Bum's Rush Ch. 03

He reappeared at dinner - to hugs from Heather - which meant he'd gone somewhere.

In bed that night, Megan said that she hadn't been able to get any information from Heather all day either.

Day 152

Joshua and I started on the chicken coop first - with Paul's help.

I stood by as Joshua explained things to Paul - adding information from the notes I'd transcribed as needed.

Soon, we had the chicken yard staked out and had the hutch started. It was, basically, a smaller version of one of the village huts.

For now, we'd go with the grass walls - like normal - but I worried that we'd need something stronger to keep predators out.

Paul opted to raise the floor - and add a removable ladder - to mitigate my concerns.

We got a team working on half-height wall panels that we would use to create the yard - with a double gate to allow us to pass in & out without permitting the birds to escape.

Once they hit the jungle, we were pretty convinced we'd never see them again.

When we had a moment of downtime, I tried to get information out of Joshua about where he'd disappeared to - but he would only say that Miriam had given him a task. I gave up.

By the end of the day, the guineas where in their new home and a couple of the older teens had been tasked with opening the coop each morning, after breakfast, and closing it up each evening, before dinner.

For now, they were just foraging in the sizeable yard we had created for them. The grass-walls seemed to be working but we told the boys to let us know if they saw either the birds trying to escape - or a predator trying to get in.

After dinner, Paul, Joshua, and I talked over the plans for the pigpen. the shelters, the farrowing houses - and the separate enclosure for the boar.

There was only one boar now. Earlier in the day, Miriam had walked past the crated animals and had called Joshua & me over.

She pointed to one of the males and informed us that he would only be useful for food. We sent one of the teens to retrieve a push-carry and the animal was delivered to the butcher.

We wouldn't have to build quite as many pens as we had expected, but we still estimated that we'd need two days to finish the work.

Day 153-155

It actually took three days to get everything built - or upgraded.

We ended up with an enclosure for the boar, another for the sows, two smaller pens for farrowing, all surrounding the yard that we'd already built - which needed some reinforcement - and had to be doubled in size.

The boar got a shelter in the corner of his pen - and we released him there. He was happy to finally be out of his crate. A youth with a push-carry took it to the lagoons to be cleaned out so we could reuse it.

I drew pictures of the six sows, highlighting unique markings, and had Joshua name each one.

He had named the boar Ernie. We picked the first candidate and ushered her into Ernie's pen. Within minutes, he was mounting her.

When his job was complete, we moved her back into the sow enclosure.

Joshua called for Miriam. She came, laid her hands on the freshly-bred female, and offered a fertility prayer.

We warned her that we would be breeding one more sow the following day.

According to the schedule we'd been given - and considering that we wanted to limit ourselves to two farrowing pens for the time-being - we would wait until the first two were slightly more than half-way through their 114-day term before we would breed the next two sows. This would give the first two enough time to wean their litters and let us clean things up - before the next two were ready to be moved in.

We would continue to follow this routine - cycling through the group in the same manner.

Once the piglets were castrated and weaned, they would move to the general yard to be fattened for harvesting.

After Miriam left, the chief and the elders came and looked over the operation.

Joshua and Paul gave them an overview and answered questions.

The chief cuffed each of us on our right shoulders and the group headed back towards the central fire.

Day 156-160

The next several days were spent checking over all of the huts, shelters, storage units, traps, and animal enclosures to look for damage that needed to be repaired.

We had a couple windy days that exposed some weaknesses in a few hut roofs - so we spent time getting those repaired as well.

All in all, the days passed slowly. We frequently dodged under the shelters around the central fire as the light rains turned into downpours that made regular work nearly impossible.

I couldn't imagine how the tribe had managed things before Paul and I had built the shelters around the communal meeting-place.

A cheer went up from the food-prep area as the chicken boys arrived with a basket of the first eggs from the new chicken yard.

Megan showed Miriam how to hard-fry an egg - and then how to scramble another.

Miriam tasted the result, added a few spices and offered a bite to Megan.

Megan scooped the scramble into a little flat-bread taco and offered Miriam a bite.

Soon they were experimenting with several ways to prepare and serve the new protein-source.

Day 161-164

I was out with the hunters. The rain was moderate but we were low on protein again - so we were risking a downpour to see what we could find.

We searched all of the normal spots and came up empty.

We swept a little farther - near where we'd found the lost boys.

We found a small cave with a couple boars sheltering from the rains. It was a different kind of fight - having less space to surround them - so we riddled the hides with more spear points than normal to get the animals brought down.

Needless to say, the tribal leaders were happy to see us drag ourselves back into town - even if we were a half-hour past the evening meal - and had started to create some concerns with our long absence.

After we hauled the animals to the butcher, I asked him if I could have a chunk of belly off of one of them. I had no way to explain to him what I was doing - but it had been so long since I'd had any kind of bacon - and I was going through withdrawals.

I'd Google'd the process on my last trip to town and it was more complicated than I'd expected.

I probably should have just stopped at the supermarket and grabbed a couple pounds off the shelf - but I was determined to at least try doing it myself before "cheating".

I needed brine to start. I used seawater and added a couple things that Miriam told me would help counter the saltiness.

I needed honey but I really hadn't found any in any quantity yet - and the rainy season wasn't the best time to go looking for more.

I put the chunk of meat in one of the old clay pots, filled with the brine, and dug a hole under our hut to try to use the lower-temperature of the ground as a low-budget ice-box.

After a couple days, it was starting to look a little petrified - so I dumped the pot - and hauled my test-piece to the smoker.

A day later, I had something that roughly looked like the pictures I'd seen.

I pulled out my hunting knife and cut a few thin slices from the chunk, frying them in a cast-iron skillet.

It needed more pepper - and it didn't taste much like the sugared, processed shit we buy in stores - but it still made my mouth happy.

I returned the slab to the pot - and put it back in the ground. Worried that I'd be giving everybody food poisoning, I was determined to wait 24 hours before I let anybody else try it.

Day 165

I was still alive. Of course, my brain was overthinking everything - evaluating every little stomach-twinge to try to anticipate if the vomiting was about to start. Meanwhile, the gator-stew I'd had two days ago was messing with my ability to determine whether the Mikey-bacon was what was causing problems at the other end.

By lunch-time, I had decided that everything was normal.

I retrieved the chunk of meat from the pot and called Paul and Joshua over to try my experiment.

Joshua said the sausage - from the biscuits and gravy on the mainland - was better - but he agreed that it was pretty tasty. Paul thought it was good.

Megan finally tried a piece an announced that it was "satisfactory".

She gave a slice to Miriam - who started figuring out what spices to try next time.

She pulled the butcher in - and he needed half a dozen pieces in order to really "get a taste for it". Looks like I've discovered the first bacon-addict in the tribe..

He and Miriam fired questions at me non-stop for like an hour and I finally just went and got the pot and started walking them through the steps - by handing the pot to them - and telling them what to do.

The two boars had already been turned into meals over the last couple days - so we used the belly from a younger male that had been snagged near the watering-hole earlier in the day.

There wasn't as much meat to work with - but the second round of this experiment didn't need to be a major production yet, anyway.

As one last test, I scrambled a couple eggs, overcooked the last few slices of Mikey-bacon, and crumbled that into the mix. I then shoveled it all into a warm slice of flat-bread, cutting the whole thing into smaller portions - which I then offered to each of the elders - to give them a taste.

I warned them that we were risking a little stomach-flu because of my inexperience - but all of the reviews were positive.

The chief went so far as to announce that he was officially changing my name to Bacon - right before Miriam arrived with a broom - to send them all scurrying off to their usual spot at the central fire.

I had, finally, added the first English word to the tribe's vocabulary.

Day 166

Hal had another of his visions. The weapons team members were pulled off of all other duties to head back to the range - dodging the downpours - to work on our accuracy and tactics.

Paul and I had already started figuring out that we needed to build a shelter at the range - so practice could proceed unimpeded during the rains - or the intense heat. The targets didn't need to be sheltered - but giving the warriors a shaded, dry place from which to fire would help Hal.

That building project, of course, would have to wait until this season of rains came to an end.

We only had a couple weeks left - and Hal was hyper-ventilating - so it wasn't like he was going to release me to do any building until I was hitting the center of the target with every throw and shot.

My sling-work was now better than most. Obviously, I had an easy advantage with the firearms. My spears were accurate - if not thrown quite as hard as the others' - but a kill-shot was a kill-shot - whether the spear came out the other side of the target - or just pierced the important body part that I was aiming at - usually the heart & lungs. Of everyone who had worked with the atlatl, I was still, by far, the most adept. Hal made me spend more time with the weapon - increasing my range, power, and accuracy.

Day 167-173

Hal surprised the hell out of me when - on a slow-rain day - he announced that we'd get more weapons practice in if we had the shelter that Paul and I had been describing.

He sent the rest of the weapons team off to their usual jobs - but oversaw Joshua, Paul, and me as we quickly constructed a shelter similar - in size - to the ones we'd used around the central fire.

The rains slowed us down - and we had to harvest some palms, bamboo, and grasses in order to finish the thing - which cost us another couple days - but we finally got the shelter finished to his satisfaction.

We even built a larger storage-locker for all of the extra weapons we'd been accumulating.

It ended up being a good sized-shed - with sections for each type of weapon - with storage racks for baskets to hold stones, arrows, and the other projectiles.

Day 174-180

Hal took full advantage of the new shelter to order all of the members of the weapons team back onto the range.

Three days into rotating through each of the weapons - switching immediately when he yelled - we were relieved to be called to the lagoons to deal with another pesky, persistent shark.

When we arrived, it turned out to be a pair - and they definitely seemed to be hunting. Maybe food was as scarce below the waves as it had been for those of us who lived above them.

By the end of the day, we'd eliminated the problems - and carted them off to the butcher for processing.

We ruined a fishing bow in the process - and lost a couple more arrows - which had Hal going back over his stocks to see what needed replenished.

The following day, he sent me to the mainland to fulfill his shopping list.

I tagged Joshua - who had been haunted by visions about biscuits & gravy - and we checked in with everybody for their wish-lists - before heading off early to make our trip to the mainland.

We threw the hog crates onboard with the intention to swing by the stockyards to see if we could scoop up some extra meat.

By the end of the day, we had almost a shipload of supplies.

Several youths met us with push-carries to hustle the cargo off to each of the requestors.

The next day, it only rained in the morning - and Hal put us back on the range again.

Day 181

The rains stopped. I never thought I'd be so happy to see the sun!

Hal wanted us back on the range - but our fingertips have been shredded by the bowstrings - and our arms are so tired from throwing spears and slinging stones that our accuracy has dropped to worthless.

He was frustrated - but the chief told him he'd done all he could do and we'd just have to see it through.

Miriam gave him a tea and he headed off to bed. He didn't even wake for lunch or dinner!

Paul and I got a few repairs done - and fixed a couple problems I'd seen with our hasty construction at the range.

I stopped by the garden - which had flourished - but so had the weeds. I spent a couple hours removing the plants that I didn't want.

Day 182

The hunters came back with three huge crocodiles. Apparently, these fellows had decided they were hungry and had gotten into a squabble over territory - which worked in our favor. The hunters now carried bows as well as spears and slings - so they took down all three in a coordinated attack. The giant predators hadn't even realized they were being hunted.

Megan had been a wildcat lately in bed. I'd been exhausted - so that had worked out well. I, honestly, think I may have fallen asleep a couple nights while she was riding me through her series of orgasms.

She was now positive that she was pregnant. I asked her if she could tell whether it was a boy or a girl and she just laughed. She had a dream that she was having twins - so she was actually a little worried.

Regardless, she had been as horny as fuck! The sex was almost feral. The wild look in her eyes turned me on like crazy. When she got that first orgasm, she would snarl, growl, and bite my throat.

Once she did that, I was usually cumming within seconds - but - for whatever reason - my dick stayed hard - so my sex-crazed sibling just rode me until she came again.

Megan usually passed out after her second climax - but - on a couple occasions - she hissed and growled and worked herself into a third one.

I discreetly asked Miriam if she was giving her any tea that would do that and she said 'no'. The only thing Megan was getting, she said, was their version of a prenatal vitamin cocktail.

I asked Miriam about Megan's dream and she wouldn't give me a straight answer - I didn't know if that meant she didn't know - or she'd seen the same thing and just didn't want to tell me because she was worried that I'd freak out.

I finally decided that whatever happened, would happen.

Day 183

The scouts brought a herald to the elders around mid-morning. The messenger announced that a contingent from his tribe would be arriving after lunch.

The chief and the elders tasked the women with getting a feast prepared - and the warriors with putting on their ceremonial dress - with fresh paint.

Lunch was a low-key event as everybody was already busy with preparations for the arrival of the delegation.

I tried to get info about whether the tribe was from this island - or another one - but either nobody knew - or it didn't really matter to them.

Miriam pulled me and Megan to the side. She told Meg that she should stay with Heather and Naomi - and not to answer any questions. She told me to stay with Paul, Hal, and Joshua - and to only answer questions from the chief.

I still hadn't figured out how to say the chief's name. The closest I could come up with was Micah - but that was definitely over-simplifying it. I knew his name meant something - but I hadn't yet learned that vocabulary word.

A couple hours after the midday meal, a group of about 50 people made their way into the village from the south end of town. One of our warriors had been posted up on lookout-point - and he announced their arrival a few minutes before they came into view.

Four warriors flanked a man who could only be their chief, as he approached Micah and the elders - who were flanked by a handful of our best warriors.

The new chief's speech was more clipped than what I was used to - and I was struggling a little to understand his words. He was also speaking in a normal voice - and I was far enough away - with enough rustling bodies between me and him - that I was losing some of the bobs & bits.

It was, apparently, not kosher for me to do anything other than to stand quietly - because neither Paul nor Joshua would answer my whispered questions about what was going on.

After a few minutes, four warriors made their way out of the middle of their group carrying a litter with a young woman lying on it in repose, looking bored.

The visiting chief gestured to the girl - and then asked our chief a question. Micah shook his head.

The other leader frowned - and then pointed to the right edge of our group - and moved his hand across the whole of our contingent until he got to our left side.

Miriam's husband nodded.

The other chief turned to the girl - who must have been the princess - and told her something.

She stifled a yawn and then casually cast her gaze across all of our people - again starting on our right - and turning until she'd viewed everyone - still looking like she'd rather be clothes-shopping on the web than participating in whatever this was.

My stomach dropped just before her gaze swept back to stop on me. She pointed in my direction and said something to their chief.

In turn, the man, who I assumed was her father, pointed at me and said something to Micah - who turned to look at me.

Shaking his head, our leader appeared to be telling the regent that I was already spoken for.

The princess didn't even bother to wait for her patriarch to communicate back to her - she sat up, balled up her fists, and set them on her hips in a huff - like a preschooler getting ready to throw a tantrum.

Micah, again, shook his head.

Their chief walked through our people until he was standing about a pace in front of me.

He said (or, likely, asked) something. I interpreted his question to be whether or not I had a spouse.

Remembering Miriam's warning, I looked at our chief. Micah said, "He wants to know if you are bonded (married)."

Looking only at our chief, I said, "I am bonded to the blood that gives me life, Megan. She carries our child in her belly."

The chief looked at the other man.

The other chief told me to look at him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Miriam - standing at the rear of our group - with the rest of the women - slowly shaking her head.