Chapter Nine: Venison

Tom kills Bambi.

We stood outside of an abandoned house. It was clean, but empty.

"Whos...." Alex began.

"Will's." I cut her off, storming up and picking the lock to get inside the door. I looked around the house. There were still two beds inside. And a spare key jammed into the wall alongside the door. This'll be useful, I thought, pulling the key out. The others came inside as well once I gave them the all-clear. Izzy frowned slightly at our new abode.

"There's no fridge... or any cooking supplies...." She complained.

"I doubt there's any electricity or gas at all. After all, it is an abandoned house.They took everything that wasn't a bother to get out the door." I laughed. "We're lucky there's beds. Izzy, you'll sleep with me. Alex, you're on your own?"

"Well, what if I don't wanna sleep alone!" Alex joked.

I grabbed Izzy by the arm and pulled her towards me. "No, Izzy's mine!" I laughed.

Izzy looked scared-in a surprised sort of way. "Eep!" She squeaked as I pulled her towards me. Everyone burst out laughing, Including Izzy. It was good to be in high spirits again. We had been downcast and out of luck for so long it wasn't healthy. I picked Izzy up again and set her down on the bed.

"Me and Alex are going to go hunting. Stay safe, okay?" I said, setting a walkie-talkie on the bed next to her. They were old school, but effective. I held the other one up in my hand.

"Okay...." Izzy replied, almost sadly. I think I can tell what she was thinking. She was the only one who didn't know how to hunt, and I felt bad for leaving her alone.

"We'll be back soon, 'kay?" Alex said. "I won't let this idiot hurt himself." We all laughed again. I went searching around the house for something to hunt with the only thing I could find was a lone knife forgotten in the kitchen. I looked at it, then frowned. I went over to my side of the bed, and tore off a few lengths of thread.

"Guess I'll be making a bow then." I smiled at Alex. "Give you a run for your money, eh?"

Alex stuck her tongue out at me. "You wish!" We both laughed. I kissed Izzy one more time before heading out.

Once we had made it to the woods, I pulled out the knife. Me and Alex scanned the area for a good-looking piece of wood. I ended up cutting off a limb of an oak tree. After about an hour, I had cut all the bark off the limb, and cut it into a pleasing shape and size. I took the thread and rolled it up in sets of two. Then I took two of the sets and rolled those up. I continued this until i had a single, strong, yet very thin, string. I held it together tightly while Alex started a fire. I sat on a fallen tree, holding a stick with a flame on the end. I used the flame to press the ends of my string into the log, sautering them together. I then tied the string onto the bow, and it was done.

"Well," Alex said. "That took a good two hours."

"Which is fast for making a bow." I retorted. I knocked an arrow onto the bow and fired it a few times. I tightened and adjusted the strings until it was correct. I handed the bow to Alex to test, and she approved. "Alright." I decided. "Let's go."

The first animals we found were two deer, the first which I shot straight through his chest on the first shot. It was a clean, instant kill.The second deer Alex shot, just to upstage me, straight through the eye; in one and out the other. "Show off..." I grumbled. Alex snickered. We both walked out of the bush and cleaned our kill. I finished first, and started a fire. We didn't have a grill, so I simply held the venison in my robotic over the fire, until it was cooked thoroughly. I plucked a few maple leaves off of a tree, and wrapped the venison in them. Damn...Should've made syrup... I thought jokingly to myself. Alex and I raced back to the house. As with every race, I won, and Alex complained that have a robotic leg was cheating. Everyone ate well that night. It was a good, hearty meal that everyone enjoyed.

"How did you guys cook this? It's awesome!" Izzy asked between bites.

Me and Alex looked at each other, then laughed. I Raised up my metal hand, and showed how it was a little charred. "Oh, wow. You never cease to amaze me, Tom." Izzy said, rolling her eyes. We all laughed again.

After dinner, I started a fire outside, away from the house to avoid suspicion. I dried all that we did'nt eat into jerky, then put it into a bag. It would last longer this way, and I loved jerky. After that, Izzy fell asleep on the table. She was still exhausted from her injuries, but otherwise alright. I picked her up and laid her on the bed, her head on my arm. I turned and wrapped my other arm around her protectively, as I did the night before with her, and with the small girl. I sighed happily. As long as Izzy was with me, everything else was irrelevant. Soon, I fell asleep as well.