised at my last minute change. I run past her and grab the sticks as I run. I slow down as I run back towards Red. I stop and drop the sticks on the ground. Red looks at the sticks, then looks at me. Looks at the sticks, then me.

"Impressive," she says, "Maybe you have a skill after all."

She goes back into the tree to grab her walls.

As she drags them out, I say, "You know, it's gonna be tough getting them back up there."

She stops dragging them and looks at me, with her hands on her hips.

"Who said I was going back up there?" She answers.

She picks more leaves and goes back to her walls. I go in the tree and pull out a floor.

"What were you making yesterday?" She asks.

"A wall," I answer with a smile.

Her eyes narrow when I say that. She must recognize the sentence from when she said it to me yesterday.

"What is it really?" She asks.

"A floor," I answer, "You were laying on it last night."

She goes back to work. I also continue working.

"You know, I figured if we were staying here, we could do the roof together. It would make it easier," I say as we work.

Red looks up at me with a smile.

"Sure, Wolf Boy," She answers.

"What does that mean?" I ask.

She shrugs.

"Okay, Tomato Girl," I say.

Red rolls her eyes. I finish my floor before Red finishes the wall. So I just sit there, watching her work.

When she finishes, I go get leaves and branches, she sits and does something. When I get back, I see she has gotten out a sewing kit. I set down the branches and leaves in front of Red, then I sit down.

We work on it for the rest of the day. We form the roof by making a foundation out of branches, we sew a kind of blanket with leaves, and we tie all the sides down with some string, long grass, and vines.

When the sun goes down, we keep working on the actual house type thing. We make more foundations and tie three of the walls to them. Then, we make a flap in the fourth wall big enough for us to walk through, to serve as a door. We then make a special foundation for the fourth wall and tie the wall to it.

After that, we make windows the same way we made the door. We tie the walls and floor together, then we add the roof. By the time the sun comes back up, we are done. I cut a hole in the side of the hollow tree, all the way in the top, where there is a branch big enough to hold the fort. We stick the quarter of the fort with a door in the hole and tie the fort to the branch. We make a ladder out of branches and we put it where it reaches the door. Then, we tie it down.

And the best part is that we can see the whole forest. Our tree is one of the biggest, so we have an advantage. We make some weapons and then chairs and a table or two. We transfer our supplies to the fort, and start making a cover for the tree entrance.

The fort is big enough to make two corners into rooms, and still have plenty of space for tables, chairs and other things. We have it made. There is only one problem. What if we run out of food?