Armsville's Lament

CHAPTER THREE

   The next two days went by as if they were two weeks. Each morning, Jonathan awoke, hoping that he would see his brother sleeping or tending to the fire or something like that, but those three following mornings were disappointing to say the least. 

   On the third morning after Jonathan left, Andrew decided that there was no sense in letting his traps go unattended. Each passing day meant the possibility of either an animal's meat going to waste, or a predator taking advantage of a trapped animal, destroying his trap. Worse still, if another person found it. Surely they would send a search party into the woods if they suspected poachers were running amok.

  In the last two days, Andrew managed to prepare at least a week's worth of food for him and his brother. This meant that he could empty one of the traps and leave it empty for a short while, setting them again once this food supply ran low. This would help reduce his calorie consumption, which would make the food supply last longer. That is, until his firewood supply started to run low.

   Andrew gave a sigh after preparing a lunch for himself and getting the sled ready to take with him. He knew that this would be one of the last needs he needed to leave the cave before firewood became scarce, but he couldn't shake the feeling of dread. What if he didn't find his brother? What if something happened to him?

  ‘ No time for that now,’ he told himself, and shrugged the feeling off in exchange for the hope for another perfect bounty like the one a few days ago. He also had to worry about keeping himself safe from any other bears that might wander across his camp. Giving a few moments to consider the odds, and hearing no roaring, Andrew left the cave and made his way to the frozen lake. 

   The lack of snow in the past two days made his rock formations easier to spot. It also meant that the holes in the ice would have no chances of freezing over, so he would have to be even more careful than before. Weighing his options, the only smart choice seemed to be to start in the middle of the lake. It would eliminate all chances of damaging any more parts of the ice sheet any further.

   Successfully crossing the lake, Andrew set out to fetch his traps rewards. During the journey, he thought he heard the sounds of another bear off in the distance, which caused him to start marching in double time. In three hours time, albeit exhausted from the speedy march, Andrew had arrived at one of the last two traps needing checked. A small fox that had frozen to death was inside.

   Andrew released the door and withdrew the frozen fox, and noticed that it had partially thawed in the last two days without snow. This would help later when the animal could sit next to a fire. That would make it ready to drain tonight rather than have to wait. 

   Deciding that was good enough for a day's work, Andrew set his course for camp, hoping not to encounter the bear that he heard earlier that morning. Unfortunately, that fear would soon be realized.

   Within two hours of walking towards the frozen lake, a bear had rushed his direction from behind a group of low sitting trees. This gave him only a few moments to grab his knife, which wasn't enough to save him. 

   Andrew braced himself for the mauling that would be his end. It wasn't until a few moments had passed and he opened his eyes that he realized the bear had fallen just in front him. Furthermore, he was barely able to cope with his shock enough to see the bolt sticking out of his eye.

   When Andrew finally came to grips with the fact he was still alive and in one piece, he took a moment to pat himself as a last minute gesture to make sure he was not hallucinating. Once he was confident this was not a nightmare, he turned around to see the sheet frustration I'm Jonathan's eyes.

   “Damnit, Andrew. The hell kinda mess you get yourself into now?”

   “Nothin’ I can't handle, why you hasslin’ me so much?” Andrew asked, feeling discouraged to hear his brother talk about him this way. “I mean, come on, I made it this far. Plus I wouldn't even be out and about today if I wasn't looking for you!”

   “No excuses, and the hell you wouldn't,” Jonathan retorted, never taking his eyes off of Andrew, nor losing his stern facial expression. “ Youd be out here getting that little ol' fox home just the same, AND, you'd be fighting your way to the bottom of that bears stomach like a fish fighting to get back to the water!”

   Andrew took a moment to reflect on these words. It's likely that his brother was right, and that this whole trip was a mistake that could have waited. Not only that, but the little knife he had was not going to do much against a beast like that. Furthermore, he found himself surprised that a single Crossbow bolt was enough to end a bears life so quickly.

   “C'mon, let's get you back to your hidey hole,” Jonathan suggested, and Andrew didn't need a bit of convincing. 

   It only took another hour and some odd amount of minutes to return to the shores of the frozen lake. Home is where the heart is, so theybl say, and this was starting to look and feel just like home. Andrew hadn't asked yet, but strongly hoped his brother would stay with him for the night. 

   “You got you a better sense on what's a safer path across this infernal death trap?” Jonathan demanded.

   “Yeah, I know where to avoid this time. Damn bear ruined things off to the left side there, so I been keeping to the middle until I'm sure it gets cold enough to freeze the lake over.”

   “Smart enough, I guess. Well, let's get this fox home we we can make you a new hat, Jonathan proposed. “Been due for one, doncha think?”

   Andrew hadn't given much thought onto how he looked. The baseball cap he wore under his hood wasn't much protection by itself, but the hood was plenty warm enough that he didn't know what Jonathan was even getting at. 

   Making their way back to the cave, Andrew tied up the sled and hung the fox up on the drying rack. He prepared his knife to bleed out the animal when his brother stopped him.

   “Now just what do you think you're doin?” Jonathan half shouted at what he was seeing.

   “This is how I've been getting blood out of the meat, and its been working just fine for the last few weeks, so if you don't mind…”

   “Doncha know that takes away all the gamey flavour out of the food?” Jonathan asked with a smirk. “C'mon now, you been taking care of yourself for somewhat near a month now. Let big brother take care of ya.”

   Andrew appreciated the gesture and sat down in his bed, getting comfy and gathering questions in his mind for what he's going to ask Jonathan. For the time being, it seemed best to just watch the master at work and pay as much attention as possible. After about ten minutes, food was cooking, and it seemed the right time for catching up.

   “So, uh, how ya been?” Andrew asked, trying to break the silence.

   “Never better. I see you been doin alright, all things considered, but I hope you don't plan on livin’ out here forever,” Jonathan replied with a certain tone of warning. 

   “Well no, I just needed to get my thoughts All lined up before I planned my next step.”

   “You had you a whole month, damn near. When was you plannin’ on makin’ a plan?” Jonathan spat, sounding a lot more stern than expected.

   “Soon enough, actually,” Andrew answered, a sense of confidence about him. “You showing up kinda gave me a reason to stick around.”

   “Well that's a mistake,” Jonathan confessed, suddenly sounding solemn in his speech. “I checked our mailbox back in town before I had to scoot. I'm being called back to war.”

   “WHAT!?” Andrew shouted in surprise, since his brother had only just returned home the day the whole incident in Armsville kicked off. “You just got back, and you said Dad's been lookin’ for me. When can I go see him?”

   “Not sure. Things got a bit complicated. We gotta wait to hear from him once things with the lab settle up.”

   “To hell with the lab, what do they have to do with us anymore?” Andrew asked, dreading what answer might come.

   “Not gonna answer that til I know more, but consider this,” Jonathan started, but paused a moment before finally answering his anxiety-ridden brother. “They seem to know more than they let on, and going back to Armsville is a death sentence. I ain't gonna let you go back on your own and Dad isn't gonna lose yet another son.”

   “What do you mean another son?” Andrew barely managed to utter.

   “I mean,” Jonathan let out a sigh before elaborating. “Will probably ain't coming back, and it's all in this stupid letter.”

   With that, Jonathan emptied his pocket of a folded up piece of paper and his favourite revolver. He put the revolver on the table and unfolded the paper before handing it to Andrew. Andrew read the letter with haste, and the news was shocking to say the least. 

   While Andrew was digesting the words on the paper, Jonathan began preparing the pheasant that was cooking to be divided between them. In that time, Andrew fell silent as he was taking a few moments to understand the threat at hand.

   “So he ain't coming back, and those psychos at the lab caused the whole thing back home after all?”

   “Looks that way,” Jonathan responded with a tone indicating a lack of trust in his own words. “Ya think ya know what you got goin’ on in life, and suddenly, the rug gets pulled out right from under ya.”

   “And Dad, he…” Andrew tried to ask before being interrupted. 

   “Would want us to keep a level head. Just like always. Especially since we found each other.”

   “Yeah, but where do we go, when can we meet him?”

   “Let's worry about that later,” Jonathan dismissed the idea. “Anyway, eat up and get you some sleep. I'll stand guard and you can take care of the firewood in the morning. I'll help ya bring it back once I hear the tree fall, and we can chop it together.”

   With that, Jonathan loaded three rounds in the revolver and closed it. Andrew took his brother's advice and decided to lay down to go to bed. It wasn't long before the stress of everything set in, and a whirl of thoughts circled his brain until he could no longer tell thoughts from dreams.

   In the morning, Andrew woke up, expecting to see his brother waiting til be relieved from guard duty. To his surprise, Jonathan was absent, but the revolver was still on the table. This confused Andrew because his brother was NEVER seen without it. Period. It took him a matter of moments to figure out how to open the reel, and the next confusing part about the revolver's presence was the fact that two bullets were in the gun.