Fastus

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I let the leaves fall back in their place and dived to my left just in time as the tapir blew through them.

It looked like a small truck speeding through a forest.

I jumped up right away with my spear on my right hand, my heart beating like crazy, ready to dodge or run.

It had stopped a few meters after my spot but it didn't come to me right away, instead, it turned its head around when it didn’t find me, sniffing around with his nose moving in every direction – maybe he couldn’t see well in the low light of the morning, with those beady eyes.

When I realized that it wasn’t coming to me right away I thought it was an opportunity – to stab and kill it, of course, since if I moved he probably would have found me right away.

So I grabbed the spear with both my hands, jumped forward, and stabbed it with all my strength, penetrating its neck… for about five centimeters, then it stopped.

My eyes widened but before I could try to push deeper it turned around with a grunt.

I managed to take out my spear before it was wrenched out of my hands but before I could withdraw it completely it reached out with his nose trunk and wrapped it around my toothpick, snapping it in two.

I spent a moment looking horrified at the broken piece I held, eyes wide and mouth open.

“Fuck!” I said, and then tried to dodge the angry animal that, after discarding the broken piece it held, covered the distance with a stomp of his hooves with his mouth wide open.

I was not fast enough though and he bit me on my left elbow, throwing me back while I felt a spike of intense pain where his mouth closed on my arm.

“Argh!” I shouted, falling.

I wasn’t held by my arm though and I hit the ground with my back and head with a “Uhh!” losing the air in my lungs.

I unfortunately soon found out why though because, when I looked at its mouth, I saw an arm dangling from some strips of meat and skin, then falling to the ground with the other piece when he opened its mouth.

It took me a second or two to understand what I was seeing, with my mind unable to connect the dots, then I looked down seeing a lacerated stump pumping out blood.

I totally lost it there and started screaming but promptly cut it short when it tried to stomp me.

I rolled away then jumped on my feet narrowly dodging his mouth and ran behind him, and then kept running all the while trying to stop the blood with my hand.

I tripped on a root and fell then jumped up and kept running – I almost didn’t feel any pain.

Then after an unknown amount of time, I slowed; I was feeling extremely tired and my body, especially my arm, was starting to hurt.

I stopped and looked back, not seeing anything following me.

“Hhhaaaaaa… hhhaaa…” I heaved.

I didn’t know where I was having problems thinking, my head felt hazy.

I started walking, but my legs were feeling too heavy, so I sat down, then I noticed my stump that was still bleeding and tried to tear off some strips from my shirt to use to stop my bleeding.

I was having difficulties though since my arm was trembling and I had some problem keeping my grip on the fabric.

I was so tired, and it hurt.

My vision was getting a bit foggy and I paused my attempts to rest a bit then I saw a serpent slither down a tree.

I tried running away but my legs weren’t moving well, and I just fell on my side.

I tried moving and lifting myself up but my arm didn’t have enough strength to lift me up and my vision was getting darker.

The last thing I felt was that something was squeezing me, and then nothing.

I was woken up by the usual burning while feeling extreme pain just above my left elbow.

As always I was unable to think anything other than screaming in my mind.

After I was revived and had some time to recover I got up and peeked outside to see how much time passed; it didn’t seem like it was midday yet.

My emotions felt muted somehow, and I was feeling a bit dazed.

I didn’t want to think yet so I started making a new spear with one of the sticks I had left.

After I finished the shaft, and I was in the process of making the pointy end, I realized the futility of what I was doing; a spear would serve me nothing if its only use was making the beasts angrier.

I put it down ad looked at my arm where before there was a stump and touched it – it was normal like nothing happened.

My mind was starting to work again, and I went over the morning ordeal to analyze my mistakes.

“My first mistake was, obviously, to underestimate the pig.”

“I really shouldn’t have assumed he was harmless just based on appearance, and neither should I do that based on the normal behavior of a species in the future.”

“I should treat everything as extremely dangerous until proved otherwise; assumptions are deadly here.”

“With that said, I think I made the right choice in checking what made the sounds, since knowing what dangers I faced would help me make better decisions; everything after that was handled poorly though.”

“I should have stayed a bit more to see in what directions the tapir would move, though he would have probably sniffed me out before long; maybe I should have circled around it to discover the tracks he left and see what direction he came from and where he was headed.”

"I should have been more careful when I returned and, instead of attacking it when he didn't notice me, I should have tried to run away first and attacked only if it kept following me."

"In hindsight, it also was a stupid move to stab it in the neck – it looked particularly thick, probably as a defense from predators – I should have made it charge toward me and tried to stab one of its eyes, though I suppose that would be quite hard to accomplish, it would have still been better than what I did."

“I should have retreated right away when I saw how little damage I did instead of trying to push further like I intended to do, and I shouldn’t have lost even an instant gawking at my broken weapon before running away.”

“After he bit my arm off I shouldn’t have panicked so much and I should have tried to stop my blood loss sooner… though this may be a bit harder to put into practice.”

"I have to be more careful, fewer mistakes means fewer deaths and thus less pain." I thought.

After thinking it through another few times I decided to make the spear anyway, though this time with a stone tip – it wouldn't have fared much better on the tapir neck but I hoped it would do more damage if I used it to strike the eyes or nose "maybe I could have tried shoving the spear in its mouth when it charged… in that case, I think a stone blade on top would do a lot more damage internally." I thought, rubbing my chin.

While I was finishing the spear I also thought that it would be useful to carry with me a stone knife and some cordage – I would have had an easier time stopping my blood loss with those on hand and they can be used in many situations.

When the spear was done I went out and started clearing all the vegetation that was limiting my view around my hut.

From what I knew most animals that lived in the jungle floor where either ambush predators or hid in the underbrush from them, so clearing around my camp would make their life harder and mine easier… I hoped.

I worked until I thought it was time to search for some food – I didn’t want to be out when it started to grow dark.

I already had my spear near me since I thought it was better to keep it within reach and I had my knife and some cordage in my pockets, so I started preparing mentally, going over what I should and should not do out there.

Nothing attacked me until now, I don’t know if it’s because they were careful venturing in this new territory, but I was sure that I wouldn’t be so lucky when I neared the old perimeter.

I took a look around and when I felt that everything was in order I set off to gather food.