Chapter 19: 19: Considerations
"We can only eat tiger meat when the Adults hunt two or three of them or if there's excess. You know, the hunting party always gets the priority since they are the one that hunts."
Caleb felt satiated with all the meat he ate. He tried rabbit meat, wolf meat, and deer meat. Out of them, the rabbit meat was the easiest to chew while the deer meat tasted like a chicken. The meat of dire wolves was the roughest one. He felt exhausted just chewing it. He took his wooden cup; he took a sip of water with a ponderous expression.
'Should I join this hunter party? Or no?'
For him, the more he stays inside the house, the better. After all, the more he goes outside, the higher the risk of him dying from something. Hell, even inside the house, he doesn't feel safe after suffering different methods of death.
It was as if there was a hidden force somewhere playing with his life. Of course, that might be his overthinking.
However, there are also a lot of benefits to the hunting party. First of all, protection. Although he needed to go outside, he was surrounded by strong adults, which were the hunting party. Coupled with his grade 1 strength, as long as he doesn't encounter dinosaurs, he won't die that easily.
He also doubts that there are modern weapons in the damned place he found himself in. So the lack of firearms was actually an advantage for him since it meant that fewer things could kill him!
Second, if the members of the hunting party like the Captain, Fushigiro, are really that skilled. He can ask them to train him if he joins them. That means an increase in combat prowess. He wasn't the type of person to rely on brute force alone. Believes that technique matters and styles make a fight.
He needs to practice a hundred or a thousand times if needed. And even if he doesn't want it. He has to fight a stronger opponent if he wants to grow. The only way to become strong is to fight the strong.
Third, he would have a lot of access to resources in the house that seems to have a small hierarchy. In order to grow optimally and have a powerful body, he has to get all the food his body needs. His body was still in a state of development. He can still benefit from physical exercise.
Lastly, he can familiarize himself with the place and situation of the environment by going hunting with them. Caleb understood that the most important thing if he wanted to survive was information.
"Johan, what are you thinking?" Clifford waved his hands in front of Caleb's eyes, which, in turn, made Caleb blink and pushed him out of his daze. He looks at Clifford and the other three, who are also done eating and are now looking at him. Caleb yawned and responded:
"Nothing, I just felt sleepy after all this eating."
Andre laughed and patted his belly.
"Well, you're sleepy again? You have already overslept, aren't you? Though being sleepy after eating is quite normal. I also experience it every time I'm full. Damn, if there are no Apokalips, we can sleep when we want to and play outside when we want to. Those damned monsters deprived us of our child life."
'Apokalips? Monsters? It seems this world is more dangerous than I thought.' Caleb perked up his ears fearing that he would miss a piece of important information.
Fatty stopped eating when he heard the term Apokalips and his expression visibly paled. He put down the meat on his plate and gritted his teeth.
"Those damned monsters! If not for them, we won't be living in fear. We won't have to hide. I wonder what it looked like when Apokalips still didn't exist. What a wonder. It must be a paradise! My mom and my dad, if not for them, I won't be here. Those monsters took them from me."
Caleb even saw Fatty's expression contorted with hatred. He couldn't help but shudder. Then Luna stood up on the table, which made everyone look at her. Luna snorted and asked.
"Isn't it the same for everyone? Those creatures killed all humans inside the walls: the first wall, the second wall, and our third wall. They ate every human in sight. Only a few managed to escape and reach the last wall!"
Caleb scratched his chin subconsciously. 'So there are four walls? First wall? Second Wall? And we are on the third wall? Interesting... It seems these walls are made to fend off those so-called Apokalips. And there's still a last wall? That wall might be where most humans are, I guess.'
Everyone fell silent at Luna's words. Andre, the oldest of the five, sighed and asked a deep question.
"That's true. All of us don't have a family anymore, by blood. However, as the remaining survivor in this damned wall. We are forced to hide in this house. To survive, to one day reach the last wall. Aren't we a family guys? We have to grow up, train, and one day reach the City of Phenos protected by the last wall! Who knows if each of us has relatives or family members that survived and made it there alive!"
Caleb glanced at Andre with surprise. He didn't expect the kid to be so determined and ambitious. As he could see that to reach the so-called City of Phenos, one had to be powerful enough to traverse the way under the threat of Apokalips.
THUD!
Clifford punched the table, causing it to tremble. Then his face darkened and said with a voice full of sorrow.
"You guys have still hoped to see your family. But mine... I saw them get eaten by one of the Apokalips, Tier 9 Hollow. They died in front of my eyes and I only managed to survive due to the slab of stone that fell on my back and crushed me under its weight. Although the wall almost killed me, it also hid me from those abominations."