Nash and Jay sneak through the woods. There isn't a lot of large game close to the community, so they walk North, parallel to the river a hundred yards away. They're walking for an hour before they see signs of a large animal.
Nash bends down to study the tracks, and points out the canine shape of the footprints to Jay. Whatever it is, it was going Northwest, moving closer to the river. He and Jay hasten in pace, and follow the trail of the large creature.
They hear an animal scream, and Nash recognizes the chatter of coyotes. Now, within earshot, he knows they're close. He signs to Jay to be quiet and stay close, moving slowly and careful not to step on any twigs. He keeps his feet flat, and walks through the woods like a cat stalking a mouse. The only noise he hears is Jay walking slowly behind him, and the coyotes up ahead of them.
He spots a group of five coyotes drinking from the river, and laying at the stream edge. He signs Jay to stop and get down. He wants to hit at least two of the large wild dogs.
He nocks an arrow and holds his second arrow, ready to nock it and fire twice. He aims for the two closest together. He fires one arrow and before it hits he has the second arrow drawn. Within a second of the arrow striking the coyote, the second arrow hits its mark. The other three coyotes take off, running wildly from the scene, and Nash gained another skill point in hunting.
The second coyote cries out in pain as Nash draws a third arrow and severs its brainstem. Nash stands up, and Jay follows him as they walk towards the two bodies laying at the river's edge. He pulls the arrow from the first coyote, cleaning it off. When he turns to the second coyote, he pauses for a second, imagining the pain and fear it was in during its last moments alive. After removing the two arrows from the second coyote, he shoulders the larger one. Jay knelt down and picked up the smaller coyote, and follows Nash.
They walked back through the woods together, carrying the two coyotes Nash had shot. As they got closer to their camp, Nash felt the ground give out under his foot, fell to the ground, and dropped the coyote. His leg had sunk through a large hole. Jay dropped his coyote and rushed to Nash's side, helping pull him back onto his feet.
"Are you okay Nash," Jay asked as he helped Nash up.
"Yea, I'm fine. Thanks for the help Jay," Nash replies.
As Nash regained his footing on solid ground, he looked at the hole he'd nearly fallen through. He grabbed a stone, and tossed it in, hearing it clatter after a few seconds on the floor of the cave. He guessed it was nearly a 30 foot drop. He picked up the large coyote, and Jay grabbed the smaller one, and as they moved on, he noted the location of the hole. He attempted to hide his limp from the injury of the fall, letting Jay walk ahead of him.
Jay broke through the forests edge and dropped his coyote by the firepit. When Jay turned around, he noticed Nash had fallen behind with a limp he could no longer hide. He grabbed Nash's coyote with a little bit of struggle under the weight, and dropped it by the fire pit. Then he brought him a length of bamboo to use as a cane, and wrapped his arm around Nash to help him to a spot on the rocks he could sit comfortably. Nash was weak with his limp, and wished he would of got started on the cabin before going hunting. Jay on the other hand, was worried about Nash's leg, hoping it was just a strained muscle and not a fracture.
When Nash got comfortable and began rubbing his hands on his leg to try to work out the pain, Jay had started cutting and tying bamboo together to make a crutch for him. Nash accepted the crutch Jay presented him, and tried to get up off the rocks. Jay put a hand on his, looking him in the eye the way a mother would when a kid rebels. Nash sat back down, understanding Jay from the look he was given, and without a word, Jay grabbed his knife and skinned the coyotes, rinsing the skin off and setting it aside. Jay slices the meat from the bones more thoroughly than Nash had harvested the meat on the Lynx. Nash admired this, accepting his role with the injury, and letting Jay take care of him. Jay grabbed the metal bowl and threw a couple pieces of meat in, then set the bowl beside the firepit. He grabbed the firestarter Nash had made, and struck it down the knife a few times, starting a small fire he fed with oak. He put the metal bowl on the hot coals in the firepit, feeding the fire around it, until the meat was fully cooked. Then he grabbed one piece out of the bowl, and handed it to Nash to eat.
"Be careful, it's still pretty hot," Jay warned.
Nash smiled, recalling a time in his life when his parents had told him the same thing.
"I think we should turn the fire pit into an wood burning oven," Jay said, looking to Nash for an answer.
"That sounds like a good idea. Gather some stones that we can fit together to build the walls, I'll mix some mortar from the ashes of this fire, and we'll build an oven tonight," Nash said, happy for the task he can easily complete with his injured leg.
Jay set about gathering stones and dropping them off, making several trips back and forth from the fire pit. Nash turned around from where he was sitting, and used his crutch to walk to the water, satisfied with the support it gave him. He filled up his canteen, and sat back down by the fire before Jay had returned with the next armful of stones.
He began mixing ash, dirt, water, and grass and made a thick paste to glue the rocks together. When Jay came back from his fourth trip to gather stones, he sat down next to Nash and in the course of an evening they'd built a wall with a small hole at the bottom of one side, and Nash gained a skill point for masonry. With a final, large, flat rock, Jay helped Nash glue the top on their oven, leaving a small hole for smoke to rise, and rinsed off the top of the rock.
Jay helped Nash up and over to the lean to. Nash was hopeful that by morning, his leg would feel better, but knew that it would most likely hurt worse come sunrise. Jay started a fire in the oven, and stoked it so it would burn hot, and laid down in the lean to next to Nash, enjoying the warmth.
"Hey Nash," Jay mumbled.
"Yea," Nash replied.
"Could I. Um. Well, is it okay if I cuddle with you tonight?" Jay asked with a shy, quiet voice.
"Yea," Nash said to Jay with a smile, "of course."