Chapter 2

With nothing but a good drink of water for breakfast, I headed up stream with my spears about half an hour after dawn. I remembered one of the biggest crossings I'd seen during my previous downstream adventure was probably a mile or so back upstream. I headed that way with mayhem against the deer population in mind.

It was surprising to me how quiet I could be in the woods. Of course I was naked and barefoot and I was trying my hardest. There was a medium sized doe having a morning drink when I approached the crossing and as soon as I saw her I put a tree between us and crept up as silently as I could, using the trees to help me stay concealed.

The doe ambled along before I got a chance to try a spear, but I wasn't too worried. Surely there'd be others along if I stayed out of sight. Thankfully there were.

Not more than fifteen minutes later a big buck came for a sip. I was pressed up against a nearby tree and I didn't dare move. When he reached the spot, the tree I was hiding behind kept me mostly out of sight so I picked up a spear, moved from behind the tree and gave it my best shot, or cast.

I was reaching for another spear when I heard the spear I'd cast hit him. As I stood up to look he was looking around too. It had been a good throw and the spear had hit him behind the shoulder. I could tell it had gone deep but it was obvious that it hadn't killed him. I threw another as soon as he spotted me and it took him in the chest, going even deeper than the first one. It didn't keep him from bounding off, but I grabbed up my other spears and took off chasing him.

You've probably heard of deer being shot and still running hundreds of yards. I'm sure he'd have been able to pull a trick like that too, but after his third or fourth bound the small end of the spear in his chest lodged into the ground and the force drove it even deeper and about a foot of it came up through his back. He didn't get much farther.

He was still breathing when I reached him, so I stood off and waited. From the amount of blood he was losing I knew it wouldn't take very long. If I'd had a knife I might have tried cutting his throat, but then again I might not have. He had a big rack, it turned out to be twelve points, and I didn't need any antler injuries to my naked ass, or anything else. Besides, I didn't have a knife.

After I was sure he was dead I went over and extracted the two spears. I pulled him up on my back by the antlers and then stooped to grab my spears with my free hand. He was a load, but I was happy about that part.

I dropped him about two hundred yards from my camp. There was no need leaving what I wasn't going to eat lying around my digs to draw scavengers. I left all but one spear with him and walked back to sort through the pieces of flint I had for one that might make a good knife. I ended up with several candidates I thought might work and walked back to get started with the cleaning, skinning, and cutting up.

After several times cutting myself with one flake that seemed to be just the right size I wised up and dulled the back side of it against the back of my hand held axe head. Things went much better after that. I knew practically every part of him would be useable in some way, but I didn't know the way to use them. I understood how to treat the hide, and I knew I'd need to wash out the insides of his stomach and intestines. I knew what to do with the meat of course. I'd have to learn the rest the hard way I guessed, but I was going to hang on to all of it until it was ruined or I learned how to make use of it.

After gutting and skinning I cut off a haunch to give myself a down payment on my reward. I bundled everything up into the skin and carried it on to camp, going back for my spears after I set his remains down.

Cutting off pieces of the haunch, I speared them onto a small branch from a nearby oak. I lay the branch into the Ys of two more branches than I'd driven into the ground near the fire. I let them cook for a few minutes and then turned the spit, repeating as it seemed needed. I didn't exactly start eating while it was still very rare, but I didn't give it a lot more cooking than that. No matter, it was delicious and I ate as much as I could possibly hold.

The rest of the day, until an hour before sunset, I spent working with the proceeds of my hunt. My hand-sized axe cut the antlers off and helped me cut the rest of the body up into more manageable sizes. I couldn't make racks to dry the meat because I didn't have a damned thing to tie them together with yet.

Maybe I'd have enough skin left to cut some rawhide thongs, but there were other things I needed worse. I already knew some kind of ball coverage garment was the first job. I envisioned something like a diaper, and since I didn't have time to try tanning the hide the fur would remain on it and it would be facing my most tender parts when I wore my new finery.

Rudimentary moccasins were also high on my list and some type of bag for carrying my possessions was necessary. I'd also have to stretch the skin far enough for another pack of some sort to carry food. I was probably getting a little ambitious with not much deer hide, but I knew I needed all that stuff, and more.

Tonight I was going to have two fires, in case I needed them to keep sneak thieves away. I made sure to start the second one with a burning branch from the first before I started stuffing the cooked meat in. It was the first time I'd gone to sleep without being hungry since I'd showed up here.

Damn me if I didn't dream about Ayla of "The Clan of the Cave Bear" fame during the night. I admired her big breasts, long legs, blonde hair, and blue gray eyes, but that wasn't the main point. I lusted all right, but not after her body. I wanted her sling, or at least I wanted one of my own. After eating the next morning, a rectangular strip of the hide - about a yard long - was the first thing I cut out of the skin.

I set it aside and worked on my wardrobe next. I scraped hell out of the outside of my new diaper but didn't bother with much work on the moccasins except cutting them to the proper size. By the time I'd cut up enough for my abbreviated pants, some moccasins, and a bag for my meager possessions I only had enough skin left for a smaller bag for the meat and it left me just enough to cut a few thongs after I scraped the hair off. Of course I had to get the hair off my potential sling too, but it wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be.

The long tendons were also worth saving to use as twine of a sort. After fashioning a half assed awl out of one of the antler points, I was able to make small holes that let me tie my loincloth on with some of the thong I was able to cut out. Once I had the moccasins and loincloth tied on I felt much better, and I spent the rest of the day stretching the sling material by pulling it back and forth over a smoothed spot I'd made on a low hanging limb.

Supper was a big meal again that night and I made sure the fires were set to go before I lay down for my oft interrupted rest.

The next morning, after my morning piss, I realized I'd been waking with a hard on every day. It hadn't been a part of the last ten years or so of my previous life, but I actually hadn't noticed it since I got here. Now that I thought back I could remember I'd had one the first time I woke in this place, whatever it was. Now I was wondering if I was the only damned human here. Maybe I'd find out sooner or later.

It was time for me to cook the rest of the meat today. It wouldn't keep long like it was and even if cooking wasn't as good as smoking and drying it would still make the meat last longer in an edible state. Cooking it all without burning it up would require my attention most of the day, but it wasn't like I had anywhere I needed to be.