Prodigy Returns (book 3)

Chapter Six

The sun was high above her head, indicating there was still plenty of daylight, thus Alex was in no rush to go back. Walking along the river's edge, she hoped it would lead her to some kind of civilization. Since finding the stream, she had been walking for over an hour. She kept her eyes on the surrounding plants and eventually came across a bounty of wild berries.

Approaching the bush, she selected one berry and gently twisted it off the vine. The small, purple berry was dark enough in colour to not cause her concern. She brought it to her nose, opting to smell it first. It didn't give off much of a scent so she placed the berry in her mouth and began chewing it. The berry squished between her teeth and the juices filled her mouth. A surge of flavour followed, erupting on her tongue. The flavour was a mixture between a strawberry and a watermelon and was perhaps the best thing she had ever tasted. It was particularly satisfying as she had not eaten anything since her arrival.

Being completely starved, her face lit up as she quickly stuffed a handful of berries into her mouth. She fed on the tiny fruit like a contestant in a pie eating contest. The sloppy juices spilled out of her greedy mouth and stained her chin. When she was done, she filled her pockets with the flavourful berries and continued on her way.

A large bird circled overhead and seemed to be following her. It had scared off all other birds in the area. Alex held up her hand to her face to block the sunlight and get a better look at the bird. As the black silhouette circled, Alex could tell it was very large, definitely larger than any flying bird on Earth.

Suddenly becoming nauseous, Alex lowered her gaze, feeling as though she may have overdone it with the berries as they thrashed around in her stomach. She felt she might puke at any moment. Accepting it as a sign from her body, Alex knelt down on one knee and focused on her breathing. Her cape draped over her toned physique, displaying the golden emblem of her home planet. Her breathing became more intense and she soon began to heave uncontrollably. She decided not to fight it, and threw up all over the sandy shoreline. After forcefully expunging all the contents from her stomach, Alex wiped her mouth. Still feeling nauseous, she remained keeled over.

The large predatory bird made a few laps, studying Alex as she was showing all the signs of an animal in distress. The bird looked like something out of the Pleistocene epoch — a giant prehistoric bird that resembled a shoebill bird, only bigger. It landed on the beach and snuck up on Alex from behind. The bird stood over five-feet tall and had big, muscular legs. Its reptilian feet silently sunk into the soft sand and crept closer. Its large beak would surely tear Alex's soft flesh to shreds while its claws held her down to keep her from escaping.

As it prodded forward, looking for its next meal, Alex seemed blissfully unaware of the danger she was in. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be in a meditative state as she was dealing with her illness. She inhaled slowly through her nose and exhaled through her mouth, attempting to calm her nerves and settle her stomach. Closer still the bird inched forward with its large menacing beak opened wide. 

When it came within striking distance, Alex sprung to her feet and in one fluid motion spun 180 degrees and sliced off the bird's head with a single chop. The bird's lifeless head rolled by her feet as the body slumped over oozing blood from its neck. Alex's heart was pounding violently as she stood over her kill with a bloody blade.

Alex still felt unwell, but was thrilled to have a new meal. She crouched down and studied the head — the cold, dead eyes stared back at her. Alex was glad to have been able to sense the bird before it attacked, and was even more pleased with how her machete performed in a real-life combat situation. 

The bird was actually quite beautiful in its own way. It made Alex feel as though she had stepped into a time machine and stumbled into a completely different era where woolly mammoths and sabre-tooth tigers roamed. She almost felt guilty for killing the prehistoric-looking bird. Nevertheless, the universal laws of the jungle applied, implementing only one code of ethics — kill or be killed.

Grabbing a hold of one of the legs, Alex dragged the bird to the river's edge and began to prepare it. She hacked off its wings and legs and set them aside. She then used her blade to open up the chest cavity. The bird's anatomy was similar to a large turkey. Alex soon realized it was far too much meat for her to take back to camp. Even if she could carry it all, which she couldn't, there was no way to keep it from spoiling. Having a rotting animal carcass would surely attract more predators.

Alex finished preparing the best parts of the bird and laying out large leaves that resembled banana leaves. After rinsing the meat in the river to remove any blood and sand, she placed the meat neatly in the centre of the leaves and wrapped them up tightly. These would be her dinner. For lunch, she prepared one of the legs and similarly wrapped it in one of the leaves.

After rinsing her hands and blade, she spent the next several minutes preparing a small fire. Using her lighter, she ignited the tinder and slowly added more sticks until the flame grew. In the centre of the fire was a rock, which she had deliberately placed there to use as a cooking stone. When the fire was raging, she placed the wrapped meat on the rock and let it cook. Much like a banana leaf, the leaf wrapping protected the meat from burning.

Meanwhile, Alex used the downtime to clean her clothes and body. She walked into the frigid river until she was covered waist deep and began to strip off all her clothes. The gentle stream caressed her naked body as she cleaned herself. To say the bath was relaxing would be far from accurate. She fought the freezing temperature with every ounce of her will and didn't plan to stay in for a moment longer than she had to. Fortunately, the hot sun made the experience bearable. Lowering the rest of her body into the water, Alex scrubbed the dried blood from her hair. She felt around her skull and was happy to discover her wound had fully healed.

When she was ready to get out, she trudged to shore, holding her dripping wet clothing. She wrung out each item and placed them on log to dry. Her naked body glistened in the sun as she stood by the fire covered only by the large cape.