Survive #2

"Salted meat last for days. We can eat a good meal tonight, then cook the rest in strips, salting it so it'll last for a week or two." Seven said, flexing his hand in the new bearskin, fingerless glove and finishing the second one. "And the blood can be boiled into salt, there's enough in that meat. And I'm pretty sure one of these plants-" he looked around as he slipped the second glove on, nodding to one of the big-leafed ones, "-can be used to wrap around the meat to last longer." He started on the sleeping bags, taking mental accounts of their height compared to the bear and starting on the bags. "Something about the nutrients in the plant keeps the meat from rotting."
 
Eight finished packing the meat into the sack and tied it off. "That's right, we can also smoke the strips afterwards to better preserve them." He said as he walked over to the plant and began quickly collecting leaves. "We need to hurry before the smell attracts any more threats. I'd say we have a few minutes tops before we need to start making some headway. We'll move for that mountain, find a river and follow it upstream to higher ground. We'll make camp once we reach water and pack it up and head uphill at first light."
 
Seven held up the two sleeping bags as he stood, giving them a once over before tying them to his back to easier carry them. He listened to the trees a moment, ears hearing far more than they should. He pointed left, "There's a river in that direction, and maybe a swamp to the right." He said, jerking his thumb in the opposite direction. He bundled up what was left of the bear skin, tying it to his back as well, then said, "Swamp sounds like gators, river could have a waterfall. Besides that, I can't hear much else."
 
Eight nodded. "Well, we'll hit the river and follow it up that mountain there. Higher ground is what we're aiming for, the swamp would be counter productive." He thatched the large leaves together by their stems and stuck the stack under his quiver. Grabbing the excess of the tie off he began walking towards the base of the mountain. "Let us be on our way, I'd like to reach the water before nightfall."
 
"No argument there..." Seven muttered, following Eight through the trees. He flicked the dagger in his hand out, twisting it slowly so as not to cause any noise. He didn't like no knowing where he was, why he was here, but then again, he didn't like not remembering either. And there wasn't a thing he could do about any of it.
 
Eventually, 18 is staring up at a giant rocky wall. She knew she would have to climb it, looking up at it. She wouldn't have time to climb it since sunset was soon, climbing was never safe if you couldn't see what you were doing. Just then she heard some rustling in the bushes, as quick as someone would draw a gun, she drew a bow and arrow nailing what ever it was in the bushes. There was a loud squeal from it's direction before it went back to quiet. She moved aside the bushes to see a giant boar, the arrow directly in it's forehead. She blinked and then smiled to herself, how lucky was she going to get after that terrible gator situation? "I'm eating good tonight." She cheers.
 
Eight hiked through tall grass and brush with Seven for what felt like hours. The finally reached the river. Eight sighed and let go of the bag before walking over to the water and taking a few sips from the bank. It was cold and fresh. He splashed some on his face and looked up smiling. "Dude, come get some Aqua. I'm sure you could use some too. It's soo nice. Aaahh" He exclaimed as he rolled over onto his back for a moment in relaxation. "We'll set up camp and get all this cooked out, salted, smoked, and wrapped." He said slapping the meat bag with one hand. "sound good to you?"
 
Seven actually smiled at the water, setting the sleeping bags and extra fabric aside and going to the bank. He didn't a cursory search around, of course; never be to careful if the bear was anything to go by, but still. The water was to tempting. After taking a good few handfuls and wiping his mouth dry on his arm, he looked over at Eight lightly. "Sounds like a plan to me." He nodded back at the river, "We follow this inland tomorrow, we'll reach a high-point eventually. All rivers flow from higher ground..." How he knew, he didn't know. He just did know that he knew. Made no sense, but still. He glanced around, "You sort out the meat, I'll handle the fire." He smirked, turning and ducking into the underbrush again.
 
Jik waited for the girl to have her back to him before stepping out into the clearing. He snarled in that hissing manner, louder this time so at to get her attention. He didn't think it was any fun to kill something that wasn't even aware of him. Too easy. He crouched low, his body was wolf like, but slender and scale black and brown like a snake.

Eight nodded. "That's the idea." He graoned as he sat up. "Oooohhhh alright then.
While you're cooking it up I'll set up the smoker." He called after him as he ducked out. Eight pulled the bag up to him and started sorting out the cuts of meat.
 
18 got a fire going and was busy cleaning the boar's organs and fur off. Her back was to it, but glances behind her shoulder at the creature. "Hmm.. going to attack me?" She questioned it, it be a split second for her to come up with a plan. "You must be pretty hungry huh?"
 
Seven hissed, looking down at his ankle as he sat. This was another reason he wanted to get out of Eight's sight, no sense worrying the guy ya know? He lifted up the pant leg, looking at the cut there and the sluggish bleeding from it. It hurt, horribly, but it would heal; he just had to wrap it first. Quickly, efficaintly, and still having no idea how he knew what to do, he cleaned and wrapped the bleeding wound. How he got it? Easy. He'd miss-judged the distance between the bear and himself. Thing cut him as it went down. He hadn't said anything because worry would be useless here. Sides, wasn't anyone's fault but his own.

He hissed again, but stood, the cut stinging beneath the cloth but hidden by his pants. He gathered up the branches he'd collected then went back to the riverbank, smirking that still confident smirk. He sat the branches down and quickly gathered a few stones, digging a shallow hole and putting the stones around it in a circle. Seven placed some of the branches in the circle and struck his two daggers together, causing a spark and making the fire glow. After messing with it for a while, he had a decent fire going. "All set, Eight." He said, looking over at Eight with a smirk.
 
Jik circled her a bit, saliva dripping from his jowls and melting through the earth in dotted trail behind him. He didn't want to stand in one place, that would make him an easy target for her bow. If anything her claws would hurt a bit, but he had the upper hand in close combat and he knew it all too well. He needed to find a way to close the distance between them without getting caught by an arrow. His snake like eyes pinned on hers, studying her every slight reaction.


Eight had finished lining out the meat cuts long before Seven had returned. He looked up from where he was wandering around in search for the proper sticks to make the meat smoker and smiled. "I set it all up right there for you, I'll have the smoke stack up and ready to go soon enough." He said, picking up a good sized fallen branch and tossing it over with the rest of the materials. "After that I'll get building on out shelter for the night, shouldn't take too long." He figured a good lean to would be suitable for two people, Perhaps he should gather all the materials at once to save some time. He nodded assuredly as he decided this was best and incorporated the lean to into his current mental list of materials to gather.
 
"You have every right to attack me." She mused. "I am in your territory; I am somewhere I don't belong." She spoke to it like it could even understand her. She lowered herself a bit cutting the leg of the boar off. "But I honestly don't want any trouble with you. I just want to be allowed to pass through. I could give you food in the return of safe passage?" She told it, holding the leg of the boar out. She tossed the piece of boar in front of it. She was not foolish enough to let it get to close to her at the moment. She thought for a moment, why talk to it, not like it can understand you or anything like that.
 
"Don't overwork yourself. We're not invincible and I'm sure we'll tire eventually." Eight said, smirking slightly and taking a few cuts of the thinner meat. Salted meat, though dry, seemed preferable to him. As they would be on the move, it would be good to have easy stuff. With a practiced ease that scared him almost, he started drying out and salting the meat little by little.
 
Jik stared at her for a moment, unsure what to think of her actions. The human was talking to him, didn't she realize he couldn't understand a word of whatever she was trying to get through to him? He crouched a bit lower and snatched up the leg, his tongue shooting out roughly two feet and skewering it with its barbs. His jowl split open like a snakes jaws and swallowed the leg whole as his tongue pulled it into his mouth with a snap. He looked back up at her and paced back and forth, not sure what to do with her at this point. He growled, gave a short hiss and laid down watching her.


Eight chuckled. "That's what a good meal and sleep if for, rest. Til then I have things to do, tired or not we need a shelter." He thought about it for a moment then shrugged. "Or we could just sleep in that tree." He said, nodding at a large tree overlooking the water. "Should be fine up there." He had all the materials he needed for the smoke stack already, so he stopped and looked at Seven. "If you're cool with sleeping in the tree I'll just build the smoke stack and leave it at that."
 
A smile slipped on her lips as she looked at Jik. He was kinda cute in a way though she was not about to let her guard down. You never knew when it came to wild animals. She cut off the rest of the boar's legs before plopping them close to Jik. She then started to cut the rest of the boar that she would be able to eat before cooking it. Once she finished cooking a few nice and big piece of meat; she checked to make sure it was cooked all the way. It was so she stuffed her face. As she ate she watched Jik closely. Could it climb? She wondered, since she would need sleep and she wasn't to sure how long it would stay or if it was just waiting for her to sleep before swallowing her down.
 
Seven looked at the tree, thinking a moment. "Long as I don't wake up tied up and in the water I'll be fine. I already woke up that way once, I really would not like to wake up that way again." He shook his head slightly, but chuckled. "I'm fine with sleeping in a tree; likely safer than the ground." He turned back to the meat, rolling it into strips and wrapping each individual piece is smaller dock-leaves. His ankle was killing him, but the pain was surprisingly easy to ignore.
 
(Remaking two)<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Two woke up on an old sandy beach. He had a killer head ache and just held it as he sat up noticing his arm felt surprisingly heavy. Looking over at it he found a large rectangular shield. "What am I doing with this?" He mumbled taking his hand away from his head and grabbing the side of the slightly rounded shield. He ran his hand over the smooth sides and figured it was made out of steal or iron. A strong metal of some sort or another. Looking around slightly dazed he found a small bulge in the sand and a handle of some long arm sticking out. Curiously he pulled it out to find it was a spear, it reminded him of an old roman spear man. Strange, though he didn’t remember anything about his life, he still knew the time of Rome was long ago. He blinked a couple of times trying to clear his vision a little as he pushed himself off the ground. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
"Hello?" He said looking around at the deserted beach. "Is anyone here?" He shouted after hearing no response. Still, not a voice rang out, not even a squawk of a bird. Just what type of island was this? He wobbly started to walk until he oriented himself and was able to walk normally. As he strolled along the water’s edge he stubbed his toe on something. "ow..." was all that escaped his lips as he looked down and saw a small metal blade. It was notably larger than a knife but not quite the size of a sword. As he unearthed it he could tell it was professionally crafted and noted that the holster was designed to slightly sharpen it every time he unsheathed it.<o:p></o:p>
 
(You called Jik Vis XD)
Jik eyed the boar legs suspiciously, slowly opening his mouth before snagging another leg with his tongue and swallowing it whole as he had done the first. He wasn't sure what she was trying to do, but he figured he should stick around. At least this human was interesting, maybe he would eat her in the morning. He licked his chops and laid his head down on his front legs, eyes one hers.


Eight nodded and laughed as he began to put the smoker together. "That doesn't sound like too much fun brother man." He shook his head. "I agree, the tree is out best bet. Saves me a lot of work too so I'm not complaining hahaha." Good, so he wouldn't have to build a shelter. As he worked, he thought of the bear, and what he had done. It didn't make any sense, none of this did. Where were they? Who was he? How could he do all of these things but still not remember anything? He quickly became annoyed with the unsupported thoughts as the headache returned. He sighed and focused on getting the smoker up and running.
 
18 stretched her arms over her head. Only if she could read animal's thoughts... she was able to do things she didn't remember ever learning, why wasn't reading things thoughts one of them? She sighed and continued to cook the food. Once she was done she realized she had no bag to carry the food. She rubbed her head, now this honestly starting to get annoying. She didn't remember ever being a craftsman, this was ridiculous.

"HOW THE FUCK DID I GET HERE!?" She screams to the tree, ruffling her hair. "Fuck man, this sucks!!"