A frail-looking young man was hiding in the bush looking at the serene lake. If he was not here to hunt, he might have slept in the shade or at least appreciated the beauty of the place.
Even though it was noon and the sun was above in the sky, the forest was so dense it remained dark most of the time, gaining the name Dark Forest. It was home to hundreds of different species of animals and plants, providing daily needs to nearby villages.
Logan was waiting here for almost three hours now. He was waiting for the deers. They often come here to drink lake water.
"I must catch one today, or we have to sleep hungry again tonight," he murmured as he carefully popped his head out of the bush to see any signs of deer.
From time to time he also kept checking his rear side. If he became a little careless, he could die at the hands of wild beasts that roamed the dark forest.
After an hour, he heard the sound of hooves as something was running in the direction of the lake.
He became cautious as he held his breath, trying not to get noticed by the thing. If he failed today, his mom has to sleep hungry tonight, and he can't let that happen, not today.
He popped his head and carefully looked at the lake and saw a big deer.
It was an adult male white-spotted deer slowly approaching the lake.
"Guess, I am lucky today," he thought as he prepared his spear. Slowly he raised his spear in the direction of his target, the deer.
Logan had learned how to throw a spear from his late father, who used to be a pretty famous hunter in the Stonewall village.
Alas! He was killed in a beast tide, and almost half the population of the village was slaughtered three years ago.
He shook his head, trying to focus on the present. If he missed the shot… No, he can't… He must succeed in this hunt!
He held his breath, as he calmed himself down and controlled his shaking hands.
The deer was approaching slowly and carefully towards the lake. He saw the deer looking in his direction.
His gaze followed to the bush he was hiding in, and then their gaze met for a second.
Logan knew this was the time. He had been noticed because of the sharp senses of the deer, and if he waited or hesitated any longer, he would lose his last chance.
Swish~
The spear left his hands with a great speed, and it hit the escaping deer. Even after being hit by a meter and a half long spear, the beast didn't show any sign of submission or defeat.
The spear had hit his shoulder region, and blood was gushing out of it like a fountain.
"Tenacious bastard! Where are you going?" Logan shouted as he ran in the direction of the fleeing deer, following the trail of blood that was still fresh and oozing out of the wound left by the spear.
---
After trailing the deer for about half an hour, he finally reached the place where he saw its dead body lying in a pool of blood.
"Look like he died because of blood loss," he thought.
Logan was sweating profusely.
He swear if the bastard ran even a mile more, he might have died of exhaustion!
He felt like his lungs were on fire, and his heart might brust open from his chest.
Logan sighed, and after a pause… he laughed!
Logan was happy since he and his mother would be able to eat tonight and for the next week.
He mustered strength as he dragged his tired body to the side of the corpse and pulled the knife from his bag to start skinning and butchering.
"I have to do things swiftly, or it will attract beasts from the forest. The smell of blood was too strong to go unnoticed," he murmured.
He swiftly moved his sharp knife and began skinning from the legs to the chest and removed the whole skin masterfully. He willingly left some skin on the back area, as removing it now would only spoil the meat in dirt.
Now all that was left was butchering the meat.
Logan yawned as he felt an urge to sleep. He was just too tired; he ran for probably ten kilometres without catching a break.
How can he not be tired?
But it was all worth it!
Logan licked his dried lips and started the butchering. First, he removed all the legs from the body. As he swiftly cut open the abdomen, he could finally see the stomach and intestine.
He pushed his hands into the opened belly and pulled the stomach out carefully. He felt a warm sensation. Maybe because the deer died just a few minutes ago, the body was still warm.
He sighed as he was removing the stomach and intestines out. He had to be careful in the process. If a rupture occurred in the stomach or intestines, it would spoil the meat.
At first, he found it very hard, or maybe even a little nasty, to clean the body's viscera, but as for now, especially after the death of his father, he was used to all the chores, and he even liked the texture and flavour of deer intestines.
But for now he discarded the intestines. There was just so much delicious meat that he might not be able to carry back home. He just took some fatty ribs and the meat from legs and, of course, the organs- heart, liver, brain, and all those things that rich people would despise eating.
Aside from fats and proteins, the organs contain a large amount minerals and different vitamins.
All that was left on the deer's corpse was nothing but some chunks of meat on the bones that were too hard or time-consuming to remove.
It looked like the remains of an animal that was attacked by a group of blood-thirsty piranha fish.
He packed everything using the deer's skin as a bag. It was more than enough to feed him and his mother for a week or even two if they made some jerky.
Logan was in a good mood!
He happily packed everything and was drooling, thinking about the grilled ribs and delicious organ stew.
He was a little worried as he was probably ten miles away from Stonewall village. The sun was setting in the west as the gloomy forest was slowly getting devoured in pitch black darkness.
And the dark forest was never a good place to be alone at night, as he heard from one of the village elders that savage beasts live deep in the forest and hunt lost humans in the darkness.
"I must leave the forest before the sun sets!" he thought as he ran with all his remaining might in the village's direction.