Chapter 12 - The Mountain Hound
Alpha Date Year(002): 315,848 Day: 287/365
Day: 29
J was stunned for about five minutes after climbing his way to the dirt path over to the pit where the Mountain Hound was now completely lifeless. Sprawled across the many spikes as it lay there no longer moving. He couldn't believe it. After carefully making his way off the dirt path, he was expecting it to jump out at him, and even though J wanted to run at first, he was pulled straight to the pit because he couldn't believe that the plan had actually worked. The Mountain Hound was caught off guard; honestly, it was not expecting a dirt pit this well hidden. Especially one covered up. But J had prepped beforehand. Using his new shovel, he made the pit so seamless that it appeared to almost blend with the terrain. This is because he could edge out and reshape the pit to be more than just a circle, make it square-like, or even give it a new oblong shape. This type of shape made it extremely hard to climb out of the pit, while also making it really easy to carve into whatever was caught within it by forcing the spikes forward at an interesting angle. It left no real edges or gaps in the walls for any beast to grab onto.
The shape of the pit was inconsequential, though, because what really killed the Mountain Hound was the small, brownish black sticks, which were now stuck in the hound's corpse. These small sticks sealed its fate, which was ironic, since it was the same plant that he used to sew up the hides from the rabbits. This small fibrous plant jutted at the very bottom of the pit, right at the edge where most creatures would go up to try to climb, and the hound had fallen straight onto it in the first fall. Seizing and clenching for its life, yet it still dropped dead all the same, and it couldn't even find the strength to move its paw, not that it would be able to anyway, since it was wounded from the spear. J was left awestruck for about 5 minutes until he clutched his feet and his arms together and exploded with a jump of joy, saying, "YES! I did it! I did it!..." He was gasping as he didn't know what to do with himself. J thought this was one of the best achievements he had ever had. Even better than his stone shovel, or the fact that he first caught his rabbit, this time, he hunted a predator. But after taking just another two or three minutes to recompose himself, celebrating as much as he could, he felt like he deserved it after all the sleepless nights. He was so tired, his arms sprawled out as he came to his knees over the pit, thinking, "Yes, with this, who knows what I can get? I can, I can, maybe I can get the coat, or at least another book, or maybe even three, or more. What can I get with this?"
J was still trying to come up with ways in which he might be able to obtain such treasure. Books. A new coat, maybe even a new tent. All the things that he thought of asking for that would've taken him such a long time rushed through his mind faster than he could handle. Maybe he would even be allowed to stay in the cave all year…although, he felt that was pushing it after remembering his Uncle's words nd actions. Yet despite all that excitement J felt, deep down, he knew that what he did was special to him, not anyone else. His sense of fulfillment was quickly overwhelmed by another sense…a sense of duty. A duty to obtain what he needed as quickly as possible from the pit, where he now noticed all the blood dripping to the bottom that was spilling from the corpse. "I have to collect it….No, I have to get the core. Core first. It would be great if I could get the hide or the corpse out first. But more importantly, the core. Focus on the core." He was still overwhelmed. His nerves were shot, but he still went down with the same keen nature that he held before. Using his spear, he made sure to climb down properly, bracing himself from the bottom with the spear. The spear was just about as long as himself, which perfectly fit the fact that the pit was actually quite deep compared to him.
He measured it, and he made the pit about two to three times as tall as he was, give or take. Still, there was plenty of height to protect against the onslaught from the Mountain Hounds. They couldn't jump very well, but what they did have was great running ability. They could run for seemingly ever and could snap at him with their giant jaws, but what they lacked was their agility. "They seemed like all they could do was run and lung at their prey after running it down." It became evident to J when he looked at them from the hill, as they always stay close to the ground and charge. Which is probably why they sometimes caught the rabbits and sometimes didn't. "The rabbits could use the trees. But if those rabbits were caught in an open field, they were dead. I gotta keep myself calm though." As he made his way down the pit, he made it to the corpse. Making sure not to prick himself on any of the many small and large branches that were piercing the Mountain Hound, because they could pierce him just as well. The Dog's Bane couldn't hurt him in the same way as a poison, at least that's what he read in the book, but right now, he was still incredibly careful, because he'd made the trap especially dangerous for beasts, yet that didn't mean he couldn't also get hurt, and he made his way down with the same caution he always used.
He would not lose his spoils today. "If I make it down, then it'll all be worth it in the end. Come on, okay. Let's see... ah, spear, spear, spear." He untied his spear from its sheath. He placed what was left of his knife between a gap he made along the tip of the branch. Untied it and removed it, just so that he could carve once again. He then carved through the beast as quickly as possible. He noticed a lot of differences between the rabbit and the beast. Not just the size, but the shape. It was all completely different. But, remembering his uncle's advice, he'd always started from the heart and carved down. That was the easiest way to carve out a beast. Soft belly was always the easiest way. Then, after rummaging, passing through a few organs, and passing beyond the heart, centered somewhere above and below the heart in the back of the torso. He found it, and it was gigantic compared to the cores he held before. A core the size of his fist. It was incredible. The shine was so much brighter than the Black Rabbit's. Not only that, but the shape was also quite different. The rabbit's shape had more of an oval design. Meanwhile, this was more like a thicker oval, as if the oval were much larger or wider. The shape was quite interesting to him as he stared at it like a treasure. He could feel that it honestly was a bit wider than his own hand on its side.
The core shape was interesting, but overall, he was proud of the fact that he was even able to get a core from such a dangerous beast. He wondered how many cores he could get for it. How many cores is it worth? But he decided to just pocket it. Put it in his bag. J immediately started carving what he could. If I take out the organs, maybe I can come back for it. Smelling the meat, he realized it had a very funky smell. Gammy, like a rabbit, but it also had a very intense stink about it. Even now, the meat smelled quite bad. It was honestly quite alarming with the smell alone. There was another issue. And it was that the smell of the meat had intensified, and now he was afraid that the others would smell it even more. Those hounds have an incredible sense of smell. I gotta make it out of here. But he also decided to claim another thing. The fangs. He noticed that at the very edge of the wide and gaping mouth, there were two fangs placed. He decided that he wanted one. He needed one. So, he took his knife, and prying it from the gums, he ripped out the fangs, one after the other. He took out the two smaller fangs at the bottom and the two larger ones at the top. He took what he needed to. He double-checked to see if anything was happening or if any hounds were coming to his location.
Taking another deep breath to repress his nerves and his tiredness, he decided to continue. "If they fall here, then they'll try to kill me…but they'll also die." J realized that since he was surrounded by dogbane, as long as he was careful and if he wasn't thrown into the spikes, he'd be safe, since he knew where the fewest amount of spikes were, and where to place his hands and feet. After all, he'd been in there multiple times to try and place the trap. So he decided to continue carving. "If I don't claim what I need now…when will I ever?" J decided to just follow through, and he began working on the soft belly, continuing to carve out what he needed. It was much harder compared to the rabbit, which he had practiced and could skin in under a minute, to the point where he could just pull it off after just a few cuts. With this, the beast was much larger than him, and he needed to take his time pulling off the hide. But after a while, after cutting back and revealing the skin of the beast. The smell intensified, but he was then left with a wide animal hide. He knew he needed to temper it, dry it out in the sun, and wash it for everything. It was to remain usable. But then he thought to himself, "What if I make this into a coat?" J remembered he had plenty of dogbane still left, so he could make some very thin thread, and then just sew it along. He decided that he needed this almost as much as he needed the cord, so he took the hide for himself. He double checked as he was making his way out.
J had reattached the knife to the branch, turning it back into a spear, and then climbed out with as much gusto as he could. He had tied the hide to himself, using the very top of the hide and tying it to his waist, and then began to climb out as carefully as he could. He used the spear and placed it on the ground, climbing on top of it, until eventually he came to a few sticks that he used just to help his way out. He then climbed with what he could, taking the spear with him. As J reached the top, he scanned the area, wondering if there were any hounds, trying to see if there was any movement. Even the slightest movement from the bushes could spell his doom, but the forest was still calm, and the wind was also blowing out of the direction of the Mountain Hound's cave. It seemed like everything was coming up his way. He was really lucky. "They're not here yet? Okay…good, because I would have dropped this if I had to run away from them." He was still terrified. And if there were more than one, he'd definitely die at this moment. He made his way out of the pit, climbing up and over the edge, and falling on his back to stare at the clear blue sky. The hide was still dripping with blood, but he didn't care.
He came to his feet and tried to shake off as much blood as he could over the pit, and used a nearby stick to scrape off what he could, trying his best not to damage the hide, but overall, the hide was still bled quite well. However, J's shorts were now soaked with blood, and he realized he needed to wash his pants in the waterway again, and he needed to hurry before the blood started to dry. "It's gonna be worth it. Although my pants are now covered in blood, and they'll probably stain if the blood dries…if I just wash them as quickly as possible, and wash the hide while I'm at it, then I can start surviving." He had the hide of a beast now. With it, he could do just about whatever he wanted. He could cover himself up with a blanket or maybe even turn it into a coat to help him survive the winter. He was proud of it. He felt like he had done good work despite all that he didn't know. The hide was still a little shoddy in the areas, especially near the paws, including the one that he stabbed beforehand. But he was still happy with what he had done. "This predator was ready to kill me. Now I have everything I need from it…I wonder if I can kill another." He thought this while he was walking towards his camp. After making it to his camp, J then decided that what he needed to do immediately was to wash what he needed. So he made his way to the waterway after dropping off most of his gear, including his shirt, which was luckily left clean by some strange turn of events, as the blood only dripped down his shorts.
However, since the blood on the shorts was already starting to dry, he needed to make his way to the river a quickly as he could. So he made it out of the woods after taking his shirt off at camp, and then quickly made it to the river, whose water was clear on this day. Taking off his shorts and the beast hide that he held out to his side, he also wanted to clean himself for the day. He hung the hide near where the waterway picked up the stream. He decided to just use a bunch of rope, tie it to the hide, and let the river wash away the blood. With a sigh, J started to hand-wash his shorts. He knew that the stains would probably not come out, but he still wanted to at least get out the smell. After washing his shorts as much as he could, he finished cleaning himself completely and walked back to the camp. Then started to look through his bag of gear and supplies to see if he had another pair of shorts. On his way to camp, J concluded that he would use the hide for a coat. J thought that maybe he could make some shorts, or maybe even a shirt with another Mountain Hound's hide. Although this seemed a little far-fetched for now, J was thrilled all the same. Luckily, he still had another pair of shorts to wear in his bags of supplies.
As he finished drying himself and put on his extra pair of shorts and shirt, he was left alone with his thoughts as he stared at the fire pit in front of him. He thought of what was left of the Mountain Hound in the pit, and was sad that all that meat going to waste was still a waste even if it smelled bad. He then found in the basic monster guide that there was a way to get rid of the smell of the meat, but it required Him to get a bunch of herbs, even more so than what it took for the rabbit. To remove the gaminess, it required J to gather so many different herbs that he didn't know. He wondered if he had seen them before, but he realized that it wasn't worth it to search now with the meat that was probably already spoiling. "I couldn't cook the meat even if I wanted to…" J said with a slightly sad tone, but also accepting the reality of the situation. "Yeah…it's fine. It's better that... it draws the attention of the hounds there." He decided that he needed to change up where his hunting spots usually were. Now that the hounds would be more involved in finding out where he would be after this. Before, they used to just scan the pits, see if they could catch him, not thinking that he was an actual threat. But now, they probably start to truly actively hunt him in packs. "I guess it would be better if I were hunting them now. I just hope they don't kill too many rabbits. Honestly, rabbits are easier."
J was now doing as much as he could to dry the hide. The day was coming to an end, but if he could get enough sunlight to at least dry it, then he would be glad to finish for the day. So he hung it from a tree and decided to dry it as much as he could. He padded the hide, drying it through after the stream had washed the blood and dirt away from it, and making sure it was still strong enough. J's work didn't leave any new holes to be found after carving out the hide, and honestly, he had a lot of practice with the rabbits. He knew how to work with smaller prey, which helped him with bigger details. Overall, the hide was in pretty good condition, except for the edges, especially on the paws, where anyone could notice that there was a big gaping hole where the hide was on the paw he had stabbed with his spear. He realized the amount of damage he had done to the hide, but he was still happy to get at least so much of that creature's hide, and the face could almost be seen. He had taken what he needed from the creature. It was a shame, though. It felt too wasteful that all the meat from the creature was thrown away. His thoughts kept rolling back to this thought. The fact that this hunt wasn't complete bothered him. He didn't use everything. He was somewhat hard on himself. But he was still happy that he got a Mountain Hound.
He decided to keep his hand and himself moving to help distract him. Now he was grateful for having an extra pair of shorts, which his uncle always told him to bring an extra pair of shorts went he left him in the woods. Though he wished he could've brought more, he really only had two pairs. "Maybe I can buy more shorts from Uncle. More clothes. Besides a coat. I wonder if they're cheaper than the coat." They were all thoughts for another day. But J was still happy. As night was almost about to fall, he decided to just wait to camp out and surprise his Uncle the next day. Besides, he wanted to see what he could do with the hide. He realized that going to the cave would mean that he probably couldn't process it, and he would have to take it up and down just to show him. J really wanted to show him, though. There was still a sense of wanting to show him and being proud. That's all J really wanted. He wanted to show him. He wanted his uncle to be proud of him. He wondered if maybe getting that corpse might even help him buy back his original life, where he was just living with his Uncle. Maybe he would also be taught Uncle's techniques on how to properly dispose of and hunt those creatures. He had many thoughts in his head, but he decided to leave them to what he could. He ate his meal, which was what was left of the rabbits he had hunted. J had still only hunted those four rabbits after more than a week, and he was eating the very last of what was left of those rabbits, and he barely put enough vegetables and herbs in his pot for it to be a soup. He gathered only a few field onions for his meal and remembered in his Monster Manual that field onions were a great cover for both the monster meat of the Black Rabbits and the Mountain Hounds. But he needed many more herbs, some herbs that he had only just learned the names of. So, he decided to just leave it and eat what he could. Today, he needed rest. "Honestly…if it were tomorrow already…that would be nice." He had come close to dying twice when he thought about it. The snapping of the hound's maw, the fact that the hound still tried to climb up near the tree because of how short it was, and that the beast was still quite large enough to get up if he didn't defend himself…terrified him, but overall he was happy with what he gained and as he sat there holding the very large crystal in his hand.