While others seek survival, I engage in flirtation Chapter 28: Meat

"Carl! You're back!" Margaret ran over and hugged me tight. "Are you hurt?"

Margaret always worried about me. Every time I got back to camp, she'd check me over for injuries.

The other girls followed quickly, but their eyes were glued to the meat and innards I was carrying.

"Why'd you bring these innards back?" Aimee asked, looking grossed out. "You don't expect me to eat these, do you?"

I thought, 'If we run out of food, we won't have much choice. Even innards would have to do. Luckily, we're not that desperate yet.'

"These aren't for us; they're for Charlie," I said, holding up the innards. Charlie's tail started wagging like crazy.

It was already dusk, and my stomach was growling.

"We're having roast goat meat tonight." I handed the goat leg to the girls and got started on Charlie's dinner.

I couldn't let the girls deal with the smelly innards, so I took care of it myself. I cleaned them up, chopped them into small pieces, and cooked them.

With our limited pots, I could only cook a bit at a time. After several rounds, Charlie's dinner was finally ready. The fresh goat liver and lungs were steaming, and the broth had some blood foam.

I poured the broth and innards in front of Charlie, and he devoured them instantly.

Thinking about it, Charlie was a big dog with a big appetite, but our current situation couldn't keep him full.

Every day, it was either small fish and shrimp or dried instant food. No wonder Charlie was always so listless.

With his sharp sense of smell, Charlie could really help us survive... I needed to find more goats, fast.

Not only did Charlie need meat, but we also needed a steady supply of it.

Plus, if we could keep a female goat, we might even get goat milk when it gave birth.

In a place like this, goat milk would be a fantastic source of nutrition.

While Charlie was feasting, the girls started prepping dinner.

The goat meat was almost ready when I divided it up. They just washed it and cut it into small pieces with a knife.

At some point, Lilian had sharpened a fruit knife, which made cutting things easier.

They put the goat meat pieces, along with mushrooms and carrots they found in the woods, into a pot to cook, adding some salt.

Surprisingly, the goat meat soup smelled pretty good.

We sat around the campfire, watching the soup and the goat leg roasting over the fire, drooling.

After finishing his meal, Charlie, drawn by the smell, came and settled beside me.

Soon, the soup boiled, and we each gave a little to Charlie from our bowls. The five of us and the dog sat together, enjoying the rare meat.

Honestly, the goat meat had a strong gamey taste and was tough to chew. Without many seasonings, the soup was pretty bland.

But we still devoured it. When I took that first bite of meat, I felt like I was about to cry.

"Finally, we get to eat meat," Aimee mumbled through a mouthful of goat meat, tears welling up in her eyes.

Holding my bowl, I felt a surge of determination. Even though I ended up on this deserted island with these girls by chance, we couldn't stay here forever, and we definitely couldn't die here!

After we finished the soup, the goat leg by the fire was finally roasted. Lilian quickly cut the meat and sprinkled some salt and seasoning on it.

Honestly, I had no idea what the seasonings were, but Lilian seemed to know her stuff. On the first day at camp, she found all sorts of weird ingredients nearby. Some were numbing, some were bitter, and some were sour.

The rest of us thought they were inedible, but Lilian treated them like treasures, grinding them into powder and making a small jar of seasoning.

"Tastes good!" Ivy said, taking a bite of the goat meat Lilian handed her, looking at her with admiration.

"Try it. The seasonings you don't like are actually quite useful," Lilian said, holding out a few sharpened wooden sticks with thin slices of goat meat on them.

I took a stick, and the smell of the goat meat and seasoning hit my nose.

I had to admit, the roasted goat meat tasted way better than the soup!

We all ate until we were full and satisfied.

After dinner, it was completely dark. The girls and I lay on the grass mats, ready to rest.

"Today was... really tough for you," Margaret said seriously, walking up to me and tugging at her clothes. "The weather is nice tonight. I want to look at the stars... Will you come with me?"

I looked outside. It was indeed a rare clear night, with bright, twinkling stars.

Even though it was dangerous outside, I hesitated for a moment and agreed to her request.

On this deserted island, with no entertainment, she was bound to feel exhausted over time. If watching the stars could help her relax, it was worth it.

"...It's dangerous outside, so we can't stay too long," I explained, getting up to prepare the torch.

The goat meat we brought back today had a lot of fat. I melted the fat in water, let it solidify, and then applied it to the torch. This way, the torch would burn longer.

The only downside was that the torch would smell good when burning, which might attract wolves.

After getting ready, I held the torch in one hand and Margaret's hand in the other, slowly walking towards the nearby clearing.

It was a place we cleared out to burn some waste.

A few days ago, seeing how bodies were burned gave me an idea. As the camp expanded, we couldn't keep piling everything in the camp. Food packaging and other useless items could easily clutter the camp.

Moreover, rotting food would breed bacteria and attract nearby wild animals.

I definitely didn't want that to happen in our camp, so I cleared out a burning area to dispose of useless materials.