Another World Story

Day Six: Materials?

Ever since he had that dream, John had experienced death almost every day. He would experience all the things that happened in the dream, from meeting people with vague images, fighting, and even dying. It was a repetitive cycle that John had been able to get used to. However, the only thing he couldn't get used to, was dying. It was the only thing that would always wake him up. Every. Single. Day.

John, although he had experienced dying, it was after all a dream.

But,

"...Gulp. Sh*t. Of all beasts, it had to be a wolf."

John wanted to curse. If he had encountered another beast, he wouldn't have been helpless as he could probably go up the trees to avoid them or even run. But a wolf? Nah. John had read before that wolves aren't solitary animals. Maybe there are exceptions. But John could only wish this was one of those. He could still remember the howling he had heard yesterday. If his ear hadn't failed him, there were a lot of them.

John oh so wish this wasn't the one responsible for that howling.

John was feeling tense. He hadn't experienced this before. He had only read some novels regarding fighting monsters, but those were people who had trained and had powers! Him? Null, nilch, zero! He hadn't even started training!

"Grrrr"

Crunch!

The wolf barred its fangs at him. Slowly, it inched closer to him, stepping on the dried leaves on the ground.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

Each sound of leaves breaking echoed in the silent forest. John sweated with each sound of crunching that he heard. He could only step back. With every step of the wolf, John would take a step back twice. And with every step, the pounding of his heart grew louder and louder, his muscles tensed even more, making him unable to move properly. His fear-stricken eyes were locked with those of the wolf's fierce gaze.

The two continued the stalemate of walking forward and backing off,

untill...

Thud!

John's body stiffened.

He felt it.

He could feel it.

The hard bark of the tree behind him.

Lab-dub! Lab-dub! Lab-dub!

Haa... Haa... Haa...

John's breathing became heavy, his eyes still locked with those of the wolf's. But this time, John could no longer step back. He was cornered. The tree behind him was large. It was at least two meters in diameter. And John was sure that he couldn't get around the tree in time. If he did so, the wolf would take the opportunity and attack him.

Grip!

John gripped the stick in his hand tightly.

It was a do or die.

John could only wish that the stick could withstand the attack of the wolf, otherwise, he'd be a goner.

"Grrr!"

The Wolf, feeling the change of John, barred its fangs and immediately pounced on him. Its left paw was raised high as its claws protruded from it.

John's eyes widened from the sight. With a beat of heart, he raised the stick forward using both his hands as he held the stick from end to end, trying to block the paw of the wolf.

But,

Crack!

The sound of cracking was heard, and John could feel his heart stop for a moment.

The stick broke in two. And the wolf's claws were inching closer to him.

At the same time, John felt the world slow down as the wolf's claws grew closer and closer.

Inch by inch.

Slowly, but surely, it was heading towards his head.

John just stared at the claws that were aiming for his head, his mind blank, he didn't know what to do.

No, he wasn't even thinking anymore, as he was engrossed in the images that flashed before his eyes.

The happy days when he was younger and was together with his family.

The birthdays when they were complete.

The holidays when Alex and his sister played with him.

The...

Bang! Crunch!

Suddenly, John heard the sound of something being hit and crashing to the ground.

"...!!"

John immediately awoke from his stupor as his eyes regained clarity.

He felt himself, and found no pain. He then looked forward towards the wolf that was trying to kill him and there, he saw it.

"That bugger... no, that rabbit?" John was confused. What in the world happened?

He then alternated his gaze from the rabbit and the wolf, and saw a large pebble stuck behind the wolf's head, where dark red blood was oozing out.

"The f...?" Did the rabbit throw this rock at the wolf? Like, isn't that too amazing?

He couldn't help but wonder just how much power was contained in that throw to punch through the skull of the wolf?

John once again looked at the rabbit and then shifted his gaze at the wolf, then back at the rabbit. But when he looked back, the rabbit was no longer there. So he shifted his gaze back to the wolf.

Seeing that the wolf had not moved, John wondered if it was truly dead.

So, with John still holding the broken stick, he slowly inched closer to the wolf, hoping to poke it twice to make sure that it was dead. But the moment he took a step forward he felt his legs go weak and trembled.

Then,

Thud!

He fell weakly on his knees.

"...Ah?"

John was confused, he could still feel his legs, but they felt numb. As if they were jelly.

"What...? Why can't I move my legs?" He thought.

Was he in too much fear that his legs gave out on him? John couldn't help but think so.

Nevertheless, he had to move, otherwise the smell of blood could attract beasts that are more ferocious than this wolf.

Mustering his strength, John slowly stood up and walked close to the body of the wolf. Seeing that the wolf had not reacted, John finally heaved a sigh of relief as he walked away from the wolf, but before he could do so, he stopped in his tracks. He once again looked at the now dead wolf. Its nigh-like fur was now stained in blood, its claws and fangs were sharp, and... it had meat.

".... Aren't these all materials?"

John was wondering whether he could dissect this wolf and get every useful thing from it. But the more he thought about it, the more he frowned.

"I know jack sh*t about butchering, much more dissecting..."

Well, I did butcher a chicken before for cooking, would that count? John thought to himself.

"Still, I had better drain this wolf of its blood and clean it. I should move away from here as well. The smell of blood would surely attract other ferocious beasts."

Thus, with his meager strength, John pulled the dead wolf away, its blood making a red trail as he moved.

.......

Some time passed, as John traveled back to where he came from looking for a water source, he muttered.

"I swear I saw a small body of water around here somewhere... It couldn't be that I got los- oh! Nevermind. It was there!"

Pulling the dead wolf, John moved closer to the shallow river where small fishes were swimming and dragged the wolf's carcass to it. As the wolf entered the river water, the dried blood on its fur slowly integrated into the water, dyeing it red. John also hopped into the river and cleaned himself.

After cleaning himself and the wolf of the dried blood. John looked at the wolf's carcass.

"Now what?"

It was now that it came to John that he had no knife to butcher or dissect the wolf...

"F... Did I just waste my energy dragging this thing here?!" John couldn't help but curse. He had thought of throwing it away to feed the fishes, but he held himself back.

"No, no, calm down. I need this right now. I should look for something to butcher it."