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49.
Alex cooked a bit of ripper meat over a small fire and washed it down with cold river water.
Then he skinned them, one by one, until his hands ached and his arm felt numb and wooden. They would make nice pelts for his bed. Maryan’s bed. Their bed.
He even forced open the women’s birthing door and there, amid the stink of decay, pulled out the two other carcasses and dragged them to the river. He watched them catch in the current and float swiftly toward the sea.
He recovered about half his arrows—the animals in their death throes had mashed the other half.
Leaving the three skins to dry in the sun and be picked clean by small animals and birds, he now bravely ran through the heart of ripper valley toward the sea.
He found the other three carcasses near one another. He found a small log and floated it in the water. He tied the rippers’ tails to the log and pushed it through the current until he had it on the east side. There, he walked in the water, pulling it along until he came to their beach. He pulled the load as far ashore as he could so that the log was anchored while the carcasses were in the water. Already, silver shapes moved visibly about in the water, ready for feeding.
He pulled the hide from the buffalo carcass up on dry sand to finish its first curing.
Out of habit, he still looked over his shoulder every minute or two.
This time, it was not a ripper that came bounding toward him, but Maryan. She looked sleepy but rested. “I’m starving,” she said.
“We have some great beetles here.”
She made a face.
He sat in the water and carved some meat off the cubs. “Let’s go have us a steak dinner.”
She stood arms akimbo. “I was mad because I thought we missed that one.”
Alex laughed. He knew what she meant—that student who had taken samples from Alex and Maryan. “I hope old Alex and old Maryan enjoyed their dinner as much as we are going to enjoy this.”
“Wish we had a bottle of wine.”
He told her: “I saw fruit trees along the coast. If we can make salt from the sea water, I think we can make just about anything we want, including wine. Just not for tonight.”
“Aw darn.” She snapped her fingers.
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