At the other side was an animal like a raccoon lying dead with half of it’s belly pulled out. They went to see it. It still looked fresh. From the color of the blood.
“It’s still fresh. What could have killed it?” Mata said. Attempting to carry it.
“Are you carrying it?” Nazi asked.
“Why not?”
“For what?”
“What a question. I’m hungry”
“Do you know its means of death? What if it was killed by a poisonous beast?”
“Then we will eat and die faster. It will be better than to stay hungry and face what is ahead, which is certainly going to be worse”
“Where do you find water and dried woods?”
“I can collect water from those large leaves” pointing at a plant with wide leaves that held water from the rain.
“So, about the fire?”
“There will surely be a means”
Just as Mata believed, he could find leaves that were barely wet though it wasn’t easy. It took a lot time. Even as Nazi wasn’t approved of it he was still helping out until they got the meat prepared. The way finding dried leaves and sticks was, is the same way the fire suffered them. Mata could not endure the hunger any longer. He started cutting from the more cooked part.
Nazi too could not sit and watch hunger kill him when there’s something like that to manage. He now preferred dying of poison than of starvation.
“This meat would have tasted nice if it was well prepared?” Nazi said holding a piece of the meat.
“This hunger doesn’t know if it taste nice or not” said Mata.
“We have become cannibals so easily” Nazi appraised. “Cannibals too might have started just like us, hunger compelled them to eating fresh flesh and living wild”
“So, it means if we must survive here we must become like them?”
“Which we have already become”
“No, we are better. At least ours is half done. And nothing can make us eat humans”
“We are still going. You think this lighter will last forever? If we can eat half done now that we have lighter in the course of time when the lighter is no more you will find even life humans to devour”
“In the past people make fire by igniting two stones”
“Can you do it? Have you ever done it? Is it every kind of stones you do it with? Have you ever seen anyone doing it? Look let me tell you. There’s an extend of hunger that you can’t wait to cook your meat. I just pray we don’t experience it”
They looked at Dylan who have ostracized himself for long. He sat with his head buried between his kneels weeping. They called him to find out why he has been acting different.
“Will I eat when I can’t find Rickie?”
“I believe he is still alive” Nazi ameliorated their feelings from anguish to having a little hope.
“If he is alive how will you find him when you are so weak?”
“You need to eat to gain strength. He’s our brother too. We care for him as much as you do. Eat something, we will find him”
Dylan could not eat even after their words to him. He have never been hurt like this to have refused eating.
“Zack!” Dylan called surprisingly. Where he got the strength nobody knows.
His brothers turned in shock. It was true seeing Zack, Bond, Sonia and the other girl coming from the slope.
“How did you get here?” Dylan asked. Dylan could not remember if they were enemies back in the village or not. That was not a place to remember all that. Even worst enemies could reconcile without apology, blames and regret.
Sonia was the first to find a seat. They were all exhausted but she seemed weaker. She sat on an old log that have laid on the ground approximately over half a decade. By texture it was a hard wood but time and climate gave it a different appearance. Termites ate the inside and created a big deep hole.
“We are running from savages” Zack said. Bond was still panting as he sat with his head down.
“Cannibals?” Nazi asked with raised brows.
“I don’t know if they are cannibals”
“But they hunt humans too, right?”
“I don’t know . But they look frightening. They are definitely dangerous”
“Speaking of the devil…”
“Hold on. Tell me how you guys got to the shore. Tell us everything from the beginning. We are surprise to see you guys. We thought you will be gone”
“We were returning with our catch, then the weather changed, the cloud got dark. Suddenly there came a strong tempest. We hurried to the shore to avoid what comes next and already it was getting dark, however it’s impolitic sailing at night on a big scary surface like that.