Chapter 2
The small party of four made their way through the thick undergrowth of the forest with Torin in the lead, being most familiar with the area. The remnants of the moon shone brightly through the tree canopy as they traveled, helping to light their way.
Torin came to a sudden halt and he bent down low, examining the forest floor that was lined with dead plants and debris, running his fingers through the soil. He held his torch low over the ground, his eyes carefully scrutinizing the area.
He beckoned for Alexander to come nearer. "What is it?" Alexander asked as he stepped closer. He watched Torin pick up a broken twig off the ground and study it.
"Something has been this way," Torin said quietly, glancing around the area. "It appears to be quite recent, too. These tracks are still fresh."
"Do you know what it is?" Alexander asked, leaning over to see the faint tracks that Torin had discovered.
"I'm not sure," Torin said, looking slightly unsettled. "It looks like it might be a Morlock, but…" He turned to Alexander, fear and confusion written in his eyes. "How can this be? We saw them all destroyed."
Alexander felt worried. How could it be, indeed? Alexander himself had seen the Morlock colony destroyed also. Could it be that perhaps some had been aboveground when it happened? It was a possibility. Or perhaps…other Morlocks had found them.
Alexander tried not thinking about that and hoped it wasn't a likely possibility, but the Morlock overlord's words kept coming back to haunt him. "I am but one of many…"
Alexander had saved one Eloi village, but there were thousands, if not millions of others still enslaved to the Morlocks elsewhere, little more than cattle in the Morlock's eyes.
Had he really made a difference in these Eloi's lives? Alexander wondered. Would it have been worth it to save them from the overlord, only to have them enslaved by yet another Morlock who happened to pass by?
Alexander tried to push the thought to the side, at least for now, and concentrate on the task at hand. Whatever it was out there, Morlock or not, the sound had come from nearby. He would only think about his assumptions if they proved correct first, Alexander could not allow himself to give in to his wild speculations or he didn't know much he would last, thinking about the worst possible scenarios. Just don't worry about any of it, now, he reassured himself, watching Torin scanning the ground.
He watched Torin get to his feet and point north with his hand. "The tracks lead that way," he informed them. Alexander could here the slight tremble in Torin's voice, and he knew why. If it truly was a Morlock, then they would have a hard time fighting it off. If it was more than one, then they stood little chance.
Torin began to lead them in the direction the tracks went, carefully maneuvering through the thick undergrowth that lined the forest floor. They had only gone about thirty feet when Torin suddenly froze. He cocked his head to the side as though listening for something. Alexander strained his ears but could hear nothing but the usual sounds of the forest. Torin's expression suddenly became alarmed. Alexander could see the fear in Torin's eyes and the Eloi turned toward the others, his voice shaking slightly. "I hear something," he said hoarsely.
A sudden crashing sound in the underbrush made them all turn and out of the darkness leaped a Hunter Morlock, sliding sideways through the earth and creating deep indents in the soil as it came to a halt in front of them, snarling viciously.
The two other Eloi that had accompanied them screamed in terror and dropped their torches. They took off scampering through the trees back in the direction of the cliffs, abandoning Alexander and Torin to the mercy of the creature. Alexander realized, to his misfortune, that this must have been the creature that had made the tracks that they had seen. It was indeed a Morlock, and it did not look pleased with Alexander and Torin's intrusion.
The creature let out a low, dangerous growl, but made no attempt to attack. It simply stood there, the fine fur on its back raised as it eyed them threateningly.
Alexander noticed that this Morlock was smaller than the others he had seen. Despite its vicious display, the creature had still made no move to attack them. He cautiously took a step forward and the creature's fur bristled. It snarled, revealing rows of sharp, pointed teeth that gleamed dangerously in the dim light. "Torin," he said out of the corner of his mouth, never letting his gaze wander away from the creature, "Look. It's not attacking."
Alexander's voice seemed to irritate the creature, and it began to back away, growling threateningly, almost as if…
Alexander felt a sudden realization hit him. He had taken a few classes in animal sociology during his college years, and the creature's behavior looked somewhat familiar. He cautiously began to move toward the Morlock, taking slow, deliberate steps. The creature let out an angry bark, but it seemed to look unsure of itself. Alexander knew that, despite their bloodthirstiness, the Hunters did hold an amount of intelligence. Perhaps, just maybe, this could be used for his advantage. First, though, Alexander had to see if he was right in his idea.
"It's alright," Alexander said soothingly. The creature tilted its head and whimpered, its behavior very similar to that of a dog. "We want to help you." The creature seemed to understand and it allowed Alexander to step closer to it, nervously pawing at the ground with one of its muscular hind feet. Alexander began to tread sideways toward the trees where the creature had come from and it suddenly let out an angry growl, confirming Alexander's assumption. The creature seemed to be guarding something. Its behavior led to Alexander's belief that it was protecting something, and it was trying to warn them to stay away. His classes had finally paid off. Who knew, though, that he would ever have used his knowledge in a situation like this.
During this whole time Torin had stood frozen. The appearance of the creature seemed to be too much for him and so he stood simply watching as Alexander made several attempts to try to move in the direction where the creature had come from, each time unsuccessful as the Morlock snarled at him.
"I just want to help you," Alexander whispered. He cautiously began to move toward the spot from which the creature had come from again, but this time the creature did not try to stop him. It watched him with its eyes narrowed as Alexander slowly began to walk in that direction. The creature began to follow Alexander from behind as he followed the Morlock's tracks, clearly visible in the moonlight. He stopped at the base of a hollowed out tree trunk and he gasped as he saw what the Hunter had been trying to protect.
"Good Lord," he whispered.
Curled up in the hollow, covered in tattered rags was a young Uber Morlock, his eyes closed and his breathing coming out in ragged gasps. His pale arm was clutching his side, which, Alexander saw, to his horror, was drenched in blood. He turned to look at the other Morlock and the creature whined, looking at Alexander almost pleadingly.
Alexander leaned down and gently pulled the Morlock out of the hollow, favoring the boy's side as he laid the young creature on the ground. He recognized the Morlock was indeed of the same kind as the Morlock Lord, his long, wild hair a spectral white and his skin lacking in any pigment. The boy looked to be only about thirteen years of age. He lay there on the ground with his eyes closed, his breathing unsteady and labored.
"He's hurt," Alexander said, turning to face the Hunter Morlock. The Hunter nodded its head and whimpered sadly, looking down at the forest floor.
"I think that we might be able to help him, if you'll let us," Alexander said, looking at the Morlock questioningly. The creature raised its head. For a moment it looked unsure, then it finally nodded its head, as if it could understand him. Alexander wondered at this. He hadn't thought the Hunter would have really been able to understand him-the tone of his voice, yes, but not his actual words. It seemed the Hunters possessed more intelligence than Alexander first thought.
"Torin!" Alexander called. "I need your help!"
There was the crunching sound of footsteps and a moment later Torin appeared with his torch. At the sight of the young Uber Morlock Torin turned as white as a sheet and suddenly looked very faint, swaying on his feet.
"It's one of them, isn't it?" Torin asked weakly.
"Yes, but it's only a boy," Alexander said in exasperation. "Come on, I need your help." He handed Torin his torch.
He bent down over the boy and carefully removed the blood-soaked cloth that had been tied around his side. He pulled back the makeshift bandage and winced. A deep laceration ran along the boy's side, blood already pooling around the wound as Alexander touched the tender flesh around it, seeing if any ribs had been broken The boy's eyes flickered momentary, and he gasped something in a hoarse voice that Alexander couldn't understand, whimpering in pain.
His eyes snapped open with a suddenness that made Alexander withdraw his hand in surprise. Eerie, beige-gold eyes met his own in defiance, despite the fact that the boy's teeth were gritted in pain. Alexander could see anger in the boy's eyes, and somewhere deep within him, Alexander felt a horrible pang of guilt. Did this boy know? Did this boy know what he had done? Could he, like the other, see into his mind, know his darkest secrets, his horrible actions?
"What is your name?" Alexander asked gently, seeing the boy's anger soften.
"My name…" The boy whispered, every word strained and hard to make out, "Is Deralek Lance." The boy shuddered and his eyes closed, his body going limp. Alexander wasted no time; he quickly tied the cloth tightly around the wound and heaved the boy into his arms. "He needs medical attention," Alexander explained to Torin. "We need to get him back to the village." Torin momentarily hesitated, but nodded, looking down at the boy's blood soaked side.
Alexander began to take slow, unsteady steps toward the direction they had come from. Torin walked by his side, holding up both torches so that Alexander could see. The hunter followed close behind them, watching them untrustingly. It was difficult going, the boy's weight strained Alexander's arms, and, Alexander being a Professor for the better half of his life, did not possess a great amount of strength. Torin, although he had agreed on taking the boy, still refused to touch him, so Alexander was left entirely alone with the duty of carrying the boy. The Hunter walked unnervingly close to him, and Alexander felt himself shiver slightly whenever the Hunter glanced his way through unreadable eyes.
Seeing soft lights a head through the trees, Alexander knew they had nearly reached their destination. He looked down at the boy worriedly, and saw that the boy's lips had taken on a slightly bluish hue. The slash on the boy's side had been fairly recent, Alexander knew, or the boy wouldn't have lasted this long, with the amount of blood he had lost. As soon as they got to the village, they would have to act quickly, making sure that they were not seen.
They broke through the trees to reveal the canyon lying out before them, the lights of the Eloi structures looking warm and inviting to both Torin and Alexander. The Hunter made a funny sound deep in its throat and its eyes avoided the lights, but it followed them onward, not abandoning the young Uber Morlock. They were careful to avoid the large group of Eloi still standing along the cliffs with torches, sneaking through the thin line of trees so that they wouldn't be spotted. The last thing Alexander needed was for them to be caught, knowing most of the Eloi they would try to kill the boy.
Alexander used the hidden footholds under an overhang overlooking the canyon to carefully carry down the Uber Morlock, balancing himself precariously with one arm while holding the boy with the other. Once he had safely made it onto the platform below with the boy still unconscious within his arms, he beckoned for Torin to follow.
Torin stepped down quickly, and the Hunter leaped down, making a loud banging noise against the platform. Alexander dearly hoped that no one had heard it.
"Wait here a moment," Alexander whispered, setting down the boy. "I'm going to inform Mara of what's going on so that she doesn't get a shock. Apply pressure to that wound, also, " he directed Torin, pointing to the boy's bloodstained side. Torin nodded in understanding.
Alexander slunk across the platforms to where he knew Mara would probably be now, waiting for him to return. Sure enough, when he entered the Eloi structure that was home to Mara and Kalen, Mara was still up, sitting in a chair next to a lamp waiting for him. She looked slightly surprised to see him so quickly appear through the cloth-draped doorway. "Kalen's asleep," she whispered. He wanted to go up with you and Torin and the other men, but I wouldn't let him. What happened?" she asked questioningly.
Here it was, then. The explanation. Alexander took a deep breath, hoping that Mara's reaction to what he was about to tell her wouldn't be a bad one. "Mara, I have something to tell you."
He quickly explained to her the events that had just taken place, Mara sitting there wide-eyed as he finished. "You've got to help him, Mara. I don't know how much the boy will last. You do understand, don't you?"
Mara's eyes were filled with worry. For a long moment, there was silence, and Mara looked down at the floor, not meeting Alexander's eyes. "Alright," she whispered. "I will see him."
Feeling his constant feeling of guiltiness subside for the time being, Alexander quickly returned to Torin and the hunter.
The boy's condition looked as it had been before, but because of his skin color it was hard to tell how much blood the boy had lost for sure, though. Either way, he was as white as a ghost. Telling Torin that Mara had given her consent, Alexander picked up the boy again, trying hard not to jostle him.
Entering Mara's small home, Alexander watched her turn a shade paler at the site of the Hunter entering through the doorway. It made no threatening gestures, however, and it sat tamely in a corner. Alexander went into the empty bedroom with a double bunk design and set the boy on the bottom one, turning to face Mara. "How much do you know about medicine?"
"Well, Mara said slowly, I can clean a wound, as well as stitch it up and apply some salves, in the boy's case."
Alexander nodded. "That'll have to do. Just please hurry."
Mara looked at him strangely and Alexander sighed. "I swear I shall explain why, only as soon as you help him." Again, the voice in his head rang out, this time not as the Morlock overlord's, but as his own. "Murderer…"
Mara left the room for a moment and when she returned she was carrying a needle, some bowls, and some pouches, along with other items. "I've set some water to boil," she told him. "Let's take a look at the wound."
She stripped the cloth from the boy's side to reveal the wound underneath, clearly visible through the boy's shredded remains of a shirt. She let out an audible gasp at the site of the wound. It still looked rather bad, but it had at least stopped bleeding so much, Alexander noticed.
As soon as the water was at a boil, Mara began to clean the wound to prevent infection. She touched an area near the slash with a soft cloth and the boy groaned in pain.
Stitching the cut was slow and tedious. Mara carefully stitched the skin together with one that had experience in sewing, so that it would hopefully leave less of a scar when it healed, though it would without a doubt leave a bit of a scar, being so deep.
When Mara finally glanced up from her stitching, Alexander walked over to stand beside her. "Well?" he said cautiously.
"I've finished the stitching, but, well, I'm afraid we're going to just have to wait."
Alexander looked down at the unconscious boy, and again a feeling of guilt and regret crept over him. He stared into the face of the boy, so much like the Morlock Lord's and he wondered if he had done the right thing.
"You are a man plagued by those two words, what if…"
Alexander shivered. "Yes, I am, aren't I?" he whispered, his voice so low that only he could hear. This time, though, what if would be of no use to him. What if, indeed? Alexander couldn't help but thinking that perhaps he had made a horrible mistake, but wasn't quite sure why.
A nagging feeling in the back of his head told him, though, that something was wrong. Horribly wrong.
End of chapter two! What did everyone think? Please review and tell me! I want to hear your opinions. I live for people's reviews, let me know that you're reading by reviewing me!