Alpine Lake The falling of our feet and it sounds like drumming

"So, you're out here on your own?" he asked. Oliver couldn't fathom anyone, let alone a pretty young female, deciding to leave the comfort and safety of their home for their own reasons. Even though he'd been on the bottom rung of the ladder, Oliver missed the relatively comfortable life being part of a pack provided him. Not to mention the food.

Holly seemed to be not only surviving on her own, but thriving. She'd caught herself a meal and she looked to be in great shape. Oliver was a mess. Even under favorable circumstances, he usually looked like a mess, but now he really was a mess. Before he'd met Holly, he'd been wandering on his own for weeks unable to catch anything that wasn't already dead. He'd made an attempt to steal a half-eaten rabbit carcass from a group of ravens and they had beat him up. Fucking birds beat him up. To be fair, he had been outnumbered.

"Do you have any advice for a dude struggling to make it on his own?" he inquired.