Trap

There were a few rocks in the water big enough to amount to the cliff the statue sat upon, but I couldn't see their origin point underwater. Almost like monoliths, they stood blocking the sun rays high up in the sky. As for the beach, nothing moved except for the wind.

"Sky, over there!" Domin pointed and my attention was grabbed instantly. He was pointing at a small, cat-like animal who was running in between bushes, and we both smiled at each other.

"That's a fox!" I said to him, but Domin tilted his head.

"A… fox? What is that? How did you know that?" I refused to take my eyes off of the small animal and bolted for it, swimming past the same bushes the fox ran through and off into the middle of the forest.

"Sky! That's incredibly stupid! If that fox thing is running, it's probably from a predator!" I turned back to Domin and nodded, then walked back over to him.

"You're right, I wasn't even thinking about his reason for running, I was just excited that our trip was beginning to bear fruit," I told him.

"The important thing was that we were able to confirm wildlife's presence on this beach. That alone could be considered a fruit. I would say let's head back, but a small fox isn't enough to feed the plethora of people trapped on that beach. We should wait for the predator to approach and watch from a safe distance." I nodded, following Domin's lead.

We both hid behind a big rock on the beach and peered over the top, barely letting the tops of our heads show to this predator. I often looked back at Domin, then back at the scene. I couldn't fathom how he always had a thought of danger whenever something exciting was happening. Catching that fox could've fed our small group, why weren't we actively hunting it?

A little more than fifteen seconds passed and a bigger animal with four legs, antlers, and sharp teeth began sniffing the bushes for the fox. It just looked like a deer with carnivorous teeth… did those even exist?!

"There she is… that thing could feed a lot more people than the fox. We need to kill it, but the haul back home would be too heavy for you and me. This is where Ullr would come in handy." Domin stated. I pointed at the axe handle, then to the deer.

"If I could land a hit, I'm pretty sure I could kill it. But I'm not sure I can land a hit… nor do I want to, not with those teeth." I told him.

"Those teeth are sharp, meant to tear flesh from prey. It's probably well-versed when it comes to attacking, but I think if we set a trap, it wouldn't be able to escape." Domin said, tapping the top of the rock with his fingers lightly.

"A trap… it was chasing the fox, right?" I asked, which Domin agreed to.

"Then it's simple. The predator has its prey in sight. Just like how I can't sense danger outside of exciting things, this predator probably can't sense things outside of the hunt, so what if we use the fox as bait, and you killed it while he was distracted?" I asked. Domin took a second to think, and then nodded.

"Not bad from the man who claims he's not good at anything. Okay, so we just have to wait for the fox to come back out, and then we'll chase the thing while he chases the fox." I nodded, peering deep into the forest, waiting for any slight movements from the fox. Not long after, the small creature jumped out of the forest. The deer, with slobber in its mouth, stumbled while chasing the fox, who was running right at us.

"Uh, this isn't too good, is it?!" I asked, staggering back while staring the deer right in the face. "Domin… he's getting kind of close." Domin froze in place behind the rock as both the fox and deer jumped the rock. The axe never left the rock it leaned up against and I realized how bad this situation was becoming. The deer stopped looking at the fox and began to look right at me.

I darted my eyes back and forth as the slobber began to splash against the ground. I think that thing has rabies… if I got bit, it would be the end of my life! I quickly ducked under his wide jaw as it slammed against its counterpart, and I smoothly grabbed the axe.

I tilted my body to attack the deer as it stumbled on the ground, turned around, and charged at me once more. All fear in my body immediately left and I swung the axe with both hands overhead, aiming for the deer's skull. Domin was still frozen behind me, and the fear began to catch up with me. My legs began to tremble... and the axe finally connected to his skull.

The deer immediately dropped to the ground, panting heavily and whining with an unnerving moan. Saliva began to leak from his mouth in addition to the bloody mess of his pink, slimy brain falling out of the wound in his head. I saw the fox run right past us, back to safety in the forest, as my legs finally gave out and I fell to the ground with the deer.

"Holy… wow… it's dead…" Domin slid down the length of the rock and rubbed the sweat off of his forehead while I recuperated my thoughts.

"We can't even eat that, it has rabies," I told him, laughing off our failure of a plan.

"But still, to know that the axe was able to kill something as big as that in one swing, it means that we stand a chance right now. I bet if Ullr used that thing, he could've killed the deer with one hand." Domin added, slowly climbing back to his feet.

"Maybe so, but it still wouldn't have mattered. We can take the hide from the deer, but we can't take the meat because of rabies." I said, slowly running my hands all over the deer's hide.

"Still, you killed that. That was impressive, Sky. I didn't know you had the gall to end the life of something like that, especially when it was this close to killing us." Domin said. I felt flattered and embarrassed at the same time. It looked like I finally found my knack! I was good at killing rabid animals.

"We should try and locate that fox, but I'm not sure I want to head in the direction that predator came from," Domin said, walking to the other side of the rock while sneaking. I joined right behind him with the bloodied axe and realized there were blood splatters all over my shirt now.

"I can't wait to hear what Dani has to say about this, I already can hear her 'what if' questions," I said, walking close to the water on the beach. Domin looked uncomfortable and watched our backs, then the forest.

"I think she only asks you those questions because she cares about you. It's been quite obvious." He said.

I never thought about it like that, I only thought it was annoying that she always had something to say about the things we did. I guess I would have to reevaluate the way I interpret her questions. "Do you think they've run into any rabid deer on their own either?" I asked, pausing in the wet sand.

Domin led us into the forest at a far enough distance to where no predator could see us in the fox's direction before answering. "It's possible, but since they don't have a weapon, what could they do against it? Maybe we should head back." Domin turned around and I grabbed his wrist before he could fully do it, leading him back towards our original direction.

"They'll be fine, they have Carl, he can think of something, I'm sure." I was fully confident in Carl's ability to think of a solution for a rabid deer.

"We should hunt the fox and head home with it. We'll leave the deer here until people can help us bring it back to base, and then we'll go from there. This is a step in the right direction though, this wildlife can be hunted." I added.

Domin began to fashion a small, thick piece of fiber around two sticks, setting it up in a clearing in the forest with a straight path. He explained that the fox would run into the middle of the piece of fiber and get itself stuck, that's when I could strike with the axe to kill it. I nodded and hid with him behind a new rock in the forest.

A lot of time went by. We sat here for quite a long time before I heard the fox squeal out in pain.

"We got it! Let's kill it and head home." Domin said. He slid down the inclined hill in the forest and grabbed the fox by the legs, pulling it so the fox extended fully.

"Now, just hit it in the head." He told me, tilting his head away so he didn't have to watch.

I stared at the fox with no intention of moving. I needed the food but… he just escaped from the deer's clutches, only to go on with the expectation to live and get trapped once more?

"Well, hurry it up Sky! He's getting hard to hold." Domin said. I squinted my eyes and slammed the axe into the fox's head, ending its life instantly.

"I don't think I can do that again. He was helpless." I said to him, but Domin looked back down at the fox, then back at me before beginning his next lecture.

"We have this opportunity for food right here, and right now. We shouldn't just let this escape our grasp, no matter how much it hurts us. This fox's life isn't worth as much as ours are. As much as I hate to say it, we'll be starving before long, and these are the things we must do to survive." Domin lifted him by the legs and let the blood drain from the missing head of the fox.

"We'll gut it back home before cooking it." He said. A lot of time had passed since we left home, and the sun was beginning to turn an orange and pink color.

Sunset, it looked like. We began our walk home and talked a little on the way.

"Nice work out there today. We'll go hunting again when we have everything settled, but we should make more weaponry or find more to help us out." I nodded.

"Like a bow and arrow for hunting, and a knife for skinning, and maybe a shield to hold back the deer, there's a lot we need, but you're right, we now have the food to make it that far," I said to him.

"Say, Domin, it sounds like we're all going to have jobs in the future, and you said you wanted to go hunting with me again, so would that make you a hunter?" Domin shook his head.

"No, this is sort of a fun activity for me. I'm not really cut out for battle, I'm weak, I freeze in the face of danger, I don't know how I would be a good hunter, but I'm good at thinking things through. Maybe a strategist for the group. I'd like to keep us all safe from whatever predators decide to hunt us. It's important to me that we can all smile and be a big family." He told me.

We finally crossed the top of the hill and realized there was chanting going on, and a big circle of people jumping around it.

"Ullr! Ullr! Ullr!" They shouted.

What was going on?!