Brian's Winter

The weather warms a little the next day, and Brian resolves to get outside to explore more. He doesn’t want to stay in his shelter between hunts. After packing his weapons and some meat, he ventures outside. At first, he doesn’t go too far, but after a few days of exploring, he realizes he could never truly be lost in these woods. They are his home now.

One day, he stalks a moose—not to kill it, but just to observe it. While he’s watching, wolves come from behind the trees and attack the moose’s rear in quick, biting attacks. They tear open the moose and begin pulling at the meat, eating him while he’s still alive. Witnessing this event shakes Brian. He never feared the wolves before, but now he does. He understands that they must kill to survive, but is disgusted by the slow and cruel death the moose suffers. That night, he dreams of home, and awakens at a gunshot sound: He assumes its trees exploding in the distance again. However, in the morning, he realizes that the weather has grown too warm for trees to explode, so the sound must have been something else.