The Wildlife
Back on dry land after her mishap in the river, Olivia got to work on making her bag.
It took a good amount of time, but she was able to cobble together a makeshift bag. While not exactly what she had in mind, she created what was more like a drawstring bag, rather than a backpack. She was able to thread the vines through all the holes, attaching the leaves together, and some binding was passed through holes on the edge, alternating as she did, which she then tied off making an opening in the bag. A few more vines gave her arm straps which she had to cut to size to make them fit. While not perfect, it was better than nothing and it easily held the sharp rocks and the rest of the vines, both of which may be useful in the future.
She did think about using the vines to attach one of the sharp rocks to the end of her spear, but no matter what she did, she could not get it right. She figured a hole would need to be created in the rock, allowing it to be slotted over the stick, and then bound. She must be doing something wrong, as every time she attached it against the stick, it just fell off. She tried various knots and ways of wrapping, but all seemed to have problems. She couldn’t see how it would be possible to make a better spear with what she had, so the wooden one would have to remain her main defensive weapon.
…
Continuing down the river she was getting closer and closer to the smoke. This time she had taken travelling though brought a rumble in her stomach, signalling the need to eat, of which she had no food to fix.
Still trekking by the river, there were fish of some sort present, but a few quick jabs with the spear only led to a soggy wood. Still searching for some sort of food source, not long after the failed attempt at fishing, she did see some sort of fruit on the ground. Looking up, they also dangled from the tree by short vines hanging off the branches. While some would see this as a very lucky occurrence, Olivia had no idea if the fruit was poisonous or not, so until she knew which it was, her hunger could not be satiated.
Thankfully, it was at this point that some type of deer or elk like animal dashed out of the trees and proceeded to eat one of the fruits. It munched on the fruit as if its life depended on it, and Olivia waited to see if it caused the animal any harm, letting her know whether it is safe for consumption.
What she didn’t expect was for the deer to spot her. As it still munched on the fruit, it just froze on the spot and proceed to stare at Olivia, but as soon as it stopped chewing, it proceeded to turn towards her and charge. As it did so, spikes appeared to grow outwards from various locations on its antlers, forming what she could only describe as a natural made barbed wire.
.....
“Wha-?”
It barrelled along the river in her direction and Olivia just couldn’t move, not knowing what to do. The fight, flight and freeze response had chosen to use freeze in this particular situation. But that would not help Olivia, who would soon be tenderized meat on the end of those antlers.
Still hit with confusion at the strange sight she had seen, as it neared her, Olivia was able to break out of her stupor and assess the situation. Dropping her bag, to stop it from getting in the way, she readied her spear, waiting for it to get near her.
When it was close to reaching her, it dropped its head down, pointing its antlers forward. Olivia seeing this took this as her opportunity to try and hurt it, quickly jumping and rolling to the side as it closed in on her. The deer unable to change its course as it had not seen her move, continued on its path. Olivia was able to right herself quickly, and stab at its side as it barrelled past her.
“Hah, not so tough now, are you.” She said mocking the deer at its failure to hit her.
The deer screeched out in pain from the stab wound, but one wound would not be enough to stop the deer. It turned around and tried again, using the same tactic as last time. Due to this, Olivia was able to do the same, giving the beast another wound.
Once it passed her and had some distance from its foe, the deer started wandering around its area as it watched her. It was at this point that the deer realised it had to be more cautious. Seeing that its charging only led to being hurt, it stopped doing that. Now, it moved forward cautiously towards its enemy, wanting to try another tactic.
In place of a headlong charge, where it can’t see what is happening in front of it, it moved close enough that it could headbutt its enemy. While it still had to look down to do so, the amount of time that it was unable to see, was reduced drastically.
As Olivia pulled back her spear to lunge at the approaching deer, she did not realise what was going to happen. Due to this, Olivia took the brunt of its first headbutt, her spear missing its target, ending up with her being knocked to the floor, which winded her.
*Gasp**Gasp* “Damn that was painful.” Looking up at the deer, she then shouted, “Just you wait. I’m going to make a shish kebab out of you.”
The deer hearing this threat, completely disregarded it, since it was a deer and all and did not understand the language.
Seeing that its attack worked, It quickly moved forward again, hoping to get another hit on the prone girl.
Nearing her, Olivia quickly brought her spear up and thrust it forward, right towards the deer’s face. While not yet skilled with the weapon, her attack missed where she was aiming, only skimming the neck of the deer. But still, she managed to draw blood.
The deer feeling this, jumped back, cautious of its attacker and possibly being hurt again. As it moved back, Olivia managed to stand back up and readied her spear out in front of her.
“Yeah, how do you like that! Come on, what are you waiting for.” She shouted, trying to goad the deer to attack.
Like before, this goading just went over its head. It stood in the same place, looking at who it had been attacking, likely figuring out what it should do.
After a short while, whether it was instinct kicking in or something had startled it, the deer decided to flee instead of fight, running off into the forest.
“What? No, I was winning… You coward!” Olivia shouted into the forest, in the direction the deer had fled. With peace now back in the forest she picked her bag up and slung it back over her shoulders.
“Grrrrrr.”
It didn’t take too long for Olivia to realise the reason that the deer had dashed off, the growl behind her being the evidence of which one it was.
Slowly turning around, a massive wolf covered in thick black fur started to circle around her. Accompanying it was three smaller versions of the wolf, likely its young.
Olivia could see that this was not a fight she would be able to win. Four against one was not very good odds. It also didn’t help that she was still feeling some of the pain from when the deer had knocked her down.
The wolves moved in zig zags getting closer to her. Olivia responded by slowly moving backwards, trying to keep her distance. She also brought her spear up, readying it to be thrust forward in a futile effort to either intimidate the wolves or to give her some form of defence against them. While she may be able to deal with one, for a short while at least, four was a different story.
Still backing away, Olivia looked behind her. The only direction she could go was further along the edge of the river. The river blocked one side, and the thick tree line blocked the other. While she could try and make a break for the thick forest area, it’s likely she would just end up tripping and ending up as a nice easy snack for the wolves.
Still in thought about what to do, one of the young wolves decided to be ambitious. It charged ahead of its pack and went straight for her.
As it neared her, it bared its teeth and jumped.
While Olivia had been startled by the attack, given that she was figuring out a way out of this situation, she was still able to form some basic defence against it. With her spear still gripped tightly in her hands, she brought it up in the direction the wolf was going to reach.
She thought about trying to stab the wolf, but as a moving target and quite a small one at that, Olivia was not confident in her skills with her spear to actually hit it. Due to that, she brought her spear up in a blocking fashion, hands gripping either end of it. She hoped that she would be able to block its path and push it in another direction.
What she didn’t count on was the ferocity of the wolf, and its need to take a bite out of her.
This meant she ended up with a wolf, hanging off the spear, the pole firmly lodged in its mouth.
It snarled and thrashed as it tried to pry its jaw off the spear, but it would seem that the force from its jump had jammed it quite far into its mouth. Given the closeness, its paws ended up hitting her, scratching down her chest, drawing blood.
The remaining wolves quickened their pace, seeing that one of their pack was in distress, and Olivia was running out of time.
With gritted teeth at the pain, given that the first wolf neutralised for the time being, she continued to look around, trying to find an exit solution.
As her eyes skimmed the river, she spotted what may be one such solution. The hanging vines.
When she first saw them, back when she was making her bag, she wasn’t sure they would hold her weight. Guess it was time for her to find out.
She quickened her pace as she moved backwards, getting closer to the nearest vine. Once she reached it, she realised she had to deal with her passenger. While she could just drop the spear, she had a better idea.
*Swing**Thump*
Not long after she put her plan into action, the wolf was down on the ground whimpering. She had managed to swing her spear towards the nearest tree, and the wolf followed its momentum, slamming into it. This loosened its grip on the weapon, dislodging it from the spear, as well as hurting it badly.
The remaining wolves saw all this and broke into a charge, dashing forward to help their pack member.
With the wolf down, Olivia turned towards the river and ran.
The wolves were hot on her heels as Olivia reached the edge. As they were about to chomp down on her ankle, she jumped.
Soring over the river she reached out to grab the vine and held on tight. While it did strain and shift, it was able to hold her weight and allowed her to swing
A couple of the younger wolves followed suit and leapt, but given their size, they did not make it as far as she did, causing them to fall into the river.
The flow of the river, while not massively strong, was enough to carry the wolves, taking them further down the river. What happened to them after they fell in, Olivia did not know, as having reached the end of her swing, she let go of the vine and flew through the air.
*Splash*
Even though the whole scene looked amazing, from the chase and the jump to swinging on the vines, it would seem that they were not long enough for her to actually make it across the river, leading her to fall into the cold depths.
Unlike last time, she did not panic. Quickly standing up, the water was a little higher than before, the river having gotten deeper since the last jaunt in it. A quick look around and she was able to see the other edge of the river, which was practically just in front of her. Back over her shoulder the larger wolf had given up on her and was making its way down the river, likely to find its young.
A few steps and she was back on dry land, where she proceeded to collapse, laying on her back on the ground.
“I hope not all of the wildlife in this damn forest is like that.”
Whether this was the case or not, only time would tell.