CHAPTER 1: The Hunt
"See you tomorrow, Dad!"
"See you tomorrow, sweetheart."
"Bye!"
And I shut the door behind me. I had all my gear on: a thick jacket, a bow, a quiver with 13 arrows, a knife, a sack for storing what we caught and found, and a leather pouch for berries, nuts, and fruits. Megan, my hunting hound, dashed up to me and licked my hands. "Come on, girl! Let's go!" I said. Together, we ran through the forest in search of food and resources to last us for the next week.
I watched Megan carefully until she gave me her signal. She froze, sniffed the air, listened, and twitched her tail towards the direction of the prey. We slowly and quietly crept forward until we saw a large brown rabbit. "Good ears, Megan." I whispered. I lifted my bow, drew an arrow, and released. It zoomed through the air until it hit its unsuspecting target. Megan barked happily and retrieved my catch. "Good girl," I whispered to her while giving her a treat. She munched on it and licked her lips with satisfaction. Dried apples were her favorite.
We are lucky to have apples; people nearby don't have much fruit. My dad, Megan, and I live in a small cottage in the woods. Our closest neighbors live about a mile away, so it's nice and quiet. There is a small marketplace in a clearing about six miles south of our place, and we go there to trade every week. None of the folks here use real currency. We just trade items. We have good business at out apple stand, because it is rare to find fruit trees in the woods. Whenever someone shows up with fruits that aren't berries (Berries are everywhere in the forest), the people will rush to their trading stand and offer high-quality goods. Our apples are less valuable than other fruits (oranges, pears, bananas, ect.) because people can depend on the fact that they are for sale every other Saturday of the month, from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM, along with all our other trade goods. Well now you're probably wondering how we got our unlimited supply of apples. We have an apple tree in the backyard, which we take care of to make sure it thrives. Dad said that my grandfather planted it there when he ate an apple and kept the seed. People who buy our apples and try to plant the seed don't know how to care for the trees, so we pretty much have a monopoly. We try to be fair though.
"Let's go, girl. We need more blueberries for Dad's surprise birthday pie." I said to Megan as we continued toward the stream. The bluebery bushes were coming into sight. I smiled. Dad would love his present. I started to run towards one, but a long, deep growl stopped me in my tracks.
