Troop Movements
Your family follows you from a short distance, the entire troop cold and afraid. The jungle itself carries within it an ominous air of chaos and terror, and even as your arm shoots hot fire deep from your forearm into your shoulder with every movement, you refrain from anything more than the subtlest wince with every step.
"K-Kerchak." A voice calls shortly behind you, the abnormally soft voice of your niece turning your head just, the young gorilla clearly tired as she hurries to your side. "We can't keep this pace, we need to slow down." The single question has your mind flashing with utter horrific fear, the thought of cages appearing before your eyes, nets and other things imprisoning your family - your son shot and falling cruelly to his death.
"No! We march on until we find safety!" You roar back with finality, Terk shying away in intimidation, enough to have you internally scolding yourself. Were Kala here… She isn't however, and you brush the thought away with practiced ease now. Your troop has done nothing but travel week after week, the jungle inhabited by those creatures, turning into an utter realm of chaos even after you'd narrowly escaped that man-thing. In your mind, you've burned that name into your thoughts with a cold hatred: Clayton.
"Terk," you eventually speak in a tired voice, the voice of a father who's lost his family twice over now, who can hardly even push himself to move forward anymore but for the simple fact that there are those around you who are still relying on you. "We have to keep moving… we can rest once we've found it. Here, there are too many dangers." Terk hesitates, before slowly falling behind you without further comment, falling in step with her enormous friend. Said friend has the ground quaking with each mighty step forward, enough to have you grunting to yourself in anger; you'd taken in the lone survivor of elephants in the area - the rest couldn't be found, likely prey to the creatures which had so thoroughly taken over the jungle.
With tired movements, you parse through some thick vines, wiping them from view, only to stop suddenly at the view which awaits you.
Upon a clifftop you stand, the view from this peak offering you to see far off in the distance. Desolation across a large open savannah, an area you'd never known to exist in the past but apparently has - you don't allow yourself a chance to question it, instead analyzing the area before you. There's some greenery to be found of course, but the land itself looks to be yellowing and dying off. No animals frequent the grounds as far as your eyes can see, and with a frown you wonder what it is that's left it in such a state. You're ready to accept that this direction is a lost cause and have your family begin marching back, to head forth to a new area.
A glimmer in the distance stops you, and with squinting eyes, you can barely see it. A forest, far off in the distance. Perhaps a few days journey, manageable if tiring. While there's little vegetation as far as you can see, you'll have to make do with insect life for the time being.
With a heavy sigh, you turn, motioning for your stunned troop to follow. "We keep going," you order with a heavy heart. "Safety awaits us there." You point to the forest so far away with a thick finger, and though you hear no cries of dissent, you can feel it amongst them. Even so, you bear with it and continue forward, hoping against hope that you don't run into danger.
Such hopes are dashed only a day into your trek. Deeper now in the savannah, you were lucky enough to find thinning sources of water that haven't yet dried out. You were right about the insects, finding ravenous anthills that you and your family could feast on, even if it left your bellies feeling unfilled. Even so, halfway through the next day, you were stopped abruptly by a strange sound.
High pitched laughter, which seemed to come all around you in the tall grass of the open plains. Your troops froze, and Tantor among them stood out due to his enormous bulk.
"Stay back!" You threatened the voices who hid within the grass, searching for their owners. The giggling continued even so, and then they spoke.
"Ever seen a meal as thick and juicy as that?" An amused voice questions, as another answers back with a short "nope". "All I've seen are those skeleton looking elephants lately - no meat on their bones at all! But this one… oooo boy, five star meal just presented to us like this, can we really say no?" Cries of affirmation led you to be aware that there were at least four of these things. Calming yourself, you took a breath, listening out for the telltale sounds of a predator stalking its prey.
All was silent for a moment, and in that moment, you realized these creatures weren't nearly as silent as Sabor. Your dash to the right had you clobbering down one of these beasts, and it froze with shock at your charge. Roaring into the scared face of the creature, you grabbed it by the neck between two hands, even as it immediately tried to nip at you; trapped in your grip however, its ability to do so was limited. With utter ease, you slammed it into the ground beneath you, lifting it and slamming again, repeating the pattern two more times as you felt bones shatter beneath every blow. It stilled.
You took in a deep inhale of air, taking back in the sounds around you, the sudden fire of pain in your shoulder causing you to stumble for only a moment. That was enough however, as another creature leapt from the grass, intending on latching itself to your shoulder - with a burst of speed, you catch it with a fist to the snout, the creature crying in pain at the blow, before you follow up with a hammer blow to the downed beast, shattering its ribs in that single punch.
You're cut off by the trumpeting sound of the elephant, quaking steps appearing behind you as another beast cries out in terror, eyes wide, before they simply disappear along with the rest of its body, underneath the foot of the addition to your troop.
Taking deep breaths, you found your family not far away, huddled in on themselves with Terk at the lead, but closer to you and the elephant, two more of these creatures stared - gone was the giggling and confidence. Now they stood frozen.
Taking one step forward, you let out a roar, the sound echoing in the distance, the two regaining their wits as they fled in terror. Standing tall on your feet, you waited only a few moments longer before falling onto your fists, taking in handfuls of air into your lungs, wincing at the all consuming pain that could no longer be pushed aside. Looking about your terrified people, you could only offer one last thing to say.
"We keep moving… we rest when we're safe." The order this time is followed immediately, and through the pain, you forced your body to move.
