SURVIVORS
Chapters 13. Second Night (revision)
Robert, Leon and Liam return in the evening to bring the hunt. They set some traps in the morning and then looked for other food sources elsewhere.
Liam carried something green that was strung together with pine trunks. Robert and Leon carry the others in their hands.
"This is the rabbit and asparagus we got this afternoon."
Leon gives up everything they can to Widuri and Laras.
The three men sat warming themselves near the fire. Niken took a warm drink for all three.
"All the rabbits were cleaned. And here's the skin, maybe it can be used as something useful for us," Robert handed over the innards. Marianne took it.
"It still has to be brushed again and dried new can be used. I'll try to clean it up tomorrow. But drying it out will probably take some time because air like this contains water. It'll just make it damp" Marianne explained.
Robert nodded and helped cut the rabbit meat with his knife.
The barrel prepares the tray and arranges the rabbit pieces on it. Slicing a small box of butter and placing it on top of the piece of meat to give it a taste. Pieces of asparagus are arranged on the edge of the tray so that they can ripen at once.
Widuri had prepared a fire furnace by arranging several wooden beams as a buffer tray. Below it there is enough coals to ripen the cooking on the tray.
Next to it the firewood is again added to maintain the fire to keep the room warm. Snow was also prepared by Niken to cook drinking water.
Michael, Gilang, Alex and Toni walked into the room after finishing reinforcing the walls. They add wood, pine leaves and accumulate snow thicker and taller than before. The sky began to redden, everyone entered and closed the protection door with wood and pine leaves.
All sat around the fire to warm themselves. They talked while waiting for the food to cook.
Alan chatted with Leon and Liam about their hunt that day. Everybody's listening. That's an interesting thing for some people. Not many people could hunt or trap game animals like Robert taught Liam and Leon that day. They felt like they were living in a stone age where people had to be able to hunt to survive. Alan was very interested and hoped that he would soon have a turn to go hunting.
Food's ready. Each gets his rations. Although not enough, but they are grateful to be able to spend the night without hunger.
They were still chatting after dinner until the howls of wolves started to sound in the distance.
"It's time we rest. Alan, can you take a change with me?" ask Robert.
"Sure, I'll take turns guarding." Alan tidied up a pile of pine leaves for a seat.
The others returned to the cabin and rested. But Sunil, Widuri, Laras and Marianne are still outside. Marianne's still sewing gloves. There were 8 pairs of gloves that they finished that day. Marianne hands each a pair to Robert, Alan and Sunil.
While Widuri and Laras are still cleaning used cooking utensils and eating. They wiped it with snow so that there was no trace of the smell of meat that might be sniffed by wild beasts outside.
"May I take turns here?" ask Robert Sunil.
"of course. The more you take care of it, the better."
Robert smiled kindly. He had heard from Niken what happened this afternoon. So he could understand Sunil's current feelings.
Sunil nodded and thanked her with his eyes.
Widuri and Laras enter the cabin after cleaning all the dirty equipment. Marianne followed inside when the stitches were finished. They must immediately rest the body to gather new energy for the next job tomorrow.
Tonight the cabin door was not closed, so that the light of the fire and its warmth could be felt inside the cabin. The cabin is no longer dark. Sunil finally moved the fire closer to the cabin door.
"Dean, Indra and Dr. Chandra are not there tonight. Where are they?" ask Sunil.
"They're an expedition team that checks, looks for a way and prepares a shelter for us to move on later" Robert replied.
"Who wants to take care of you first?" continued again.
"Let me take care first. I can't sleep now" Sunil said.
Sunil was still cleaning the hole in the floor of the former fireplace before. The hole was filled with snow from Widuri and Laras cleaned the tableware. Then added another snow and trampled to be solid and flat with other floor surfaces. The job's done. No one will walk and stumble because of uneven floor surface.
"Wake me up at 11. We alternate every 3 hours."
Robert looked at his watch. Sunil nodded in agreement.
Sunil closed his eyes. The shadow of his wife flashed through his mind. Remembering his two children who did not know when they could be found again. Tonight he felt sadness and unrest surging. Both of his children have not finished college. Somehow their next life.
Although he is a successful businessman, but his children have not been involved in working in the company. Sunil couldn't imagine their hardships when he wasn't around. Sunil is desperate to get out of this forest and find a village to let his family know.
Robert slept fast tonight. She's exhausted. The team walked quite far from morning. In addition to looking for food, Robert also checked other roads that they might be able to pass to the nearest village. But Robert hasn't found anything yet.
The night passed quite quietly without any significant disturbance. Some of the wolves still came and tried to dig the snow near the wooden wall but to no avail. The walls were already reinforced and the snow piles were made thicker.
Time passed and Robert replaced Sunil. He spent his time on guard by making a wooden spear again. According to Robert, everyone should have a gun to protect themselves.
When Alan replaced Robert, He had already completed 7 very pointed wooden spears.
It snowed early in the morning as Alan stood guard. It drove the wolves away. They don't get anything in there. Although it smelled human, but the shelter was too strong to penetrate. They better find their victims somewhere else.
It was still snowing when Robert woke up at 5 a.m. Alan was asked to go back to sleep for a while to refresh himself.
As the sky began to light up, Gilang and Michael came out of the cabin and immediately warmed themselves by the fireplace. Widuri and Marianne.
Robert took Michael and Gilang to the forest after filling his stomach with warm water in a teapot. Robert wanted to check the traps. The three came out while carrying a spear.
Widuri invites Marianne to take snow to make drinking water. They didn't have any food this morning.
Widuri really hopes Robert brings results when he returns later. He also hopes Dean and his team are in good shape and not starving.
At 8 Robert, Michael and Gilang returned with something in Robert's hands. But Michael stumbled on the back of Gilang. His face grimaced with pain.
"What's going on?" Silvia helped Michael sit down.
"He was mired in a snow-covered hole. Maybe it's a rabbit hole or something. But it sprained his legs. Can you treat it?" ask Silang to Silvia.
"Hey, I'm just a second-year medical student, not yet specialized in bone and orthopedics" Silvi shook her head.
"If it's just a wound, I can still cope." Connect again. Gilang smiled awkwardly.
"Let's see." Sunil approached to check Michael's legs.
"Where did you see that? Do you daydream about missing your girlfriend?" ask Sunil.
Michael was clueless but before he protested, suddenly...
"Ohhhhh!"
Michael's screams shocked everyone. Sunil suddenly shifted his sprained leg unannounced.
"What are you doing! Suddenly squeezing my leg."
Michael spoke fiercely with a flushed face and sweating withstanding the pain.
"Try standing. It should be fine already" Sunil replied with a smile.
"Sorry to surprise you."
Everyone was relieved to see Michael standing on his feet.
"That's great if anyone can overcome a sprained leg or hand" said the other.
While Widuri, Laras and Angelina were cooking a rabbit catch this morning. They make rabbit satay. Stabbed it with wooden slats Robert made and roasted near the fire and dipped it in soy sauce.
The fragrant satay fragrance on that cold morning really stirs hunger. They thanked Robert for his skill in setting traps so they wouldn't starve.
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