Edwin only gave a nod and they continued to move forward in search for the first unlucky animal that would come their way. They got off the small bush path—which still had the stump footprints going forward—and went into the thick bushes again.
Maybe it was the thought of the situation at hand or the hunger that had gotten the better of him that made Edwin blurt out, "This is kind of ironic. We're trying to survive so we hunt animals who are also trying to survive."
"What does that imply?" Arianna asked casually.
He shrugged. "I'm not sure."
Arianna shook her head at him and only moved forward. "The hunger is giving you some philosophical ideas, mate."
They continued to walk forward till they arrived at a tree with large leaves and red fruits. The fruits looked overly ripe and they were some that were still unripe and their colour was a bit greenish red. Arianna pointed her flashlight at the fruit. "You think that's edible?"
Edwin pondered for a few seconds. "Let's take some but let's not eat them till we show it to the others."
Arianna scoffed. "And if it's edible they'll just take them from us."
"That makes sense," he nodded but interjected. "I won't take the chances of choking on those. Turns out I have a lot of allergies."
Arianna ignored him and plucked the fruits and stuffed them in her pocket. They continued to walk forward, occasionally yawning while their stomachs grumbled.
Soon, they came upon more tracks. Arianna knelt on the ground and traced the tracks with her finger. "Deer tracks."
"Or maybe a buck! Look!" Edwin tapped her shoulder and she shot a look in the direction he was pointing at, the flashlight illuminating the buck. The buck sprang towards them in fury.
"Now I wish we had the red light!"
Edwin quickly grabbed her and jumped to the side, barely enough to escape the creature's fierce antlers. They scrambled to their feet and noticed that the buck was now standing under a tree with thick roots. It looked vigilant.
Arianna sensed ruffling of leaves in the direction the deer had come from. "Something was chasing him?"
"No time." Edwin raised his gun aimed at the deer and it sprang into a run large strides.
Arianna instinctively fired a shot in the air to warn the predator that the deer was now in their custody. Edwin asked as they chased the deer, "is it possible that it was a lion?"
"Let's get a meal first." Arianna increased her speed and when she was within range she shot at the deer again but it was quick to run behind a tree. The deer soon emerged from the other side and she followed up with another shot then another but all hit the soil.
"Damn it!"
Edwin took a detour and came around the other side and the deer had to change direction as well. It headed towards Arianna with full speed. She placed her feet down and aimed but suddenly the deer leaped into the air and she had to roll down while releasing a shot.
"I missed again!"
"Watch and learn." Edwin aimed his gun and instead of firing directly at the deer, he aimed his gun up ahead and shot. After the gunshot sounded, the sound of kicking and limping came. After a while the buck fell to the ground with eyes wide open.
Arianna looked at Edwin with a stunned expression. "How did you do that?"
Edwin blew imaginary dust off his gun and smiled. "That's the basics of shooting at moving targets, I think."
"That was a good one then," she said and approached the deer. "We at least get dinner."
"An unhappy dinner." Edwin pointed at the wide open eyes and twisted expression. He looked around and pointed deep into the forest. "That thing was clearly running from a bigger predator."
"But I don't want to wait around and find out what it was." Arianna tugged at the dead deer and began to lift it up.
Edwin nodded at her. The moment she put the deer on her shoulders and began walking forward, a bit wobbly under the weight, he turned and rushed towards the direction the deer had been fleeing form. He looked around and to his surprise there was nothing there except for the deep footprints that seemed too large to be a human's. He nodded and rushed back to join Arianna.
….
They returned to camp to find that the others had brought back their own food as well. Not all the teams were back but majority had their meat. They began to skin the deer and roast it. They had to make fire using sticks.
"This tastes worse than the food in the training camp." Edwin complained after tasting the meat of the deer. It was so bland and tasteless—well except for the taste of meat and its aroma.
Arianna chuckled. "That's only natural. We didn't bring any spices."
He nodded and ate some more. "I'll keep the antlers."
"Why?"
"As a souvenir."
"I see," Arianna stuffed more meat into her mouth and patted her half full belly. "Should we save some for tomorrow? We might not be able to hunt after the training."
"Totally," Edwin agreed. "I don't want to go on a chase anymore. Especially with whatever's out there."
They ate in silence and when they were done, they discovered that they had no means to store the meat through the night to prevent insects and other pests from getting to it. Arianna sighed heavily. "Welcome to the jungle life."
"Let's make the tent." Edwin said pointing at the branches they had brought back. They soon began to build the tent after wrapping their meat—which was cut into small sizes—in leaves. It took them a while to build the structure.
"Have you ever been to a forest before?"
"Apart from the time my father took me to the Crotan mountain range, no."
"I've been in Groovy Wild before but I didn't explore these parts." Arianna smiled as if to prove her superiority.
"My father would've never taken me if it weren't for my sister who insisted." After he said that, the air became ominous and the mood became awkward.