When the wolf-man pounced at the pile of leaves, Toka jumped in that direction as well—
Instead of a magnificent leap, he lost his footing, slid sideways, and then fell flat on the ground.
"OF ALL THINGS, NOW!?"
However, He was holding his spear upright in his hands and used it as a support.
And the wolf-man landed right on top of it.
SHUUNK!
Upon getting impaled in the shoulder by the spear tip, the creature issued a sharp growl in response.
He thought the wolf-man was dead and it truly was at this point, but—
It also made it angry "Really".
He widened his eyes, and shouted "It's still alive!?"
The wolf-man snarled, clawed at the spear with its one good arm, and tried to pull itself away
SCRATCH!
The wolf-man clawed wildly at the spear trying to pull itself free but no luck.
Toka started to panic and frantically searched for the knife he kept tied at his belt. With shaking hands he pulled it out, and cut the spear shaft, breaking it into two pieces and threw one piece away.
The wolf-man saw the thrown spear shaft and misunderstood the action.
It thought Toka was running away, and turned to chase—
Only for that moment—
Toka moved.
He did not think of anything, he just-
FASAK!
Slit the wolf's throat clean across.
The being wobbled around, then gurgled, then fell over.
SILENCE.
Toka stood still, knife dribbling red blood.
The kid behind him peeped from behind the leaves-- looked at the dead wolf one time and fainted instantly.
"HEY—! You can't just faint before me! I'M the one that killed a humanoid thing today!"
But even his legs started shaking like mad.
His hands shook so much the knife almost slipped out of them.
He had never slain anything in his life -- an animal, a monster, and certainly not a humanoid being.
He felt like his whole body was buzzing.
"I… I killed it…"
His voice quavered.
Fear.
He collapsed to his knees, shaking uncontrollably.
"Oh god… oh god… oh god…"
But he forced himself to breathe — long, deep, careful breaths.
In…Out…In...
"Okay… okay, Toka… you are not dead… the kid is not dead… the wolf is dead… probably…"
Toka's hands still shook like hell, but he flexed them into fists.
He needed to do something with the body.
If he left it out every carnivore, monster, and unknown creature in this forest would come sniffing like it was a buffet.
He gathered up dry sticks and leaves. Anything that was soaked in blood, in order to pile it around the body and he took two pieces of metal from his scraps bag and struck them together
CHK—CHK—CHK—FWOOF!
A small flame caught.
He backed up quickly as the pile began to burn.
"Good… good… burn properly… please don't explode or do anything weird…".
Black smoke slithered up into the sky. Toka watched in silence and tried not to think that he had just killed something that looked human.
When the body was nothing but dark ash he was hurriedly shoveling dirt with the broken spear to bury all the bones and ash.
He didn't want even a trace of it left, but saved the femurs of it, to make him new attacking tools unlike his shabby broken spear, which he could cut with his knife.
However, halfway through scooping away the ash—
His fingers bumped into something solid.
He scraped the debris aside to discover a weird stone.
It was small, lumpy, red-black in color, somewhat resembling the size of a cherry , smooth with a glossy finish, as if it were crystallized blood.
Toka blinked "…Is this a monster organ…? Or, is it just a dumb marble…?"
As he had no clue what to do with it, he put it in his pocket.
And only then, He had realized—
the kid was still under the leaves.
"OH RIGHT—THE CHILD!"
He hurried back, and the kid was gently snoring under the leaves, hugging several spiky apples like they were plush toys.
Toka stared.
"…She can sleep anywhere, huh?"
He wiped off the dust from his hands and looked at the heap of scrap and tools.
He had planned to build a bicycle, or possibly even a motorbike…But after listening to the howl of the wolf, then the noise of the fighting judging by the echoes through the forest?
He could only image some sort of an engine or motor vehicle and every monster within range, as in few kilometers… all responding like concert goers.
"Nope. No bloody way. A bike was a basically an 'I'm all you can eat' alarm system."
Something silent, untouched, he could drive and not alert half the forest?
So he decided to rebuilt it as a Bicycle.
Quiet, fast enough, and most importantly… achievable.
Probably.
He poured out all the junk he had salvaged and crouched, searching through it like a desperate mechanic searching for a beacon of hope.
Rusty bolts, Bent rods, A sad squeaky wheel, Half a chain, A gear that looked like it had seen a war.
He rubbed his temples.
"...Awesome. Looks like I have everything to make a bike except the important pieces."
He had dozens of pieces in his junk pile but really only some of the pieces were useful. The remaining pieces were the kind not even a trash can would want.
He still refused to give up hope.
He took a spiky fruit from the pouch, his new emergency snack, and took a bite staring angrily at the broken pieces.
...
Toka sat down on a fallen log he stared at his junk pile.
He took out the strange bead the color of blood crystal he found in the ashes slowly.
He took it out to look at it. To see if he could do something.
He squinted with his eyes.
"Ok… what exactly are you? A ruby? A candy?"
He tapped it, Nothing happened, He sniffed it, Nothing happened.
He even rubbed it on his sleeve like he was cleaning a phone screen.
"Maybe it's not poisonous?"
He smacked himself in the cheek "NO! You idiot! This is how people die in survival films!"
But his curiosity scratched his brain harder. So he brought the bead against his face.
RUSTLE! BRRRRAHHH!!
A tiny creature popped out of the brush. Toka recoiled in shock, and the bead slipped right into his open mouth.
GULP.
He froze. The kid froze. Even the forest froze.
Toka stared at the air, eyes vacant "Did I... eat the magic bead...?"
Then—
KRRR CHHHHKCKKK—CLACK—CLINK—GEEEEEER—WHRRRR!!
The sounds of mechanical gears exploded inside him, like someone fired up an engine in his brain.
He grabbed his head "AAAHHHH!! Who opened a factory in my brain!? "
Then
—THUD
Toka flopped on the forest floor, dead to the world.
[TIME... STOPPED]
Toka's soul jolted out of his body with a loud-
BWOMPH!
He yelled, "DUDEEEES! DON'T EAT RANDOM SHINY THINGS LIKE ME!!! AHHH GOD PLEASE PLEASE TAKE ME BACK TO MY BODY—PLEASEEEE!"
Suddenly—
FWOOOOOOOSHHHH!!!
He suddenly got pulled backwards "AAAAAAA—WAITWAITWAIT!!!"
SLAM!