The hunt

Mira is living in a small shack with her friends Elena and Kaya.

The shack is standing on a wide meadow. There's not much going on around.

When Mira is lying in bed reading, Kaya comes into her room.

Hey, are you coming with me?
I want to go hunting again.

Not really.

I mean, I can just take you instead.
Even easier.

You won't do that anyway.

I already have my knife ready and you just lie here in bed.
At least it would be easy for me.

Kaya shows her knife and slowly approaches Mira.

I'll come soon. Let me just finish reading, okay?

No problem. But we should be done before Elena gets back.

Why?

It should be a surprise for her.

Is there a reason?

Elena has been living here in this hut for exactly 200 years.
Pretty long, right?

You know that?
I can't even remember for how long I'm living here.
I can't remember anything else, so it must be forever.
But I wish, I would have gotten a surprise like this, too.

You don't like meat. At least not that much.
And otherwise you never seem to like my ideas.

You always want to go out.
You can do all of this at home as well.

Didn't you want to finish your chapter?

You're right!

Mira looks back into her book.
She's confused.

Oh, whatever, I don't find the line anymore anyway.
So let's get it over with right away.
Is the cage already prepared?

Yeah, everything is ready. We just have to leave.

Fine, let's go.

Mira and Kaya leave the apartment together.

They're lucky and it doesn't take long before they see a girl walking in the meadow.

I see one. She is also barely dressed. She should be fine, right?

Yeah, looks good.

What's the plan?

Let's just go in that direction.
If our prey continues walking like this, we should meet her without drawing much attention to us.

Sounds good.
She doesn't look like she knows any hunter tricks yet.
She won't suspect anything.

And if there's a good opportunity, we'll grab her and tie her up.

Yeah, that should be easy. It's best if I take care of the distraction.

Good idea.
But first we should make sure she isn't armed, just in case.
We shouldn't put ourselves in danger.

The two are now walking in the same direction as the girl, approaching her.

She has fairly dark skin, probably just dirt, and almost doesn't wear any clothes.

When they're almost there, Mira takes a closer look at the girl, but she probably doesn't have any weapons with her.

The girl notices the two and looks over.

Mira shows her a smile.

The girl seems happy and approaches the two with a smile on her face.

Nice day, isn't it? Where are you going?

Oh, I just enjoy the nice weather.

Mira is amazed at how well the girl can speak. She hadn't expected it.

While Mira and the girl are running at about the same level, Kaya falls back a bit in order to be able to attack the girl from behind.

And you? You must be hunting, right?
Unfortunately, there aren't any suitable people around here.

Suddenly Kaya throws the girl from behind and ties her hands together with a cord she brought with her.

When the girl understands what's going on, she tries to defend herself with her legs, but Kaya is already sitting on it and slides back even further while Mira sits on her back.

I hadn't expected that.
Looks like you got me.
Where I'm from, we're more likely to grab the newbies.

We're usuially doing the same. But you're better than nothing.
So are you coming with us voluntarily, or do we have to carry you?

I guess I have no other choice.
Then I'd rather walk myself.

Nice!

Kaya takes another rope and ties it tightly around her neck.

The two ends are very long and can now be used to hold the girl if she wants to escape.

Here, take one too.

Mira and Kaya each take one end of the rope and let the girl get up again.

And don't try to escape!

Don't worry. I'm used to that.
That's probably only going to make it worse for me.

The three start to walk back.
The girl is walking ahead of Mira and Kaya. The rope is long enough.

Mira starts to whisper.

Do we really want to take her?
She can speak well and is certainly not stupid.
You know I normally don't eat anything that can talk.

That's all right. She's a hunter too. She knows how it is.
And we won't get any problems from her friends either.
She's not from around here and I'm sure there isn't anyone else around who will miss her.

Maybe I should ask her out, just to be sure.

That sounds fair.

Mira goes ahead and starts walking alongside their prey.

What's your name?

That probably doesn't matter anymore.

I'm just interested.

I'm Tara.

And where are you from?

From the wasteland.

It must be very hot there.
Lots of desert and hardly any plants.
Life isn't easy there, is it?

I was used to it. But you are right, it't wasn't that easy.
So I expected it to be easier here.
But I was probably too optimistic.

Tara smiles stupidly.

And have you already met a lot of people here?

Just a few. They're all pretty friendly.
Actually you too. But your trick was just a bit nasty.

Well, that just makes it easier.

Yeah, I was just too careless.

And have you already found a few real friends?

Not really.
But if you let me go, maybe you can be a good friend.
Then I can help you with the hunt.

That would also be an idea, wouldn't it Kaya?

We don't have time for that anymore.
Besides, that's an old trick too.
In the end, only we are the prey.
Maybe she got away with it for so long.

I see. I'm sorry Tara.

It won't be long before they reach the apartment.

They go in and Tara is thrown in the cage.

Mira looks at Tara sadly and then goes back to her room.

And when are we going to start?

You'll just stay here for now.

Kaya then visits Mira in her room and is surprised.

Why aren't you reading again as always?

I'm still thinking.
Can't we let the cutie live for now?
Arms and legs should be enough for all of us.
Then she can't harm us either.

Even if we remove her legs, she might still be mad at us.
So when her arms and legs regrow, she'll be mad.

But maybe she forgives us.
If we spare her, she probably won't expect us to pose another threat either.

She might still view us as a threat.
How can she be sure we won't just view her as a reserve in case we need some food?
People do that.

Oh, I didn't know.

But if that happens, they often become normal flatmates anyway.
But anyway, let's just wait for Elena.
It's her surprise, so she should decide.

You're right. Let's wait and see.