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*I can see the young girls sharpening their knives.*

This was a skill that they had acquired in the last few days. It would be hard for them to survive in the wilderness without a sharp knife.

Some were working on the filet knives they would use to clean fish. Some were working on hunting knives they would use to clean game.

No matter what kind of knife they were sharpening, it was imperative that they matter this skill. Their lives could and probably would depend on it.

Boys also got this instruction, but since they were boys, no one really took much interest in that. It was assumed that this was a skill that boys would naturally pick up. That, however, was no longer true.

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*I stared back. I had no idea what expression was on my face.*

The girl was almost completely invisible. The camouflage course had been taken to heart by this one.

Dust and soot on her skin and random twigs and leaves sticking out of her clothes and hair really did the trick.

She was watching me and had a finger up to her lips requesting silence of me.

She had apparently been tracking a small deer when I walked up. The yearling doe had not noticed me and was still grazing within a few yards of the girl.

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These girls, these new trainees, a few days ago would have cringed at *a hair in the soup* or something as innocuous. Now they seemed not to care.

They had all learned how to do some real foraging. They had all caught fish without any store-bought gear and had cleaned, cooked and eaten eaten them.

They had also learned how to hunt with next to nothing. They had all killed and cleaned at least one animal. Several birds had been harvested as well as squirrels, rabbits and two deer.

These newly acquired skills were no guarantee that they would survive if a situation were forced upon them, but they would greatly increase the odds.

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3 prompt weekend [freewrite](https://steemit.com/hive-161155/@mariannewest/the-3-prompt-weekend-freewrite-10-17-2020)
 
[Image](https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/09/07/15/22/girl-and-boy-outdoor-2725649_960_720.jpg) by [6381293](https://pixabay.com/users/6381293-6381293/)