Lost Amongst Many

Chapter 15

After a few hours of practice with Kara, I was sitting on the floor with Kenneth, drawing with what I could because apparently crayons melt. And fast. Kara was watching the windows, and suddenly, panic burst in the town like a balloon. People were running everywhere, screaming and some were crying.

A guy running past screamed, "PLEASE DON'T EAT ME!"

I made my way to the window to see what all the fuss was about, and was excited to see Jerome standing at the edge of the forest. Kara was terrified, staring at Jerome with wide eyes.

"Kara! That is Jerome!" I cried in excitement, "Let us go to him!"

"Preston, he's dangerous! He could kill you!" She said, panicked at my enthusiasm, "you will NOT go near him."

"Kara! Please! I am going if you like it or not!"

She watched in despair as I managed to open the door and run down the street. I dodged people as I slowly picked my way to Jerome. Although, a few feet away from him, someone did not watch where they went, and blindsided me. I stopped, trying to reorient my eyes with my surroundings. Jerome stepped onto the road, just as Kara reached me. Kara picked me up, and held me away from Jerome.

I fought her grip, and slipped out of her arms. I finished running to Jerome, and he scooped me up and put me on his back. Kara backed away. Mitch appeared from the dense forest behind me. Kara looked stunned as Mitch got the same lift as I did. Mitch held onto me as, without any exchange, Jerome spun and bolted, leaving Kara still on the road with a blank expression.

"Preston, what happened to you?" Mitch had begun interrogating me the second I touched solid ground back at the bacca meadow.

"Jerome-" I whined, not remembering the term he used.

"What, poachers? Hunters?"

"Yes! Hunters."

"Explain yourself. Elaborate."

"All I did was step out of my cove to wake up, and I was met with a bear trap," I wiggled my stump of a leg, "and a net on my head. A human picked me up and started to drive into the town, bear trap still on my leg. A boy named Kenneth pulled me off the truck  I was on and took me to Kara. She helped, Mitch. She really did."

"She took your leg off."

"It was useless. Most of the nerves and muscles in it were dead anyway. If she left it, it would be a dead weight on me, and it would hurt me."

"How about you and I go back tomorrow and talk to her? Jerome... You don't seem welcome there."

"Of course not, " he growled, "they hate me because of something my father did when I was a cub."

"What? What'd he do?"

"Killed a few hunters on the forest edge. Still on territory, still fair game. In view of the town, he showed them what happens when you step on our land with weaponry."

"Oh. Okay then. Preston, you and I are going to the town tomorrow to see her. Okay?"

I nodded, and Mitch told me to stay right where I was for the night. He put a bowl of raspberries in fornt of me for dinner, and they were gone soon enough. Food gone, I fell asleep in Mitch's jacket in a niche I found in the back of the cove.