Wâtchã Døìñg Bûddy? Hüntîñg?

It had become dark already but I still hadn't decided what to do... or... I had... in a way. But I didn't want to... tell myself... I guess, so I just stayed there, watching the glowing embers, that the fire left behind.

I had eaten both hares some time ago already, but still I was just lying there, watching the embers and... kinda enjoying the... emptiness in my head.

I was woken by a weird sound in the distance. The first thing I noticed was how numb my left arm was... or at first I was worried if I still had it, but I think that would have been painful instead of numb.

I got up and looked around.

Nothing... lucky I guess

Although my arm was still numb I was back in hunting mode.

There... that sound again... but... it's different... and from another direction... or did I just mishear the first time?

I had never heard that sound before, nothing like it either. It was a long, dull sound.

Another...! over there this time... two short ones this time...?

I wasn't sure what to make of those sounds. What animal could make this sound? My imagination ran wild... maybe something human-like, but bigger, fur all over, with the head like a bull? I wouldn't wanna meet that in person

I got scared by this thought, wanted to climb high into a tree, but my arm was still numb. I found a bush instead, hid inside and inspected my arms.

No scars... just like usual... I tried to move my fingers. Didn't work as good as expected. I helped with my other hand, bending each finger by itself, moving the hand around a bit, bending the elbow, moving the whole arm.

The numbness left my arm again.

Suddenly my arm was filled with another weird feeling... like ants were crawling all over it. Out of panic I frantically shaked my arm, I didn't see any ants but it came out of reflex “Get them away, get them away” I thought, tho there was nothing on my arm.

The feeling vanished, my arm was back to normal

I looked at it in wonder... What was that?

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

“It... it's ok. You don't have to tell me.” She looked at me and forced a smile

Yøû wõn't téll hèr? Åftær ââââll shë's dønê fór yøû?He... IT asked mockingly

I told you to shut up!

Ingrid took a step back, fright painting her face

“Where does that anger suddenly come from?”

“Please Ingrid, it's in no way your fault.”

“Then I demand you tell me whose it is” Suddenly her voice was tense again. The fright had vanished from her face.

“Please Ingrid-”

“You know where we are?”

“What?” I was confused about the sudden change of topic

“You heard me!”

“...I don't know, in a forest”

“Know how to get back?”

“What?... No. I don't”

“Wonderful, if you wanna get back you tell me. Else I'll leave you here. You know I can”

“Ingrid, that is ridiculous”

“How about that then, we'll exchange secrets. I'll tell you mine, you yours afterwards.”

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

I went on. Waited again after a while.

Frogs... not edib... or are they? Anyway, would take- my head turned in reflex ... in the bushes... irregular... not the wind... no waiting this time.

I went into the direction where the sound came from without hesitating. On hands and feet, was easier to be silent that way.

From here... it must've been round here somewh- suddenly there was no ground beneath where I wanted to place my hand, I fell, hit my face on the ground

Ouch... What's this? A hole... rabbit hole maybe... wanna take the chance...? Yeah, should.

I stuck my hand in the hole, all the way up to my shoulder must be something inside, that rushling could have been from a rabbit, and it could hav-

“AAH!! Fucking Hell!”

I quickly pulled out my hand Great, it bit me... at least I now know that there's something inside

“I'll repay you for this, asshat!!”

I stuck my bleeding hand into the hole again, but only up to my elbow. Ok, touch, only touch... I focused for a moment, luckily didn't get attacked again

Come on! Bite me again! I dare you!

I sat there for a while. Stood still in that position, on my knees, one hand on the ground and the other in a rabbit hole. Could see it in my head.

Away with that, focus!

...for how long have I been waiting for this rabbit now? Fuck I know. Feels like an eternity, could've been only a few mo- ...mrrrm!! gotcha!!

I pulled it out of it's hole “Ha, didn't think I'd snatch ya when you bite me again?”

Ze grræt hûntérr, tålkïn tø ä rræbbît

What is it you want now?!

Øh, nûfín, jùs$t cømmêntïng ón zë h@ppênîng, måybæ dîsstråct yøu å bít ssø tìmé pässêss by, yøû knöw, zê üsµâl

O-no! I won't join in on your games now, go talk to yourself or somethin'

Ha ha ha haa fûnny... fïnê, håvé fûn Mï$stêrr Rræbbît Ss$nætch€rr

I was back with the rabbit in my hand, holding it at eyes height, my blood all over it.

“Sorry I called you asshat, but it was in the heat of the moment, and you bit me”

The rabbit just continued staring at me well what did I expect to happen? It going all like 'yeah totally understand that man, hope I taste good'

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

Note from the Author

Kinda sorry for this long episode... or rather for leaving out one on Tuesday. Had no way of getting' to my PC so I couldn't write anything, hope you understand ^_^

Anyway, thanks for following, thanks for reading and a good weekend to all of you. Especially you :D

Awakening

Mystic Moods

I woke up.

Hasty I looked around to see where I was, but my vision was blurry. There was a slaugthered animal right in front of me. But even that I couldn't see clearly. My hands were deep inside of its lacerated stomach.

I pulled my hands out. But instead of fingers, I had claws. Four of them on every hand -- if you could call them that. And all of them Razor sharp.

Then I saw something, in the corner of my eye. It stood out from that blurry mess, nearly shining. What was that? And where was I? I went towards this gleaming thing. Why is it so big? Wait --- I'm walking on all fours?

That gleaming thing -- was it a human? It looked like it. Two arms, two legs, head, body & it was definitely standing on it's legs. I tried saying something but I couldn't. The only thing that came out was a screach.

The Human threw something at me. It was long and the tip was warm. And suddenly it disappeared. Only the warmth stayed, this burning warmth. As I looked back up again the human was gone.

Where am I? Why does everything look so weird? What happened to me?

Picture James Heller's Claw Arm Sculpt by Prototype 2

Music Ambient Fantasy - Mystic Moods

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

Sunrise

Explore 01

I woke up. It was already morning. I was still on that branch.

It was just a nightmare. I was very relieved. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. But I had something wet on my hands. I opened my eyes again and looked at my hands.

I was so scared I fell of the tree. For a moment there I forgot what I just saw. The pain from falling down did cleanse my thoughts for a second.

Picture Master Study: Forest Sunrise by Illustrum

Music Explore 01 from Fallout 3

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

I woke up As tense and abrupt as usual But for the first time I was thankful for it

I looked at my hand it was still normal

What happened there what happened to me?

I was still clueless only had the assumption that it came from the claw

but how could that be? How could just that claw make me that hideous?

It doesn't matter at least not right now

I know how to turn my body back I just need time

And it wasn't just time I was out daily, to feed, to replenish my energy but I ceased to count the days after a while

I remember there beeing three snowy seasons but I do not know how many there were before I managed to turn my hand

in the end I learned how to channel my energy more effectively it actually took less and less work to turn a part of my body

Picture Snowy trees by TheMichaelMacRae

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

Immediately I felt a stinging pain in my lower arm & dropped the bow. I was unsure what happened, but as I looked at my arm it was red as fire.

“Hit yourself with the string?” she laughed as Ingrid came out of hiding.

“What?”

“You hit yourself with the string, that's why your arm is red, and why the arrow fell short. Put some snow on the arm, it helps”

I did as she said. It really was relieving.

“But else quite a good first try. Anyone showed you how to use a bow before?”

“Not really... No. I just... observed you. Did what you did.”

“Ok then...” She got the bow from where I dropped it “... I'll have to show you.

You know how to hold it, nothing really difficult but it's important. But one thing about holding it you did wrong, any idea what? I can hold it like you just did, maybe you'll see it then”

I looked closely at her holding the bow. There was nothing unusual. Held it like she normally did too.

“...can't really see any difference to usually”

“So that's where the problem lies, you didn't observe closely enough. See, usually I hold the bow like this”

She bent her left arm a little to the side instead of holding it straight

“And basically, that's all there is to not hitting yourself with the string”

“...thats all?” I was baffled, but as I thought about it I understood it

“Yeah, that's all. Now to aiming” She gave me the bow

“Lets see...” She looked around “hmm... try hitting that tree over there”

“Funny, we're surrounded by trees”

She made a ball out of snow and threw it at one of the trees “Know wich one I mean now? Try hitting the snow from that snowball”

I took an arrow out of the quiver, put it on the bow, bent my arm this time, drew and released.

The arrow went past the tree

“Try once more”

“...if you say so”

I shot another arrow at the tree, focusing on the snowball

Past the tree again, but this time on the other side.

“When do you release the arrow?”

“What?”

“I know you've heard me boy, don't play the fool here”

“I... I don't know. When I focused on the spot I wanna hit”

“So you have no idea. Ok. Take another arrow, draw the bow, but this time, hold it”

I did as she said, this would soon get difficult to hold. She approched me.

“Look at me now, no need to focus on where the arrow is going.”

She put her hand on my chest, through the bow, if I would let go now I would definitely hurt her. I would probably even hurt her badly.

“Now, focus on your breathing and your heart. Be sure it all goes nice and slowly”

She put her head on my chest, probably to hear my heart beat. Even more danger if I'd let go now. She might had done that on purpose. To force me to hold out.

“Slower, come on, I know you can” her voice got softer, less tense... more relaxed

I focused on my breathing. Took long, slow breaths in and long slow breaths out. After some breaths there began to form a pause between the in and out breathing. Not long, but for an instant I didn't breath at all.

Simultaneously I also noticed how my heart was beating slower & slower. As if there was a connection between those two.

Ingrid lifted her head from my chest and looked me in the eyes for an instant. She rashly turned away and focused again.

Her voice was tense again, but with a bit of an weird soft undertone “Ok, good. You notice the pause between every breath? That's when you release the arrow.”

She still had her hand on my chest. I must admit, I did forget that I was holding the bow there for a moment with her head on my chest, but now I felt it in my arms again. She looked at me again for a short moment, but this time with an evil grin. As if she found it amusing to see me struggle holding the bow.

She lifted her hand. I began breathing in.

Focused on the snowball.

Released.

Hit!

Note from the Author

That got quite a bit longer than intended, but I hope it makes up for the left out episode.

Thanks for reading & a good weekend to ya all ^_^

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

Routine

And again, I woke up.

Damn it, I need to try again, be stronger.

I took another walk to the pond, got some water. But I went back at once to try again.

I gotta beat him somehow, I just gotta block better. ...And I need to hit him too.

So I went back to the realm of dreams. And again I woke up directly besides him.

''Back for 'nother beating? Ha Ha Ha'' ''Not this time'' ''I'm ready boy, come at me whenever you want''

I hesitated for a moment He let's me do the first hit?

But he didn't wait for me to attack him. Again the right swing. Wich I managed to block. & again the undercut. Wich I again failed to block.

And again, I woke up. ''For fucks sake!''

Again, a walk to the pond and back again. Again, I went to my dreams.

And... Again. I was beaten.

This continued for some time. I have honestly no idea for how long. I lost completely track of time, of day and night. When I woke up while it was bright I used my own eyes. When it was dark I used the beast eyes.

I fully went into routine, doing the same thing day after day. In between hunting a deer since I got hungry, but that wasn't often.

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

The first half of the deer didn’t last for long. But it sated my appetite, so I took the other half with me.

How long until raw flesh gets foul? I wish I knew. I should eat it by tomorrow ‘round this time, just to make sure it doesn’t get tainted.

After I was back to my cave and had ‘stored’ the remaining half of the deer a question came up.

So… what now? I figured out I can only see moving things, everything else is blurry and reddish. I am able to hunt, apparently I got amazingly sharp claws. Only question is; What to do with this new won free time? Hunting for fun is a waste and only gives me unnecessary attention – What do dragons do in their caves? I guess they sleep in their piles of gold, until some brave hero comes who ends up eaten alive. But I am no dragon, at least I don’t look lik…

Then it struck me, What do I actually look like in this form? I went out again, in search of water. It didn’t take too long till I found some.

I gradually moved my head over the water. To not scare myself too much.

Picture Inside the Cave by Joaru

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

It took quite some time to find any tracks at all, other than those on that bush.

At first I tried looking for any traces of animals eating any other plants in the area, but finding that was near to impossible. Out of old habit I tried looking for any tracks on the ground, in the grass or in the dirt. But didn't find anything significant.

Around the time the sun was at it's highest I found a small beck.

There I took a break. Ate a bit, refilled my flask and sat down for a moment. And although I had been walking around in that forest all day it was the first time I really noticed all the chirping around me.

I was just sitting there in awe for a moment.

Those dozens of chirping birds around me, the small stream besides me, how the sun lighted up the forest right now. It was a great moment.

I wish I could have captured it somehow, and taken it with me.

Picture Stream by abyss1956

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016