RUBBLE… RUBBLE…
The guards for the elephant had leaned over the edge of the hole.
One guard scratched their head.
Gaurd1: "Uh... it's only like ten feet deep..."
Guard2: "Yeah... I thought they were... dead."
Down below, Toka was face down in dust, half-conscious.
His mind was practically useless.
"If the guards catch me... I'm done... I can't able to finish the bike in one day... I'm going to be on the front page of Butcher's special..."
He groaned like a wounded animal " aaaaah"
The guards made their way down, grabbed Toka by his arms like a sack of potatoes and pulled him up.
Toka tried to mumble something, but once he opened his mouth...
"Gag him!"
A piece of cloth was stuffed in his mouth verge.
Once in the truck, they basically tossed him in the back like loading luggage.
He was unconscious.
...
A FEW MOMENTS LATER...
The next time he opened his eyes....
He was lying on a stretcher with; cold metal under him, sterile lights above him.
His eyesight was blurry - fuzzy.
But he could tell... a doctor?
A doctor with a scalpel, leaning over Toka's stomach.
Cutting it.
Trying to open up his side.
Trying to take out his kidneys.
He screamed,
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!?"
He jolted awake with a gasp.
For a heartbeat, he panicked—his hands flew immediately to his sides—
"Kidneys...? Here...? YES! STILL HERE!"
A wave of relief crashed over him like holy water. He yanked his hoodie up and frantically checked every inch.
"Stomach? Check.
Heart? Still beating."
He let out a long,
"YAAAWN..."
and stretched so hard he cracked his spine like crunchy candy.
That's when he noticed her.
The kid from before—curled up, sleeping peacefully on top of Toka's scrap bag like it was the softest pillow known to man.
"How...? That thing is literally screws and metal..."
But, she slept like a log.
Toka looked around and froze.
GROWWWWL
His stomach cried out like a dying animal.
Of course, he hadn't eaten anything all day.
He sighed, worn his hoodie, took a knife from his pocket, and gently covered the sleeping kid with some leaves and twigs like some sort of awkward babysitter.
"Sleep tight. Don't die. I'll be back."
Then he did a scan of the land, pacing in a ten-meter circle to understand his environment.
Then he saw it: A peculiar fruit-bearing tree, and a strange one at that, the fruits grew in the strangest way he had ever seen.
They were like...an apple with smooth spikes and he eagerly selected one with cautiousness.
"…Is this edible… or is this a mine from nature?"
His stomach gurgled.
He took a deep breath, prepared himself, and took the tiniest bite -like a hamster chomping on a treat it should not have.
Then, he waited.
One minute. Two. Three.
He sat there like a statue, staring at his hands.
FIVE MINUTES LATER....
Nothing. No poison. No dizzy spell. No stomach explosion.
"YES! Safe for human consumption! Probably!"
He immediately took a bigger bite.
It was surprisingly sweet.
"…WHY IS THIS BETTER THAN THE APPLES IN MY CITY!?"
With new energy, he plucked several spiky apples and loaded them into the hoodie pouch!
"They're perfect breakfast fruit. Although I have no idea if she'll like them."
On his way back, Toka paused next to a dislodged tree trunk. He picked up a thick branch, tested the weight and nodded solemnly.
Then he sharpened the end with the knife into what started to look like a spear.
"Perfect. Primitive weapon acquired."
He twirled the branch in the air, gleefully.
"Whatever tries to eat me today, I will poke it first
...
Meanwhile, in the clearing of the woods...
The child slowly squirmed out from under the pile of leaves that Toka had used for a blanket. Her hair was messy with leaves and her eyes half-closed.
She rubbed her eyes and blinked once—
And then she froze entirely.
Trees. Tall trees. Green everywhere.
"Eh...? EEEEHHH!?"
She looked left and right, up and down, in a full panic circle.
"…This isn't that Ghost house..."
She put her arms out and rushed behind a bush for a quick nature call.
Because not even chaos and confusion could stop biology.
...
As Toka walked towards the clearing, happily munching away on his spiky fruit, there was a sudden rustle-rustle from the bushes.
He froze.
Eyes wide. Fruit still in his mouth.
He quickly tossed the rest of his fruit aside like useless loot, and gripped his sharpened spear with both hands.
"Alright... alright... stay calm... you've got this..."
And then panic:
"WAIT—I REALLY DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO SWING THIS SPEAR!! I DON'T EVEN CARRY A SPEAR, I'M A SCRAP COLLECTOR! NOT A CAVEMAN!"
His brain was racing like:
"…But who knows if the enemy knows that, right?"
And then he stood there shaking and trying to look threatening, while attempting to hold the spear in the most awkward way possible.
Then—
"Hyaa—!"
A small figure jumped out of the bushes.
Toka nearly screamed, nearly stabbed himself, nearly died.
Toka: "...W H Y."
He dropped the spear and stared with his dead eyes.
"What the hell? Hey, you little brat! Don't you have ANY fear at ALL!?" Toka pointed to the dangerous woods.
"You're in a dangerous freakin' forest all alone—IN BROAD DAYLIGHT—I can't believe you aren't dead already. Do you WANT to get eaten!?"
The kid just stared back at him, with her innocent eyes, as if she didn't give him a minor heart attack. Toka let out a long sigh, willing his heart to go back to "panic mode" for the day—
"please don't eat me."
He then picked up the spiky apples he had dramatically thrown away, dusted them off a bit, and handed them back to her. She eagerly took them and started biting into one like a totally normal apple!
Toka gawked "You didn't even check for poison...?"
The kid looked up at him with a shrug and stuffed her cheeks full of fruit.
"Huh?" Toka shocked, frustrated again. "Kids these days are built different..." While she was busy enjoying breakfast, Toka bent down next to the scrap and tools he was fortunate to get free before he fell. Bolts, wires, gears, plates and metal scraps, all secure in a neat little pile .
Toka dug through it like a racoon, rifling through a trash can for a gourmet meal.
"If I can build a basic bike… or even a half-functioning bicycle…we might be able to get out of here…"
He rubbed his chin, imagining blueprints in his head.
But first—Survival.
He stood up and tightened his hoodie strings.
"Pipsqueak, stay put. Don't wander off. Don't go climbing trees. Don't poke at animals. Don't touch plants. Don't touch ANYTHING."
The kid nodded without saying anything more. Still chewing.
He wanted the highest point. A hill, a cliff, a tree - anything to get above the tree line.
He mumbled to himself, "All right, time to scout an escape route. Just have to hope the forest doesn't get me first."
And with that, he began to patrol the area, step by careful step, looking for higher ground.
...
Toka hadn't even taken three steps before he heard it.
rustle... rustle... rustle...
Not a small rustle. Not a rabbit. But the heavy, purposeful rustle that signified:
"Something big is moving in your direction."
His entire body became rigid.
His grip on the spear strengthened. His legs? Trembling like he was standing on a spin cycle in a washing machine.
He murmured, without turning his head; "Kid.... get under the leaves. Go. Gooo."
The kid was trembling too.
She still didn't move.
So, Toka leaned down, carefully scooped her up, and slid her under the pile of leaves, like he was tucking in a newborn baby.
"Stay put. Don't make a sound. Stay still..."
The sound of rustling became even more louder.
His heart hammered against his ribs.
He raised the spear — a very unsteady spear — and took the smallest step back.
Then it stepped from the trees.
The wolf-man stepped onto the clearing. Tall, muscular, covered in fur…sniffing the air like it was trying to find the scent of life itself.
But its eyes were clouded.
Unfocused.
It wasn't looking at anything — because it couldn't.
It was blind.
Toka's fear paused for a moment.
He said softly to himself:
"…Huh. Lucky break."
His legs were still quaking. His hands were still sweating. At least the thing could not see.
He stood completely still. Like statue still.
He even held his breath a little.
He motioned with one hand under the leaves to the girl:
"Be quiet… completely quiet..."
For one magical second everything was calm and still.
Then the girl—terrified and frozen—shook her body once with fear.
Just once.
But the leaves around her rustled loud:
SHHHK! SHHHK! SHHHK!
Toka squeezed his eyes shut "…Oh no."
The wolf-man's ears twitched up sharply.
It's head flicked up to the sound.
And before Toka could take a breath—
It leaped straight for the leaf pile.
Toka yelled "WAIT—! NOT THAT LEAVES PILE—!"
He jumped forward with the spear, panic twisting his face.
In that moment he realized "I should've taken karate classes instead of scavenging scrap metal!! AAAARRRGGGHHHHHH"