Between Earth and Gods Part 2

Chapter 1: Winds of Change

It's been a week since the older boy and the hunter went foraging and hunting. Recent weeks were bountiful and the forest has been generous in vegetables, fruits, and even medicinal herbs, the gods even blessed them with a satisfying hunt securing the hunter and the children with meat for at least 2 or 3 weeks from now on. But their resources are dwindling, and as things go the older boy assumes they will run out of food in around a week and a half.

They will need to go foraging or hunting in the next couple of days, the older girl said they will run out of vegetables in around 4 days or so from now on, and after those run out the remaining meat will dwindle faster. But the hunter has been acting strange recently, he forbade the older girl from doing do her weekly washing of clothes routine and even forbade the older boy to take the mischievous boy with him to go foraging within the safe area saying it's not safe anymore. Something drastically changed within the hunting packs and their territories, the hunter knew exactly what, but so far, they didn't have any moment safe from prying ears where the hunter could inform the older boy of the current situation. Whatever it is, it's a danger the 2 can't overcome together, even with the hunter's inhuman, strength, speed, and agility and with the older boy's increased skill and strength gained , one can only assume that the biggest of the packs has started making aggressive moves, and if that is true without any help, they have no chance against a pack that size and strength, and the pack's mere presence would drastically lower their chance of foraging and hunting ... and their survival.

Predators on this planet are far bigger, stronger, faster,  agile, and smarter than any predator on Earth, not to mention much more organized and synchronized in their attacks, the older boy knows that if they cross the path with the big pack he can only become the martyr to buy the hunter enough time to escape and keep the other children safe, he won't be able to escape, and the hunter won't have the strength to defend him, all the older boy could do is stand his ground and buy the hunter the extra seconds he needs to distance himself, for he alone has the speed to outmaneuver and outrun any animal, for he alone has the strength to keep the others safe and the knowledge to get them safely home.

The older boy made the hunter promise if anything came to worse, he was to leave him behind and carry on the older boy's wish in his stead. With the sense of his soon-impending death, he enters a state of slight anxiety: no matter how deep he breathes he has that sense of not being enough, looking at his hand in the shallow light of the fireplace he can see it trembling, and for some reason, he feels like crying. He can only close his fist in protest of his weakness, he has long been ready to sacrifice himself when needed for the others to survive, one family crying at a funeral is less tragical than 4 families doing the same thing, that is his clause his way of living but whatever he does he couldn't shake his one desire to see his parents just one last time before he dies. The older boy calls it a weakness but having desires and last-moment regrets is normal within all living things with even the slightest self-sentience.

Older Girl: - Are you feeling unwell Virgil?

Older Boy: - I'm fine I just ... remembered my parents. I ... miss them.

He doesn't look at her, he keeps his eyes on the ground trying to recompose himself, the thought of the probability of dying soon without seeing his parents ever again doesn't do well on his mental sanity transmitting directly into his body sending him into what seems to be a panic attack. It's not the 1st time he experienced something like this, he knows the symptoms are from mental stress, anxiety, or phobia, and in most cases, nothing is wrong with the body, or most probably caused by the brain itself, and that the best way to recover is to lay down, try to relax, control his breathing and more importantly avoid the trigger that started the symptoms. It's impressive how much you can find on the internet these days, he starts smiling, trying to distract himself, but that doesn't seem possible at the moment, if he is to die soon, he wants to tell his parents even once, how great they are and thank them for everything, resulting in steadily pushing the trigger, slowly becoming more nauseous.