Hunt for Survival

Wolves

Prashant

I felt good after discussing my pain with someone and we both had experienced losing someone and he was close to that someone, but I wasn’t that close because of the time we didn’t have with each other.

By the way, it was already morning and Princess Tiara was gone. We didn’t know when she had gone back. We found a note written on the wall that said that she was going back.

“Well, she went back early.” I heard Shaurya.

“Isn’t it better that she had gone back or else you would have been fighting with her all day?”

“It is better to have someone who at least argues with me rather than someone who doesn’t really speak at all.” I looked at him weirdly. “Don’t give me that look at all. I am stating the truth.”

“Uh-huh…”

“Where should we go now?” I looked ahead and saw at least three ways.

“I don’t know.”

“Then we can just back the bet.”

“Let’s first check if anyone in the way is blocked or not.”

“How are we going to find out about that?”

“By seeing if the voice returns or not. If the voice returns, then the way is blocked and if it doesn’t, then the way is open.” He didn’t say anything but nodded at my words. “We had to find a sound which could produce at least a loud sound that could at least give us a sign that we could move forward.” I said to myself.

“How about my strike?” He asked and had already taken out the knife and I do remember that his strike had that color. Its strike is also sharp. What if, instead of telling us, it creates a way.

“No, what if, instead of telling us, it creates a way.”

“I haven’t thought about that.” He said while putting back his knife, and I found stone and stone and stone only. I think that I should do something which these only. I took the two stone but I am not sure if the sound can be really produced or not. Let’s give me a try and, as expected, it didn’t work well. I sighed.

“Then how about we check the paths?” He said and I nodded.

“We don’t even have any other option and it would take plenty of our time.”

“We are also not in a hurry. We can do that and it is not like that if we didn’t do it fast and went back home and didn’t wake up early the next morning, then we would be late for college. We are free of time over here.”

“We might now have some time, but we have to do this as soon as possible and don’t forget that your mother must be waiting for you.”

“I surrender. You might not be talking so much, but when you talk you surely put the facts that make me feel that I am the most i***t person over here.”

“Is there any doubt about that?” I said and smirked a little before I went onto the first path. There the trees were shorter than the normal ones and were also dense, almost making sunlight block from our path.

“There is so much darkness due to these trees.” I don’t really think this path would lead us to anywhere, but despite having that feeling in my heart we walked further and, as I had predicted, we got to the end soon enough. I sighed.

“No problem, we have more ways waiting for us.”

“Did I say anything?”

“No but your eyes are saying the same.” We went out from there and went through the second one. I am kind of getting impatient with all these tricks and want to get out of here as soon as possible, but I am not showing that impatience with my face because it is of no use. We will be able to complete it only when we reach the real mission of this mission and that is the king and I think that Princess Tiara must have gone ahead. She would have helped us if she had been here, but it is also better that she is not here with us. She has gone to where she belongs.

“If that annoying Princess were here, then we must have found the way long while ago.” I looked at him. He had said what I was thinking right now. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” I looked away.

“Nothing, I was just thinking the same as you said.”

“You were thinking about princess Tiara?”

“Don’t take this in the wrong way.”

“Did I say that you liked her? I am just that you were thinking about her.” I rolled my eyes. “I think this must be the way.”

“Don’t be confident about the situation.”

“I am not and I have said that I think that this is the way. See, we haven’t seen a dead end yet. Well, I am wondering what would happen if that one was also opened and every path would have a different route.”

“Then I think that if we had a different route but we are over here, that means that whatever route we took would eventually have taken us to the palace. The difference would be just the short route and the long route.”

“We could have asked the princess about the location of her palace. She had just told us the way and in that too she had left us so soon.”

“You are missing her already?”

“Who would miss that sassy grandmother? I am just saying that she would have been of great help to us.” I shook my head.

“It was her wish and she had done what she could have and now the destination is ours, so what is there to be worried about if we go to find that palace on our own?”

“I won’t speak very much about this topic.”

“Well enough,” I said, and I saw that the path was getting narrow and dark narrower was the sunlight.

“What is going on? Is this path merged with the last one?” Shaurya asked.

“I don’t think so. In the previous one, the path wasn’t this narrow though the trees are of the same height and dense.” I said.

“You are right, but if the darkness falls over here then how are we going to find our way?”

“Leave that thing out of your mind for a while. We have to concentrate on this road and try to get out of here.”

“How about we check the third route?” he asked.

“What if that path is closed and we have just reached so far from the main point? It would be hard for us to go back. Now this is the only path which can decide whether we should walk further or drop down here and see the last path.”

“You are so sounding serious about this situation.”

“So is this situation looking funny that I should c***k jokes?”

“Can you c***k jokes?”

“No funny thing. Just focus.”

“Alright boss,” he said, and I rolled my eyes, but a smile also came over my face. Though there was darkness, there were still lights which were able to make their way over there. We kept moving forward until I saw the bright light coming from outside and my heart was filled with hopefulness.

“I think that we have found the exit.” I said, but I didn’t hear his voice and I looked behind and saw him focusing on his steps. “What are you doing?”

“Focusing on my steps.”

“Why?”

“Because you said that I should focus and I am focusing on this.”

“Are you crazy?”

“My mother says that I am.”

“Your mother says the truth.”

“I knew that my mother wouldn’t lie to me.” Though in the darkness I couldn’t see his expression so much, I thought that he must be smiling. I shook my head and we came out of there and were met by the bright sun and that made me realize that we had come went out of this path.

“This path was correct. We have crossed the path.”

“Yeah, your instincts were right and we had reached over here.” I looked at him and I saw that at the side of the path which had come through was a large stone. I guess this is the third path which could have led us to hear, but by you reached the end, you will have lost hope.

“Now we should move forward.”

“I want to rest now.”

“Then go ahead.”

“Don’t you want to rest?”

“I will after I get something to eat. I am feeling hungry.”

“As you wish.” He went away and sat on the stone, while I also didn’t go far to search for the food and I found a tree. Though I don’t want to eat these again and again, we can’t help. This is the one source of food and I haven’t seen any animals so far. I climbed the tree though it was difficult for me. I am not as experienced as Shaurya is at climbing trees. I took some fruit and went down.

I looked around and saw only the trees. Sometimes I wonder if this is a dream and neither Shaurya and I are in this place. This dream will be over soon but it is always, as all I can see sometimes, that this is the reality and sometimes I wonder if we defeat the king then we to really be able to go back where we belong. Sometimes I have the feelings of those TV shows where people are left on a deserted island and they survive over here, but this experience for me is something that I can’t forget and having such a friend in my life is also something that I don’t want to let go.

I want to know him more but I am not sure if we will be able to see each other after this all ends. Hopes and hopes and hopes are the only thing that fills inside my heart right now. Then I realized that I have been over here for so many minutes. I decided to go back but something stopped me and that was nothing but a sound and that too, of the growling. I couldn’t move my legs further and I turned back and from the distance I saw the bush through which some light was coming and from the growl which I had just heard, I can only assume that it was made by the wolves and, as expected, they came out from there.

Everyone was looking in my way just as if they wanted to hunt me as soon as possible and would make me a feast for others. I gulped. I can’t be weak over here. I have to face them. Their walk was slow but I knew that they knew were just waiting for me to make a mistake so that they could hunt me down.

“Oh ho…I didn’t accept this people to come and welcome us into the jungle.” I heard his voice and I looked at my side and saw him.

“How come you are over here?”

“You haven’t come for long and I heard a voice which was some footsteps and growling, so I went to check and found you over here with the people who are welcoming us over here.”

“You sure can find jokes in serious situations as well.” He chuckled.