After dragging the sprig buck far from the grave.
Everyone sorrounded it and Mrs Taiyo who was now squatting near it as she took out a rather big nail cutter she had in her left pocket.
"Let me guess, for self defence?" Tony, looking at the small knife tucked in-between the nail cutter Mrs Taiyo held in her hand, asked.
"Yeah" with a nervous smile, Mrs Taiyo answered as she stared at the dead animal Infront of her.
She extended her hand, and using her small but rather sharp knife she started skinning the buck that now laid on dead leaves.
"Need a hand?, I've seen my father do it before, he often asks me to hold the legs for him." Dan asked as he stared curiously at her teacher who seemed to have been having trouble skinning alone
Wiping the sweet off her chocolate face, she looked at him for a second before answering.
"I'd appreciate it if you did"
What am I even doing, what if it's ends up killing them? What will I do then? then again I can't really watch them sterve. What I'm I going to do about the water? What about that cowboy? What if he comes back? What if he kills again? What will I do then? I promised them that I'll bring them back home, I'm really glad that they're all able to act like adults even though deep down they're scared, some even have the strength to lead others.. Before she could finish her trail of thoughts she was interrupted by Dan who had a confused look on his face.
"What was that?"
"I asked what part you need help with." With a more confused look Dan asked.
Finally coming back to reality.
"Oh the forearms"
Squatting down Dan held the forearms, while Mrs Taiyo continued skinning.
....
Billie at that moment had searched for a log and a small stick, and was now busy trying to make a fire.
"That won't work."
"Why? Are you saying you're stronger than me? Billie asked as he raised his head to look at Alpha who was now standing before him.
"I am, but we're not talking about strength here, haven't you watched those jungle documentaries? You need to add dried leaves on top" Alpha answered with a straight face.
"Seems like you now more than I do, why not do it yourself then?" Dropping the smaller stick, Billie stood up from his earlier seating position.
"I don't think I can."
"Why, you came here to show me how it's done, so you must know how to do it." Billie who looked more and more agitated said.
"I injured my palm back when we were digging"
"I think I can do it." Mercy who'd been watching them back and forth said, her voice laced with confidence.
"..." Both dumbfounded, they just stared at her with questionable faces.
Though before they even had the opportunity to ask anything, she bent down, picked up the stick, held it between her palms, and with one thrust blue flames ignited around the log that wasn't even dry yet.
"What? How did you do that?" Both of them shouted in unison, which in turn made Mercy's checks turn red.
"I just had a hunch I could do it." With her usual low voice Mercy answered, her legs now drawing the world map, after more and more kids had gathered to see the blue flames and their maker.
"What's with all the hunches? This isn't even supposed to be possible, then again everything happening around here is supposed to be impossible." Margret who was among the gathered kids said.
"Well atleast we now have something to cook the meat with." A surprised look on his face Tony added.
"Why don't we gather more wood so that it doesn't go out" Ciru inquired.
"Can't she make it again?" One of the kids asked.
"Let's not risk it" Alpha said as he began picking small sticks that laid around him.
And soon after everyone followed suit.
....
Mrs Taiyo and Dan had now finished skinning the animal and removed all the innards, which Mrs Taiyo proposed to throw away, saying that they couldn't risk eating because they had no idea what the animal had been eating.
After everything was done, they couldn't really cut the deer to smaller chunks, so they ended up only doing it at the joint, leaving them with bigger ones instead.
"Now comes the hard part, lighting a fire" Mrs Taiyo said as she stretched and yawned from all the work.
"Another one?" Billie who'd came to see their progress, asked.
"What do you mean another one?" She asked with a confused look. Behind her was Dan who also had the same expression.
They wondered why everyone left their side, but they figured it must've been because they were too tired and decided to look for a place to rest.
"Yeah Mercy miraculously made one over their." Billie said pointing at a place beyond the two giant trees.
Mrs Taiyo and Dan were too stunned to speak and so they walked towards the place.
"What about the deer?" Billie asked, but his words fell on deaf years as Mrs Taiyo and Dan were now fast stepping towards the place.
....
"How did you do it?" After listening to her explanation, Mrs Taiyo didn't really no what to say, instead she just complemented her.
She then asked four boys to help Billie in delivering the meat.
After preparing the fireplace, the four boys and Billie approached while carrying parts of the spring buck
Using y shaped sticks that she'd placed across each other, she drilled long sticks in the chunks of meat then placed them directly above the fireplace.
"What now?" With a puzzled look on her face, Ciru asked.
"We keep turning them and wait for them to roast." Mrs Taiyo paused for a second, looking at Mercy who sat at the left side of the group that'd now encircled the fireplace. "Did you feel any weird changes after starting the fire?"
"I only felt my eyes burning hot for a second, but I figured it was a bug that flew into one of them" She replied with her usual low voice.
Soon as she mentioned a bug, everyone suddenly went quiet, after the eerie silence that'd clouded the forest through the night, they had all somehow forgotten.
Concentrating on their hearing, chirping birds, buzzing fries and other animal noises could now be heard all over the forest.
"It's alive, huh?" Margret asked, after listening in on the noises for about a minute.
"Seems like it" Dan answered.
"That means there's also a river in the forest." Alpha added.
"But how far do you think it is?" Staring at his teacher, Tony asked.
"Judging by the sun's position, I think the day is about halfway over, so we really can't wander into an unknown forest and risk the cowboy attacking us. So we'll have to wait for tomorrow to figure it out." Mrs Taiyo answered as she adjusted the positions of the roasting meat.
"Now that you've all mentioned it I'm really thirsty" Billie who sat a bit close, too close to the fire said.
"We're all thirsty" Margret commented in annoyance.
After the short conversation, everyone went quiet and only the noises from, the fire as it danced around and the distant animals, could be heard.
Though after about twenty or so minutes an aroma of roasted meat filled the air and anyone who smelled it began salivating on the spot.
"It won't taste the way it supposed to, but I did my best with what little I got " Mrs Taiyo said, as she picked up one of the roasted leg.
She bit a part and a rich, tender and gamey fragrance filled her taste buds.
Everyone salivated as they watched their teacher chew on the golden roasted meat.
After the first bite she handed the rest over to Alpha
"It was his idea."
Alpha took it, gulped down the saliva that'd formed in his mouth, and took a big bite.
Mrs Taiyo took the other legs and libs and distributed them to different students.
After one bite one would hand it over to the next person. This went on for over thirty minutes, before the kids started showing signs of stopping.
They had eaten to their fullest and after an hour almost all of them had stopped eating and now laid on the rather comfortable field.
Billie was still greedily chunking it down.
But despite being a glutton, he also slowed down and soon enough, he too laid on the field.
Mrs Taiyo stared at the kids her lips curling.