Chapter 12: Meat

It was a long day of walking before the four of them decided to prepare for the night. Luckily for them there were no problems like bears that crossed their path.

Mello threw Near his lighter. 'Make us a fire.'

Near nodded and started to gather some wood.

The blond turned to Matt and Alexis. 'We still have some blueberries and a lot of chickweed, but it would be wise to search for more food. Tomorrow we'll don't have time to look for that if we want to start walking early.'

Alexis rubbed her hands together. 'Sounds good to me! I'll be going this way,' she said excited and turned to look for more food.

Matt snickered. 'Someone is excited to gather some more.'

Mello rolled his eyes. 'I really don't want to know what she thinks is so fun in gathering food.' He turned to Matt. 'We are going to look for more food too, so get your ass moving!'

He began to walk away in some direction he thought was good. Though he came not farther than a few steps before Matt grabbed his arm to stop him.

He watched Matt with confusion. 'What?'

'Uhmm…' Matt searched for words. 'Can we go together?'

'Sure… but why?'

Matt sighed. 'Last time I went looking for berries I fell down pretty hard,' he mumbled.

Mello grinned. 'You're afraid it happens again when you go alone?'

'Yeah... pretty much.'

I won't joke about it… for now. He seems embarrassed enough.

'Alright then, this way!'

Matt followed him, glad that Mello didn't embarrass him more.

They went together and kept an eye out for more chickweed or any kind of berry that looked edible. It took probably more than half an hour, but Mello saw finally a familiar red color. It were a bunch of wild strawberries. He pointed it out to Matt and not much later they had the plastic container filled with strawberries again.

They returned to their camping place for the night and saw Near had already a good fire going on. But there was someone missing…

Wait… Where's Alexis?

Matt seemed to think the same thing. 'Is Alexis not back already?'

Near shook his head. 'No, I haven't seen her since you three went looking for more to eat.'

He frowned. 'But we were gone for at least an hour. What's taking so long?'

'Maybe she hasn't found anything yet and doesn't want to return without something edible?' Matt reasoned.

Mello huffed irritated. 'That's just plain stupid. It won't be long until the sun is fully under and there'll be no light. I don't know if she got a flashlight or something.'

Mello caught Matt staring at him with a certain look. 'What?'

The redhead grinned. 'Oh nothing, it's just that you say it's stupid, but it does sound like something you would do too.'

He felt his blood slowly beginning to boil. 'You're calling me stupid?!'

Matt noticed his mood switch. 'No! Of course not!' he said quickly.

'I don't think Matt called you stupid intentionally, Mello. It just came out like that,' Near jumped in.

The angry blond balled his hand in a fist and glared at the small boy. 'You...'

'Ah, I see I'm just in time to join the party.'

Mello, Matt and Near turned to the voice who interrupted Mello's fit of anger. There coming out of the forest and stepping into the light of the fire was Alexis.

'Where the hell have you been all that time?!' Mello asked.

Alexis laughed. 'Ahww, did you miss me?' Before Mello could turn his anger to her she reached out her hand to show the boys what took her so long. 'Look! I managed to catch us some meat!' she stated happily.

Mello forgot instantly why he was angry in the first place and his eyes widened in shock when he saw what she held in her hand. He saw Matt turning pale and looking as if he was about to faint. Even Near looked surprised at the sight before him.

In her hands were a few pieces meat, still bloody. It was clear she had skinned the whatever animal it was before.

She… she killed and skinned an animal… probably with that knife of hers.

Alexis watched all three their faces turning into horror, surprise, shock and slight fear. The last one mostly by Matt.

'What's wrong? We can't live forever on plants and berries, right? We need proteins to survive too!'

'She got a point,' Near said.

Stupid robot…

Mello sighed. 'I guess you're right… but it's still horrifying you could kill and skin that thing all by yourself.' He tried to imagine what animal it was before, but couldn't see it except it would've been a small one. 'By the way, what was that for animal?'

'A rabbit.'

Matt let out a squeal. 'A cute little bunny?!'

Alexis gave the pieces meat a glance before turning to Matt. 'Yes, a cute little bunny that's now a little meal.'

Matt turned slightly green at this point.

Alexis saw the fire burning warm and bright and smiled. 'Perfect! Now I only need a good stick or twig to hold the meat above the fire.'

Near had a few over from when he was building the fire and gave her three. He and Near watched slightly curiously how she impaled the pieces meat with them and held them above the fire. Matt turned his head away and tried not to look.

'Come over here and sit!' She nodded with her head next to her as both her hands were holding the sticks with meat.

Mello didn't hesitate and moved to sit close to the warm fire. The sun was down now and the temperature began to go down too. Matt on the other hand shuffled slowly to the fire before sitting down. Head still turned away.

Alexis saw how Matt reacted and snickered. 'Matt, don't be such a pussy and grow some balls.'

The redhead muttered something under his breath and said nothing more.

She laughed quietly and reached out one stick to Mello and one for Near. They both took it. They hadn't need to question her, because the answer came right after.

'You can hold your own portion. It's not needed for me to cook for the both of you when all you have to do is holding it above the fire.'

No one else said something after that and just stared into the fire, watching the meat cook. Mello craved for some chocolate, but he couldn't eat some. He already ate all so now he had to deal with it and ignore the craving.

Hmm… maybe that's why I got so angry so quickly all of the sudden earlier. Well… nothing to do about it…

Alexis pulled her meat away from the fire and checked it. 'I think it's fine to eat now,' she stated.

Mello and Near did the same and checked the meat. It looked well cooked. Any longer above the fire and it could burn.

He brought the stick to his mouth and carefully took a bite from the piece of meat.

'Hmm, not bad.'

Alexis grinned. 'Thank you!'

Near decided to take a bite too after Mello and nodded approvingly.

Matt sat still with his head turned to the side, but Mello could see his friend got hungry from the scent of cooked meat. He wanted to offer him a piece of his, but Alexis beat him to it.

She slid one meat piece of her own stick and reached it out to Matt. 'Take it. I can see you want it.'

Matt watched it as she practically pushed it into his face, but he didn't take it. 'No… thanks.'

She growled frustrated. 'Just take it! It's already dead. If you were a vegan you would already told me so. Don't be so difficult!'

'Yeah, Matt,' he honed. 'Don't be so difficult and be nice. She caught this all by herself for us.'

Matt shot him a glare when he heard the same words he had said before to the blond.

'Fine…' he muttered eventually and took the meat.

Alexis smiled happily and began eating herself. For Mello it was a long time since he had something warm to eat so he ate it with taste. And after the meat was gone they still had enough chickweed and strawberries to fill the rest of their stomach.

/\/\/\/\

'Matt,' he whispered. 'Wake up.' He had to poke the redhead to make him open his eyes.

Matt opened his eyes sleepily. 'Hm? Oh, is it my turn already?'

Mello nodded. 'It's your turn to keep watch. I'm going to catch some sleep now.'

It was a few hours since they ate together and he had taken the first watch. But now he felt he couldn't keep his eyes open for any longer. Luckily it was Matt's turn now.

Matt crawled out of the sleeping bag without waking Near. He and Near had shared one so Alexis could take one for herself. Near was too shy to sleep with her in one sleeping bag and Matt had wanted to give her some space for her own. He could be a gentleman now and then.

Matt stood up and stretched his arms above his head to wake him up more. 'Alright, sleep well, Mels.'

Mello was happy to hear he could sleep and was just about to crawl into the sleeping bag when he noticed something. The only places where he could sleep was if he shared a sleeping bag with either Near or Alexis.

You've got to be kidding me…

His friend saw his inner struggle and snickered. 'It wouldn't be nice to share one with Alexis without asking her first and she's sound asleep so no time to ask her right now.'

Mello glared at the amused redhead. 'You planned this all along, didn't you?'

Matt shrugged. 'Nah, I didn't. But it was bound to happen sooner or later with another team lid.' He smirked. 'Sweet dreams.' And he walked away to sit closer by the fire.

Mello looked down and saw the white ball of fluff still fast asleep. He sighed and decided that there was nothing to do against it if he wanted some sleep. So slid carefully in the sleeping bag next to Near, not daring to wake the boy up. He had no energy to talk to him right now.

Oh well… could've been more terrible. At least he doesn't move much in his sleep.

Something in the universe must hate him, because the white haired boy began to move directly after he thought it. Mello thought he would just turn around in his sleep before laying still again, but no. Near turned around and actually cuddled in his side and made himself comfortable clinging onto him.
He let out a frustrated growl when he noticed there was no way he could move away from Near or shove him away without waking him up.

He heard someone close smothering a laugh and his eyes found Matt sitting by the fire with a hand pushed against his mouth. It was clear he tried not to laugh out loud at the sight of Mello situation.

Yes, something in the universe must hate me.