Chapter 336: Blinky’s Express
Harold had only been with them for two days and Kim was already seeing why Stanley had been so eager to find a way to ditch him. In general, she wasn't worried about him tagging along with the rest of them once they parted from Stanley's group, she just worried that some of the others might try to vote to keep them all together.
She was pretty sure that Elmo and Elin wouldn't be in agreement with that, but she couldn't be sure about Bart, Owen, or Patricia. She was confident that Heather and Sonya wouldn't and she'd also gotten confirmation from Elwin, Patrick, and Jonas. Although, she couldn't be sure that Stanley wouldn't find a way to talk anyone into having all their groups staying together. She wasn't sure how far his abilities were, or what they were specifically, but she wasn't sure she should just count on things working out the way she'd like if Stanley had a different opinion.
The fact that no one had reached where they were just yet felt a little surprising to Kim. She was pretty sure that the bear hadn't really traveled that far, but she also had to admit that it probably was able to clear obstacles that would take them a while to either climb over or walk around.
The biggest problem with Harold was that he was pretty much too eager to be helpful. Almost to the point where it was bordering on being unhelpful. Though, Kim wasn't sure if some of his attitude was from being a lycanthrope, and so very loyal to whoever he considered above him in whatever hierarchy he had in his mind. Which Kim was pretty sure that Stanley would be considered at the top of that, with how much Harold seemed to praise him.
Personally, Kim would have preferred to have started walking towards anyone who had been following the bear's path, if only to get their groups to officially separate sooner rather than later. Yet, she had been outvoted by pretty much everyone, except maybe Jonas who'd merely abstained.
What the others wanted to do was to harvest some of the bear's meat, though Kim wasn't sure how good it would taste. Especially since she really didn't think that any of them had anything to season it with. After all, their main supplies weren't anywhere near where their current location was.
However, after spending two days to cut out chunks of the bear's meat, like they were cutting into blocks of ice, it was clear that they'd gotten what they could and even Elwin had to admit that they wouldn't be able to carry any more.
Though, Kim didn't like the idea of having to carry raw meat like that, since they didn't have anything to hold it in and her clothing was just about to fall apart as it was. Especially since she hadn't really thought about what would happen after she'd dealt with the stellar bear's weakness. Especially since she couldn't say that the bear wouldn't just fade away as if it was a ghost or something.
Still, if she really had wanted to have nothing to do with this, she could have easily left when she could. Besides, she'd helped cut some of it up to dry while Elwin showed the others how to smoke it, despite the fact that they pretty much had only pine to work with when it came to burning wood to smoke any of the meat.