The sound of the thudding grew louder with every step they took, a rhythmic vibration that Leon could feel in the soles of his feet through the thick, spongy moss. They moved slowly, Leon leading the way with his crude wooden spear held out in front of him.
He was careful where he placed his feet, trying to avoid the dry, brittle twigs that occasionally littered the forest floor. The air here felt even heavier than before, smelling of crushed vegetation and something sharp, like the ozone before a thunderstorm.
They pushed through a dense thicket of ferns that glowed with a soft, pulsing orange light. As they cleared the edge of the foliage, the source of the noise became clear. Leon dropped to his knees instantly, pulling Bai down beside him into the shadows of a large, rotting log.
About thirty yards ahead, in a natural clearing where the blue trees had fallen to create an open space, two creatures were locked in a life-or-death struggle. One was a wolf, though it was nearly the size of a small horse.
Its fur was a matted charcoal gray with streaks of dull blue running along its spine, and its eyes burned with a low, predatory amber light. It was facing off against a massive serpent, thick as a man's torso, with scales that shimmered like oil on water.
The snake had its lower half coiled around the base of a jagged rock, while its upper body swayed back and forth, its forked tongue darting out to taste the air.
The wolf was circling, its low growl a constant, vibrating hum that set Leon's teeth on edge. The thudding noise they had heard was the wolf's massive paws hitting the earth as it lunged and retreated, testing the snake's defenses.
"Leon," Bai whispered, his voice cracking with a mixture of terror and hunger. "Look at them. They're both messed up."
Leon looked closer. The wolf's left flank was shredded, blood dripping onto the moss in dark, heavy clumps. The snake wasn't faring much better; several sections of its shimmering scales had been torn away, revealing raw, pink flesh beneath.
"I've read a lot of these kinds of stories," Bai continued, his eyes wide as he watched the wolf snap its jaws inches from the snake's head. "Usually, when two big beasts fight like this, they kill each other or get so weak that a third party can just swoop in. If one dies and the other is wounded, that's our chance. We need that meat, man. We haven't eaten a real meal since the car."
Leon didn't answer immediately. His heart was hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. He wasn't a fighter, and the idea of approaching either of those monsters made his stomach flip. But Bai was right. They were starving, and in this forest, calories were the difference between life and death.
Suddenly, the snake lunged. It was a blur of motion, its body uncoiling like a released spring. It managed to wrap two thick loops around the wolf's midsection, its tail constricting with enough force to make the wolf's ribs groan.
The wolf let out a pained, high-pitched yelp and slammed its weight into the jagged rock, trying to crush the serpent. In a desperate move, the wolf twisted its head back and sank its massive fangs into the snake's neck, just below the head.
There was a sickening crunch of bone and scale. The snake thrashed wildly, its tail whipping through the air and smashing into the nearby trees, but the wolf didn't let go. After a minute of violent struggling, the snake's body went limp, its grip on the wolf sliding away.
The wolf stood over the carcass, its chest heaving. It tried to howl in victory, but the sound turned into a wet, hacking cough. It staggered two steps, its legs shaking, before collapsing onto its side right next to its kill.
"Now," Bai hissed, standing up with his spear.
They approached cautiously. The wolf was still breathing, its amber eyes glazed over as it watched them approach. It didn't have the strength to lift its head. Leon felt a momentary pang of pity, but it vanished as his stomach growled.
He stepped forward and drove the sharpened point of his blue-wood spear into the wolf's throat. The wood was surprisingly sturdy, and with the weight of his body behind it, it slid home. The wolf gave one final, shuddering breath and went still.
"We did it!" Bai breathed, his face pale. "We actually did it!!"
They tried to move the wolf at first, but it was far too heavy for the two of them to lift. They decided to scavenge it right there in the clearing.
"I'll handle the hide and the meat," Bai said, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"I used to watch those survival shows all the time. It's mostly just about finding the right seam between the skin and the muscle. You go get the firewood. We need a fire to cook this and to keep whatever else is out there away from us."
Leon nodded, glad to have a task that didn't involve touching the carcass yet. He began to circle the clearing, looking for wood. It was difficult; almost everything on the ground was damp from the humid air.
He remembered a tip from a documentary about finding "standing deadwood" branches that had died but hadn't fallen into the wet moss yet. He found a cluster of smaller blue-wood trees and began snapping off the lower, brittle branches. He gathered a large armful, along with some dry, papery bark he stripped from a fallen log to use as tinder.
Back at the clearing, Bai was working with a grim focus. He had found a sharp, flat piece of slate and was using it like a primitive cleaver.
He had made a long incision along the wolf's belly and was slowly peeling the thick, charcoal fur back. It was a slow, messy process. Bai's hands were covered in dark blood, but he didn't stop. He used his weight to pull the skin away, the sound of the hide separating from the fat making a dull, tearing noise.
"It's tougher than it looks," Bai grunted, his face red from the effort. "But the fur is thick. We can use this to stay warm tonight."
By the time Leon had a significant pile of wood gathered, Bai had managed to harvest several large slabs of deep red meat from the wolf's hindquarters. Leon took over the cooking duties. He cleared a circle of dirt and piled the dry bark in the center.
He didn't have a lighter, so he used two pieces of the heavy blue-wood, rubbing them together over the tinder. It took nearly twenty minutes of frantic, muscle-aching friction before a thin wisp of smoke appeared. He blew on it gently, his heart leaping as a tiny orange spark caught the bark.
He fed the fire slowly, first with small twigs and then with the larger branches. Once the flames were steady, he took his spear and cleaned the tip in the stream nearby.
He sliced the meat into thin strips a trick he'd learned from years of cooking in his cramped apartment to make cheap cuts of beef tenderize faster. He skewered the strips on thin, peeled sticks and propped them over the heat.
The smell was incredible. It was gamey and rich, the fat sizzling as it dripped into the embers. While the meat cooked, Bai dragged the heavy wolf hide toward a pair of low-hanging branches near the edge of the clearing.
He draped the fur over the branches, creating a sort of slanted lean-to. He used heavy rocks to pin the bottom of the hide to the ground. It wasn't a professional shelter, but it would block the wind.
Leon watched the meat turn from a raw red to a charred brown. When it was finally done, he handed a skewer to Bai. They sat by the fire, the orange light flickering against the dark blue trees behind them.
Bai took a bite and let out a long, shaky breath. "This is the best thing I've ever tasted!" he whispered.
Leon bit into his own portion. The meat was tough and chewy, requiring a lot of effort to swallow, but the warmth it spread through his chest was life-saving. He looked at Bai, seeing the grime and the blood on his friend's face, and realized how far they had come from that car ride.
"We're going to be okay, Bai," Leon said, his voice low. "We just have to keep doing this. One day at a time."
Bai nodded, his eyes reflecting the fire. "I'm just glad I'm not alone, Leon. I don't think I could have done this without you."
Leon didn't know how to respond to that, so he just nodded and finished his meal. As the fire burned down to glowing coals, they crawled under the heavy, musk-scented wolf hide.
The forest was silent again, save for the distant, alien chirps of the night. Despite the fear of what tomorrow would bring, the heat from the meat and the shelter of the fur allowed them to drift off into a deep, dreamless sleep.