Wild Desperation

Chapter 29

                                         Sang

When I woke early the next morning I took note that Kota and Victor were on morning watch as I silently lowered Arrow and climbed down after him. I invited Kota along for my snare checks and he was eager to tag along, leaving Victor to stand guard over the others alone. I liked the fact that Kota seemed fine with silence as I kept quiet during our trek of my trap line. I was disappointed in not finding a single snare full, it wasn't uncommon but it meant this area had little to zip on the small game front which worried me. 

"That's all of them so no fresh meat this morning, I think I'll be happier once we leave this area now." I murmured lowly, scanning the surrounding trees. "Why?" Kota asks keeping his voice low. "With not even a tuft of fur on the traps it's telling me something is wrong with the small animal population which could mean an increased number of predators in the area, even if we don't see them." I glance to the boy as he nervously joins me to scan the trees for danger. "Relax, I won't let them get you." I tease with a snort as he tries to scowl at me but fails miserably. "Well now what?" He shrugs as I scratch Arrow's ears. 

"Now we see how much of my plant book you can remember, we'll be having fruits and greens this morning with any leftover boar we've got." I state as I hand over a sack to him and ready my own for plant collection. "I saw a patch of dandelions a while ago, the whole plant is safe so that's a decent start." Kota replies as we step lightly. "Yeah but dandelions are the easy stuff and not always easy to find in colder months, one thing you need to figure out is which berries are safe and which ones can kill you." I raise back as I pop a blackberry off a bush and toss it in my mouth with a wink. 

The silent encased our three strong scavenging group again as I harvested berries from the nearby bushes and Kota began collecting dandelions and clovers. "That seems like enough to start us off, the others should be awake by now so let's head back." I break the easy and comfortable silence as we head back to camp with our finds. The guys were a little pouty without fresh meat but we still had a tiny bit of boar plus our deer jerky for protein so the greens and berries helped curb the hunger, Luke didn't seem happy to eat them but he kept his objections to himself. 

When everyone had filled their stomachs I tossed some jerky to Arrow and got everything packed up to head out. Getting Nightmare to load into the trailer went a lot smoother than yesterday, and he doesn't even fuss when I get out and close him in, guess he figures it's not so bad if he can just rest and not have to carry me the whole day. I climb in the truck bed since it's closer to the trailer to keep an eye on the fickle stallion in case he decides to throw a fit on the ride. North, Silas, Luke and Victor get to ride with Arrow and me in the back with our stuff while the others pile into the truck itself. I keep on alert as Owen drives on the deserted road, having my bow ready and keeping a gun close on hand in case of an ambush but no one appears to attack. 

When the sign for Oconee National Forest comes into veiw I feel some relief at being back to the forest instead of open road but still stay alert and weary of the unfamiliar area. I waited until Owen pulled to a stop before jumping out with Arrow to go check on my horse, who seemed to have been taking a nap until I opened the trailer door and he backed out before immediately going to graze. "At least he seems happy about the trailer now." I huff softly under my breath before heading back to the boys. I helped gather some firewood and picked out my tree nearby. I noted the signs of lots of small game in the area and was eager to get a move on setting some snares, it looked like we'd be having fresh meat tonight.