As they nursed their injuries, muttering curses under their breath at each other, Calvin saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. His eyes widened even further than they did before Hobbes pounced him.

"Hey, Hobbes, look, is that a deer?"

"Why, so it is! Forget the rifle! I'll chase it!" Hobbes dropped to all fours and began pounding after the deer. Calvin watched him go. As his tiger friend faded from sight, Calvin suddenly got an uneasy feeling... What if a bear came? What would he do then? Without Hobbes, he couldn't defend himself. No, he had a rifle. It was old, perhaps, but it worked. So he was safe. He'd eat his sandwich now; Hobbes would be bringing a deer anytime soon. Thinking of the juicy flanks, he began to drool.

Hobbes panted as he chased after the deer. It ran fast! Of course, or else it wouldn't be a deer. But still, did any deer run that fast? He didn't believe any did. Perhaps it was only an optical illusion. Perhaps he was just tiring. No, tigers didn't tire. They could run forever! Slowly but surely, the deer was tiring, and he was gaining...

Then he tripped over a tree root.

"That was a humiliation to the entire species of tiger," he muttered as he stood up and dusted himself off. Tigers weren't supposed to trip. The deer had vanished, too, which was really humiliating. Tigers weren't supposed to lose sight of their prey. Sighing, he started back towards their cave. He hoped Calvin had some sandwich left.

Calvin licked the last sandwich crumbs off his fingers. Delicious! He couldn't wait to have a plump deer as his main course.

Hobbes wearily plodded into camp. "I tripped, Calvin, and couldn't catch the deer. Any sandwich left?"

"Uh...no..."

"ARGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Hobbes plopped down on the cave floor.

"Hey, you're Robinson! You need to be tough!" laughed Calvin.

"Who...ughhhhhh...said I was Robinson?"

"You..."

"..."

Calvin flopped down next to Hobbes, and they just lay like that for a few minutes. Finally, Calvin sat up.

"I'm not going to waste the rest of my life just lying here. I'm going to HUNT! With a RIFLE!"

With that, he grabbed the rifle and ran outside, Hobbes following after a moment.

"Calvin! Don't do that! You know nothing about handling a-"

CRACK!

"-rifle."

"Too late..." muttered Calvin as the bullet flew higher and higher, finally hitting a duck, which fell down and down and landed in front of them. There was a momentary pause as they took in the meaning of the sight before them.

"YAY!" screamed Calvin.

"YIPPEE!" yowled Hobbes.

The two of them grabbed the dead duck and started happily back to the cave. Suddenly, the whole flock of ducks spun around and dived, charging straight for the ones who had slain their comrade. They formed into an arrowhead "V," with the ducks who had the pointiest beaks flying in front. At first, the happy boy and tiger didn't notice, until they heard the furious quacking.

Spinning around, they saw the ducks.

"EEEEEEEEEEEK!" screeched Calvin, turning the rifle on them and pulling the trigger furiously. "DIE, YOU FIENDS!"

Bullets shot out of the old rifle like it was a machine gun. One by one, the ducks fell to the ground, dead, and the ones who did not die flew quickly away. The happy duo scooped up the carcasses and started back to the cave, singing a joyful little song as they went.

Little did they know that the rifle was out of bullets! They had wasted all their remaining ammunition killing the mad ducks, and besides, the barrel had been bent out of shape by the furious usage...DUN DUN DUN DUN.

Back at the cave, the two freinds were butchering the ducks. However, they were not doing it with the precision and care of a real butcher. Actually, they were just ripping the bloody meat off the bones and plucking off the feathers. Yeah, that was it.

Calvin had finished with the last duck, when he realized a problem. They had no fire!

That did not bother Hobbes, who was rather hungrily devouring a raw duck wing.

"Ick, Hobbes, don't you think we should use a fire?"

"Huh? Mmmmmmmmm...fire? Oh...yeah..." However, he continued to devour the wing, then grabbed a head and munched that. Calvin
rolled his eyes.

"STOP EATING RAW DUCK! You just said we should make a fire, so let's!"

And thus began their futile attempts to start a fire with nothing but a rifle and some dead ducks. Oh, and some sticks, too. I think it's obvious what they tried. Yup. Rubbing sticks together while blowing on them. Not that it actually worked. So sad.

So they tried a different way.

And another different way.

And another.

And another.

And they gave up and ate the ducks raw.

I know, disgusting.

After eating all they could eat, they stuffed the remainder of the ducks into a crevice and tossed the bones and feathers out the doorway. Hobbes burped. Not to be outdone, Calvin burped louder. Soon, they were having a burping contest! The louder they burped, the closer came a mysterious shadow that had been tracking their movements ever since they arrived at the forest... But more about that later.

Calvin looked out the cave entrance. The sky was darkening, and he suddenly became nervous. Shrinking back into the cave, he muttered, "Why don't we make a door or something? It's scary to see that darkness out there... I'd like to feel safe and comftorable... Besides, I think something's out there."

"Ungh," grunted Hobbes. "Sure. You make it, I'm tired."

Calvin rolled his eyes. "Fine, we'll make a door tomorrow. But I'll stay awake to keep guard..." He dozed off right in the middle of the sentence.

Soon, both of them were snoring on the ground. A strange shadow appeared at the doorway...