SURVIVORS
Chapters 183. Entering Portal
The farther it goes, the more dense the trees.Thin fog out, enveloping the entire forest area. Make visibility shorter.
"Many fog. Keep holding on." Liam reminded.
"Where are we going?" kenny asked as he limped around propped up by Mattew.
"I don't know." Liam replied honestly.
"What I know is that we have to get food for everyone. That's why we're looking for it." added Liam.
"But going forward, the forest is getting darker. It was still day and light outside." Kenny was doubtful.
"What if our children and women let us stay at the border? There it can still get sunlight. They won't be scared." Mattew's advice.
"Hem, that's a great idea. But.. If we go looking for food and get lost and never come back, how? What about them?" Liam makes a reasonable excuse.
"Liam's right. This way, we'll stay together. Even though it's moving slower." Bela Baras's.
"We'd better make a torch for street lighting." proposes Kenny.
"You're right." Mattew helped find branches and tree trunks that were scattered on the ground.
The people of this village are very adept at making fire. The place is brighter now.
"Okay, we can continue the journey." Said Liam.
"Stay together. Hold the children so that nothing is left behind." Kenny reminded.
The group continued their journey through the dense forest. They can no longer see the sunlight from behind the leaves.
"Darahhh..!" shouted a young girl.
"What's wrong?" ask Laras.
The group now stopped.
"I. that.." His fingers pointed far ahead.
There was a shadow floating in the air ahead. Baras was also surprised to see it.
"You guys wait here. Let me see." said Liam.
He walked forward carefully. Now the black shadow becomes 3. Liam kept on walking closer. The shadow is now 5. But it's not floating. Actually they were hung on a rope into a chain. When blown the wind will look like hovering in the air.
"It was just a black cloth hung on a rope that stretched from that tree to the tree there." Obviously Liam.
"Who hung this? What purpose? Scaring the newcomers?" Baras was upset.
"Maybe a warning?" kenny said.
"It can also be a welcome" Mattew said.
"Huh. A very warm welcome." Laras said cynically.
"I'm testing. Whether under this hanger is dangerous or not."
Liam reached out to a small piece of wood. Then throw it under the hanger. But nothing happened.
"It looks safe" said Laras.
"Come kids. We continue the journey." Kenny cheers on kids who look tired.
They walk back. Being tired and hungry makes them lose their spirits.
"Ouch!"
"Hailama.. Ibu.."
The cry of a fallen child is immediately contagious to other children. They are sad, scared, tired and hungry. Laras and the three teenage girls could only hug and coax them. The group stopped again to give the children a chance to rest.
They walked back shortly afterwards. Getting further into the forest.
"That's what?" Mattew pointed to a black tree that branched a lot.
In the shadow of the torchlight, they could see there were many objects hanging all over the branches of the tree. They don't understand what it is.
"Maybe a place to pray?" cetus Barrel.
"Hem.maybe too. Let's just keep going." Take Kenny.
"I'm hungry." lamented a child.
Liam remembered the place where the water had been filled in the river.
"This. While you drink first. Be patient." softly persuade.
Liam handed over the water to the teenage girls to share with all the children.
After everyone got a sip of water, they walked back. The fog is getting thick. The journey becomes more difficult. If not for holding each other, then they would not be able to know the existence of other group members.
Suddenly the sound of animal growls was heard. Liam is alert immediately.
"Broast beast! Create circle. Protect the kids in the middle!" instructions quickly.
The girls holding the children were immediately pulled Laras and Mattew towards the middle. They must protect the weakest.
"It looks like a wolf." whispered Mattew.
"We should be able to get it for our dinner." Liam said.
"Hem." Third friend of his.
The figure of the animal became clearer after being about 3 meters from the torch light held by one of the girls.
Horrible grin. Showing a sharp pointed tooth row. His red eyes glistened even more fiercely with torchlight.
The front legs of the beast slightly bent. Accompanied by grunts and screeches, the black wolf leapt to Kenny's level.
Jenny waited vigilantly, then shook her sharp knife as the beast's leap began to fall towards her.
No doubt the flick of the knife hurt the front leg of the wolf. Make him fall in front of Kenny. Liam and Mattew immediately draped and showered him with knife-punches. The wolf was only able to fight for a moment. Before losing and giving up his life, he still had time to throw a final howl into space. Liam quickly slit his throat. Silencing the sound of his last call.
The wolf was helpless. His blood soaks.the arid, blackish soil. Liam, Kenny and Mattew sat on the ground, breathing irregularly after the struggle.
"We need to skin it fast." Baras.
"okay." The three refocused on the wolf body that was still bleeding. They skinned his fur. Throw away his stomach. Then bake in small pieces to quickly ripen.
The girls were eagerly flipping through the roast meat to ripen evenly.
"I think it should be late in the evening. Would it not be better to find a place to rest first?" Kenny asked as all the members of the entourage were eating.
"Yes, we can walk a little more to find the ideal place to sleep." Liam agrees.
They immediately pack up after they finish filling the stomach. The remaining burnt meat that was not exhausted, was stored by the girls. That's a bit of supplies to give to the kids if they're hungry later.
The group again walked into the forest. The deeper, the darker the fog. Everything goes carefully. No one is in a hurry. Worrying that children are left behind and out of control.
"Liam, look." Show Laraa to the front.
"Is it what I think it is" asked Laras slowly.
"Home. That's the shadow of the house."
Liam responds excessively. Making the views of the group members return expectantly.
"Horee. We can rest for a while." A child shouted happily.
Kenny looked at Liam. His eyes were without sound.
"We need to check first. Whether there are inhabitants or not." Liam.
They're getting closer. But the house remained quiet. There was no response from the direction of the residence to ensure that the residence was inhabited.
Now everyone has gone up to the terrace. There is no intimidation or appearance of the occupants.
"It's quiet here. Laras.
"It looks like this house was abandoned." Mattew said.
Liam tried to knock on the door a few times, before opening the entrance.
There was a bright light when the main door was opened. Everything was so amazed. But not Laras and Liam.
"It turns out the otherworldly portal is behind the podok door." murmured Liam.
Kenny who was standing next to him was shocked.
"Is this how the door to another world looks like?" ask Kenny not to believe it.
"That's beautiful light. Like a rainbow mingling into one." limpal one of the girls.
"But we don't know anything behind it. There could be a beautiful view. Or maybe it's a world worse than haunted forests." Laras.
"We have no choice but to go in there." Mattew.
"Yes. We're going in there." Said another girl.
"I want to." too."
"Yes, I'm going there too."
Those voices had already explained their determination. Liam sighed.
"Entering the portal is like complaining about fate. You have to convince yourself first. So that later don't blame us." Liam.
"No. We won't blame you both." Kenny and Mattew talk almost together.
"alright. Let's go in. Me and Laras first. Kids in the middle. Then Kenny and Mattew."
Liam arranges the line so that he can take care of each other if he has to face bad things in the world over there.
"Don't let go of your grip."
Liam started to step over the door of light. Followed by Laras, the whole company vanished into the door of light.
Then the door of the old house closed tightly. And he's gone slowly. It was as if there had never been a building standing there.
*****