The next chapter is up!
WARNING: Explicit Sexual Content near the end of this chapter.
Enjoy :)
The four friends continued through the woods.
Though they all walked a little slower for Galen seeing as he wasn't walking as fast. Kylie stayed close to his side with an arm around his waist. While he had his arm around her shoulders.
At some point Galen reached up and swiped at the gash on his forehead, in an effort to scratch off the dried, flaky blood that was beginning to itch. He flinched though when he got a little o close to the gash and to his dismay, it started to bleed again. Something that Kylie noticed too.
"Guys, I think we should stop right here for a moment and treat Galen's injuries. Think we're far enough away from the rock formation at this point to stop. His head is bleeding again too." Kylie says to Alan and Pete.
The two men looked over and did in fact see that his head wound was bleeding again.
They initially wanted to treat him right away. But Galen was insistent about putting more distance between the rock formation and them first. So, they all reluctantly moved on and did as he requested.
"Yeah, ok. I like to think we're far enough away now from the rock formation and valley. Let's stop here." Alan said.
The group stopped under some trees.
There were a couple nice size rocks to sit on and Kylie had Galen sit on one of them while they went to work treating him. Pete pulled out a small, clean rag from his pack and then used his waterskin to wet a small part of it. Then he came in and started lightly dabbing at the gash on his head.
Galen flinched a little as his friend dabbed away at the blood. While Alan came to his side.
"Alright, Galen. You mind if I check to see if anything feels broken?" Alan asks.
"No, go ahead. Though I don't believe anything is. If anything, I'm feeling less achy as we go along." Galen replied.
Alan nodded, then he bent done and started to press his hands against Galen's ribs. He just wanted to at least be certain there were no cracked, or broken ones.
"Can you take some deep breaths for me and tell me if you feel any pain in any of your ribs?" Alan requested.
Galen took slow deep breaths, while at the same time, Alan lightly pressed against some of the ribs as he ran his hands up and down them. Thankfully, nothing seemed to feel out of place as he pressed on them a little.
"Nothing feels out of place. Does it hurt to breathe at all?" Alan asks.
"No, at least not in the front or sides. I do feel a bit of a dull ache in the back though. I landed pretty hard on my back when I hit that overhang. It knocked the wind out of me." Galen said.
"Ok, lean forward a little I'll check your back." Alan instructed.
The chimp did as instructed and leaned forward a little.
Alan started to press his fingers around his spine and ribs. When he got to a certain spot in the middle of his back on the right side, Galen's breath hitched a little.
"Here?" Alan asks.
"Yes." Galen replied.
Alan started to lightly press the area. Nothing felt bumpy or was moving though. It maybe felt a little swollen and aggravated but that's it.
"Again, nothing feels broken. At the most, you bruised that part of your ribs. Nothing can be done about bruised ribs. They just heal on their own. All I can suggest, is to take it easy and not do anything to further aggravate them." Alan advised.
"I won't. Considering I don't see any more cliff jumping in the future." The chimp stated.
"Yeah, we're right there with you. That was really scary. Probably the closest we've ever come to falling off of something and from a great height." Pete said, as he wrapped a strip of cloth around the chimp's head.
When Pete was done with Galen's head injury, Kylie took her water canteen and wet part of the cloth in her hand. Then she came in and carefully started dabbing some of the dried blood away from the small cut on his lower lip.
It stung a little, but he continued letting her work.
Once the blood was cleared, she took a dry part of the cloth and gently wiped it dry. Galen shifted his gaze to her afterwards and gave her a small smile.
"Thank you." He says.
She gives him a soft smile back, "You're welcome."
"Did you feel any pain in your arms and legs while you were walking?" Alan asks him.
"No, like I said, I just feel like one giant bruise. But that's about it." Galen told him.
"He kind of looks like he just went three rounds with Rocky Balboa." Kylie lightly teased.
The two men had amused grins on their faces at her remark. While Galen just got a confused look on his face.
"Who?" He asked.
Kylie chuckled a little.
"Another movie reference, Galen. Rocky Balboa was a fictional boxer from the movie 'Rocky'." She said.
"Ah, I see." He said, nodding in understanding.
Alan, Pete, and Kylie had told him all about music and movies. He even had the privilege of watching a couple on Kylie's iPhone on YouTube. He was quite amazed by the effects and acting performances by the human actors in the films.
"While we're here, do you guys want to eat? Judging by the position of the sun in the sky, I'd say it's about mid-evening. Pretty close to the time we would usually eat dinner." Alan suggested.
"Sure. All that running and jumping definitely made me hungry." Pete says.
"Not surprising, Pete. I feel you're always hungry." Galen joked.
"Am not." The dark-haired man said.
Alan and Kylie chuckled a little, because even they knew Pete tends to sometimes have a bigger appetite then the rest of them. Though Kylie can't really say anything anymore. Because ever since she became pregnant, lately her appetite increased too. Something hat they all have noticed. Galen would give her bigger portions and share his food with her because he wanted to make sure she was getting enough for herself and their unborn baby.
"Can't really say anything about that because my appetite lately has increased quite a bit too." She says.
Galen turns to her with a smile, "Yes, but you have a good reason for that."
"Yeah, eating for two is basically doubling the portions." Pete stated.
They all took their packs off and started pulling out some food.
Kylie and Galen stayed sitting on top of the rocks. While Alan and Pete sat on the grass in front of them. They pulled out their wooden plates then loaded small portions of fruit, vegetables, and dried strips of meat onto them.
When Galen finished putting some food on his plate he reached in and grabbed some more to add to Kylie's plate. This is something he has been doing for a while now. He did his best to make sure she had plenty to eat.
While Kylie appreciated that he did this for her, she was a little concerned that it was quickly depleting his food supply.
It was something she already brought up with him at least twice. But each time he told her not to worry and that it was more important that she got a big enough meal for herself.
Plus, Galen never really had issues with restocking his supply. Seeing as he was very good at finding or spotting trees that grew fruit or places that grew wild grown vegetables. There were plenty of times during their traveling he would stop and either start picking something out of trees with low hanging branches, bushes, or something out of the ground. They would always be either fruits or vegetables.
"Do you guys think what happened back there at the rock formations set us off course a lot from our destination?" Pete inquires.
"Not sure. But next village we do come across, we can always just ask if they know of Lamont Village or if we're far from it or on the right track in getting to it at least." Galen said, as he ate his food.
"Either way, I'm sure we'll eventually find our way back to it. You say it's southwest right? I can always utilize my compass and see if we are going that way." Alan says.
"I thought you said you ran into an issue with that thing always pointing north though." Pete said.
Talking about it, made Kylie remember something.
"I have a compass on my iPhone we can try using." She suggested.
The three males looked at her.
"Really? Your phone has a compass on it too?" Alan asked.
"Yeah, it does. It's quite accurate too. When we finish eating, I'll pull it up. It will show us which way is southwest and we could start following it." Kylie says.
"Sounds fair enough." Pete replied.
"I suppose, we can give it a shot. Especially, if you say it is accurate." Alan said.
She nodded, "It is. When I was back home in Cape May, it would point east to the ocean. West to inland, north to New York, and South to the states below. This is how I know it's quite accurate."
"You mind pulling it up and letting me check it to give us an idea where we're at?" Alan requests.
"Sure." Kylie replied.
She set her plate on her lap, then reached into the small leather pouch connected to her belt, opened it, and pulled her phone out. Then she went through the different apps and found the compass app and pulled it up before handing it to Alan.
He took and studied it. By the looks of it, the compass also showed the direct longitude and latitude which was also a big help to him. He twisted it around a couple times trying to gage the direction.
"This digital compass is pretty interesting and good. I like how it also shows longitude and latitude on here." Alan says.
"Yeah, as I said, pretty accurate. Shows you the degrees too. Like forty degrees north or three-hundred-fifty degrees southeast. I'm just sorry I didn't mention the compass app sooner. It kind of slipped my mind though as we were traveling." She replied.
"It's fine. We were kind of just going wherever the woods or roads took us anyway at this point. It's not like we ever really had a clear direction in mind. Until now that is." Alan stated.
"That's true. We we're kind of just wandering all the way up to this point." Pete said.
They continued chatting a little more as they ate dinner.
The group finished about ten minutes later. Afterwards, everyone got up and started heading out. Kylie let Alan hold her iPhone, letting him continue utilizing the compass app on it. He turned around a couple times until the needle landed on a southwest direction.
"Ok, everyone, according to this compass we need to start heading that way." Alan said pointing ahead and slightly to the left.
The other three started to follow him as he went.
"You know, if we could hit the coast, it may help too." Pete says, as they walked.
"Maybe. But Lamont isn't directly on the water. I recall Prefect Arthur telling me that Lamont Village was a good three miles inland from the nearest beach." Galen replied.
"Yes, and while we maybe heading southwest now, it doesn't mean we'll be led directly there. We may still need to head several miles south. The best way to know is asking any villagers at the next village we may come across. They could probably at least give us a better idea of how many miles we would need to travel to get there." Alan stated.
"Well, as we said before, just as long as we can get there, that is all that matters." Kylie says.
"And we will." Galen said, as he reached over and grasped her hand in his.
She shifts her light gaze to him and smiles, as she grips his hand back.
They all continued traveling through the woods for the next few hours. Until it started getting dark. Alan would only flip out the phone compass every now and then to make sure they were still on track and heading southwest.
It must've been only an hour or so after the sun went down, when Galen stopped and alerted them to something.
"Wait, I hear the sound of running water...that way." He says pointing a little to the left and up ahead from the original direction they were traveling.
"It is quite loud. Sounds like maybe a waterfall." He adds.
Alan looked down at the phone compass in his hand. Where Galen had pointed, wasn't too far off from where they were going.
"Ok, we'll follow you then." Alan says.
They all started following Galen as he led them in the direction the sounds of running water were coming from.
It was about another twenty minutes or so, before the woods opened up and they saw a huge waterfall that ran down into a pool below that led out into a flowing river.
The area was pretty open here too. A good place to set up camp for the night.
"Looks like you led us to a waterfall, Galen. Not only that, but there is plenty of open space to set up camp." Pete says, as he looks around.
The group of friends couldn't help but agree as they looked around the beautiful area.
As they looked around, Kylie thought she saw one spot that looked big enough and good enough for them to set up camp for the night.
"What about over there? That looks like a big enough spot for all of us to set up." She says, as she pointed to the right.
They all turned their gaze to where she was pointing. It was a nice open area not far from the pool that the waterfall emptied into.
"Looks good enough." Galen says, as he eyed it.
"Yes, lets head over there and start settling in for the night." Alan said.
The group walked the forty feet down to the spot and started taking their packs off.
They were no more than fifteen feet from the water's edge that led to the pool beneath the waterfall. Which was nice, because they had a nice water source right there to fill their waterskins. Something they did do when they placed their packs down in a good spot not far from some large rocks.
Afterwards they went back to their spots and started pulling out their blankets and setting them on the grass.
It wasn't really that late yet, so they all stayed up and chatted for a little while. It seemed like everyone was relieved and could rest easy knowing that they were no longer being hunted. Seeing as Urko was dead.
While Zaius and the rest of the council was still alive and Zaius was actively looking for them, it was Urko that was doing most of the tracking and hunting them down.
Galen liked to think they will be fine once they hit Lamont Village. Because he learned from Prefect Arthur that Lamont Village was at least a good eighty to ninety miles away from Central City where the high council was located.
"Do you guys think it will really be much different, now that Urko is gone? That we will be able to live and move about more freely?" Pete asks.
"I like to believe so. Lamont Village is very far from Central City. Arthur told me it's a good eighty to ninety miles west of Central City. So, it's quite far removed." Galen told them.
"Really? It's that far from Central City?" Pete asks.
"That's what he said, yes. Central City is quite far inland. While Lamont Village is not all that far from the coast. And seeing that Urko is gone, I like to think we are quite safe. Even more so once we get to Lamont." Galen replied.
"I just hope there is a place we can go, once we get there. Seeing as we know when we took some of the displaced villagers there from the mountains, a good portion of them went to the guest huts that were already there." Kylie says.
"That maybe. But we were still welcomed. Arhtur told me some have started building more huts because they expect an influx of more inhabitants. So, hopefully, by the time we get there, there maybe more huts available." Galen said.
Pete was silent for several moments before speaking.
"I... didn't want to say anything before. But Arthur actually told me before we left that when and if we come back, the guest hut was to be Elisabeta and my permanent home. I just didn't want to say anything because I didn't know where that would leave all of you, when and if we go back to Lamont." Pete confessed.
"Pete, that's great. That means you and Elisabetta have a guaranteed home." Kylie said.
"Perhaps, but where does that leave Alan, Galen, and you. Plus, a baby?" Pete inquires.
"Well, it's like I said earlier, Arthur mentioned that they were building more huts because they have been having increases in the population as of late. Because of this, I like to think Kylie, myself, and Alan shouldn't have issues with finding a place to stay." Galen repeated.
Even if there was a chance there was only one hut available, Galen likes to think they could spare a room to Alan if it ever came down to it.
"Well, Arthur seemed sure we would all have a place to stay. Which is better than we can say for most of the villages we have hit during this journey." Kylie says.
"True, and the fact that he knows us, helps us greatly." Alan replied.
"And Elisabetta says he is someone who can be trusted on top of that." Pete added.
"Let's hope so. Otherwise, it maybe harder finding somewhere we can all settle safely." Kylie says.
The group friends continued chatting for the next few hours until it started getting late.
Alan and Pete eventually settled down to sleep as the night grew into late hours. Galen pulled out his blanket and placed it on the grass. His gaze shifted to Kylie thinking she was doing the same. Only to see her stand up and head over to the rocks that line the waterfall about twenty feet away.
Galen got up and followed her over the rocks that lined the waterfall and pool. He saw her come to a stop and sit on one of the large rocks. He approached and sat down next to her. As he stared at her, he noticed she seemed lost in thought.
"You alright, Love?" He asks.
Her gaze slowly shifted from the waterfall to him.
"I guess, it's just..." She trailed off.
"What?" He asks, as he scooted closer to her, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"I... can't get over the fact I... almost lost you today. It was...the most scared I ever been." She admitted.
He tightened his hold around her as they sat there staring out ahead at the water in front of them
"I know, believe me, it was the most scared I have ever been too. But...it is over and behind us. We are safe now and we can start to live the life we've been wanting now for a long time. At this point, we are not being hunted anymore. We can start to live more freely. Which is what we've been wanting all along for ourselves and our child." He tells her.
Kylie wraps her arms around his waist and presses the side of her face to his chest.
While she wants to blame what she's been feeling on hormones, she cannot deny the fact that she did almost lose the love of her life today. It's what made her more relieved that this journey was almost over. No more dangers, no more risks of anyone dying. Just freedom to live their lives the way they want.
She slowly pulled back a little and peered up into his dark eyes. Before she leaned back in and pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss.
Galen returned the kiss as he reached up with one hand to caress her cheek. He knew what happened today at the cliff by the rock formations really scared her. It scared him too. There was a moment there as he went over the cliff that he wouldn't get a chance to live a life with Kylie and meet his child and watch them grow up.
With that thought, he pulled her in closer, while deepening the kiss.
The kiss became heated as their lips parted, and their tongues battled for dominance. Their hands started roaming not long after. They pulled away after a few seconds for air.
Kylie then pulled her shirt up and over her head before coming back in for a kiss. Her hands caressing his cheeks as she went.
Galen grasped her sides and started caressing the skin there. A sigh left her as he did this. Then his hands circled around back to the clasp of her bra, and he started undoing it.
It came loose moments later and started sliding down her front, pooling in her lap.
Not long after, Galen pulled back from the kiss to pull his shirt up and over his head. Then he came back in for another kiss while laying her down on the rock beneath her.
Kylie reached down and started pulling her shorts and undies down her legs. Galen helped her remove them and tossed them aside before he went for his pants to do the same. He pulled his off and pushed them aside leaving himself as naked as she was now.
Afterwards, he placed himself over her rubbing his front against hers.
Galen brushed some of her hair back as he gave her a sweet kiss. While Kylie reached up and caressed his cheeks while deepening the kiss. It felt like every emotion was going into it. Because all she still thought about was the image of him going over the cliff and almost losing him forever.
He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him as he continued kissing her back.
Everything seemed to fade away around them as they shared the passionate kiss. Until they eventually had to pull back for some air.
He made eye contact with her briefly before he started peppering kisses down her neck and shoulder, before moving down her front. He dragged his mouth down to her chest and started teasing her, getting her worked up.
Kylie tilted her head back with a gasp as she felt his lips close over a nipple and tease it. Her pussy clenched and started to seep some moisture as he did. Galen kept this up for a few more moments before switching over to tease the other nipple with his mouth.
She tilted her hips up and started rubbing them against his.
He grunted when he felt her wet opening rub against his hard erection. Then he reached down and grasped it. He then lined it up with her pussy and pressed forward, entering her in one swift motion making a small moan leave them both.
Kylie hiked up her legs on either side of his hips and wrapped her arms around his neck as she went in for another kiss.
Galen pressed his lips to hers as he started to slowly thrust into her.
She pushed up her pelvis to meet his and pull him in deeper to her. He pressed his muzzle into the side of her head to muffle a groan as he pushed deep into her core. He ground his pelvis into hers trying to go even deeper, making her press the lower part of her face into his shoulder to muffle a moan.
Her inner walls fluttered around his girth, making a shudder go up his spine.
Galen pressed a small kiss to the side of her head before pressing his muzzle into it with a growl, before picking up the pace of his thrusts into her.
Kylie tightened her arms and legs around him as he stared thrusting into her harder and faster, making her body jolt up and down beneath him. She had to press her mouth more into his shoulder to stifle her cries of pleasure as he plowed into her.
It wasn't long before she reached her climax, arching her back as she came hard and tightened around his swollen shaft.
Galen groaned, as he felt her tighten around him. Not a few moments later, his release came, and he shot his load deep inside of her cervix in thick spurts, filling her up.
She tightened her grip on the fur on his back as she felt his warm release flood her womb.
He held himself there above her, panting. Then he pressed a small kiss to her lips, before pulling back and out of her. Galen then laid beside her on the large, flat moss-covered rock, while hey both catch their breath and recover.
He scooted in a little closer, lightly pressing his hand to the tiny swell of her lower abdomen, giving it a soft caress as he leaned in to give her another soft kiss. One she gladly returned.
After a few moments they pulled back. Kylie moved in closer and laid her head upon his chest. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat a reassurance that he was still here with her.
They laid there for a little longer, enjoying the warm glow of the aftermath of their love making.
Neither of them said a word as they laid there. The pair just gazed up at the navy-colored sky littered with tons of stars and a waxing crescent moon above. Both thinking ahead to the future. One filled with freedom, hope, and happiness.
It wasn't until fifteen minutes later they finally got up and started putting their clothes back on.
Afterwards, they went back down to the campsite. They got their blankets and went to lay down beside one another. As always, Kylie curled into Galen's front while he wrapped an arm around her, holding her close.
"We are free now, Kylie. Free to live how we want to live. And I will do everything I can to take care of you and our child." Galen promised.
She tightened her hold around him upon hearing his words.
"I love you, Galen." Kylie whispers.
"I love you too." He whispers back as he presses his lips to the top of her head.
The pair eventually fell asleep not a few minutes later. Both of them dreaming about the future and what it will bring for them.
Until Next Time ;)