Emergency Treatment

[Take a right here! Then go straight until you see a large rock with a pointy tip!]

With Sazzy's navigation, I increased our speed as we raced through the forest.

While driving, I kept all my attention on the road. But even then I could hear the struggling and crying happening behind me as Oliver tried his best to restrain the little girl.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

Amidst her shrill screams, I tensed my entire body and increased the speed once more.

[We should be quite close by now, so slow down your speed a little. The village should be a little ahead of a couple of rocks stacked on each other like a pyramid!]

Slowing down just a tiny bit, I scanned the scenery as we passed them. Until finally, I saw a bunch of large boulders, not small rocks, stacked on top of each other.

I decreased my speed more while Sazzy and I started looking around for anyone nearby. Suddenly, I spotted two men talking some distance from the rock and hit the breaks on the car.

The moment that car stopped, I rushed out towards them. From the corner of my eye I saw Sazzy heading to Oliver and helping him ensure that the little girl would not touch her mother and poison herself.

"Over there! Help!"

I screamed as I ran towards them.

The two men, upon hearing my voice, stopped in their tracks and watched in shock as I arrived in front of them.

"Poi...son..."

Speaking between breaths, I pointed aggressively at the car. The two of them looked at each other, understanding quickly filling their faces, before one of them started running to the car while the other headed somewhere else. Maybe to find more help.

Running back to the car with him, I opened the back door and let him enter first. He immediately saw the situation and hurried to the little girl's mother's side. While he was tending to her, I headed over to Oliver and took over restraining the little girl.

At this point, she had expended most of her energy screaming, resisting and crying, and her struggles were incredibly weak. Just by hugging her to my body I could hold her almost still.

"Green snake poisoning."

Stating that, the man quickly pulled up his personal terminal and started calling someone. While he did that, he quickly reached over to the controls on the car and brought down the sides.

"Joyce has been poisoned by a green snake!"

As soon as the call connected, he spoke quickly. He also gave a brief description of our general area.

"Ok, roger!"

Hearing the pants and running sounds on the other side of the call, I stood at the side with Oliver, the little girl in my arms, as we waited for help to arrive.

While waiting, the man took out several pieces of cloth as well as a bottle of liquid from his tool belt. He first used one piece of cloth and tied it on the thigh of the woman. He then poured the liquid from the bottle onto another piece of cloth and then tied it tightly around an area a couple of finger widths down the first cloth.

By the time he finished all of this, two more men arrived at our car and directly jumped inside.

The two of them joined the first man beside the woman. One of them had a box in their hands and immediately got to work saving the woman. The man who had run for help parted away from the others and headed towards us.

In my arms, the little girl had no more strength to struggle and had fainted. Seeing her puffy eyes and tear tracks, the man sighed.

"Thank you for saving Joyce and looking after Lily."

As he spoke, he reached out for the little girl, Lily, and I transferred her to his arms.

"It's nothing. My brother and I were gathering food when he spotted her. I recognized her and went looking for her mother."

Giving a little brief about how we met the mother daughter pair, the man nodded his head as he listened.

"Thank you nonetheless. My name is Ed, and the other guy who was with me is Marvin. The one we called is one of our village's doctors, Leo."

Ed cradled Lily in his arms as we talked. Soon, Marvin, the first man who came to the car, joined us.

"Leo says that since the rescue was as fast as possible, Joyce's condition is quite good and she is out of danger. We can move her to the village now."

Marvin greeted me with a nod, introduced himself, and thanked me like Ed did.

Since the two had introduced themselves, I gave my name as well as introduced Oliver. After he had given up Lily to me, Oliver had shrunk back and stuck closely to my side. Especially when Leo and Marvin jumped into the car.

Upon noticing Oliver, Marvin squatted down to his height and gave a little wave. Oliver, although a little nervous and startled, waved back at him.

"If you don't mind, could I take charge of the car and drive it there?"

Ed gestured to the driver seat as we both glanced at the interaction between the two of them.

He would know the roads better than me, so I nodded my head.

"Ok, then all of you should sit down."

Crawling to the front of the car, Ed sat at the driver's seat while the rest of us sat on the seat backs.

Leo was still tending to Joyce, so Marvin was the only one who was talking in the whole car.

"Linda gave us a heads up that you two would arrive. She didn't tell us the whole story though. So could you tell us why you want to find Amanda? Also how do you know Margret?"

I told Marvin everything, Ken and Barbie, as well as Liz. And although they were not facing me, I was certain that the two other men were listening in on the conversation as well.

"I met Margret through her daughter, Jenny. We met after I moved into a house near the beach."

As soon as I mentioned the house, I noticed that Marvin narrowed his eyes a little. But soon that look was gone and replaced with a very cheerful smile.

"So did you meet the previous owner?"

Marvin's smile was not reaching his eyes, which made me a bit hesitant to answer.

"Well, no. I didn't. I got the house through a third party transaction."

Sazzy, the third party, was looking Marvin in the face and sizing him up.

"Oh I see. Then did that third party tell you anything about the owner? I think Linda might have told you, or not, but Amanda was once .... acquaintances with that owner."

[Yeah yeah, 'acquaintances'.]

Sazzy rolled her eyes and glanced at my chest pocket which hid the love letter.

I saw her disgusted face out of the corner of my eye and found it a little funny to look at.

"Only a little. But nothing much since the third party didn't know him personally."

Marvin made a hum as he listened. He probably didn't fully believe me.

"Anyway, the reason why we came to Fluvius is not really related to that owner. We came here to meet Amanda to discuss certain things. We also came here to kill some time."

Being a little vague, I answered Marvin with my own polite smile and we both had a little staring contest before Ed called out that we had arrived.

"Well, looks like we're here. If god permits, maybe we will run into each other again. Also, you can stay at this spot for now. I'll go inform Linda's friends that you are here."

Marvin stood up as he spoke, and then went over to Leo and Joyce. He passed Lily over to Ed. Squatting down in front of Joyce, Leo then maneuvered Joyce onto Marvin's back. The three men with Joyce and Lily then walked into the village center and disappeared from our sights.

"Everyone from the anit-Colonist side is so suspicious of people."

Relaxing, Oliver stretched from beside me. Sazzy shouted in agreement, as well as frustration, over being treated this way several times.

Ed had parked the car slightly outside the village. The village itself was built in a clearing, surrounded by trees. In the first layer of trees facing the village, on the bark of each tree, were several complicated looking carvings.

Our car was parked next to one of the carvings, so I leaned to the edge of the car and observed it carefully. It was of a creature that I didn't recognize. This creature, standing on two legs with tusks and a pair of wings so small they were the size of its arm, had the head of what was most accurately described as a pig-bird hybrid.

Beside me, I heard Oliver come over to look at what I was observing. Sazzy was next to him.

[That is one pretty interesting carving. I wonder what that creature is?]

Sazzy climbed and straddled the side of the car in order to see the carving. Oliver, on the other hand, climbed onto the seat backs and moved towards my left.

"I see you two are interested in the carvings."

Suddenly, we heard a voice come from our right. Looking over, we saw two women approaching our car.

"That carving over there is of species who used to call themselves the Forest Watchers. 'Used to' because they were massacred 120 years ago."

One of the women, the one on the right, explained as the two of them reached our car.

"My name is Olivia, and this is my sister Pansy."

The woman on the right, Olivia, gestured to herself and then to her sister.

"Patricia said that you have some questions for one of us."

Oliver climbed down from the seat backs and Sazzy dropped down from where she was straddling. Together we moved closer to the women as they entered the car.

"Yes. They're just some small questions, so we probably won't stay here too long."

Olivia smiled as she nodded her head.

"We heard a bit about that. Amanda should be in the village currently, but there is no need to hurry. We should first show you where you will be staying for now."

Olivia sat herself in the passenger seat and gestured for me to sit in the driver's seat.

I glanced back at Oliver, who was currently having a stare off with Pansy.

"You don't have to worry about my sister. Pansy is quite shy so she doesn't speak often, but rest assured she likes children a lot so your brother will be in good hands."

Seeing Pansy lose the contest by turning to me to give a small but determined nod, I nodded back before hesitatingly sitting at my seat.

"Now, we need to back up a bit. There is a more vehicle friendly entrance near the left gate."