Chapter 13: A New Home

CHAPTER 13: A NEW HOME

We complete our morning lunch and head out as a group to find the ideal spot. It takes a couple hours of marching up and down the swift river before we find a wide hill top, nearer the waterfall flowing downstream.

“I think this is the best we’re going to get. It’s elevated terrain, a few hundred feet from the river.” Trevor comments as he circles the area.

It’s not exactly flat, but it should work for what we need. I check out the area. “So, if we’re going to set up a building here, how are we going about that?” I ask Trevor.

“I think if we start with a simple pavilion, then use mud and logs for walls, we could have a decent sized cabin,” he says

“If you two…” he indicates Cody and I “….will help carve the wood and some shingles, while the guys grab our heavier tools, we can probably get started today.”

Cody and I make eye contact, with a slight nod from him I respond, “We can handle that.”

“Awesome, in the meantime, let’s set up a temporary teepee,” he says.

Big Mike has already gotten to work cutting down branches from the nearby trees, while preparing the trunks to be chopped down. Cody and I grab some reeds from the nearby river and quickly put together the teepee. It isn’t as stable as the previous one, due to the sloped ground, but it should suffice as a temporary shelter.

Trevor begins marking out the land for the cabin while Cody and I set out our tools. Both of us take our knives and start whittling down the thicker branches into flat boards. After an hour of just trying to get one going I call back out to Trevor.

“Hey Trevor, I don’t think shingles are going to work. It’ll simply take too long,” I tell him.

“Is there any way to speed things up?” he asks as he stands from his markings.

“If we had metal tools it would be a lot easier, but until then, I think we’ll have to use rounded branches and reeds for the roofing, maybe a layer of the reeds underneath too.” I explain my thoughts. There’s just no way we can make slats of any kind with these tools, not without spending days on each and every board.

“Okay, go ahead and try to make twenty five by five roof tiles. Maybe one or two extra just in case. We’ll plan for about five hundred feet, maybe add an extra foot or two in the length for the overhang,” he plans.

We start by taking a variety of branches, cutting off any overt bends, and lining them up long ways. After setting those aside we mock them up in the pattern. Some of the branches we have to toss out as they don’t conform to the standard, but we soon have enough to get started.

We tie reeds tightly between each individual branch, looping over and under, before threading back between them as if they’re a fabric. Like the baskets, we press the reeds tightly together and soon we have a decent sized rectangle. We spend extra attention on the edges, making sure everything is secure and will lock down well before moving onto the next. Before we know it, we’re three deep and finishing up for the day.

It seems that the boys have pushed aside all the underbrush from the build area, and have started working the dirt flat. Meanwhile Mike has already taken down a couple trunks.

The next couple days follow a familiar pattern, I start with my archery, work on the tiles and finish with spearmanship. After we finish on the roof tiles, I start weaving reed flooring for the cabin. I certainly don’t want to be stepping on dirt all the time.

I take the mat about three layers deep and follow the five by five pattern of the floor layout. This takes significantly more effort than the roofing due to how much material I go through, but I’m sure the effort will be worth it. I follow up with single layer blankets for everyone. They might not be super comfortable or warm, but I think it’ll be better than nothing.

The guys dig a trench around the floor plan and start putting trunks in to start the layout. I quickly go around and set the flooring down partially through the trunk so they’re anchored in. Before the guys add some river bank mud over top. Each day it slowly rises up as I tie off the mats. Soon we run into a couple small problems, lighting and doors.

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“The problem with a wooden door is we can’t make any slats, and we don’t have any trunks thick enough for a single piece of door, let alone the hinges. Same issues with windows, if we go this route, it’ll be pitch dark inside,” John complains to Trevor as they’re going over everything. The buildings halfway finished and now this is an issue? I grumble to myself.

“Elizabeth, would you consider making a mat door and windows for us?” Trevor asks me as I finish the flooring.

“I can do that, but it’s not going to be a great insulator,” I explain.

“That’s fine, the weather is still warm and hopefully if it gets cold here, we will have proper tools to make actual doors,” he adds.

I end up using the same technique for the door that I used for the roof, layers of reeds spun through wood to create a proper door. I had to get Mike to chop a small frame into the trunks to get it to sit right, and with a good notch on the opposite side I looped some reed through for a hinge, we have a finished door.

After spending several days on the building, we still have yet to get to the roofing. With only a few days until we finish, it rains for the first time. In the middle of the night, a cool heavy rain patters off the mat and wood structure. The humidity shot up all at once, before the rain came crashing down. Although the frustration of the first rain happening just days before we finish the roof has me turning in bed. The rain quickly puts me to sleep. It isn’t until morning that I find myself utterly soaked along with everyone else.

We spend the morning lying out in the sun and letting our bodies dry off. After that, I have to take the time to try and press any puddles out of the shelter. With a group effort we finish the roof frame before the end of the day.

“Hey guys, I think I’ll go hunting tomorrow if anyone wants to join me. I'm sure our food supply is getting low and I’ve been a bit antsy lately,” I say as we sit around our campfire.

Cody looks up and nods towards me while miming skinning more hides. Looks like I’m not the only one who needs a break from building.

“You should be fine to go, but I need Mike, Chris, and David to help me make an indoor fireplace. Then hopefully by tomorrow night we will have an actual shelter,” Trevor says as he chews on some meat.

With a plan set for tomorrow, I head into the teepee to get some rest. Although the night passes quickly I keep getting dreams of my sister, and my fiancé. I’m sure Sam’s doing okay, but I’m still worried about the events that led me to this new world.

———

Instead of hiking through the forest, Cody and I traveled the river's edge towards the known beach. We hadn’t yet explored the length of the river and decided to see if anything interesting turned up. As we walked, bows at the ready, we heard the typical forest sounds. The scuffling of small animals, birds chirping overhead, and the whistling of wind through the trees.

Before making it to the beach a series of ‘kyps’ came from the tree line. The rustling of brush came quick with the tell tale sign of some things coming our way at speed. With a glance at Cody, I pull out my spear and stab it into the ground next to me. I ready my bow. Arrow trained on the nearby foliage.

‘Thunk….thunk..thunk.thunk thunk’ rings out as the beasts approach.

“Kyyyyp!” one calls as its eyes land on us.

Cody and I release. The arrows slam into the beast and with a slide it goes down. Two more jump from the tree line with follow up calls, “Kyyyyp! Kyp!”

A beast lunges towards me. Loosing an arrow, I sidestep the beast and ready another. Before I can shoot again, the dinosaur plunges into the nearby river. The screaming monster flails before it gets caught in the current and carried away.

I turn to see Cody with his spear plunged into the last dinosaur. With a nod from him, I listen to the surroundings but don’t hear any other shifting in the forest.

“Let’s string these up and continue on?” I ask him as I move to field dress one of the beasts. With a nod in turn I get to work.

Before long, some reed rope has the dinosaurs hoisted up a few feet into the trees. The blood slowly pooling onto the ground nearby. After a moment of cleaning my arrow and his, we set off along the river towards the beach.

“Is that stone?” I question as we see the occasional brick lying scattered along the river's bank. I plop down the steep edge and rip a chunk from the red dirt.

Pulling out well worked white stone was not my expectation, but that’s what I found. There are chips missing from it and a fracture along the center of the brick, but it was definitely made by human hands. Or a person's hands I suppose, can’t assume anything at this point.

“Here, take a look. Think there is some kind of civilization nearby?” I ask as I hand Watcher the stone, earning a puzzled shrug in response.

“Let’s keep going, maybe something will turn up.” I start to move on as I place the stone into my basket.

Although we continue to find various worked stone scattered about, we don’t see any obvious structures in the distance. Before coming across anything, the sound of a heavy water fall starts trickling into our ears. Slowly, the red and brown edge of the river morphs into a slit and sand covered walkway. Soon morphing into a full fledged beach. Within a few hundred feet we can see various dinosaurs moving around.

We tuck into the nearby tree line as we take a look. There’s significantly better visibility, and way less cover than the view from the forest. In the distance, I can see a series of what appears to be burrows dug into the sand where several packs of the beasts congregate. While watching, a large example of the species pulls its way out of one such burrow.

A piercing sensation shoots through my head as a system prompt appears.

[Alpha ‘Kyp’ lvl 10]