20 Chapter 20

A few hours later, Alice understood why Su had gone to sleep without chattering. It was still an hour before sunrise, but Hugo was poking his head into the tent to wake the two girls.

Hunters were emerging from the tents all around, drowsily shaking their heads to try and wake themselves up.

Getting out into the woods early could provide them an opportunity to ambush their prey from a hidden spot, such as in a tree. Deer keep their eyes trained on the woods around them, neglecting to look up into the trees to check for predators. Utilizing this to their advantage, human hunters are able to score kills on deer- sneaking up on one by foot and getting close enough to take a shot using a bow was rather rare.

Clouds covered both the moon and the stars, darkening the landscape even further.

It only took a few minutes for the hunters to get ready to enter the woods. Alice would be joining Hugo once again. Seeing as she still wasn't able to handle a bow, she went into the woods with very little gear. Her job was to watch and learn, as well as to carry Hugo's gear in the event that they managed to get a good harvest. Ash trailed behind the two as they entered the woods, still trying to wake himself up.

'Hey Roth, I need a few more minutes of sleep… mind taking over for a bit?'

Roth hadn't controlled their body for a while, and he was happy to take over, despite being just as tired as Ash. Roth pranced around a bit, sniffing every plant they passed and receiving an odd look from Alice. Keeping her voice low so as to not disturb any surrounding wildlife, she commented on Ash's newfound energy.

"Ash… can you share some of that energy with me? I feel like I'm still half asleep…"

She was having trouble keeping up with Hugo's rapid pace, almost losing him in the darkness a few times. He was eventually forced to slow down, delaying their arrival at their hunting spot.

Hugo led Alice through the woods for nearly half an hour, seemingly moving off memory. The forest was still dark to make out the undergrowth just a few meters away. Alice kept one hand on Ash the entire time, her hand shaking a bit. It seemed like her fear of being lost in the woods was amplified by the darkness.

Hugo spoke up, making Alice jump.

"Alright, we are almost at a good spot to sit and wait. I've gotten a few deer over here on previous trips. It is still a while until first light, and the tree we will sit in is pretty big, so you can take a nap after we get there."

Nodding in thanks, Alice followed Hugo to the base of a big tree. It was a white oak, the same type of tree Ash climbed as a newborn pup.

Hugo clambered up the tree like a monkey, stopping on the lowest branch and extending his hand down to Alice.

"Grab on, I'll pull you up."

His gaze shifted to Ash, and he realized there was a problem. He was strong, but Ash was a big wolf, and there was no way he would be able to carry Ash up the tree.

"Ash, are you able to hide in the bushes nearby? I completely forgot that I'm hunting with a wolf…"

Alice accepted Hugo's hand, and after a minute, the two had managed to climb up to a large branch a few meters up the tree. The branch jutted out at a ninety degree angle from the tree, providing a perfect spot to sit and watch the woods.

There were a number of similar branches poking from the tree at the same height, allowing for multiple people to sit in the tree.

^Hey Ash, wake up. It's time for you to climb, bro^

Roth turned over control of their body to Ash. He hadn't gotten over his fear of heights, and there was no way he was going to climb up the tree.

Eyeing up the tree, Ash picked out a series of branches he could grab onto to climb, then backed away from the tree for a running start.

"Is he going to try to climb the tree? This wolf is really weird. Not only does it have the intelligence of a human, but now it is also going to try to climb like a cat?"

The bark of the oak was rough, allowing Ash to grip the tree and pull himself up. He had grown a lot in the past week, and the heavier he got, the harder it would be for him to climb.

After just a few seconds, Ash had climbed to the same height Hugo and Alice were sitting at, and watched their shocked faces with amusement. Deciding to get some rest, he lay down with his paws dangling from either side of the branch. Now that they were in the tree, Roth refused to swap with Ash, forcing him to stay in control of their body. Alice leaned her back against the main trunk of the tree, joining Ash in getting some much needed rest.

Time passed quickly as the two slept, and it was already mid day before Alice woke up.

She looked over to Hugo, who was silently watching the forest. They weren't as lucky today as the previous day; nothing worth shooting had wandered past the stand as of yet.

The sky was a dark gray mess of clouds, looking like they would cry at any moment. If they wanted to stay dry, the hunting group would need to find shelter. It was still summertime, but getting soaked could still lead to a cold.

Noting that Alice had woken up, Hugo decided that they would move somewhere to stay out of the rain. On a past trip in this woods, he had found a small cave that could provide shelter from the rain. Seeing as this cave could be useful for shelter in the future, Hugo had turned it into a makeshift house by installing a door to cover up the entrance.

Descending from the tree, Hugo led Alice and the still drowsy Ash to the cave, barely making it there before rain started hitting the ground. The three of them rushed inside, and were met with a musky scent of a long-empty shack.

A few wooden chairs were propped up in a corner, along with a barrel containing some preserved jerky. A small fire pit lay in the back of the cave, a dark stain on the stone ceiling above it. The cave sloped downwards, digging into the group for around four meters before coming to a halt. The ceiling was just high enough that a grown man could walk around while crouching.

The cave was quite similar to the one Ash grew up in, and he couldn't help picture the horrible scene had had walked in on on that horrible day.

^We still need to find and kill all those bastards from before. We can't let them get away with killing our whole family^

'Yes… but we should focus on our life right now, and get revenge after we grow up all the way. Right now, we still wouldn't be able to do much to them, instead we would just cause problems for Alice and Earl.'

Trying to put the bad memories away, Ash lay down next to Alice while they waited out the rain. Having nothing to do, Alice and Hugo chatted for a while, but after a while, they both decided to get some more sleep. They would be getting up early every day this coming week, so rest was a precious thing. Soon, all three of them were sleeping soundly, covered by blankets left in the cave house by previous hunters who waited out storms here.