The next chapter is up! Enjoy :)
It's been nearly six months now since Kylie came here.
It has also been about two months since she and Galen shared their first kiss. Since then, they have been sneaking in many make out sessions. While they shared very quick and brief ones during the day when their friends weren't looking, most were shared at night while Alan and Pete slept.
Though despite them trying to be as careful as possible, they think Alan and Pete may have an idea of what was going on between them.
Mainly because, while they try to share kisses with one another out of sight of their friends, it didn't mean neither of the two men didn't possibly see glimpses of them making out.
Though if they did, they weren't saying anything.
Of course, Galen and Kylie knew that they would eventually have to tell them. Especially, since they were their friends and were traveling with them. It wouldn't be fair to keep a secret like that from them. Plus, once they did know, perhaps it would be less awkward, and the pair would feel less like teenagers trying to hide a relationship from their parents.
Kylie's almost certain Alan caught her and Galen holding hands while they walked behind him and Pete at least once.
The small knowing smirk he sent her way afterwards pretty much confirmed it. Though he didn't inquire more into it with her and Galen, nor she believes he mentioned anything to Pete. Perhaps, he's waiting for them to say something first.
At this time, it was midday.
The group had just finished eating lunch and had started moving on. They found a narrow rocky path not long ago and were currently following it. Hopefully they will find another village soon, seeing as it's been over two weeks since the last village they have found and stopped at. They would like to restock some food supplies for themselves.
The thing was, they have been trekking through a very mountainous terrain and it seemed quite isolated out here with barely any apes or humans in sight. Hell, they have yet to see any up here.
They were all chatting as they went along about different topics as usual.
"So, wait, this is pretty hard to believe. You're saying that humans have in fact evolved from apes around a couple million years ago?" Galen stated, almost in disbelief.
"Is it really that hard to believe though, Galen? Just look how similar humans and apes are. As far as their physiology and anatomy, there really aren't that many differences. Just look how closely related we are as a species.
There are no other animal species in the world similar to apes and humans. It's because our scientists have found remains of early known hominids that shared DNA with some of the earlier known apes. Here, I'll show you this picture. It has become very well-known and famous in our time because it does show our evolution." Kylie says, as she goes through evolution images on Duck Duck Go.
Then she found the one she was looking for. It was the one where it shows what looks like a chimp on the far left then the gradual evolution where it started to gradually stand upright, and the characteristics started to shift and change through time all the way to the end where it showed an image of a man.
Kylie enlarged the picture and gave the phone to Galen to look at.
When he took the offered phone and looked at this supposed evolution picture, she watched as his eyes slowly widened and his lips parted a little as he observed this rendition of man's evolution through time.
He gave it a good long look before shifting his attention back to Kylie.
"You say, your scientists have a lot of physical evidence to back this theory up?" Galen inquires.
"Yes, they do. As I said, they have found numerous remains over the better part of the last few centuries. They've been able to closely study the bones and carbon date them." She said.
"It maybe hard to believe, Galen. But it is true. Even Alan and I have learned about our own evolutionary history in school growing up. There were roughly seven stages through our evolution. The first being an ape-like creature that kind of looks a lot like a chimpanzee with the scientific name called Dryopithecus all the way down the evolutionary line to Homo Sapiens which is us, Men." Pete further explained.
"I remember that study in school. Always thought it was very interesting to see how we evolved as a species. Even to this day, they say apes are still our closest cousins in the animal kingdom." Alan added.
Galen took in everything they all had to say.
When he thinks more on it, he can see where apes and humans do share many similarities with one another. The fact that humans are bipedal creatures like apes and are similar in body structure, plus the fact that humans are the only 'animals' that are capable of speech like apes were, hence they can communicate and understand one another.
"Interesting, and when did you say your evolutions started again? How many years ago?" Galen questioned
"Some of our earliest known ancestors go back at least 2.1 million years ago." Kylie told him.
Galen gave her a surprised look, "That long ago!? I don't think even our ape history stretches that far back!"
"Well, technically it does. Even your ancestors were around then, Galen." Alan pointed out.
Before anyone could say anything else, they saw a blur and heard rapid movement coming from the right. As they were walking by another smaller dirt path that leads off the narrow, rocky path, they were walking on, suddenly someone came running out and they let out a startled yelp as they collided with Pete.
Both Pete and this other person crashed into the ground pretty roughly after they ran into him.
They sat up, rubbing their head. That is when they quickly realized it was a young woman. She brushed her long curtain of red hair back from her face and wildly looked around in a panic, before quickly standing.
"Woah! Wait! We're not going to hurt you!" Alan told her with his arms raised in a calming motion.
"Please! I need help! They are coming for me!" She blurted out in a panic.
"Who is?" Pete asked.
Before she could answer, Galen interrupted them.
"I hear many footsteps coming this way and fast!" He called out.
They ran and ducked into the bushes, bringing the woman with them and urged her to be quiet. Something she quickly complied with when they all started hearing the sound of footfalls gradually getting closer to their position.
Not even a couple minutes later, the friends saw a group of men come running out from the same side path that the young woman came out of it. There were at least five of them.
"Where did she go? She came down this way. We would've seen here running down the road here." One of them said.
Alan, Pete, Galen, and Kylie all exchanged looks with one another. While the young woman laid there on her hands and knees frozen to the spot, barely moving an inch or making a sound. Her wide hazel eyes were firmly planted on the men who were pursuing her.
At first, they were doing well at staying hidden.
The men turned around and were about to go back. When the worst happened and one of the friends ended up backing up onto a stick. There was a loud resounding 'snap' as the weight of Pete's leg pressed down on it.
It was loud enough to garner the mens' attention. They paused and quickly shifted their attention to the source. The men figured perhaps the woman they were chasing was hiding in the bushes and she made that sound.
"We know you're there! Come on out! There's nowhere else for you to go!" One of them said.
The friends all shared looks, realizing the jig was up. They knew if they didn't show themselves, the men would probably come over here and start looking.
Alan and Pete started to stand. Galen followed suit and started to stand as well.
Kylie turned her attention to the scared young woman next to her.
"Wait here. Don't get up and stay hidden." She quietly told the woman.
The red headed girl nodded and stayed put.
Kylie then stood up with her friends and joined them on the side of the road. The group of men analyzed them. It seemed to be an odd group, involving three humans and an ape.
Though their eyes tended to linger longer on Kylie.
Something that didn't pass Galen's gaze, and he went to stand close to her. He didn't like this. These men gave off an air of danger and he certainly didn't like the way they kept gazing mostly at Kylie.
"You four, why were you hiding in the bushes?" One of them questioned.
"We heard movement coming towards us at a quick pace. Thought maybe it was a bear. So, for safety, we ran and hid." Alan replied.
At first the group of men were silent and exchanged a couple looks. But in the end, it looks like they bought into it. Then they turned their attention back to the group of friends.
"By any chance, have you seen a young woman come by here?" One of them asked.
"A human woman? Out here, by herself?" Galen inquired.
In most cases, females don't tend to travel on the roads all by themselves. Unless they were in the safety of a group or under an ape owner.
"Yes, she's from our village she...wandered out too far on her own. We came out here to look for her and escort her back." One of them stated.
The group knew well enough that what he had just said was a bold face lie. The young woman that ran into them was obviously very scared and was trying to get away from these men.
"No, we haven't seen anyone, and we've been traveling down this path for some time now. Perhaps she went in the opposite direction down the path from us." Pete said.
A couple of them nodded, while some others still stared at the group. Then a few of them shifted their gaze again to Kylie and stared eyeing her.
"Sir, by any chance are you looking to relieve any of your servants? Particularly the female?" One of them asked Galen.
"No, why?" Galen asked, not liking where this was going.
"Please, we lost more than half of our village in a bad landslide. We're quite isolated and hard to get to. Many of the ones lost were our women and children. Now, there aren't enough to repopulate our village, and our numbers have greatly dwindled over the years. We need more women to help us repopulate our village before we all die out.
But there aren't any villages around here beside our own so, finding them has become extremely challenging and difficult for us. This mountainous terrain tends to keep many others from setting up settlements out here." One of the men explained.
Alan and Pete exchanged looks. It certainly was a shocking story and while they did feel somewhat bad for these men who were obviously desperate, it didn't make it right for them to pursue other women and chase them down.
"Look, we're sorry to hear about your village. It's obvious you all lost a lot of loved ones in that landslide. But the way you say you need women; doesn't sound like you're going about this whole situation the right way. Surely, there are other solutions you can come up with to deal with the population problem." Alan told them.
"We have tried and exhausted all possible solutions. This is our only one. We need more women, by any means necessary." Another one of the men said.
"Why not just relocate your village to another settlement? This will greatly solve your issue." Galen suggested.
"As we said before, we're very isolated within this mountainous region. It would be very difficult for us to pick up and leave. The village is surrounded by steep mountain sides and the only ways in and out are through these narrow paths. We can hardly fit horses through them, let alone carts." One of the men said.
Pete went to open his mouth to say something, when one of the men started talking again.
"Enough, we don't have time for anymore explanations. We need to go find her now, before she moves any further away from us." One of the men snapped impatiently.
The man at the front of the group was silent at first, then nodded in agreement.
"Alright, we'll go then." He finally said.
The group of men gave the friends one last look, before they turned around and started heading down the narrow path ahead of them in the same direction the friends were originally headed.
Once they disappeared down and around the narrow path, the friends finally relaxed a little.
Kylie then remembered the woman and headed back to the bushes they came out of before.
"It's ok to come out now. They're gone." Kylie assured her.
Not a few moments later, there was a rustling in the bushes as the young woman stood up.
"Thank you." She says, then she stepped out of the bushes.
"How did you find yourself mixed up with them?" Galen asked her.
The young woman became silent, and a somber look appeared on her face.
"I was traveling to another village with my father and brother. Somehow and sometime during the night last night, we got turned around and found ourselves in this mountainous territory." She started to explain.
She then paused and a shaky exhale left her.
"The three of us were walking down the path I just ran off of and into you. While on the path with my father and brother, those men...quickly came out of the bushes and ambushed us.
At first, they demanded my father hand me over to them. But he refused. They got upset, next thing I knew...they attacked him and when my brother tried to intervene, they attacked him too.
They drew large knives and after, it didn't take long before they overpowered them and subdued them. Then when one of them went to grab me, my brother broke loose from one of the men's hold to save me.
When he tried getting between me and the man trying to take me, one of the others...stabbed him. He dropped to the ground and... started bleeding out. That's when my father started yelling and cursing them all while trying to break free of their hold. Eventually, he was able to break free from one of them, but it did no good. They ended up...stabbing him too.
There was just so much blood, before he died, my father told me to run. So... I did. I ran for some time, trying to stay ahead and out of their reach. Then when I saw an opening in front of the path I was on and it looked to lead to another, I sped up. Must've sprinted for the next few minutes, next thing I know, I ran into someone." She further explained, as tears rolled down her pale cheeks.
As Alan, Pete, Galen, and Kylie listened, they couldn't help but feel bad for the young woman. It was bad enough that these men were pursuing her to capture her, but to kill her family on top of that, was horrific.
"We're very sorry to hear about your family. What they did, was nothing short of horrific." Kylie says.
"Yes, we're sorry. But you're not alone anymore. You can stay with us. We'll gladly try and escort you to the nearest settlement we see after we get out of these mountains." Alan told her.
"Thank you so much." She breathes a sigh of relief.
"What's your name?" Pete asks.
"My name is Elisabetta. What are your names?" She inquired.
"I'm Pete. These are my friends Alan, Galen, and Kylie. We've been on the road for quite some time trying to find the next village ourselves. Seems pretty clear though that there aren't any more up here. Except for the village or settlement, they came out of. Obviously, we won't be making any pit stops in the future there though." Pete said.
The woman who goes by the name Elisabetta seemed quite young. Possibly in her early to mid-twenties. She had red hair that stopped right below her bust and these hazel greenish brown eyes. She also had many freckles decorating her face.
Most would agree, she was quite pretty.
"It's nice to meet you all and thank you again for helping me." Elisabetta replied.
"You're welcome. But you wouldn't happen to know a way through these paths that will bring us down these mountains, do you?" Alan questioned.
"No, hardly many people come up this way. Probably because it is a rough and rocky terrain that can be a little challenging to navigate. There are also a lot of dangers, like deep cave systems one can easily get lost in and some paths here have steep drop-offs on the side of them so, if you're not careful, you'll find yourself taking a tumble down the side of the mountain." Elisabetta said.
"Guess that's all the more reason to leave here. I'm sure at least one of these paths lead down one of these mountains. We just need to keep pressing on until we find one." Pete stated.
"Yes, but then there is the problem with those men. They are definitely people we don't want to run into again. It's obvious after what she told us, that they are clearly very dangerous." Galen cautioned.
"Agreed, let's just keep moving on. Like Pete said, there has to be at least one or several paths that lead back down. We'll find them." Alan says.
"Let's just hope we find one soon. Like Galen said, those men are very dangerous, and we don't want to encounter them again. I'm almost certain if we were to have asked them what path to take before the abruptly ran off to find her, they probably would've given us bogus directions." Kylie added.
Why not? If they have no qualms with killing people, she's doubtful they would've been very helpful to any of them. It still certainly didn't sit well with her about the way they kept eyeing her like they did.
These people were desperate. Who's to say they won't circle back and try to take her from her friends along with Elisabetta? And worse, try to hurt or kill Alan, Pete, and Galen in the process like they did to Elisabetta's father and brother.
"I think we should start moving now. And if there is any other path that leads off of this one, I think we should take it and not continue down this one where those men went. Because if we do, odds are we may bump into them again." Kylie strongly suggests.
"Right, or if we see them coming, duck behind some bushes, wait for them to pass then move on." Pete added.
"Alright. Let's just move on then." Alan says.
"What about the path she just came off of? Shouldn't we consider taking that path?" Galen inquired.
"Maybe...if we do go down back that way where I came from, there could be a path that leads out and down the mountains. My father, brother, and I passed a few paths that led off of that one. Maybe taking one of them will set us on the right course." Elisabetta surmised.
"And hopefully, it will put more distance between us and those men." Kylie stated.
"Well, you guys got my vote. I say, let's go." Pete said.
They all headed to the dirt path a few feet away on the right.
Afterwards, they all turned onto it and started making their way down it. They are hopeful that either this path or one of the other ones that branch off of it will lead them in the right direction and get them out of these woods tucked up in the mountains.
Until Next Time ;)