Bushwhacking - Day 459: 5 Minute Freewrite: Tuesday - Prompt: bushwhacked
Bushwhacking!
It's what my people do. The tribe gets too big, it's time to splinter off into smaller tribes. Where to go when all the prime real estate is taken up by splinter groups? Clear more land!
We are built for this. Powerful arms and shoulders, strong grips, sharp machetes and axes forged with the knowledge of generations. We come into this world naked, with nothing, but the world is rich with resources. The other animals have their skill sets. Beavers build dams. Prairie dogs dig tunnels, and snakes slither into them for lunch. Birds build nests. Who but the human animal has built roads, bridges, brick buildings, fortresses?
We slash our way through shrubberies and trees, weeds and bugs. We are bitten. Scratched. Beaten but not for long; we are not defeated.
Our group of twenty is several days away from the village, but we are resourceful. We build shelters from the branches and vines we've hacked. We've built a bridge. Next, we begin building the village.
I'm exhausted but fired up for the job of carting bricks to our clearing. Going back is so much quicker than the getting here was. Even pushing a cart full of bricks is so much easier than slashing my way through the thicket.
Day after day, brick by brick, we fill those carts and wheel them to the clearing.
Screams echo in the distance as I approach with another muscle-building load. I let go of the handles and run, run, run to the clearing.
A dozen men and women lie bleeding and motionless on the ground. Body parts are scattered. I sink to my knees, unable to make a sound, or a move in their direction. Who could have attacked--how could I have stopped this?
A twitching tail draws my eye to a platform, and there he is, the berserker, the killer. In broad daylight he sits like a king on our post. He has lost all fear of us.
Bushwhacked.
We didn't see him, all the days we worked. But he saw us.
I have my bow and arrows at my back. I'm strong enough to kill this beast with a single arrow.
He is so beautiful, and there must be more where he came from.
Slowly, quietly, I reach for my bow. His head shifts, and he looks me in the eye.
It's me or it's him. A moment's hesitation and I am dead...
Bushwhacked
Great prompt! Thanks to @kaelci for inspiring it and @mariannewest for using it!
Day 459: 5 Minute Freewrite: Tuesday - Prompt: bushwhacked
Check Out The @FreeWriteHouse Prompt Of The Day By @MarianneWest
It is good to read a happy end :)
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Happy ending? How can anyone feel happy shooting a tiger? I kinda root for the tiger here.... ohhhhh wait, so did you.... the way I wrote it, one might easily think the narrator did hesitate and is dying. I hadn't quite committed to that yet and was leaving it up to the reader to choose. ;) Thanks for reading, @wakeupkitty!
Nice read. I like how you left the ending for the reader to decide if the narrator died or shot the tiger.
Nice!!
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I really felt in that place. You did a great job of explaining what this person is seeing and feeling and I really got in character. I was beginning to wonder who that was who was going to get bushwhacked and you did not disappoint me. Here is a !tip
♥️
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Whoa, thanks for the tip, but more than anything, thanks for reading and commenting! You made my day!!
My pleasure... I get enjoyment out of reading your fiction.
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Wouldn't it be great if we could get back to building roads and being part of the chain of life? I'm rooting for the tiger. It's about time the balance was restored.
I hear you. Shooting the tiger is not the solution; a more conscientious and responsible use of resources (and sharing them with native flora and fauna) is my dream. I'm no supporter of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement -
"VHEMT was founded in 1991 by Les U. Knight, an American activist who concluded that human extinction was the best solution to the problems facing the Earth's biosphere and humanity. " (Wikipedia)
Journalist Sheldon Richman argues that humans can change their behavior--people are capable of solving the problems facing Earth. http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/10/04/pip.populationquestion/index.html
OMG! How awful to find everyone like that. Better him than you! Awesome story. : )
Resident cat here, wishing this beast was not my relative. Here is today's new prompt: https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-460-5-minute-freewrite-wednesday-prompt-dividend
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Is this the lady who doesn't torture her characters? I think getting ripped up by a tiger is pretty dramatic LOL
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