Chapter 3

JAKE

I woke the next morning with a singular purpose. From the moment my eyes opened I knew I needed to, at the very least, discover the identity of my attacker.

I yawned and stretched my arms over my head as I rose from the bed. Between the crash and the work I had had to do to setup camp I was quite sore. My arms, my back, my legs all resisted my movements with insistent pain. I continued stretching this way and that, working to loosen my stubborn muscles.

Once I felt limber enough to move about I pulled a small backpack out of the survival gear and stashed two bottles of water and two packages of survival rations inside. I also left out a bottle of water and a package of rations for my breakfast and closed up the cases.

Survival rations consisted of foil-wrapped, dense bars that were packed full of calories, vitamins, minerals, protein, and fat. Everything your body needs. The bars of food were thankfully coated in chocolate. This gave them, at best, a mediocre taste.

I slung the backpack over my shoulders and secured its strap around my waist, then slung the crossbow over my shoulder. I collected my breakfast and munched on it as I stepped out into the early morning sunlight.

As I was about to walk out of camp I remembered the arrow and felt I should take it along. I picked it up quickly and stashed it in my pack, its fletching poking out the top.

I decided my best course of action would be to search the woods around the lake for some hint of which direction the person had approached from.

After about an hour of slowly walking the edge of the woods around the lake I came to a clearing in the trees and a well-worn path. As I looked down the path it was obvious that attempts had been made to block or hide it. It was, however, a hastily done job and it looked as though I would have no issue navigating it.

I stood for a moment, taking a swig of my water, and considered, 'Whoever this person was they obviously did not want me to follow them. But, if no rescue is forthcoming, I have no intention of living out the rest of my days alone. I have to at least try... '

With those thoughts busying my mind I began walking down the trail, navigating felled trees, boulders, and other attempts to conceal or block the path.

Finally I came to a more formidable obstacle, a fairly high rock wall of sorts that blocked my passage. It was almost 5 feet tall with bushes encroaching tightly on either side of the path. The wall was certainly more formidable than the other challenges but after a few minutes to consider my steps I was able to climb up and over it safely and continue on my way.

I could see sunlight pouring into a clearing just ahead, past what were probably the last few obstacles on the path, and I could also faintly hear the sound of a river running nearby. To my surprise, now that I could see some sky beyond the trees, I also saw a thick column of smoke rising from just beyond the river. I ducked under a fallen tree and then came to the end of the trail where two large logs had been piled on top of one another, probably in hops of concealing the entrance/exit of the path.

I was about to jump over the logs when I spotted the source of the smoke. I quickly dropped to my knees and peered over the edge of the log. There was a well-established camp on the other side of the river about 100 yards in front of me. A lone figure moved about the camp, obviously butchering an animal. It looked as though the person was drying and smoking the meat as a series of smoky fires had been set up under lines stretching between a pair of trees. Even from this distance I could tell it was a woman from her body shape and very long hair.

I pulled my unloaded crossbow off of my back and, resting it on the log, peered through the scope. My first thought was, 'My god she is beautiful.' The woman was covered head to toe in blood and other grime but her beauty was still unmistakable. Her long coppery red hair hung almost to her ass and her well-toned athletic body was easily visible through her minimal clothing. While she was obviously athletic, very likely from having to survive like this, her body was beautifully shaped.

She was probably just under average height, her breasts were not large but looked very nice beneath her tight top, her waist was slender, her hips flared out nicely, and as she turned to the side I could see she had a very nice ass beneath her shorts.

I shook my head sharply. Obviously the little head had taken over control of my thoughts and as I watched her I felt a familiar stirring in my groin. 'No surprise, ' I thought, 'I haven't seen a woman in months let alone a gorgeous one.'

I shook my head again and tried to focus on her activities. It looked as though she was nearly done butchering the animal and I watched as she walked down to the river to submerge some sort of container.

A short time later she began walking upstream with a determined pace. I had a dilemma. 'Do I follow her or explore her camp and try and learn more about her?' After a short deliberation I decided to try to do both. I would investigate her camp first and then see if I could follow the river upstream and find her again.

I waited until she was out of sight upstream of the camp and then loaded my crossbow and held it at a ready position as I stepped over the logs. I moved slowly towards the camp watching carefully for any sign that there were other people nearby.

I waded across the shallow river and climbed the small hill to the camp, still alert for any movement.

I scanned the camp area with my eyes noting that it was very well established and looked as though it had been there for years. I was careful not to disturb the hanging meat which had clearly been expertly butchered.

Peering at the entrance to the small hut I moved across in front of it, trying to see as much of the interior as I could before I stepped inside. Once it was clear that there were no other people in the dwelling I unloaded the bolt from my crossbow, quivered it, and then slung the weapon back over my shoulder.

I stepped inside the shelter and immediately noted the beautiful longbow. Out of respect for the woman I did not touch her bow but I did note a number of arrows in a makeshift leather quiver and I reached behind me and pulled the arrow out of my pack. I laid the offending arrow on the bed and studied it again, then compared it with the arrows in the quiver and although they were not identical, it was plainly obvious that they had the same maker.

I sighed deeply and felt saddened. 'Of all the people to attempt to kill me and desperately stop me from contacting them, ' I considered bitterly, 'it just HAD to be a gorgeous woman. Of course. Just my luck. Get shot down over a bloody unknown planet and then have, in all likelihood, the only other person on that planet try to kill me before we have even met. Good times.'

I shook my head, castigating myself for useless self pity. "She is probably just afraid of you, you idiot," I said harshly to myself.

I looked around the dwelling and camp critically. My first thought was she definitely lived alone, as there was only one makeshift seat around the fire and it looked as though only one side of the bed was regularly occupied. Then again, the bed was large enough for two and in the back corner of the dwelling was a neat pile of clothing that looked as though it had not been disturbed in years, on top of which was a necklace and locket. I stepped closer and studied the piece of jewelry, which lay open.

The locket had a thin film of dust on it and I didn't want to touch it but I could still see that it was a picture of a mother and young daughter. I had an immediate suspicion that the daughter in the picture was the young woman I had seen at the camp, as the mother looked much older. A few thoughts converged in my head and I looked around quickly again. My conclusion was that at some point both mother and daughter had lived here but it appeared only the daughter remained.

With that thought I decided I knew enough and I stepped out of the dwelling. I looked around critically once more, hoping I had not disturbed anything. Once I was satisfied that the woman would be unaware of my snooping, I left camp and began walking upstream.

Unfortunately I missed the arrow I had left lying on her bed.

After a short ways the thought occurred to me that if she decided to come back right away she would run right into me and I thought it would be best to observe her for a time before actually trying to make contact.

I crossed the river at another shallow area and climbed the hill on opposite side to the woods. I continued following the stream from just inside the woods until it came to a very large pool with a tall waterfall cascading down from a sheer cliff at the back.

On the west side of the river, the side I was on, the land had risen up such that my vantage point from just inside the forest was up on a high hill which had a steep drop-off to the water of the pool. I hunkered down behind a fallen log and spotted her quickly, bringing the scope on my unloaded crossbow to my eye to watch her as I had at her camp.

The pool was deep but very clear and I saw her naked form gracefully swimming across the natural pool under the surface.

I watched her swim from one end of the pool to the other, her long red hair trailing behind her. She looked gorgeous even underwater. Finally she stood up and waded out of the water and my eyes bugged about halfway out of my head.

There, standing 50 yards from me was the most radiantly beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. She looked quite young, younger than me, but was simply exquisite. I saw her at camp I knew she was beautiful but she was also covered in grime and blood from a hard day's work. Now there was no grime, no blood.

She was amazing. My cock immediately stood at attention. Her long red hair was slicked back and plastered across her back down to her ass. I now noticed her body was covered in freckles which I found very attractive. The freckles were most prominent over her face, upper arms, and shoulders. Her breasts stood proudly from her chest, good-sized and obviously firm with small areolae and short pink nipples which were hardened from the cold of the water.

My eyes traced the rest of her body from her obviously powerful arms, to her flat stomach, her sparse but fiery red pubic hair, the lovely flare of her hips as well as her powerful thighs, to the remainder of her slender and beautifully tapering legs and dainty feet.

I looked back up and my eyes locked on to her ass, one of my favourite features of any woman, and I gasped quietly. The young woman's round shapely ass was enough to nearly cause me to bust right through my pants. 'It really has been far too long, ' I thought with a wry grin.

Probably the most attractive thing to me, however, was the smile of pure joy on her face. She looked very happy, obviously having enjoyed her swim thoroughly.

She was only out of the water for a few minutes, walking around the shore briefly, before she dove back in and headed for the waterfall. I loved watching her and I remained perched on the hill doing just that for what must have been a couple hours.

Finally my thoughts wandered as I tried to decide my next course of action, 'I want to meet her. I should be careful how I do it though. Perhaps this requires further deliberation without the sight of the magnificent woman herself to distract me.'

With that I decided to return to my camp to ponder matters for awhile and to drop off my crossbow. The last thing I wanted was to threaten the woman, despite her attempt on my life. She was really my only realistic hope of being anything less than miserable and lonely.