Man in the Woods Chapter 24

NUDE!? We have always had to only wear a loincloth and a cloak but now just the cloak? Our manhoods will now all be exposed. We are only one step away from that naked reality show in the wilderness.

By the orders of our Eiren, we march one by one into a carriage. The group and I shuffle to the same carriage with luckily no pushback from the Eiren or any observing Spartans. Eventually, everyone is placed into a carriage and the Spartan in front throws us blindfolds.

"Put them on! Now!" We listen to his words and all place the blindfolds making sure we stay to the sides to throw out our red cloth to track each other's location. The 6 other boys in the carriage seem grateful now for being able to ride in the middle avoiding any dangers of falling off. 

The carriage rides for a long time. I count each second by flickering my finger with routine. By now it should be 2 whole hours of just laying around. One by one we get thrown out by a separation of 5 minutes each. Once the 10th time the carriage stops, it is my turn making me the last one. The spartans throw me out like a pet owner pushing their dog off the couch. I brush the dirt off my legs and see my sporadic trail of red cloth. The sun is more in sight. It is likely the Spartan that rode us here won't see any part of our plan unless he is outwardly looking for them.

I begin to track the cloth as the minutes go by slowly. Eventually, I'm out of my starting location of low grass and instead on a dirt path. In ancient Greece, the best 'roads' were made of partial stone and Sparta especially would make sure it's only partial. I jog on the dirt path picking up more and more pieces of cloth. The others ahead are likely doing the same thing by jogging to the agoge. The only one I might catch up to is Nikolaos if he also was thrown out late. Overall I'm in the worst possible situation since they might all be far ahead or at least near each other. As last, it means there is only one way ahead to find people and that is in front of me not behind me.

I run and I run to the point of losing track of time. The red cloth helps me know that the dirt path is reliable. The bright sun makes everything visible if everything goes to plan reaching the agoge will become inevitable.

Eventually, the red cloth becomes more and more frequent as I pick it up, meaning one of my group members has at some point crossed here. I place the red cloth into my own cloak by tying it on my back like a backpack.

My stomach feels hungry and my mouth feels like the desert. All this running and still I've not seen anyone. How long has it been?

.

.

.

2 hours? 3 hours? Being alone is not a comfortable feeling at all… Hopefully, the rest of the group has already met, maybe they are even backtracking for me.

I continue on now feeling the wrath of the sun on my youthful skin. Eventually the annoying irks and pains become irrelevant. My jogging pace remains and I begin to quicken remembering my distant past in the modern world. The fading modern ideas in my mind and my complete acceptance of this environment.

With no eyes the nakedness makes me feel free! Unless a bee ever lands on my exposed tool then I would not know what to do. I wouldn't be able to swat it, run, or anything. I'd just have to wait for it to fly off to violate some other boy.

No phones, no computers, no proper toilets, and no toilet paper. Some might find it hysterical but I found it horrifying at first. Remembering the first year here having to be a literal baby and then a toddler. Now a tween if my age gets tallied up together that would make me 30… I should be entering the life stage of being settled down and having my own kids yet here I am essentially being in public school again but worse.

"Damon!! You're about to enter the agoge!" Georgios yells dashing out and tackles me down. I look over and see the Agoge and our not-too-distant living quarters. All empty except for a few Spartans wandering around.

"Thanks, Georgios," I tell Georgios quietly and he takes out his hand. I accept and dust off the dirt from my bare legs. We travel back to where only Nikolaos lies. Both stand in nothing but their cloak also. All of us nervously make sure our eyes wander not below another's neck.

"Have you seen Nero?" Georgios questions and Nikolaos crosses his arms ready for an answer.

"Not at all… I was the last one off so I've been running for hours." 

"So you didn't see him at all?" Georgios questions further and I shake my head.

"He must be lost or worse he could've been attacked or hunted." After my comment both nod in agreement.

"What should our plan be?" Nikolaos looks at both Georgios and me awaiting for an idea.

"I think it would be best for us to prepare for the worst. We need to craft weapons and then find him. Let's head to the creek we were at earlier. It will also supply us with adequate water after burning any bacteria or viruses."

"What are bacteria and viruses?" Nikolaos questions with Georgios also looking confused.

"It's a name I came up with for the invisible things making dirty water. We know the water is dirty but the reason why I feel is because there are things we can't see."

"What do you mean?" Georgios places his hands on his hips both his feet pointing towards me now. I pick up a branch and raise it up.

"Do you both see this?" They nod and I then knee the branch in half.

"Is that it?" Nikolaos asks, scratching his head.

"No." I repeatedly broke the branch until it was too small to break further.

"So what you're saying is that if you could keep on breaking it eventually we wouldn't be able to see it or even feel it?" I nod at Georgios's smart question and Nikolaos's mouth drops.

"Yes, the atom theory relates to us not being able to see what will kill us or make us sick from the unfiltered water." Democritus was the inventor of the theory in around 400 BC so the theory is still in its relative infancy in terms of spreading. 

Yet it would never spread far enough due to a not even born yet Aristotle, who would shape the world for centuries For better or worse. Notably being against the Atom theory and saying women were disfigured men.

"Woah Damon you're a genius!" Georgios claps at my grade 6 science explanation.

"It's like you're an old man living in a boy's body!" Nikolaos gives a nice shake of excitement before I tap him on the wrist to stop.

Ouch… That hits close to home besides 30 isn't old at all it's the new 20! Or well the new 12 in my case due to my mistimed death.

"Guys we need to save Nero, remember!?" Georgios snaps at us now remembering what trouble Nero might be in.

We initiate our plan and spend time collecting branches and rocks. Once we have everything needed we use the red cloth from my being and tie it around. Eventually, we have 4 stone-aged spears and an extra for Nero. I even sharpen a small rock to carve on trees to mark ourselves.

We then start traveling away from the agoge and into the wilderness. The woods remind me of the Eastern deciduous forests of the USA and all the beauty it had. The soft breeze and all the scurrying squirrels everywhere.

"By Zeus, it's been half an hour since we have been searching!" Nikolaos complains, dragging his spear in the dirt.

"Hold on, silence." Georgios puts a hand up hushing us into silence and he then starts walking towards an area. We follow him trying to obey his words and we lay our eyes on Nero…