Downhill

After hesitating, she accepted his help. They had more weight to carry on the same distance. A bulky man like him was a blessed hand for this trip.

Ned nodded, then he arranged his hair in a ponytail using one other strand of hair. The boy could see multiple marks under the man's earlobe and in his neck. He went wide eyed.

"Those are from a pack of dogs, though when ladies asks, I tell them they're from a black bear. I had them at a young age, then, I decided to become a hunter!"

"Wow! How many were they? How did you fight back?"

Ned effortlessly lifted the handlebars of the wheelbarrow, his back straight. They headed toward Kodra, walking slowly, as Ned narrated his story.

"I was only eleven back then, only me against four dholes, you could see their bones through their skin, they were very... emaciated from what I could say now. Red eyes and an astonishing amount of saliva dripping from their mouth. They thought I was an easy prey and attacked me. But I saw them coming from afar, and I found a crowbar nearby, a long and heavy one and I defended myself."

"That's impressive mister. What is a... a crowbar?"

"That's the straight iron bar you use to drill hard dirt, we used to plant trees in my village, you must dig deep before planting the seeds. But I think you're too young to lift one! Anyway, as you can see..."

Ned lift his left sleeve, showing more scars. Keith gasped big quantity of air as he was surprised.

"I couldn't fight back against them, they have fought all their lives just to eat something, they have blunt claws but long teeth, good reflexes and agility ! And they had a motivation, they were hungry. After agitating the crowbar, I took refuge in a chicken coop. The instant I showed them my back, they jumped on me before I was completely in."

He lowered his gaze and took a serious tone.

"They bit first near the elbow and pulled, I was half out of the cage. Thankfully they were weakened, they did not have enough strength to torn my skin apart. And then! I heard a rough cry nearby, a feminine one, it was my mother. She was probably close to my actual height, and she was really a courageous person. She screamed and she was gesturing until they ran away, tail between their legs."

Keith looked at his mother, she was walking a few meters in front of them, not paying attention to Ned's story. He wondered. 'Can my mother protect me too? I wish I knew Ned's.'

"And this one! That's from a bull."

The hunter pointed another scar on his belly, just under his ribs. It was a wide mark badly healed.

"I was in the city near the great lake. The road was crowded, there were lots of carriage. And..."

He continued his stories for a long time as they went deeper in the forest. The trip seemed shorter. Keith was very happy, he had made two acquaintances from outside of his village today, Reis and Ned, they were both very kind.

"Hey, do you want to see how I tied the ape from the mountain?"

Ned put down the wheelbarrow and exited the dirt path, Keith was curious and wanted to see. He stopped and waited for him to come back, his mother didn't halt and continued her way toward home. The hunter disappeared a few seconds to come back with a wide leaf and long roots. After a few bush noises, Ned extirpated himself from branches and turned toward Keith.

"Those are from a fig tree! they can grow above ground and are very resistant! Come here."

He signalled Keith to approach, he was beside a tree as thick as his leg.

"First, you blind them, because if animal can't see they won't do excessive movements."

Ned put Keith against the three and went behind, he put the leaf on the boy's eyes, and belted his eyes around the tree with the root.

"That's not big enough to cover my eyes."

Keith said with a sneer.

"I know."

Ned quickly lowered the leaf, to have it over the boy's mouth and tightened the root as much as possible. The root and the dirt entered Keith's mouth as he began suffocating because of the width of the leaf. Then he tried to untied himself, scratching the root with his nails, panicked.

"That's a great knot. I'll show it to your mother, just wait here for a few minutes, she must be... a few meters in front of us."

Ned left Keith attached. He ran on the path toward his mother.

'No... nooo noooooo! Mother! She is in danger!'

A minute later while he struggled to free his head, he could hear screams. Ned had found his mother.

"Let go! Don't touch me! No!"

Then, nothing, no more scream, about ten minutes passed. And he came back, a few scratches on his cheek. He looked furious, stomping the ground while marching toward Keith. Anger deforming his face.

He pushed the wheelbarrow aside from the road and spilled all its content. Then he turned to face the Keith.

"I prefer kids anyway."

'Please leave me, leave us, I want my mom. I want to go home.'

His mouth tied, he couldn't scream, he shook his head. Ned's hair was almost completely untied, the scratches on his head were bleeding a little. The man took off his pants, stripped Keith and raped him.

Once finished he patted the boy's head, took out a blade from his coat and hit near Keith ear, who had passed out long ago. He grabbed the food and finally he left.

Time passed by, night was already omnipresent when Keith woke up. His whole body was in deep pain, most of nails were broken and dirty with a brown tint from scratching the root, and probably his aggressor. His mouth was dry and his cheeks bruised.

While recalling the event, he cried. He screamed. And once he remembered, he shouted.

"Mother!"

An almost extinguished voice came out followed by his coughing. The time he had passed his mouth open had dried it out. The darkness surrounded him. Animal cry resonated, they came from every direction. Bug's nuptial parades, giant bat fighting, monkeys arguing. That gave Keith dizziness.

'I must find her.'

If sun could barely reach them during daytime, moonlight was way fainter. Keith pulled out a branch with few leaves and held it in front of him, touching the dirt path. He took off his shoes and began to walk down the slope.

Each time he felt grass, humidity or bigger stones, he rectified his trajectory. His efforts to walk were sorely hard while doing his best at calling his mother.

A few hundred meters away he stumbled upon a soft thing, as high as his knees. He dropped the branch and kneeled down to identify it.

'Foot! That's foot two, legs...!' He gasped. And started to cry again, with snot dripping under his nose.

'T.. Torso... Head. Okay.'

He held tightly his mother shoulder and shook them.

"Mother! I beg you wake up, wake up!"

"Release me! No don't touch me! Stay away!"

His mom woke up in a distress call. Keith was relieved. He crouched on the ground, looking for her clothes.

"It's me. Mother, Ned is gone, he spilled the water we've carried. Now we're not safe in the forest. We must head home."

"What in the world happened? Oh... Never mind. No Keith, we'll go back to the wheelbarrow, and sleep on the mattress, we can only wait for the day to get back safely."

And so they did. With a new branch they climbed back. Limping on the way. Once they felt the path wet they knew their location, they swept the area, looking for their belongings, and they found the wet mattress. They hardly slept that night.

Once the sun up, they gathered the buckets, the mattress and went down. They found every of his mother's clothes and her pouch, still intact. They both drank a bit of it and continued.

They arrived in the village, exhausted. On their way to the barrack they saw Yotoh, their neighbour approaching. He saw their depraved state and asked.

"What on the earth happened to you? We were expecting you yesterday before dawn! Even my kids were worried, let me take this, I'll carry it for you."

"No! Don't, don't touch, don't help me."

Raima said.

"Call the village chief, make him come to my house."