Limits
chapter-8

I slept till the morning not waking up at night whatsoever. The hunger kicked in again. It was like I didn't eat anything for couple of days. I stuffed myself with the berries to appease my hunger. I then packed my stuff and left, never coming back to that place again.

On the way I got hungry often, it was as if my body was burning away the food I ate. Even simple task of walking for a while made me hungry. I decided to hunt something because meat might satisfy my body for a bit longer.

I was like hungry wolf looking for pray. Not long after I found a rabbit and hunted it. I was much more experienced now and it seemed to me that I had more strength as well. The rabbit I hunted with my throwing spear didn't even manage to move after it was hit.

After the meal I continued on with my journey, when I got hungry I again started to hunt. It went like this till late afternoon, when I arrived at a small stream. I decided that this will be my next camping site and so started to build my own shelter and gather wood for fire.

I was almost sick of the meat and berries. I ate so many rabbits in one day that no human would be able to in couple of days. On the bright side my skin looked much better now and the hunger attacks happened less often. I then heard some noises, rapidly closing in on the area I was in.

I didn't know what would jump out so I prepared my large spear and throwing spears just in case. What popped out of the bushes was… a bear. And not just any bear, no. It was in rage, as if someone killed its child. When the bear spotted me I knew I was screwed.

Without any warning the bear charged at me. In panic I picked up my throwing spears and threw one after the other. I managed to throw all five spears. Four of them hit the target. I would be glad with this type of accuracy normally but at the end of these spears was not a tree but a large bear. The spears got stuck into the bear's hide and although didn't do large type of damage it slowed it down quite a bit. I imagine due to the pain. I then remembered, I had one more thing I could throw and that was the knife I got from the hunters I met couple of days ago.

The bear was getting closer but also ran in straight line with bloodshot eyes staring at me. I aimed the knife and threw it at the bear. Mind you I threw it the same way as a spear. I know, I know but if I tried to throw it differently I wasn't sure if it will even touch the target, even if it was not far away.

I managed to hit the bear's neck with the knife. It stood up on its hind legs and roared in pain. I thought 'Now or never' and rushed to the bear with my wooden spear. I was aiming at the bear's mouth but the bear had different plans. I managed to hit it on the neck again but the bear was having none of that and swiped its paw from my left.

"Swoosh" "Thud" "Crack"

I had no way to dodge that kind of attack so the result was me flying away a bit. The force was so great it actually broke my arm.

Human and bear both roared in pain. I was still conscious with my only weapon wooden spear in my right hand. My left hand broken hurting like hell, my whole left side also hurt but nothing was broken. The feeling was as if something huge rammed into you, it' was not pleasant.

I saw the bear struggle but still charged at me. I had no more strength to pick myself up and so my only solution to this problem was the same as with the wolf. Place the spear in front of me, prop it on the ground and hopefully the bear will ram into it and not swipe its paw at me.

In this life or death moment that lasted eternity, I waited for the bear to get close and placed the spear in front of me then closed my eyes.

"BOOM"

"ROOOAAAR!"

When I woke up, it was dark. My first though was 'I died' but then I saw stars and a huge bear laying not far away from me. The bear had my broken now wooden spear pierced through its mouth.

I managed to survive again but not without a scratch. My arm was broken and my left side hurt due to the attack of the bear. I was in a forest with no doctors, medicine, no nothing. There was also a burning hunger in my body. I couldn't start a fire with one hand so I couldn't eat the bear's meat.

I tried to look for some berries to eat but could find nothing in the vicinity. I searched further away from the bear's corpse and finally managed to find some. After I did that, I returned to the corpse. I knew it was a corpse because if this was not a corpse then I would be.

I was lost on what to do next. With one hand broken, no medication and no doctors around, this can only go wrong. The worst part? I had no map, I just traveled wherever I travelled. As I said, I had no goal besides to travel. I thought to myself 'Although I survived but in what state and for how long?'

Not being healthy in this environment was deadly. I realised how stupid I was to just go somewhere without anything prepared. I understood why the hunters that gave me that knife laughed at me.

People say that you don't see the danger until your life is at risk. Now with this enlightenment, I realised what I did was stupid, how childish my actions were. Thinking that hunting a rabbit and living in a forest is an easy job.

I laid like this for a long time, contemplating my life and my bad decisions until I fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning I was being moved. Something or someone dragged me. I got startled and screamed "AAAH!" then that something let go of me and started speaking… in human language?

"Boy, you are lucky I found you. Your arm is broken and you look really bad"

It was a voice of an elder person. I couldn't see his face as he was always standing behind me. I asked in confusion "Who are you?" to which the voice answered "Right now your saviour, so shut up otherwise I will not help you!" I could feel being dragged again. Then he lifted me and threw into some kind of cart. I shouted out of pain "ARGH" but the old man said nothing. I noticed that the cart also contain the bear I killed. No wonder he came with a cart, it was for this bear.

Then I heard a horse that was tied to the cart. The old man shouted "HA" and the cart moved. After some time the scenery changed and the forest thinned out., after couple of more minutes I could see some kind of wooden walls, then buildings.

I guessed it must be one of the villages that's inside the forest. I didn't ask any questions throughout the so called journey and the old man didn't speak either.

We arrived at one of the buildings. I wanted to say my thanks for helping me but all of a sudden the old man picked me up, went inside the house and threw me onto the wooden bed. When I landed on my broken arm you could imagine the pain I was in. I screamed

"AAAAARRGGGH"

The door closed and... nothing, silence, with one exception that was me still crying in pain. I've laid there for a while still in pain and cursed that old man. The fucker just threw me onto a bed with my broken arm. I didn't know what to expect but I was too hungry and in so much pain I could only make painful noises but not move.

After an hour or so of agonizing pain, the door opened again. There I saw two old men walk in. One of them said "This is the doctor he will take care of your arm" I thought 'I recognise that voice…. Wait! it's that motherf….' then the other old man said "I will heal your arm and give you some medicine. You look like you didn't eat for couple of days, we will provide some food for you too."

I was baffled and afraid. They treated me badly from the beginning and now they offer treatment and food. I thought 'Something is wrong here' but because I had no way to do anything, I could only wait to find out.