Arrival by P.A. Parsons

Author:P.A. Parsons [Parsons, P.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781736154113
Publisher: Caribou Press

* * *

25 XP Earned

* * *

NEW WEAPON SKILL LEARNED!

Clubs – Skill Level 1 (Tier-0)

Again, congrats on clubbing to death the animal equivalent of an 11-year-old child.

* * *

50 XP Earned

“Oops,” Angela said. A rumble of thunder sounded in the sky, and she waved sheepishly skyward. “Sorry about that! It’s just that it caught me by surprise, and I was already in a bad mood ’cause of the deer thing, and in my defence, it looked pretty dangerous. I mean, it doesn’t now. Now it looks pretty small. Like, really small.”

She nudged it with her foot. Yeah, the thing was definitely a juvenile. She briefly considered whether it would be okay to skin and eat it.

No, you’re a vegetarian, you idiot!

Still, she was freaking hungry.

“No. Just… no.” Angela turned her back on the corpse and headed toward the burbling of the river, which had finally seen fit to announce its presence. Wait, was she supposed to bury the badger or something? Meh, something will come along and eat it—circle of life and all that.

When Angela arrived at the river, she discovered that for once, she had been in luck. Her detour had taken her far enough downstream to avoid the rocky outcropping that forced her away from the riverbank earlier. Now the water was accessible by simply hopping along a few rocks.

Angela made her way to where the water was running clear and shallow and opened up her pouch to make sure nothing had fallen out during the encounter with the deer. Fortunately, everything was accounted for.

“Small miracles, I guess,” Angela muttered. Still… if she’d lost the vegetables, it would at least spare her from having to eat them.

Kneeling on the rock, Angela took out one of the tubers and resigned herself to an awkward one-handed washing experience. Maybe she could rub them in the smooth gravel to clean them off? That should be pretty easy.

She leaned forward to get the tuber down to the bottom of the water, only to discover that the refraction of the light in the water had made it seem much shallower than it truly was. A fact she discovered by leaning in too far, slipping off the rock, and falling sideways into the glacier-fed water.

Angela didn’t even bother moving. There was no point. Instead, she simply lay there dejectedly as the water ran past, halfway up her body. For a moment, she considered dunking her face and sucking all the water she could into her lungs, but she instead opted to roll onto her back and stare at the clouds overhead. Without thinking, she took a bite of the starchy tuber and winced as the taste of turnip and battery acid filled her mouth.

Why is it that the worst tasting thing in this forest is the only thing I’ve found that’s edible?

Closing her eyes, Angela forced herself to endure the meal. Chew, swallow, repeat. Chew, swallow, repeat.

I wonder if that badger is still there…

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.