The Hunter Version 1

Toby offered nothing of value either when they had attempted to figure it out.
Toby set about gutting and slicing up the fish to cook it, as Ben had proved several times that he was not someone who should get hold of any sharp objects. He had been lucky the cuts thus far were not deep and were already mostly healed. As Toby worked, Ben gathered up sticks and twigs for kindling and then moved on to find larger branches to fuel the fire. As he came back and paused to rest, he told Toby about the creature he had seen.
“Oh, so you saw it too.” Toby stated calmly, licking the rock shard they used as a knife.
“Wait, you saw it before?” Ben asked, instantly alarmed.
“Yeah, last night. It was hovering near your side of the tent. I thought it was just a hallucination. I think I saw it a few days ago too, while you were fishing, but I'm not sure. I haven't exactly been paying attention to much,” the other boy shrugged.
“You could have told me.” Ben snapped, sitting down and staring at the pile of wood he had.
It would probably be enough to start the fire, but he knew he should get more for later. Now that they had food, the two of them likely would not leave the camp for the rest of the day aside from when they needed to relieve themselves or get water.
“I didn't want to scare you. I just thought I was seeing things. I'm sure it's fine, though. If it was going to attack, surely it would have done it by now. Maybe we should set some food aside for it since it helped us.”
Ben simply gave a grunt in reply and walked away again, pausing from time to time to pick up fallen branches and to snap them into smaller pieces. He did not wander far from the camp, which meant he did not find much on the ground as they had already cleared off most of the bigger, usable branches, but it would last them long enough. They had decided not to keep the fire lit at night unless it was cold enough they needed it. And then they would keep watch over it. Neither of them wanted to risk a fire, which would ensure their deaths. He made his way toward the river where there was often larger pieces of driftwood they could dry out for later use.
At the river, Ben paused to look up at the sky. It was still early in the afternoon and bright. He had not often paused to look up at the sky since he and Toby had found themselves here, but now that there was food, he took a moment to look. It was clear of clouds and vast. Birds-mostly seabirds- flew about calling to eat other and completely ignoring him. Ben wished he could steal their wings and fly away, perhaps up to the mountain in the northern part of the island or to the other islands they had seen in the distance. A shiver ran down his spine and he turned his eyes away and back down to the earth.
A soft sound close to his right sent Ben reeling backward in fright as a massive figure stepped out of the trees to study him. It was not the creature that had helped him before; it was simply a deer, one of many the two boys had seen prancing about in the trees. They had tried to capture them, but it was impossible to catch the beasts, much less bring them down and kill them. Neither Toby nor Ben had the strength to snap a flailing animal's neck. Not at that size.
Ben took several steps back, the antlers on the deer's head looked like they could do some major damage. As if sensing his thoughts, the buck tossed it's head at Ben and stamped it's hooves, but came no closer. Ben backed further away, clutching his gathered wood close to his chest. Two does joined the buck and startled, as if they had not seen Ben, though he had a hard time imagining they had not. Thinking it might be best for him to leave, Ben turned tail and fled back toward the camp. He glanced back and saw the buck still watching, but not giving chase.
“Who would have thought deer were so scary?” He muttered to himself as he threw the wood into the small pile he had going.
He decided that was plenty enough and if Toby wanted to keep the fire going longer, he could go and deal with the strange creatures of the island. Toby had finished gutting the fish and was nearly finished with the task of slicing it up, so Ben started the fire. It took a few attempts and by the time he was finished Toby had moved on to a new task. The thinner boy had spent some time making large baskets out of wood. It was something he did when he was not pacing or staring at nothing. Ben