Chapter Seven
Talli woke the next day as the first light of dawn appeared on the horizon. Realizing rather belatedly that nothing had tried to kill them all in the night, she smiled, relieved. Being the first one awake, she walked over to the ashes of last night’s fire, adding more twigs and grass and blowing on the few exposed embers to try and get it going again. After a few minutes, the smoking mess of dried grass and sticks burst into flame, and Talli clapped her hands together excitedly, happy for the warm rays of sunshine and the bright glow of the fire. Looking over to the Wolfcoon’s carcass, she wondered what she ought to do with it. It’d rot soon, wouldn’t it?
Pulling out a knife and grimacing, she looked over the huge corpse. How would she skin and butcher it? Would the meat still be good? She shook her head. She had little experience dressing anything other than the occasional fish that she caught. Tugging at the fur, she pulled the carcass over so she could easily slice it’s belly open and remove the guts.
“Hmmm…” she muttered. Didn’t actual butchers hang the carcass? She glanced up at the forest and the steep, eroded hill leading up to it. The trees closer to the beach were less tightly packed, so perhaps she could hang the creature up there. She would need some rope and probably some help. Becka was a cook, did she know how to butcher animals? Ashelea might know… she joined the expedition because she wanted to document new species. And instead we’re eating them… she thought gravely. No, first things first. She’d get this thing tied up by it’s back paws, hanging from a tree, and then ask Becka if the meat was any good. And then maybe get help from Briar or Ashelea to skin, gut and butcher it. Taking the last spare scraps of rope, she tied – using her superior knowledge of knots – the Wolfcoon’s paws up and then, with a lot of sweating and swearing, managed to get the carcass off of the ground, at a good height so it would be easy to skin and gut, but not covered in sand by the end of everything.
“There.” Talli said, panting and puffing, turning and walking back over towards the camp, marked by it’s barely-burning fire which needed feeding, and the ‘fail-proof’ protection system of a few sharpened sticks stuck into the ground.
Ashelea was up, yawning and rubbing her eyes, throwing a few more twigs on the fire, by the time Talli was there to wake her.
“Oh… I didn’t notice you weren’t here…” Ashelea said tiredly. “Good morning.”
“’Morning.” Talli said, looking around impatiently. “Is Becka up yet?”
“No, why?”
Talli’s stomach grumbled and she said, “That Wolfcoon thing’s up in that tree over there, waiting for a more experienced butcher than me to deal with it.”
“I don’t know… but two heads is better than one, anyway, right?”
“I suppose.”
They said nothing for a moment, Talli standing and looking into the fire and glancing around occasionally, Ashelea sittng and feeding twigs and bits of grass into the blaze.
Then, as the sun started to rise even higher in the sky, the others started to wake, including Becka.
“Hey,” Talli said, seeing as everyone was awake, “Anyone know how to butcher that thing we caught?”
Dylan didn’t say anything, Briar shrugged, and Robert just shook his head.
“I’m not very experienced, but if you’re asking for my help, I can try.” Becka said with a slight smile.
Talli felt sort of awkward and sort of relieved that Becka had seen through her indirect ask for her help. But, she tried to convince herself, the others might have had experience butchering something , and so it would be good to ask everyone. She was convinced.
“Well, then, where do we start?” She asked.
“Uhh…” Becka said uncertainly, “Skin it and gut it, I suppose?”
Talli nodded, slowly, staring off into space and thinking.
“Alright then,” She said, snapping out of her mind and into the present. “You have anything that could pass as a skinning knife?” She asked then, turning to Becka.
“Er… well I have a few knives for different things cooking-related,” She said, “But I dunno about a skinning knife…” She looked thoughtful, “Hmm… I have a vegetable knife that’s kinda similar to a skinning knife. Hrm.” She muttered, looking around the campfire where any knives that had survived were.
“Well, I suppose we could try it,” Talli pondered, “And if it doesn’t work see if any of your other knives will.”
This time it was Becka’s turn to nod her head slowly while lost in thought. “Okay. Where’s the carcass?”
“Up there, hanging from that tree.” Talli said, pointing up to the shore, “You think the meat will be okay?” She added.
“Oouf. I dunno. Should be. Not that we are trying to be – but if we were going to play it safe, I’d say it’s still probably good. It’s not out of the possibility for it to be spoiled, but I think we should be good.”
Talli grinned, “Perfect! I hope for the next few days we’ll be able to feast like kings.”
Cheered on by that thought, she led Becka up towards the tree where the Wolfcoon’s carcass was still hanging forlornly, and they speculated on how to go about gutting, skinning and, most importantly, eating it.
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