The Epic Tale of Cregan

Chapter 10: Up For Anything

Feeling the morning cold entangle his body, Cree slowly blinks his eyes open. Having decided to surrender his sleeping bag to Reela didn't come without a few regrets. Though, he wasn't really expecting to get any sleep last night.

Let alone make it to morning.

He slowly sits up and surveys the camp. He sees that the campfire had gone out at some point. Reela is curled up beside Regan, shivering. Looking at the sky and judging by the cold, it must be just an hour or so after dawn. He woke up earlier than he was expecting, but at least that leaves him with time to get prepared.

But first, the fire.

Cree has to push himself to get up. Once on his feet, he realizes that his legs are a little shaky still. He closes his mind off to everything outside of the present and starts walking forward, stepping around the apple core on the ground beside where he slept and making his way over to the campfire.

After getting a good fire going, he sees that Reela's shivering lessens. The sight unconsciously makes Cree show a small smile before his eyes land on Regan's sleeping face. He stares at the bandage across his cheek.

"Wake the fuck up, Regan! When are you going to realize that not everyone is in love with you?!"

"Maybe once you realize that not everyone hates you!"

Cree has to close his eyes as he looks away and quickly stands up. As he's walking away from the two, he hears someone stirring as they wake up.

"Good morning, Cree..." Reela yawns as she rubs her eyes.

Cree freezes for a moment before turning around and facing her. "Morning, Reela. Feeling any better?" he asks. His voice sounds different to his own ears somehow. The girl sleepily nods with a tired smile. Then her stomach lets out a loud growl and she flops down back into the sleeping bag.

"I'm so hungry..." she whines.

Cree chuckles and nods. "I'll check if the Latyrs had any food. You're going to need it."

He walks towards the Latyr supply tent and starts rummaging through the crates. He sighs at seeing that all the food is some form of spoiled. "Bad news, Reela. The food's bad," he says and heads back out into the camp.

Reela whines again and buries herself in the covers. Cree sighs and rolls his shoulders back. "Don't worry. I'll go see if I can hunt anything in the woods. You're going to need your strength." He walks back over to where he slept by the gate and reaches down to claim his knives.

As he reaches for them, he's hit with another flash of last night. Remembering the moment he felt the blade touch his chest, how his whole body went cold. As though he had died before even taking his life. Then as he found himself pinned to the ground, he felt nothing but rage. He lashed out at Regan. But the cut of his blade was nothing compared to the damage his words delivered.

"Can I come with you?"

He's snapped back to the present by Reela standing in front of him with a big smile beaming across her face, happily rocking back and forth on her heels and swaying innocently. He cocks a brow as he grabs his knives and fastens the sheathes to his belt.

"You want to go hunting with me? Really?" he questions.

Reela enthusiastically nods. "Yes! I want to try using this bow!" She holds up a small wooden bow and a quiver of arrows that she had apparently been holding behind her back.

Cree tilts his head at her in both question and concern. "Where did you get that?"

Reela points towards the gate. "From one of the bodies outside!"