Chuktak looked up at the night sky, watching the purple fire ball blaze its way toward the ground. All of his people had seen falling stars at some point, but none never this large, this close, or this color. It felt very unnatural. As the falling star came closer, it suddenly shattered into several pieces, each taking on a new path. As they traveled further, several pieces shone in a bright lavender light, and seemingly disappeared, with one, larger piece continuing toward the ground. The rest of the tribe were standing outside the safety of their caves watching as it passed overhead and disappeared into the distant woods. Everyone rested easy, many were sure that star was the end of them.
Then the ground shook, unbeknownst to them caused by the impact, and panic set in. The entire tribe rushed into their caves for shelter and waited, until the ground finally settled. They all looked toward Chuktak, as he was the eldest of their tribe, having survived 25 winters. He could see how scared his people looked, so he climbed upon a rock so all could see him better by the firelight. He thumped his bare chest three times with his fist, "Do not be afraid. Once again, we've survived. Let us be happy, and continue to be strong." The rest of the tribe hooted and grunted and whistled in agreement.
~~~Several moons later~~~
Chuktak was slashing at his stick with a jagged rock, making the end sharp, as a hunting spear, a present for his fourth son Glutag. A woman shouted, "The hunters are back!" It was awfully early for them to return, they must've killed something good. He stood up from his rock, and approached the hunting party as they came through the tree line when his face grew worried. They weren't carrying any animals. They were carrying two of their own. Lelik was being carried between two of the hunters, with a massive hunk of his left thigh missing, blood flowing out, his head lolling to the side. If he was still alive, Chuktak knew he would not stay that way for long. He'd either bleed out or his flesh would rot. Horaf, was cradling his arm, from what looked like an animal bite. Two of their best hunters injured was a bad omen for the village. Lelik was dumped next to the fire, his mate rushing over to him, her face full of panic and worry. Horaf sat down on a rock, not letting his own mate near his wound, keeping his hand pressed against it.
Walking over to the bitten man, "What happened?"
Horaf shook his head, then gruffly replied, "We took down a deer, all six spears in it. When I go to grab mine, it hops back up and bites me, refusing to let go. After hitting it in the head a few times, it did, but it turned on Lelik. It gored his leg with antlers, then bit at his flesh over and over and over. Eventually, Tolla hit it in the head with a big rock, and it went down, and stayed down. When we pulled our spears out of it, the flesh inside was rotten, as if it had been dead for a full moon. It made no sense."
Chuktak nodded, not sure what to make of this, he'd never heard of such a thing. Returning back to his own seat, he sat in thought, knowing that Horaf's mate would ensure the entire tribe would hear his story. Once again, panic and fear would take over. Chuktak needed to be ready. But for now, he waited, he needed to see what would happen next.
