This is a work of fiction. It contains explicit descriptions of sexual acts. It is not intended for minors.


Ironcleft Genesis part 4
By Boondocker (Boondocker42@gmail.com)


Making Ends Meat


The mountainous region around Ironcleft was known for mild but wet winters. As snow piled up outside her cabin, Jenny Stram learned to be a mother. Her modest breasts produced milk at a frantic rate to keep up with Stanley's needs. Jenny herself was eating more than she anticipated. She had enough corn and coarsely-ground wheat to last two or three winters but her craving for protein had driven her to consume all the dried meat quickly. They also went through firewood at a fantastic rate trying to keep the drafty cabin warm.

The nearby stream kept Jenny supplied with water. Daily she would bundle up in her rabbit-fur coat and trudge down the snowy path with two large casks. It had been many years since she owned a pair of shoes and she had brought none on her exodus. Most mornings she would have to kick a hole in the thin layer of ice covering the Ironbrook to reach the swiftly-flowing water beneath. She certainly felt the cold but suffered no ill effects.

The filled casks weighed nearly a hundred pounds each but by the time she had them filled, her feet were stinging with the cold and she usually rushed back to the cabin with powerful leaping strides that seemed to ignore their weight. She lost a lot of water that way but there was always enough to see her through to the next day.

A month after Stanley's birth, his mother's craving for fresh meat became overpowering. She remembered from her childhood that the rabbits and other small creatures of the area remained active through the winter on all but the very coldest days. She lay awake one night debating whether to leave Stanley alone in the cabin while she went out to hunt or to take him with her. Neither option seemed very good. In the end, she decided that by taking him with her she would know how he was doing at all times. She'd just have to be careful to keep him warm and not do something stupid that might crush him under her body or twist one of his little limbs. She had learned that her son was a tuff little guy but she had no intention of putting him to any kind of test.

The next day Jenny waited until the sun had warmed a bit before venturing out. She placed the infant in the fur pack she had made and strapped it securely to her naked chest and stomach. Then she wrapped her own coat around both of them. Her son was completely encased in fur and pressed against her warm body. If she stood quietly, she could feel his steady breathing and what she thought was the beating of his heart... but that might have been her own.

She grabbed a sack of throwing stones and stepped out into the blinding day.

The snow was two feet deep in most places but she encountered sunken drifts that were probably over her head. She picked a direction and shuffled her way into the countryside, one hand pressed protectively against her precious cargo.

She was approaching a stand of trees when she finally saw some rabbit tracks. The trees appeared to act as a wind-break and the snow was only a couple inches deep. The local herbivores had been feeding here.

Jenny kept expecting to get tired of rabbit meat but just the sight of those tracks made her mouth water. Thinking herself clever, she remained downwind from the little clearing and crouched down low in the snow about fifty feet away. She fished out a stone and held it loosely in her right hand. Then, she waited.

Jenny's feet became very cold. She could feel the warmth of her body being drawn down into the ground through the slush that had formed around them. She tried to put the discomfort out of her mind.

Jenny reckoned an hour passed without any sign of life. The sun was high in the sky but gave little warmth. She began to shiver. Stanley had begun to fuss quietly; she knew he was hungry and perhaps cold. But she couldn't bring herself to abandon the idea of fresh meet for dinner.

Another half hour passed. Though she could not see them, Jenny's lips had turned blue and she was shivering violently. Stanley had gone quiet but Jenny could still feel him breathing and when she snaked her hand in to check on him, he was deliciously warm to the touch. Her breasts ached with a heavy load of milk and her feet had lost all feeling.

That's when a furry brown shape darted across the clearing.

Jenny sprang upright without thinking and her arm snapped. The throw was true, catching the hare on the rump and sending it tumbling. The impact was so violent that the animal's spine snapped.

Jenny rushed forward, another stone in her hand. She scanned the clearing but there was no other life. The hare was still alive, struggling to right itself with its fore-legs and fight the weight of its deadened hind quarters. Jenny picked the rabbit up and twisted its neck.

Then she stated cussing. She was nearly numb with cold and barely able to control her shivering body and all she had to show for it was one lousy hare. She hadn't thought things through at all. No more prey would be venturing into this clearing any time soon. And there was no way she was going to start over again someplace else... her body just couldn't take it.

So, stumbling on numb feet, Jenny headed home. Stanley was ravenous by the time she got to the cabin and built up the fire. He drained her breasts in record time and wailed for more. But she let him fuss while she cooked and ate the hare.

She'd have to find a better way.

The next day she woke with a new determination. She had been a fool to waste time lying in wait for hours. Her strengths were better suited to a more aggressive approach.

She fed her son and wrapped him securely in blankets and the fur pack. She used its straps to anchor him firmly to the center of her bed. She would leave him behind this time. It was a risk but Jenny convinced herself that he would be fine, even if she was gone for an entire day.

Jenny had been largely inactive for nearly two months. She decided to find out if her body had recovered from the ordeal of pregnancy and child birth.

It was mid-morning when she was ready to depart. Checking on Stanley a final time, she stepped outside and shut the door firmly behind her.

Clouds were beginning to form and the day looked like it would turn overcast. Jenny was naked, her brown skin a sharp contrast to the white countryside. She intended to move fast today. Her coat would only get in the way and she knew that if she kept moving, her body's own energy would keep her warm. The only thing she wore was a strap over her shoulder and across her belly from which she hung her sack of stones and a knife.

The girl's nipples were hard and pebbly in the cold morning air. Her breasts were loose and hanging, empty for the time being.

Jenny took off running. Her legs pumped through the snow effortlessly, leaving a cloud of powder hanging in her wake. The footing was unusual but quickly Jenny got into the proper rhythm of digging her toes in deep and thrusting forward powerfully with each stride. She streaked towards the small clearing she had hunted in the day before. In her right hand she gripped a stone and in her left, four or five more.

She burst into the clearing so quickly, the three rabbits that had been feeding there had very little time to react. Skidding almost out of control, she had no hope of coming to a stop but instead, struck in passing. Her arm snapped once, the rock she threw exploding her target's head like an over-ripe plum. Grabbing another rock from her left hand, Jenny let her body spin and flung another missile with blinding speed. The throw caught another furry form on a trailing leg, shattering bone and whipping its body around viscously.

Jenny's careening body tumbled into the snow-covered underbrush at the edge of the clearing and she skidded to a stop curled up on her side. Loose branches and cascading snow covered her quickly.

Jenny began laughing. That had been fun. One of the hare had gotten away but she had bagged two in about as many seconds. She extracted herself from the bushes. She was breathing normally, aside from the laughter, and her skin was unmarred despite her rough encounter with the foliage. The snow she had picked up from her tumble melted quickly against her hot skin.

One rabbit was dead outright. The other appeared to be in shock, shivering in pain but unable to move. She wrung its neck. Finding a handy branch, she hung her kill up where she could find it later. Brushing her bloody hands off in the snow, she picked a direction and bounded off across the countryside.

Over the next couple hours, Jenny covered over twenty miles. Eight times she had flushed prey and had bagged five of them. She was in the lowest parts of the Ironcleft valley now and was near the low ridge that defined its northern border. Jenny was fairly familiar with the area from her summer ramblings. She bounded up the side of the ridge, leaping up small cliffs of twenty feet or more as she did so.

She crested the ridge and looked out over the neighboring valley. As luck would have it, a small herd of deer were grazing nearby, pawing at the snow to dig up fresh fodder.

Jenny was just beginning to breathe hard from the morning exertions though a good deal of that was due to her elation. It felt so good to be out and about. Some small part of her could feel that she had lost a little strength over the last few months but she was certain it would all come back and she was definitely still stronger than she had been when living in the Weak Lands.

As Jenny Stram stood atop the ridge breathing deeply, her eyes were repeatedly drawn to the deer. On the one hand, their meat would hold little of Ironcleft's essence. On the other, they represented a lot of meat. Her eyes focused on a healthy buck with a wide spread of antlers.

Eyes slit with intent and nostrils wide with excitement, Jenny plunged down into the valley. The herd was half a mile away but had noticed the movement on the nearby ridgeline. In their skittish tradition, they turned as a group to flee the unknown disturbance.

Jenny streaked across the flat land. In passing and almost without thought, she leapt a small stream, vaulting thirty feet from raised bank to raises bank, clearing both the stream itself and its wider flood channel and landing in stride. Another time she vaulted a collection of boulders left eons ago by retreating glaciers. The obstruction was only twelve feet high or so but trailed along for hundreds of feet in a snake like fashion. She didn't want to detour around it so Jenny jumped over it with feet to spare.

She passed through the area the herd had been grazing in and tried to get her bearings. The fleeing animals were in sight. She spotted the rack she had singled out and directed herself in that direction.

Now she poured on the speed.

Jenny over-did it. The buck was young and healthy and strong but Jenny Stram was now just a completely different class of animal. The deer's powerful, leaping run would have left a wolf behind with ease but Jenny came up on her prey so quickly it actually took her by surprise. She lost sight of him for a moment behind a small drift. When she burst through it, he was right there. The animal turned in terror and the woman went hurdling by, powerless to do anything but streak past.

Jenny dug in her feet trying to stop or turn. Predictably, her body over balanced and she went down face first.

Angry at herself, Jenny reacted quickly. Instead of letting herself tumble, she crouched down to all-fours and attempted to dig in. Her hands clawed furrows in the frozen earth. Her momentum slowed quickly. The moment she came to a stop, she exploded upward again.

The buck had turned away and was fleeing in a new direction. Careful to keep her speed in check, Jenny pursued him, gaining steadily. The poor beast attempted to turn and dodge but Jenny was under control now. Each time she planted a foot she was able to thrust in any direction she needed.

It took a full five minutes for the girl to run him down in this careful manner. But, when she had drawn to within thirty feet or so of her prey, he turned again and Jenny took her opportunity. She planted both feet and leapt to intercept him, arching high into the air and coming down more or less on top of him.

The buck was big, probably weighing about the same as Jenny. The two of them went down hard, the deer's legs collapsing under the impact. It bleated in terror.

Jenny's body was laid crossways across the buck, her chest across his back and her knees digging into the snow. As he began to struggle, she grabbed it by the antlers. Jenny got her feet under herself and set them squarely. Setting her mouth grimly, she heaved and twisted.

Jenny put all her strength into the maneuver. As a consequence, the buck's entire body was whipped into the air, swinging high over head. Jenny twisted again mid-swing and slammed the body back into the snow.

The buck's neck was very thoroughly broken, its head twisted nearly 360 degrees.

A little shaken by her own violent action, Jenny suddenly very much wanted to be back at home with her baby. The chase had been exhilarating and while it had not tired her much, it had taken something emotional out of her.

She slit the buck's neck deeply. She would let it drain on the journey back. She would end up covered in blood but it would wash off. The cold dip in the stream that was in her future would be suitable penance for what she had done.

She slung the beast across her shoulders. Its weight was negligible for her. She entwined one arm through its antlers and used them to hold its head tightly to her shoulder. Its protruding tongue hung near her breast in a mildly disturbing manner but Jenny wouldn't let herself think about it. Her other hand gripped its hind legs near the hooves and held that end down tightly to her body.

She wouldn't go over the ridge this time. A detour of some ten miles... five out to the edge of the ridge and then five back up through Ironcleft... should take her about half an hour at what she considered an easy lope.

Jenny covered ground quickly, the deer's body held tightly across her shoulders to minimize imbalance. It was some forty minutes later that she came upon the first of the rabbits she had left behind earlier. From there she retraced her steps, picking up the rest of the day's haul as she went.

By the time she returned home it was a little after noon. She was anxious to check on Stanley but was covered in blood and needed to wash off. Conflicted, she decided to just roll around in some fresh snow to get the worst of the gore off. She did so and it worked to an extent. She stood in front of the cabin's door for a moment, collecting her thoughts. Steam was rising from her body as red and pink and white show melted quickly.

She just stepped inside for a moment to stoke the fire and look to see that her son was where she had left him and still breathing. Then she went down to the stream.

She stepped into the frigid water, breaking through the thin film of ice. The cold absolutely stung. She waded in deeper, breaking up more of the delicate ice as she did.

The stream was not deep and it only came up to her navel at its center. She plunged herself under, running her hands through her ragged hair and staying under until her lungs burned and her head throbbed from the cold.

She surfaced, staying low so that the water lapped along her neck. Underneath, she scrubbed her body with her hands, washing away the grime.

Jenny purposely stayed in the stream until her extremities were numb and her teeth began to chatter. When she immerged from the stream, she was clean and very very cold. She had brought nothing to dry herself with and the cabin would only be moderately warm. But she had already set her mind on a better way to dry and warm herself.

Jenny ran. She set off on a quick ten mile circuit in a wide circle around her cabin. Needing the warmth of exertion, Jenny pushed herself and managed the distance in a little under twenty minutes. When she was done she was dry, clean and breathing naturally. She was also warm. Over the course of her expedition, her breasts had been producing milk and she now felt the pressure there. She would feed her son and then dress the animals....

Shit, she'd probably need another bath after that.



©Boondocker
