Hob, Amy, Geld, and Friz gathered at the top of the tree after covering both mutated deer corpses under branches from nearby trees. Hob kept the head of the mutated deer he had crushed the throat of as proof of the hunt, just in case.
After waiting for over an hour in tense silence in the middle of the jungle, there was finally some movement in the direction of the camp, and six figures darted out, stopping a few meters away on top of a tree.
"Is it safe over there?" A woman lifted a sign from the top of the tree and asked.
Seeing the sign, the others were astonished as carrying it would have been a bother for sure, but the collector unit did so anyway. "Yes, it is safe over here. We just needed your help taking back the corpses," Friz shouted in reply.
Hearing the answer, the figures moved again and were soon on top of the same tree as Hob and his group.
"So let me guess, it's a mutated deer seeing that head in your hands," Arun said, looking around.
"Yeah, and we actually got lucky and managed to hunt two of them instead of just one. Though the second one was indeed out of sheer luck and gave quite a bit of trouble to me," Hob said, grimacing in pain while showing his left shoulder that was grazed by the mutated deer.
"You're lucky that it was just that. Those antlers are more than capable of going right through the heart if you're not careful," Jill said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Lessi, patch up his wound for now," Rory said, addressing the woman who patched up Geld's leg earlier.
"Alright, show it to me," said Lesi as she jumped from her branch to the one Hob was on.
"Hey, why are you taking that out? I don't need that," Hob said, shifting away from Lesi's hand.
"Oh, don't tell me. Are you maybe one of those kids who are scared of an injection?" Lesi said, trying to take away Hob's attention from the injection.
But Hob's eyes were fixed on the injection, and his heart was thumping in fear. That was when Friz, who was sitting behind him, held his head and pulled it into her embrace, which took Hob by shock. "Friz, what are you doing?" Hob said, trying to get out of Friz's clutches.
"Nothing, it's done already," Friz said, giggling.
That was when Hob noticed that the injection was already in his arm and the liquid in it was gone. Hob screamed at the top of his lungs, "Ahhhhhhhh, it hurts, it hurts! Why would you do that?"
Lesi pulled out the injection from Hob's arm and gave him a cotton ball dipped in a cool liquid. "Hold it next to the injection mark for a few minutes so it doesn't bleed, and you did a good job distracting him," Lesi said, giving Friz a thumbs up.
"Friz, I trusted you," Hob said, making a baby face at Friz.
"Aww, don't be like that. It was so you don't get infected from that wound," Friz said, patting Hob's head, who seemed to have turned into a kid after seeing the injection.
"Enough of the chit-chat. Would you guys mind telling us where the corpses are, or do you plan to make us search for them?" Rory said loudly, finally unable to take it anymore.
"They are right below you guys, below that pile of branches. How come you guys haven't spotted it yet?" Geld said, answering Rory's question and asking one of his own.
"There are many things in the wild that like to make their nests using branches, so we don't actually try to look into every single one of them," Rory said, explaining in exasperation.
"Alright, let's go take a look at what you hunted," Jill said as he and the others climbed down from the tree.
Soon, the branches were removed from the top of the corpses, and they were out for everyone to see.
"Whoa, isn't that the strong-leg variant of deer? It's exceptionally fast. You guys did a good job taking down two of these," Rory complimented them.
"Variants? So you are telling me there are even variants among the monsters?" Geld asked dumbly.
"Of course there are variants of monsters. It's not like they all mutate in the same way. Even if they do come from the same species, the mutated animals can be very different from each other depending on the type of mutation they have," Lesi explained to Geld.
"Oh, so that's why they were so keen on running. They trusted their legs," Amy said, finally understanding why they ran in opposite directions.
"This one's body is surprisingly intact, and the other one has also lost only its head, which Hob is carrying. This trip wasn't in vain; we got a lot of food and materials at least," Rory said, celebrating the fact that they got three corpses without much effort.
The veteran collectors decided that the forest wasn't safe or more like convenient, so they carried both the corpses back to the camp to disassemble them and store the useful parts to take back.
"We'll go back at dawn. There's still a few hours till then, so rest well," Rory said to Hob's group.
And after almost three days, Hob and his group were finally sleeping together as the veteran squad took the role of keeping watch in exchange for using their camp to stay.
Amy and Geld slept in their own cloaks, but Friz came next to Hob and stared at him for some long seconds.
"What is it?" Hob asked in confusion.
Friz did not say anything but came towards him and took his right arm out from inside his cloak and laid down on it, then said in a really low voice, "I need a pillow to sleep properly," and then closed her eyes, leaving Hob staring at her pretty face as she slept.
" She's really persistent about her pillow being me but let's not call her out on that now. " Hob thought to himself and was expecting to be annoyed as his left hand was still not fully healed but surprisingly found himself forgetting the pain and looking at Friz who looked cute while sleeping instead.
Hob looked around to see if anyone was watching and caught Jill looking at them. Their gazes met, and Jill gave him a thumbs up while grinning.
Hob wanted to say something but was at a loss for words, so he just kept quiet and went to sleep alongside Friz.
In the morning, as the sun broke the dark curtain of the night, everyone woke up one by one.
"Yo, love birds, wake up already. It's morning, you know. We need to go back to the outpost to submit our results before the day is over." Hob and Friz woke up in an instant at the mention of the words "love birds."
"It's not like that," Hob and Friz said simultaneously, then looked at each other, and their faces turned red.
Everyone started laughing at them and teasing them about it, and soon they were on the move back to the outpost again.
The journey was nothing special except for endless sand in their way and the ever-present sun that seemed to be able to burn things alive. Walking through the unbearable heat, Hob made his way through the desert alongside his group and the veteran collectors, who didn't seem to mind the heat much even though they were carrying most of the materials on their backs.
"Well, I guess that's why they're called veterans," Hob thought to himself while bearing the heat.
After almost five hours of walking through the desert, they finally saw the outline of the outpost, and that worked as a booster for everyone as they picked up their pace and started walking faster towards the outpost.
Soon they were all back at the outpost. As soon as they reached the outpost, the guard at the door stopped everyone and asked, "Status?"
Hob and his group were confused, but Rory came forward, showed her ID, and explained that they were coming back from the hunt. They were granted access.
In the same place where they were given the flares, a tent was now erected to provide shade, most probably, and a stage was also made. There were some people moving around in a hurry, seemingly preparing for something.
"Oh, so you guys survived the hunt. Come here, let me register your names with the proof you brought from the hunt," Dell said with a delighted smile upon seeing them.
"Ah yes, we survived the hunt. It was really hard, though. If not for the flail I got from you, I'd be dead by now," Hob said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Oh, I am delighted to hear that my weapons saved your life. What did you guys hunt then?" Dell asked in anticipation.
"Oh, that you should see for yourself," Hob said, taking out the head of the mutated bear and the mutated deer out of his and Friz's backpack with excitement coloring his face as he remembered how they had fought them down.
Seeing Hob and Geld take out the mutated bear and deer's head, Dell exclaimed in shock, "Isn't that a mutated bear's head? How did you guys even manage to hunt it? And that deer, its antlers are excellent material to work on. I'll try my hands on it later."
"It was all thanks to the things you gave me, Dell, remember?" Friz hinted at the poison he had procured for her.
"Oh, then it makes sense. That will indeed take it down if hit accurately," Dell said, nodding in understanding. Everyone else looked at them in confusion, but Friz and Dell paid no mind and didn't explain what they were talking about.
"Alright, I'll take care of the rest. All of you should go and rest for a while and make sure to be here at 9 in the evening. There'll be something important waiting for you all," Dell said, sending them in to rest.
Upon entering the building, everyone parted ways, and Hob along with Friz got back to their room. After a good meal, they both fell asleep again.