The bush was dry and crackle ready for veld fire.
The spicy smell of the wild savannah was calming as it sailed on the current of a soft westerly wind.

Aeos kept her combat knife in front of her as she edged through the wild bushes and high trees.  She was moving against the wind making sure whichever animals was in her vicinity (meaning a couple of clicks at least) would not catch onto her smell.

She halted next to a barren tree and pressed her back against the dead bark while her ears attentively tried understand the environment. The canvas of silence was painted with golden notes of surrounding birds before being ripped apart by screeches of feral animals in the far distance. She carved a small ‘x’ into the tree marking her path as she went along. She stooped down again spotting a sweet chunk of wood which would make a fine addition to the fire she would be making tonight.

She was still on Tadath, in a wilde location her instructors had dropped her off at earlier. Her objective was to survive and make her way from the drop-off point to the pick-up point which were at least two days on foot apart from each other.  That had been several hours ago since the drop-off point and Aeos had managed to cover two clicks before deciding on a setting camp. She had left her gear on the spot and started doing what she called a bongalo hike, hiking a radius around her camp of one kilometer while searching for firewood as well as establishing prospective food sources and possible threats. 

She was a bit worried about water however. Her own reserve was limited, only one litrle and she feared she wouldn’t have enough. Fortunately her camp site was next to a pan on a small outcrop of ground protruding several meters above the pan.  Just before she had left, she had dug a hole about 60 centimeters in allowing water to seep into the hole as it filtered through the sand. This type of water was safe to drink as it was being filtered through the sand. However, she wouldn’t put her lips to the water in pan unless she could help it.

Determining directions was easy and basic if one was familiar with the flora and sun of the planet. She knew that only certain types of moss and mushrooms would grow on the southern side of a tree, but that was only on Tadath. While the sun here at a certain angle could detail her to direction she knew relying on such an observation on another distant planet would lead to her death. She’d need the night sky to determine her location or direction successfully.

She frowned at the red glow of the setting sun through the tree tops and pulled herself from the tree again.  She needed to get moving and get back to the trap she had set earlier. If there was a catch, she’d be lucky but she did setup the trap on the animal wild path.

Surprisingly she did have a catch. She sighed sorrowfully at the small kalfie. It was still only a few weeks old. It had broken its legs at it fell into the whole she had dug and covered again. Removing her smell was a mission and she had really doubted animals would fall for the trick, but a kalfie had. It bleared and called for its mother with a pitiful hoot. She hardened herself and shook her head while putting aside the fire wood. She placed the knife against the main artery of its throat. The meat would be at least soft and juicy given the poor animals hadn’t had much chance yet to harden and train itself from fleeing away from wild carnivores.

Dragging the kalfie and the wood back to her camp together had been a mission, but it would be rewarded soon with good game meat, a warm fire and fresh water. 

The fire itself went fairly easy. With pieces of flint, brittle grass and leaves and affectionate almost motherly blowing on the glowing edges of the lit grasses she soon had a small but powerful fire blazing in the little pit she had dug.  The kalfie had been cut and the intestines were removed. She had first drained the animal of its blood into a small tin can. It would be used for watering and filtering the meat as it was being cooked over fire. Meat usually dried out very quickly over a fire as opposed to being steamed or boiled and game meat was even tougher and drier than normal meat. As soon as the cup was full, she started skewering the limbs apart.  Considered as a delicacy to the locals in these and something for which she had developed a taste, Aeos removed the eyes along with the tongue to be braaied over the fire. The meat was far too much for one meal, but with a good toast over the fire and lying it into the extra bag of salt she brought along with the meat would actually keep fresh for an extra couple of days.

Around her she heard the chilling bush noise of laughing scavengers and roaring wild. The night had settled subtly through purple, blue and awkward orange beams which hued the clouds above her head when the sun finally had set. If she wanted a good night of shut-eye she’d better keep a good eye on that fire. 

Not a lot of people realize it, but animals are more afraid of us, than we are of them. she thought lazily as she pushed the strip of meat into her mouth.

A lot of it was bluff as well. Some types of animals won their fights by running away from it, effectively telling it opponent it was not scared to turn its back on him and making him vulnerable. Other animals bluffed their aggressiveness but would soon back off if the bluff was met.  Staring a wild redcat into its eyes were much more effective than running away but when if one would meet a wild bull in the forest it was wise to run away as quick and fast as possible to the next tree and climb it for it held no fear in its heart.

In the silence of the symphony of the bush Aeos settled in early. In her sleeping bag, she uncomfortable removed some of the rocks cutting through the soft sand beneath her into her back. She’d be glad to get back to her department when this was done.

She woke the next morning to a smoking dying fire in the shrieks of a morning bird that uglified the sky with its screeching.
So much for nature being all pretty and nice. she thought grumpily as she started to pack her camp up.  She licked her finger and stuck it into the air determine the direction of the wind.  It was still heading west luckily for her.

The trek had been going fairly easy and well. She tried to keep as much with the natural animal wild paths which lead in and out of rivers to grazing and dung points. Dung was fairly easy to read as well. Well not exceptionally easy, but easy when determining whether that guy was carnivore or a herbivore and how big he was.  Dung littered with twigs and grasses indicated a grazer, though if the dung was bigger than her fist, the guy was most likely bigger than her which posed a possible problem.

Around after lunch she started moving out again only having three hours of hard trekking left to the pickup point.

An hour into this last stretch and she decided to take break, which she later wished she had skipped. She had scoped the area properly. She had combed through the leaves for any potential threats but stupidly she didn’t pay enough attention to the ground for smaller detail as she sat down on a fallen tree.

The twin burns stung into her left calf as the serpent snaked away in hissing anger leaving Aeos dumbfounded howling in pain at her leg as she clutched it to her face.

Already she could feel the poison starting to take effect. With climing fever and shaking hands, she ripped a piece of her shirt and created a tourniquet above her calf. Do this while she was still coherent. Biting on her teeth, she placed her combat knife against the bite and took a deep breath as she tried to contain her hysterics into mental calmness. She had no clue what type of snake that was! With a howl the blade cut deeply across and into the flesh where the bite was.  As soon as she could brave herself enough for it, she placed her mouth against the wound which she could luckily reach and started sucking the blood along with the venom which hadn’t entered her system yet. She spat it out and repeated the process several times.

She had to work fast if she wanted to survive this. She had stupidly left her electronic communications equipment back at the base. She bound the wound clumsily and weakly started crawling around gathering whatever bits of firewood in her immediate vicinity.

She managed a small smoking fire and continued to toss in some green wood to thicken the smoke the fire puffed. With her jacket detached, she limply held it above the fire and blocked the smoke for a several moments before letting it go again. This process continued for several times as long as she could manage it. The poison was starting to settle into her muscles and it was not long before she started blacking out.

***

She stared at her trainer nervous from the hospital bed as he talked with, nodding along several times.

“We are still evaluating your specific case, you did not make it to the pick-up location as you were briefed, but however, we do take in consideration the processes and procedures you had taken up until the point we had found you. We will let you know in a few days time.”

He left her alone politely to her own thoughts and feelings dreading the failure of this exam.

OOC:

PASS