We walked along the river, this should get us to the nearest city.
After an hour, I noticed her dragging her feet, though she said nothing. I chose to set up camp nearby to stay for the night. We covered about an kilometre of distance.
After we prepared the camp, I caught some fish for breakfast. 4 were good and 13 mutated.
After eating, I wandered off, asking her to stay at the camp. I couldn't find anything in a 10 metre radius, so I returned empty handed.
Not long after I got back, suddenly the earth began to shake.
As I looked around for the source, I found a gigantic crocodile like creature coming our way.
I shouted, "RUN!" as I grabbed the axe and spear.
Its body was 30 feet in size. Its scales almost looked like some kind of metal. Its teeth were as sharp as an army knife. And I knew it must be strong.
As I was thinking of a plan, it swiftly came near me and tried to bite my leg off. I leaped backward to dodge the bite and swung at it with the axe in my right hand.
My attack didn't even leave a scratch. Running wasn't an option, it was too fast. I might be able to damage it if I attack its underbelly, since it probably wouldn't have any scales.
I looked around and immediately noticed a pit, right next to a tree. If I could lure it there, and trick it into falling, it shouldn't be able to get out.
It immediately tried biting again. I leaped toward the pit, trying to slowly guide it toward the pit. I couldn't make large predictable movement, or it might catch my leg in its mouth - a death sentence.
The crocodile, almost as if sensing I was trying to lead it, instead of going for my leg, went for my right arm, forcing me to dodge away from the pit.
Right after I readied a step to the left, trying to make it think I'll step leftward. And it worked, it attacked near my left leg, allowing me to leap toward right. Making my way further toward the pit.
It attacked a second time right away, not giving me the time to reposition properly; I was barely able to leap back to get out of its jaws.
Staring at it, I noticed, it doesn't really look like a crocodile. It has the body structure of one, and it moves like one, but that's about it. Its much too green, scales are also too smooth. Its head is too small relative to its body. Its fast but not agile, like crocodiles normally are. It can't change direction, once it commits to an attack, making it easier to dodge its approaches.
The crocodile waited for me to make a move. I had to move at some point, or it would drag on too long, and I'd exhaust myself before it.
I readied myself before leaping toward the pit. I almost reached the pit, giving it no time to react yet.
The crocodile lunged toward me, mouth wide open. reflexively, I put my spear in its mouth. But its speed didn't give me a chance to move away, taking me down the pit with it.
I was able to position myself mid air, such that I didn't fall under the crocodile. But in the process, my left hand fell on a crack. It hurt, but nothing major. I'd only have minor issues using this arm for the next few days.
Meanwhile, the crocodile managed to fall on its back. It flailed and struggled to flip back, but there wasn't enough room for it to flip itself. And it only sank itself further into the soft ground.
The spear was still stuck in its mouth, keeping its mouth wide open. It didn't even break, even under the force of a crocodiles bite. This wood was much more resilient than I first realized, made it all the more stranger, how easy it was to cut with a normal axe.
I cut its throat with my axe, ending its struggle. Then I gathered its scales. But what stood out the most was its blood. It had a greenish tint, which the beasts from yesterday didn't have. I wondered why that might be the case.
I looked up, it was a considerable fall, and the walls were slippery covered with what looks to be moss. I realized I had to get her help to get out of here... Then I realized I never asked her name.
I shouted "Hey! Are you there, ahh..."
A few minutes later I saw her looking down the pit. 'At least she heard me.' I thought to myself relived. It probably took her a few minutes to get back, since I did tell her to run away.
"Yes?" she asked, after she found me down the pit.
"Can you please take some of the unused vine, tie one end of it with one of the trees, and throw the other end into this pit." I requested.
Without a word, she did as I instructed, and I was able to get back out within minutes.
I looked around to make sure there weren't more. The sun was already setting. I fished some more, to get us dinner.
After putting her to sleep, I scratched some of the nearby trees with the scales. I had to be careful while doing so. The scales were too sharp and could have cut my fingers if I wasn't. I was hoping its scent would keep the other beasts away for the night.
It did work. By midnight no creature came even remotely close. There were still howls and growls, but from far away. I was able to sleep for the night without too much worry.
Next morning I woke up as soon as the sunlight hit my face. I stretched before finally counting the number of scales I had collected.
I was able to collect about 30 scales. I'd collect more, but I wouldn't have space to keep them.
Looking at the scales, they were razor sharp, and fully metallic, maybe some form of carbon steel.
I went back down into the pit. I hoped to collect the crocodile's bones to make a sword using one of the bones as handle and these scales as blade.
As I took a look at it again, it looked more decayed than I would expect from something that was only killed yesterday. I didn't give it much thought. I then used one of the scales as a knife to collect 2 femurs from its legs.
I used the scales to make grooves in the bones and shape it, such that I could slot them into the bone, and use them as a sword. I used 6 scales for each blade and collected 12 more scales from the body.
I considered keeping the scales. Maybe someone could forge an actual sword with these.
The bone swords themselves turned out to be fairly light, they weren't exactly balanced for a sword, but their lightness made up for this.
I looked for a strong but thin tree to test it out. I found a tree with about 10 inch diameter, same as the blade's length.
With just a swing, I was able to cut the tree in half, with almost no effort. This should work, I thought to myself.
These are also small enough to dual wield effectively.
I then gathered some vine and curved the cut tree into two sheaths, to hang the swords to my side, making them easy to carry and draw.
While I was at it, I made sheaths for the axe and spear, to hang them on my back, making them easier to carry as well.
Satisfied with the new gear, I went back to the camp. It was still early. I decided to wake her up an hour from now.