Chapter 23- Surviving the Forest 2

Wilson lived in the wild for a week, never staying in a place for more than a day. The beasts of the forest seemed to hate him, constantly searching, or rather tracking him down. Or perhaps, they were just attracted by the sweet, sweet smell of cooked hyena flesh. It did not matter what kind of place he decided to seek shelter in, there would always be at least four different kinds of beasts coming after him, leaving him o choice but to be on the run. By the end of the week, he had changed locations twelve times, a maximum of four times in a day. Wilson sighed as he remembered the day he had to change locations four times in one day.

He had skinned, sliced and cooked the entire bull-sized hyena over a spit fire. He was tired after a good day's work and was ready to sleep when he heard some chattering that immediately reminded him of those heinous horned-monkeys. He shivered in frustration -not fright- and anger.

"Oh no! This monkeys again!" He felt like crying.

*Ooh! Ooh! Aah! Aah!*

They chattered even louder as soon as they saw the large stock of cooked, nicely scented meat. Wilson could clearly see the monkeys in front drooling. They moved quickly and tried to snatch the slabs of meat from right beside him. Wilson was infuriated and kicked their hairy hands away. How dare they drool and then try to take his hard work like he did not exist? Could they not see him lying down there?

"How disrespectful!" He said spitefully at the monkeys that tried to snatch the product of his day-long chore. He faced the biggest monkey that seemed to be in control.

"Did you even bother to teach them basic etiquettes and morals?" He asked it.

The monkey did not care for all that and instead leapt down from the tree branch it was hanging from, and slowly approached. At first, he thought it was going to politely ask to share but instead, was struck with a fast palm to the face. He hit a tree a few meters away from the impact. He slowly stood up, knowing fully well that he had popped some ribs where he hit the tree. He also knew he was about to do something more stupid and detrimental than beneficial but he decided to go with his hurriedly cooked up plan anyway.

He shouted and ran towards the leader of those thieving bullies that were currently ravishing his only food supply. He pounced on a young monkey. The monkey might be young but it was easily the size of s full grown man. He held its neck and tightened and dragged it away from the rest before it could even make a sound.

He dragged it into the nearest thick shrub amidst the annoyingly loud chewing sounds of the criminals. He slowly moved around behind the bushes surrounding the trees. He planned to kill another one before they all decided that it was time to go back up to the top of the trees.

He soon saw another little monkey, shorter than the previous one. It had a soft pink colour and was eating a little farther from the group than any others. Wilson looked around it to ensure no other horned-monkeys were looking at his direction and luckily for him, none of them were. He closed in on it, waited a few seconds for any unnecessary reactions and grabbed it tightly by the neck to stop it from making a noise. He then lifted it from the ground and carried it into the bushes by its neck before snapping it. Another one dead.

'This should be good enough for now.' He thought to himself as he carried both dead bodies on his shoulders and ran in another direction, away from those beastly monkeys.

Wilson was long gone by the time they realized two of their young ones were missing. They howled loudly in pain and anger and all Wilson could say was

"That about serves them right!"

He found another clearing to sleep. It was nighttime after all and he needed to sleep.

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He must have slept for only a few minutes before he was awoken by those chattering sounds he had grown to hate with passion. Although, their chattering sounded agitated this time instead the usual excited and impatient chattering sounds he was already used to.

Before he could fully wake his worn out body up, the monkeys located him. He had found a clearing with barely any trees. A completely absurd place for a rainforest setting. They arrived with the leader in front of the rest. As soon as they got to the clearing, they had to move on land as there were no trees they could use for easier movement. Just plain ground carpetted by short grasses.

They saw the dead babies beside Wilson. He quickly regretted not trying to find a place to hide his victims. They growled at him and ran towards him very quickly. They were already two steps away from him by the time his body fully woke up.

He hit the nearest monkey away with a jaw strike and turned around and ran for his life without forgetting to grab one of the two monkeys. The infuriated horned-monkeys followed closely behind him giving him no breathing space. He had to change locations two more times that night and just when he thought he had escaped and was now safe, they would appear again like undying ghosts. And so, he spent the entire nighttime trying to survive in the forest. He only truly got rid of them when the threw the horned-monkey he was unwilling to let go to the top of a tree habouring a snake and running the other way.

By morning, he was too tired to even move a muscle. He dropped down under a slim, tall tree with roots hidden between thick sets of shrubs. He slept soundly while the monkeys searched for him relentlessly, unknowing to him that the shrubs had helped to hide his scent.

He slept peacefully for a while but even that peace did not last long enough. Trouble had come calling again with a large family of rodents who believed that he was trying to steal their home.