Chapter 5: Mally
My neck was aching horribly.
I wanted to continue sleeping a bit more but my neck and left arm felt like needle cushions.
I stretched and accidentally let out a yawn.
My stomach joined my noisy wakeup by growling a bit. My nose smelled roasted meat. I was finally to keep my eyes open and looked over at the fire pit built by Mauldred yesterday.
This time over the fire was two large rocks at each side of the pit. Four iron rods were being held over the fire by the rocks in parallel lines. Raccoon meat was hung over the rods and left to cook.
The smell was nice.
"You're a heavy sleeper huh kid. I wanted to let you sleep until your body was happy, but I didn't expect you to be this exhausted."
He laughed to himself as he told me while he poked at the raccoon meat and placed it over a flat rock covered by a clean rag.
"Thank you, Mally." I wanted to thank him for not only the food, but he seemed to watch over me while I slept since I was covered with a blanket.
After conversing yesterday, it seems we became friends since he began to scold me when I didn't call him by his nickname.
"I forgot to give you the blanket before you fell asleep. I wanted you to lay on it to separate yourself from the ground a bit, but I didn't want to disturb yah. Keep it for next time I have my own."
I nodded as I was folding the blanket and placed it in my bag.
I went and removed my gloves and boots off to air out my hands and feet.
I like to sleep fully clothed in every sense of the word to avoid being bitten as much as possible. Even though it barely helps, I find a bit of mental comfort.
I ate raccoon for the first time in my life today and didn't quite enjoy the flavor. He seems to have salted it so I was able to focus a bit on the salt instead of the strong flavor of the raccoon meat.
It wasn't as hard to swallow in comparison with the grub or larvae, but I felt good. I wish he still had more of the squirrel meat from yesterday. The rabbit leg was too bland, and the raccoon meat was too strong, but the squirrel bits were actually a bit sweet.
I let my mind wander about the different food I had been eating as I saw Mally begin to pack his stuff.
When he was done he asked me to get ready as well since he wanted to progress a bit today while the sun was still up.
I gladly obliged.
Since I already had my bag attached to me I simply pulled the straps over my shoulders. I put my boots and gloves on. I strapped on the leather knife holster on my belt and placed the blade that was slightly smaller than my hand. The wooden handle made it feel so fragile I felt I would break it if I bent the blade too far.
I grabbed the falchion sword and since I didn't have a strap for it, I let it hang by its handguard through my belt.
I held my left hand over it, to avoid it from cutting into the pants portion of my jumpsuit as I ran to catch up to Mally.
I followed quietly behind him as we made our way eastward through the forest.
The sun slowly moved across the sky as we hiked through the forest.
I asked Mally to stop when I saw chicory. A tiny beautiful light purple flower with many pedals similar to a dandelion. Because it is of the same family as a dandelion. It has a tough hairy stem followed by large fuzzy leaves branching out around it.
It's considered a weed and thus it is very easy to grow and can be found where sunlight can find it.
I immediately started harvesting the entire plant. The flower and leaves just like normal dandelions can be eaten raw. Cooking can help reduce the bitterness of the leaves quite a bit. The roots are also more valuable than the roots of a dandelion.
If the roots are baked and ground up, you can make a substitute coffee. Though it won't contain caffeine, the flavor is extremely similar.
I explained this to Mally and he helped me gather quite a bit.
Filling up one of my empty pouches.
The rest of the day continued similarly.
My left fingers had random jolts of pain and I began to worry about my sister.
I talked with Mally who always seemed to have plenty of conversation and wasn't shy about it.
Eventually, we reached a clearing and Mally wanted to set up camp there. He had a bit of cooked raccoon left so we had some of it along with the chicory I collected.
"Hey, kid."
I looked up with a piece of meat in my mouth.
"Huh"
"Have you ever swung a sword before?"
I quickly swallowed the piece and responded.
"Well, sort of. I only played around so it's best if I said I had no experience."
It was more than playing around. I developed the extensor muscles on my lower arms quite nicely from swing an eight-pound metal axe in parent's backyard while I was in high school.
I later trained for the military with multiple pull-ups and handstand variations and my arms still showed a bit of the result from that training.
But practicing sword fighting? Never.
After finishing his last bite Mally stood up excitedly and put on his metal arm guards. He picked up his axe and held it upside down swinging the handle side around.
"Wield your sword blade side in so we can spare a bit. I'd like to get you used to it in case you need to use it."
I was more than happy to participate.
Although I still felt weak, I wasn't tired. The inner child in me was excited to swing a sword.
At first, Mally simply asked me to attack his ax with full force so I did.
I understood he was trying to analyze me so I tried my best.
After a few swings, I already felt exhausted.
"There wasn't much power behind your swings kid. I didn't expect much since you still have a few more days 'til you're healthy again, but 'tis true. You haven't swung a sword before."
Mally started with my posture. He told me to keep my legs apart and my core low. Since my falchion was a single-edged dull tip sword I should focus on a defensive posture.
Since I can't stab with it it's the tip, I can't combo it with offensive feints and slashes which would be perfect for my height and stature.
Instead, I have to focus on allowing my feet to move in and out of enemy range with a focus on defense. This was so that I can parry and counter strike with a swing.
Mally had me parry swings from his ax. He started slow and comfortably sped up until I couldn't catch up on blocking his swings. He stayed at that speed and we practiced until I got tired.
He explained to me the importance of catching the enemy off guard and hurting or killing him before he even has a chance to react.
The longer I draw out battles the higher chance I could get wounded, which even a small scratch could lead me to my death.
I was happy he was putting so much interest in me and we happily chatted the rest of the day away.
I found out he had a kid my age in the military who recently died during the war. I reminded him of his son and he enjoyed every moment of it.
He was extremely cheerful and his red button cheeks matched his red button nose when he let out his hearty laugh.
The days continued similarly, he taught me to set small spring traps using the tension of branches and sticks to catch rodents.
Because of this, I was able to continuously enjoy the meat of squirrels.
We found various plants and berries and I shared my knowledge on them as well.
As the days went by my energy and overall health returned from the nutritious eating and sword exercise in the afternoon. As we spared along the way we changed weapons since I was better with the axe than the falchion.
When my strength returned I began to do my morning exercise routine I did back when I trained for the military. Squats, situps, pushups planks. I used the trees to do pullups and I had Mally help watch me when I tried to do hand-stand pushups since my core was still weak.
I had grown on the old man and he had grown on me. He not only made an effort to provide more food for me to make up for the calories I burned when I exercised. He had also asked me to teach him so he could exercise alongside me as well.
I still have long to go before I returned to my normal standard, but after a week I at least felt healthy again.
I was bragging to Mally about how far I could take my exercise during my prime when suddenly we heard crying.
Mally put his index finger on his lip when he looked at me.
The voice was high pitched and resembled a little girl's.
We moved slowly through the woods. From the leaves and twigs, we did our best to match the sounds of forest wildlife.
We found a young girl hugging the branch of a tall tree. It looked easy to climb so I wondered if she simply couldn't get down.
As I was about to drop my guard, Mally's face became serious. He looked menacingly at the girl and unsheathed the falchion from his belt.
I was trying to understand his hostility since there's something I obviously missed.
That's right, we're still in the border so she may be a Gregorian. If she told anyone about us we'd be in trouble.
But.
She doesn't know who we are so why are we giving ourselves away?
Wait, is he going to kill her?
I hesitated a bit to stop him, but I am still learning to survive here. I trusted this burly man so I truly hoped it wouldn't come to murder.
It didn't. I was surprised to see Mally wave at the girl. She noticed him and became startled.
Mally also told her to quiet down with his hand as he moved closer to the tree.
The girl seemed frightened but not by us. She reached down so Mally could catch her properly.
She had mud and dirt stains all over her skin. Her hair reached below her shoulders, but it was a mess. She had freckles and blue eyes on her sun-tanned skin. She wore a single grey cloth draped over her body.
Her eyes were red and teary and her lips arched downward showing how desperately she was trying to hold back from crying. She was shaking.
Mally pointed deep brown stains on her clothing. It was blood. But it wasn't hers.
He never muttered a word so I stayed silent as well. She pointed off in a direction. A clearing past the trees.
Mally clenched the sword and his gaze became sharp. He signaled me to follow and I also unsheathed my axe.
"!אמא" The little girl whispered some words as she grabbed onto Mally's leg.
Mally simply nodded and patted her head with his free arm. He pointed at the tree and put his index finger on his lips as he looked at her.
She understood and went to hide behind the tree.
We continued into the clearing and saw a large open field for farming. I looked at Mally and asked him what she said.
"I don't actually know." He gave a broad smile.
This guy.
Regardless we were about to go into danger. This soft old man wanted to help the girl despite that it may put us in danger. This kindness was what allowed me to be by his side so I simply saw it as an opportunity to test my self.
We hunched low and moved across the field low to the ground. We moved over to a farmstead.
As we got closer by crops we found the body of a woman. She looked a few years older than me. Her lifeless blue eyes stared out into the sky. She wore an outer garment similar to the child we met, and white frilly undergarments underneath. They were torn around her abdomen. Flesh and bile poured over the large whole exposing the insides of her stomach.
Her body was lying in an unnatural position as if someone simply through her lifeless body to the side.
Her facial characteristics and freckles reminded me of the child. She must have been a family member.
My blood began to boil as I thought what kind of person would do this.
Mally put his hand over my shoulder and pointed to the cottage in front of us.
As we moved closer wooden thuds and banging could be heard.
A low growl followed by a thundering howl chilled my body. I froze trying to recall what animal could make a sound like that. The howl resembled a low pitch raspy voice shouting "huuu" repeatedly.
We reached the door to the cottage. Or where it used to be as large claw marks revealed a forced entry. Blood bathed the wooden floor that trailed off into a side of the house. Entrails were laid bare over the bloodstains.
The smell was sickening, but loud munching was even more disturbing. The creature was enjoying large bites as he chewed the bones thoroughly. The repeated crunch made my hair stand up.
I was nervous, scared and excited. I wanted to fight it, but I didn't want to die. Mally saw this through the strong gaze in my eyes and the uncontrollable shake of my hands.
I held my heavy breath when I heard a yell.
"!עזרה"
It was a woman's voice. It wasn't loud and instead was monotonous. She repeated the same word slowly getting quieter.
Mally followed the blood into the room of the woman's voice.
She was on the floor. Her eyes caught Mally's as she reached her hand and whispered.
"!עזרה"
Tears flowed down her cheeks as she desperately clung to her life and tried to reach us.
But she couldn't move.
A huge grey beats dug its claws on her back. It's huge built resembled a furless bear. It ate into her lower body slowly tearing large chunks of flesh. A thin huge snake long tongue would slip out and move around its tremendous sharp. Sharp carnivorous crimson-stained fangs stared at us as the creature hissed.
He stood tall over another mutilated body lying below his back legs.
A long large tail wagged in excitement as its deep black eyes locked onto ours.
It dropped the flesh in its mouth as it began to growl, but Mally didn't hesitate to launch his sword in a downward strike. He used all the weight of his upper body to bring the sword into the head of the creature. Seeing him move forward I immediately followed.
The creature moved back avoiding Mally's attack, but I was also in the middle of a swing.
My axe swung from the right upward into the creature's lower jaw.
Blood immediately splattered, but the creature moved its muscular arm into a striking motion at me.
Mally bumped sideways into me holding his sword diagonally against the creature's strike causing the blade to pierce into the flesh.
The axe was thoroughly lodged causing me to stumble back and fall on the wooden floor since I didn't let go.
The axe dropped from the creature's jaw a few moments after.
Mally had already launched himself forward again causing the wounded creature to recoil.
He feinted an attack and instead used his right foot to kick the axe back to me.
Mally held the falchion in a defensive pose holding both hands on the grip keeping it tucked close to his stomach.
Neither of them had much room to make exaggerated movements so they stared for a bit allowing me to stand up again.
Behind the door, another creature of equal stature blocked the only exit out of the room.
Mally tensed up seeing it.
"When I say run we're going to run out the door kid."
I nodded to his escape plan. My throat became hard as I was staring at the other creature.
Mally ran into the wounded one putting his entire body weight behind a strong slash of his sword.
The creature by the door took the opportunity to run in and attack him from behind.
"Runnnn!"
Mally's voice was erratic and harsh. This was the first time I heard him shout in such an angry tone.
I ran to the door barely realizing what he just did. I looked back holding the axe in hand.
His sword arm was being crushed by the jaw of the creature that ran at him. He was beating the wounded jaw of the other one with his left hand.
"Run fool, grab the girl and runnn!" As he turned around to tell me the wounded creature was beating took the opportunity to bite into Mally's neck.
My body froze seeing his lifeless head collapse unto his shoulders being held by a few strands of flesh.
I was pissed, but not angrier than I already was throughout the entire situation. I breathed through my nose as I clenched my jaw and thought.
Time seemed frozen. I wanted to avenge my friend and mentor. I wanted to rush in, but it was suicide. I had already struck the face of this creature and it only pissed it off. Mally struck with his sword and it only stained the creature's skin red. And now there were two of them.
The girl.
Why did he tell me to grab the girl?
Even during this time he still cared for this stranger and wanted me to protect her in his stead.
Before I realized my legs were already carrying me across the field. During my train of thought, my body had already decided what to do.
I was heading back to where the girl was.
Holding the axe with my right hand I transferred it to my left as I sprinted into the forest. I saw the girl peeking by the side of the tree. When she saw me she was a little excited and moved out of her hiding spot.
I picked her up with my right arm throwing her over my shoulder belly side down and continued running. As I was picking her up her face was one of confusion.
She began shouting in words I couldn't pay attention to as she struggled to hit me. It was obvious she wanted to be put down, but I didn't know if I was being followed.
After picking her up Immediately darted upwind through the forest for a few minutes. My heart and lungs hurt as I stressed them, but it wasn't as bad as a few days ago when I was being chased by the creepy animals.
When I felt far enough I changed directions away from the setting sun. East.
I wanted to get to an Anglo town as soon as I could.
Somewhere along the line, the girl began crying again instead of struggling. She seemed older than my eight-year-old younger sister but was not heavier.
This made it easier to carry her as I ran. I was already used to weighted long-distance running do to the military. Although the most I ever carried was a thirty-five pound (fifteen and nine tenth kilograms) backpack properly strapped to my bac. I also jogged with the weighted backpack for a seven-mile (eleven and three tenth kilometers) distance.
However, This was a child on my shoulder.
I only reached around a mile (a little over a kilometer) before I became exhausted.
I set her down in the forest and stood holding my arms above my head trying to avoid throwing up.
I coughed a bit and rested with my back to a tree as my adrenaline began to wear out.
Before long I realized the creatures were either not following me anymore, or didn't follow me because they started feasting on Mally.
Mally.
My eyes began to tear up as I held back the tears. Being in this world felt so unreal I've yet to feel a disconnect from my friends and family. Friends and family who I already mustered the courage to say goodbye to before I boarded the spaceship.
But now, I had a father figure who although I only met for a little over a week it felt like a lifetime.
The girl saw my troubled expression and wiped her sad expression as she looked at me. She stared at the creature's blood that stained over my jumpsuit.
I could only guess what she was thinking, but I didn't care.
".אני מצטער"
She said something to me. But it only went one ear out the other since I couldn't understand her anyway.
"?ראית את אמא"
She pulled on my sleeve and said some more words. I ignored her.
"?היא בסדר"
She said something again.
".היי"
And again.
".להקשיב"
".היי"
".היי"
".היי"
She began to sound annoying so I finally replied.
"I don't understand a God-damn word you're saying what the fuck do you want?"
Her eyes began to tear up again. She became scared again.
She sat by a tree and covered her face with her knees.
I immediately regret my tone. She reminded me so much of my little sister, but I failed to control my patience. She also now knows I'm foreign.
She may tell someone about me and I'll end up killed. Throughout the way, she'll be a liability regardless. We can't communicate. I don't know her or trust her. And I can easily be mistaken for someone of her enemy nation.
What should I do?
I sighed.
