Omnivore Sighting

"Tell them to bring their own twine from the plants around. Then, you'll want to slam this axe into the top of a stick about as wide as our forearms." I put my forearm against his for comparison,

"After that, sharpen the rock as it'll be the blade of the axe. You can chop at it or slide this axe against the rock. It doesn't have to be perfect, but the twine needs to be secure enough to hold the rock in place with the stick. Just slide the rock into the stick and use the twine to secure it however you feel necessary. Stand guard at that station and offer help to others if their trees are too strong." I told him.

"Alright boss." Carl saluted me, and I turned back to everybody else.

"Okay, let's go get that deer Domin and I killed earlier. We'll make a knife using the same method Carl's using to make axes and take the skin for a blanket." I turned back to quickly check on the two men. Both Isaac and Drake seemed to have the situation under control and even offered to help Ullr with cleaning his face.

"Hey… it's beginning to snow." Dani said, looking up to the sky. I didn't believe her until I felt a cold droplet hit the back of my hand, but was, sure enough, beginning. I had no idea it was already that cold, but that meant our shelter was starting to be a dire need.

"We'll have to use the trees for cover, some of us can even sleep in the statue as long as I'm there. But let's get that deer before it's too late." Red, Dani, and Domin all followed me as I led the way.

"So, you killed a deer, but we can't eat it?" Dani asked, catching up and matching my pace as I walked further.

"Yeah, it had rabies, so if we eat the meat, we could contract the disease." She put her hand to her chin and nodded slightly, staring at the floor in front of us.

"That's where the blood came from on my shirt earlier, I'm sorry I didn't answer your question, I was worried about what Ullr was doing," I said, keeping my eyes positioned forward.

"Are you okay after that?" I noticed she was getting closer, so I kept a comfortable distance, and answered,

"Y-Yeah. I-I was just scared for a little bit, but everything worked out." I told her. Her inquisitive gaze was starting to pierce my boundaries, so I changed topics.

"Domin, wasn't the deer just right there?" I pointed out and he walked up next to me, just like Dani had done.

"Yeah… where did it go? It was definitely dead, so who moved it?" I nervously stared into the forest. Based on the light amount of snow on the ground untouched, it hasn't been moved in a bit. It must've happened right as we left, but what got our prey that fast?

"So much for the deer hide… I think what's more important now is to investigate what was big enough to move a deer like that?" Red silently moved forward and crouched right next to the exact location the deer used to lie.

"It's nearby, it was an omnivore." Domin interrupted, "What do you mean? How do you know that?"

Red stood back up and pointed to a plant with the leaves still on it, and to our surprise, some of the leaves were bitten off.

"This plant has frozen residue on it. It could be various things, maybe saliva, but that freezing point is far too low for this weather. That means it was water. The animal took a drink of water, got it on this leaf, and then dragged the deer away. If it didn't attack when you two were near it, that means it felt outnumbered, so there's only one." Red began to walk in the forest.

"But, how did you know all of that?!" Dani asked following right behind. Domin and I both shrugged and followed Red into the forest.

"It's natural knowledge to me." She stated. This meant a lot to me, at least. Domin and Red were both smart individuals, but they knew a list of separate things from each other. Our personalities are all inherently different, just as I thought, but how it differs is the farthest thing from a recognizable pattern. Dani seems to be extremely creative, while Domin seems to critically think about situations, and Red has a ton of knowledge regarding wildlife.

"There, there's a ton of blood in the snow right there." She pointed to the tree, and we all ran over to it, hoping the new predator didn't take any of the hides away from the deer.