Forest Fire

....Four....

The two young boys stalked through the shadows, miserably watching their friends and comrades being loaded up into metal barred cages, or slaughtered without mercy. Few tears were shed, but the duo's body language spoke words they dared not utter. Their home was being destroyed by the one who had lived with them for countless years, and would probably be held accountable for what was happening if this would ever end.

Mitch's knuckles popped from how tight he was holding his bow, while Jerome clutched Betty firmly in one paw and defensively out in front of him, just like his father had told him to. They had been at this for the last ten minutes, avoiding other humans while sneakily murdering them one by one, well, at least the blood-thirsty Bacca had.

The boy just didn't have the heart to kill a person, no matter what they were doing or why, so his brother had volunteered for the job of protecting the only family that had survived and he had left. The unlikely pair of friends and siblings continued on their way, traipsing under the mangled trees to avoid detection and moonlight.

"Hey! Look, ones taking a boy hostage!" A worker screams, causing both males to cringe and dart toward the cover of the biome, Jerome clasping his black-clawed paw around the others forearm and dragging him behind as he reaches speeds impossible for any human to match. Shouts of alarm and the thunks of swords hitting the nature echoes dully behind them as the Bacca clenches his teeth, ears flattening tightly onto his skull and tail waving behind him as he leaps over fallen logs and dodges boulders in the way.

At one point, the being stumbled as a sharp pain imbedded itself in his hind leg, but Jerome dismissed it, believing it was just a bramble catching his fur and nicking his skin. Mitch had leaped into his brother's arms when the swords started being chucked toward them, using the Bacca's thick furred back as a shield from the onslaught of weapons.

Soon, the noise emitting from the humans chasing them quieted down, which led both to understand that they had escaped the wrath of angry lumberjacks--as Mitch thought they were called, of course. Finally, with the adrenaline leaving his system, Jerome starts feeling the full effects of running top notch with a ninety-pound teenager in his arms. Setting Mitch down gently, the duo carried on in silence, the only sound around them being occasional rustling of bushes and night owls hooting in warning to prey to hide while it still can.

Rushing water fills the uncomfortable silence and assaults the two travelers ears reminding them how they had no resources, only the axe drenched in blood, Betty, and Mitch's now and arrows. They hurry over to the running stream, Jerome rinsing his paws and lethal weapon as the other stares at something in his leg. "What?" He questions, turning to look back, then squeals as he spots the feathered head protruding from his fur.

As Mitchell tries to calm him down, the boy inspects the wound, taking note of most of the flesh was torn from the limb and hanging loosely around the head of the arrow. It was in quite deep, but with a few tugs he managed to get it out successfully without any further problems. Unless you count the blood that was currently gushing from the gash as he wrapped it with leaves from surrounding trees.

Fish flashed under the clear water, silver scales reflecting the moon that was still high in the sky, glowing proudly down at her kingdom as the two refugees lay in wait, sharp eyes following the slick creatures and counting the seconds in between as another passed. A quick flash of brown sunk into the icy water and pulled up as fast with a squiggling fish that had been impaled on the Bacca's coal black claw.

He slapped it onto the jade colored grass, watching it's movement slowly come to a halt as the life that had once inhabited the tiny animal abandoned it for eternity. Mitch also caught his fair share of food, and they happily chewed it, nibbling the bones and chatting quietly in fear of other people who could be aware of their existence overhearing their plans of action. The Bacca and boy had agreed that they were going to build another shelter, then set off in search of the rest of the tribe, and, hopefully rescue them without a scratch. Jerome believed this would be fool proof, and they would set off for a new home in the morning, somewhere safe where none could ever find them unless they actually found directions from either one of them.

Eventually, the two were lulled into a world where all their troubles were washed away in the land of dreams.