it's been a long time coming

NOAH

You can only get so far
With no one by your side

Korbin's congratulations echoes over the snow and pulls Noah from his own thoughts. He had been standing there, staring down at the luxere doe, with glassed-over eyes. Her lifelessness and the lifelessness of the exile felt so different, and it all made Noah's stomach twist. But as Korbin closed the distance between them, he shook it from his head. He felt exhausted, and when he normally would have celebrated with his friend on their kill, he stayed silent. Before Korbin was able to start work on preparing the deer-like creature for the way home, Noah removed his arrow from her body.

He leaned down to clean the blood off of it in the snow. Pulling it up to examine, though it was not fully clean, Noah turned it over in his hand. There was a large crack in the wood that ran halfway down the shaft, and the tip was snapped three quarters of the way down. He would have to remember that when he went on to process the deer after she had hung for a little while. He put the arrow back in his quiver, even though it was damaged. There were parts of it that would still be useful to him, even if only just for firewood. It was still necessary. Halovians used and reused and repurposed all they could.

Noah did not argue as Korbin loaded the deer up on his back. He was thankful for it, in truth. But he did not have any more words. Shaking his head some, Noah gave Korbin the faintest of smiles he could manage at his joke. Picking up the other man's pack, Noah looked over his shoulder at him and turned to head back towards Snowcloak, utterly exhausted.

-FIN

A dark storm lies ahead