Till The End

Hunting

Late Fall of 2019

"Come on!" Jeremiah calls out as he and Journey are crouched, tracing tracks in front of them. "What are we doing?" Journey asks. "I'm teaching you how to track. It's a good skill to have if you're all by yourself." Jeremiah answers. "But I'm not by myself. I'm with you." Journey corrects. "As I said before, I won't be here forever. It's important that you know these things so you can survive when I won't be here." Jeremiah replies. Journey sighs. Jeremiah comes to a dead stop as he throws his hand up, signaling not to make any sudden movements that'll alert the nearby deer. "See it?" Jeremiah whispers. "I see it." Journey whispers back. "Always aim for the head, whether it's an animal, a monster, or a human that's threatening you." Jeremiah whispers back, aiming his crossbow. "Aim and inhale. Always remember to exhale when you pull the trigger, makes you hit your target." Jeremiah replies. As he demonstrates. "Draw your gun, but don't fire it." Jeremiah whispers as Journey does so. "Aim." Journey follows the instructions. "Line up your sight to the nozzle here." Jeremiah points at the end of the gun. "Breathe in and then out." Jeremiah reaches as Journey follows. "Just like that. Pretty simple." Jeremiah finishes. "Yeah. It was pretty simple." Journey replies. "Even in scary situations, always remember that. If you can't fight, run. Run until you know you're safe." Jeremiah responds. "Okay." Journey replies. "Carefully pay attention to what I'll do. We're making this deer our dinner." Jeremiah responds as Journey watches. Jeremiah raises his crossbow and aims, inhaling before he exhales while squeezing the trigger, watching as the deer flops over after the perfect headshot. "We're eating deer tonight?" Journey asks. "Funny. Thought you'd be used to it by now. We've had squirrels, snakes, rabbits, deer, fish. Thought you'd get used to venison." Jeremiah replies. "I am, it's just I get tired of eating almost the same thing everyday." Journey responds. "Be thankful you're eating and not starving. If you don't want the deer, we still have left over rabbit meat to eat, along with squirrel meat and canned food." Jeremiah replies as he approaches the deceased animal and removing the bolt out of its head. "Where'd you learn how to track?" Journey asks. "It was something I had to learn because I had to feed you and protect you." Jeremiah answers. Journey nods. "I'm sorry." She calls out, making Jeremiah confused as he tilts his head and kneels down to her level. "For what?" He asks. "I'm sorry that you got stuck with a four year old girl when you could be surviving on your own." Journey replies, making Jeremiah's eyes widen. "Hey." He says as he places his hands on her shoulders. "You are a handful, yes, but I didn't get stuck with anything. When everything happened I had to think quickly. Run away and be a deserter for the rest of my time or take my sister so that she doesn't die a very young age and show her how to survive, how to fight. I didn't get stuck with anything, kiddo. I'm glad that I'm with you." Jeremiah replies as Journey sniffles. "But why? Why do so much when it doesn't matter in the end?" Journey asks. "Princess, it does matter. Teaching you what you need to know is important. I know that it's not fair for you to grow up without a mom and dad, I know how you feel. I didn't have a dad when I was growing up, but mom met your dad and they had you during the chaos. I know it's crazy to think that a thirteen year old and a newborn survived the chaotic, dead world by themselves, but we did it." Jeremiah answers. Journey hugs Jeremiah tightly as a couple of long streak tears fall down her cheek. "It's okay, kiddo. It's okay. But it's important that you stay focused and quiet when you track. When you're loud and making noise, it alerts what you're hunting." Jeremiah replies. They part and she nods, wiping her tears off. "Come on, little badass. Let's go fish." Jeremiah calls out as he stands up. "What about the deer?" Journey asks. "He's not going anywhere. He can wait right here since we have a river right next to us." Jeremiah answers. Journey nods. They approach the river and notice tons of fish as Jeremiah and Journey smile. "Do you remember what I showed you? How to catch your prey?" Jeremiah asks. "Uh..." Journey answers as she tries to think. "Come on. You remember." Jeremiah says to motivate her. "We... 'stay focused and be patient but act quickly.'" They say at the same time. "That's right. Now, usually we would have spears but that's not the case today. We're going to have to use our knives-" "why not grab two sticks and put sharp rocks at the end of them?" Journey interrupts. "That could work, but it's not long enough like a bone. A bone would be more sufficient compared to a rock." Jeremiah replies. "But trying to catch a fish with a knife is hard." Journey complains. "I know, kiddo. We just have to wait and be patient." Jeremiah replies. He draws his knife and kneels down, waiting for a fish or two to come by. With luck, they swim along with the current as Jeremiah plunges his blade into a fish, removing his blade from the water as the fish wiggles. "See? Patience is key." Jeremiah replies. "We have enough food to last us a couple of days, if not weeks. We'll set camp here tonight. I got the barbed wire in my backpack, you know what to do with it." Jeremiah calls out as Journey nods and grabs the barbed wire out of the backpack and creating a box for only her and him to remain inside. Jeremiah starts a fire and begins cooking the newly killed fish. "Remember how to gut and skin?" Jeremiah asks. "I think so." Journey replies. "Good. Here." Jeremiah responds as he holds his knife out. "You want me to do it?" Journey asks. "Of course. You need to learn and remember how to do these things. It'll get messy, but it's okay. We just won't rest near the blood." Jeremiah replies. Journey sighs and grabs the knife and begins to gut the buck. "When you're finished, you can rinse your hands in the river." Jeremiah announces. Journey nods and concentrates on what's in front of her as she continues gutting the deer.

Late Evening

The sun is setting as the orange sky surrounds the siblings as they eat their cooked venison. "You did a good job today, kiddo. I'm proud of you." Jeremiah calls out as he finishes his piece of the meat. "Thanks." Journey replies with a smile. Jeremiah looks up at the sky. "Sun is setting. We should be getting to sleep soon." He points out. "Good thing we cooked and set up the tent before the sun went down." Journey responds. "No kidding. Can't do shit when it's dark." "Language!" Journey exclaims. "My bad, kiddo." Journey giggles. "That's a quarter for the s word." She teases. "Uh, you don't by chance have a quarter, do you?" Jeremiah teases back. "Nope." Journey answers as she giggles. He smiles and relaxes back onto the log as his head rests against it. "Are you sleeping on the log?" Journey asks. "You need that tent more than I do. My body's used to laying on uncomfortable objects." Jeremiah answers. "You sure? I don't want you to not sleep and be cold." Journey replies. Jeremiah smiles, "I'm sure, hun. Enjoy the warmth." Journey shrugs and wipes her hands off with a napkin. "Goodnight." She calls out. "Goodnight." Jeremiah replies. Journey then crawls into the tent as Jeremiah sighs, watching the sun set.