A/N: Zeb still is two paces ahead of the hunters, but is starting to suffer from his injuries, lack of sleep, and malnutrition. Being an adult Lasat of 2.1 meters in height and muscular, he isn't getting the proper balance of food to sustain him. At least he has a large supply of water near to keep him from getting dehydrated. Homesickness is also plaguing him along with the physical maladies.

Chapter 6 Continuing Survival

Zeb woke up with a start to Ashla grabbing his left hand in her mouth and her sharp fangs were irritating his fur and skin.

"What the!?" he cried out and sat up seeing that the raft had stopped up against the shoreline of the river and he was now in a small cove of sorts. He turned around and beginning to bat Ashla away from him, he saw something that took his breath away.

There up away from the river stood a structure that looked like a stone temple covered in a coat of moss and vegetation. A large opening shone through the shadows cast from the tree canopy and he could see a shaft of sunlight shining on what looked like a rock slab. Grunting with a bit of pain, Zeb got up and carefully stepped off the raft onto the grassy shore. He stretched his muscles to get the kinks out and adjusted his makeshift splint and sling grimacing against a wave of pain through the broken limb. Ashla had run ahead of him and went inside the ruined building. Taking a deep breath, the Lasat followed his furry companion into the structure.

"Ashla!" he called to the animal, "Don't wander off! Who knows what could be inside there!"

He started to move towards the rock slab when Ashla came running with what looked like a bone in her mouth. Zeb bent down to examine his friend's new prize and shuddered seeing it was the leg bone of what seemed like a human's.

"Karabast, Ashla! Give me that thing! Where did you find this?"

He took the bone out of the creature's mouth and looked at it closer and discovered that it wasn't a human leg bone but one of a humanoid creature.

"Ashla, where did you get this?"

The furry animal grabbed ahold of the bottom of his loincloth pulling it down exposing his naked body.

"Ashla!" he cried out pulling the thin material back up the best he could, "You do realize that this is the only thing covering me, don't you?"

The furry creature just stared at him with her big green eyes and her fluffy tail wagged with affection. She ran off into the darker interior of the structure and he was glad for his excellent Lasat vision in dark places. The animal stopped near a wall and layed down on what appeared to be furred blankets of some kind. Zeb bent down and picked up the blankets to reveal the skeletal remains of two humanoids.

"KARABAST!" he screamed out jumping back in terror. He soon got his fear under control to examine the remains more and saw that the skeletons were similar to human but had three fingered hands and three toed feet. At first Zeb thought they were the remains of two Trandoshans but the skulls were human like, not reptilian. Ashla curled up next to the skeletons and gnawed on a leg bone. Zeb shuddered for a moment but let her keep it. He lifted up the blankets with his good hand and saw they were a bit threadbare but would cover him better than his loincloth. Sitting down near Ashla, he took his right foot and left hand tearing the blanket into smaller strips. Zeb was relieved that being a Lasat his prehensile feet acted like an extra pair of hands and with his broken arm, he needed the use of another hand. Using the hunter knives in the wrist gauntlet, he tore enough material to make a bigger loincloth that not only covered his front part, but his butt as well. Having the thicker material felt warmer and less embarrassing for anyone to see, even though Ashla was the only one around.

After getting his new wardrobe made, Zeb got up to explore what he had decided was a temple of some kind. He found out that the area he was in wasn't the structure's main room. Venturing further into the structure, Zeb found several chambers that looked like living quarters for the people who once lived there. He found more of the furred blankets, remnants of stone pottery, wood utensils, animal skeletons, and the most important thing he found was some pieces of stone he recognized as flint that could be used to start a fire. He was shivering as he explored and knew he might be developing an infection from his injuries and exposure to the elements. Zeb knew that if he started a fire that the hunters could find him, but he needed to get warm and there was enough pieces of wood scattered around the temple that he could get a good fire going to warm up on and cook some meat. He also found some tooka root growing in the cracks of the walls and from his survival training, he knew that the root had medicinal properties and the leaves could be made into a tea.

When the sky darkened from an oncoming storm, Zeb sat wrapped in a furred blanket around a small fire and was chewing on a piece of an animal that Ashla had caught running around the interior of the structure. It was the size of an aak dog and would keep him in food for about a week or more. Remembering more survival techniques, the Lasat hung some of the meat pieces up to dry out and hoped they wouldn't rot. Another fruit was found, but Zeb didn't try any, remembering how sick he got with eating too many of the tree fruits.

As night approached, a stormfront moved in with flashes of lightning and loud rumbles of thunder. Ashla shivered in fear from the loud noise and cuddled up on Zeb's lap, hiding her head against his chest.

"Oh, it's okay, girl," he soothed stroking her large furry ears, "It's just a storm and we're safe inside this temple. See? Nothing will harm you as long as I'm around. Why don't we try and get some shuteye. I feel really tired and a bit sick. Let me get the blanket wrapped around us..."

While Zeb and Ashla slept curled up next to a warm fire, the two surviving hunters hunkered down in a makeshift shelter miles away and plotted their next move against the Lasat. They gnawed and big pieces of an animal like Ashla and trilled softly hoping for more success in the morning. Zeb was a wiley one and they knew that the Lasat wouldn't go down without a fight. Knowing he had some of their weaponry gave them pause and they knew he would fight to the death. They had to find a way to weaken the Lasat's defenses and then remembered that he had broken an arm in the last battle.

Activating the controls on their other arm gauntlet, the two hunters studied the Lasat's physical characteristics and watched recordings of his last several attacks against them. They noticed that their prey was losing weight and he was becoming weaker but was still a formidable foe. They had to somehow cut off his food supply, but how? Zeb seemed to be able to live off the land as easily as they could. The leader growled now realizing that Zeb's military training had included survival techniques and that was what kept him alive...for now. They had to step up their attacks and make them more aggressive.

During the night, Zeb began to run a fever from the deep cut festering on his right leg. He tossed and turned in a fevered delerium and called out for Hera and Kanan. He woke up and saw they weren't there and that made him feel very homesick and alone. Ashla nuzzled his feverish face and purred trying to calm him down for the Lasat was now in tears. Zeb curled up into a fetal position and sobbed through the night until exhaustion won out and he fell asleep to dream about the hunters coming after him and killing Ashla right in front of him. That upset him more and the tears just kept on coming.

With thunder still rumbling in the distance, Zeb woke up to find Ashla was gone and he panicked thinking the hunters had taken her away from him and killed her. A loud grunting sounded near the now cold fire and he saw the animal cleaning her wet paws seeing she had been outside. Seeing him awake, the animal went over to nuzzle against him. Zeb hugged her close several tears falling down his cheeks.

"Ashla! " he said his voice heavy with emotion, "Don't do that again! I thought I lost you!"

The furry creature nuzzled his face and licked the tears away as they fell. She began to purr in a soothing manner and Zeb calmed down. He wrapped the blanket around him, and now feeling a little better he could think more clearly. Zeb knew that the temple could not only provide shelter for him and Ashla, but also could be protection for them from the hunters. He could set up booby traps near the entrance and around the perimeter of the structure.

He walked down to the side of the river and was relieved to see that the raft was still tied up to a tree and all his makeshift weapons were still intact. Grabbing the spears, sling and sharp rocks, Zeb walked back up to the temple and sat on a rock outside the entrance to take inventory of what he had to work with. He looked around at the damp vegetation and saw that there were vines of various thickness hanging from the trees and also some bushes with long thorns on their stalks.

For the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, Zeb made himself more weapons and also set up several traps around the temple. One of the traps consisted of a big branch tied to a tree trunk that could be released from within the interior of the temple. When released, the branch would come down to hit one of the hunters in the head hopefully hard enough to not only knock it out, but also to kill. Zeb took some of the thorns that were very sharp and had a sap on the tips that he hoped were poisonous, and placed them in a line on a smaller branch attached to another vine. Probably the best trap he made was partly constructed. It was a large and deep hole near the temple entrance that he almost fell in. He had placed four sharpened sticks at the bottom and covered the top with smaller branches and vegetation disguising the hole.

By nightfall he finished and was glad, for his cut leg was hurting badly and was oozing with pus. Zeb knew it was infected and he had to open up the cut to clean it out and then cauterize the wound. The thought of what he had to do made him cringe but he knew if he didn't do anything, he could develop gangrene in the leg and die.

Around a fire that had hot coals, Zeb unwrapped the bandage to look at the wound and his green eyes widened in shock. Around the cut were swollen patches of fur and skin, the wound red and oozing a bloody pus. He swallowed hard and his bottom lip quivered as he knew what he had to do. He took some of the tooka root and placed it in his mouth to chew into a soft paste that he could pack around the cut and bandage it after getting cleaned out and cauterized. Ashla sat beside him and nuzzled her head against his leg.

Whimpering softly, Zeb activated the alien knives and held them over the hot coals to sterilize them before opening the cut more. He felt tears beginning to fall and he didn't try to stop them. After heating the knives to the right temperature, Zeb took them out of the fire and sucking in his breath he plunged the tips into the oozing wound. Zeb shut his eyes and bit his bottom lip so hard that he felt blood on his tongue. He opened his eyes and taking a deep breath, he began to clean out the wound having to blink the tears away. Ashla sat nearby and purred in comfort. Zeb continued to clean the cut and then placed the wrist knives back into the coals to warm them back up. A little later, he took them back out and he bit down on a stick that he placed in his mouth. He layed the knives across his leg over the cut and heard as the fur began to burn and the skin underneath. Zeb cried out the stick muffling the sound and tears streamed from his closed eyes. After a few moments, he pulled the knives away and looked down at the singed fur smelling the odor of burned flesh and fur. Sobbing convulsively, Zeb grabbed the tooka root poultice and placed it over the burned cut and then wrapped the injury back up. He leaned back and wailed in pain, his good hand over his eyes and then fell unconscious onto the temple floor, his body having reached it's limit of pain. Ashla emitted a purr of comfort and curled her furry body up next to her big companion licking the tears from his cheeks. Zeb would be out for hours and Ashla would not leave his side...