Mondo's Clan

Chapter 20: The Lomen

The lomen had at one time been just like every one else. Then one harsh winter they were trapped by heavy snow and their reserves ran out. The weak, generally the women and children, the men killed and ate. The only water they had to drink trickled down the walls of the cave they were hold up in for the winter. The water was contaminated by minerals not meant for human consumption.

Never being over intelligent they gang raped the few women left alive. After the winter passed and time came for the birth. The few women gave birth to monstrosities the babies were extra large and deformed and killed the mother. They bled to death. The lomen' s animal instincts told them to capture women make them slaves to take care of the babies and to make more. Also by this time they had come to like the taste of human flesh.

The women gave birth to 90% boys, the girls were eaten, the lomen began to raid other tribes for women slaves to bear their young and men as meat. The contaminated water had caused deformities that seem to breed true thus creating another species of man. This became the way of life for the lomen.

They were totally nonproductive they lived to raid, rape and eat ... other tribes. Any one of the three had to be broken and they would vanish. We planned to end all three. The captives served multiple uses. For food, to reproduce, and to tend to the children. The intact male slaves were used for any menial work that was needed.

The sad part of it all is there is no way to save the captives. They had been fed on human flesh and the women were pregnant with the lomens children. The men were crippled from having parts of their bodies ripped off to be eaten. When we made our move it would have to be total.

We told the captives what we had planned to do, They offered their help. I asked how many men they could provide. They said at least twenty five may be more. We gave them directions to the cave under the water fall. In two weeks there would be someone there with instructions. The five of them departed for their village.

We hid the three bodies and continued on our search about three hours later we approached the lip of the bowl. I left Hobar to watch this set of steps. Drago went right and I went left to check out the area around the other two steps.

We had made better observations the steps were not on the four points but were off a bit and the bowl was not truly round more like an oval. The gate from the bramble gate side was Southwest. The River gate was more to the Northeast side.

I moved around to the trail coming from the steps Southeast. Something bothered be about it so I followed a ways. I almost wish I hadn't. It ended at a pit and explained the nauseating odor in the air. The pit was filled with human bones and small scavengers. I could tell that this was not the only pit that had been here, There was evidence that others had been covered over.

We met back with Hobar then headed back to the falls. It took three days to reach the falls. I was mulling over different ideas as we walked. Drago was scouting either side of the trail looking for gathering places. Hobar was looking at places for ambushes.

The 1st night we made camp and compared notes. Now I understood the reason Drago had been so quite. He not only found a similar pit but observed two male slaves and a club bearing loman. The male slaves were dumping bones... human bones. Runt wanted to attack but Drago held him back. Other than that the trail went no where.

This lessened the chance of returnees walking up on us while the attack was going on we rested and moved on the next morning. On the third day we neared our trail to the River Cave. We heard what we guessed was laughter. Bruno was rumbling, Runt was crouched down in his attack mode. I peered through the bushes.

There before my eyes were two lomen teasing a crocodile. One had a bamboo pole with a piece of meat on the end. They were standing on a large rock, the croc couldn't reach them. The one with the pole would lower the pole and tempt the croc to rise out of the water after it. The loman was just fast enough that the croc would miss.

The croc looked to be about 14 ft long and there were a couple more waiting their turn. I decided we need to help our croc friends. I put my hands on the cats and gave the silent motion for attack. They roared the loman looked around to see the cats bounding toward them...

The lomen screamed and leaped ... right into the jaws of the crocs. With the snapping of the jaws and the thrashing of their tails the crocs made short work of the lomen. We watched them through their frenzy and suddenly it was over and they slipped beneath the lake surface. The lake once again serene and peaceful.