CHAPTER 34: HARD CHOICES

"We can’t just leave yet!" Rebecca cried out as Trix held her back. "Serena is still out there! We have to wait!"

"Rebecca..." Trix murmured. "We can’t..."

"Why not?!" Rebecca turned to face the older beastwoman with tears in her eyes. "It’s dangerous to leave her out there. Especially with what happened here."

The two beastwomen had been sleeping when the rootless beastmen had attacked the camp. Some of the beastmen had surrounded their tents and kept anyone from slipping through.

Eventually, they were able to overpower the rootless beastmen when the hunting team finally got back. However, it was not without some injuries and two deaths among the beastmen.

Trix and Rebecca, both worried for Serena and Kiro, had run to her tent only to find out from one of the tiger beastman that she had run into the forest to escape danger.

Theo had gone after her, but it was now nighttime and they had yet to return to camp. The two beastwomen couldn’t help, but worry for them.

And when Rebecca heard that they weren’t going to wait any longer, she lost it. The younger beastwoman couldn’t stand the thought of them leaving behind Serena.

"Enough please!" Richard called out, facing Rebecca. "I understand you’re worried, but we cannot linger around here. The bodies and stench of blood will attract more danger and we can’t handle anything more as it is. I don’t feel good about leaving a female out there, but Theo is searching for her. He’ll be able to track us down. You don’t have to worry."

Despite his words meaning to reassure the younger beastwoman, Richard couldn’t help, but feel uneasy. Traveling as a group within the forest was dangerous enough and even more so when it was a lone male with a female and cub.

Theo was strong for his age, sure and could track them if they left the right signs, but as an uncle who had raised Theo, worry still filled him. Richard too wanted to wait longer, but he had to put his personal feelings aside.

As the leader of this caravan, Richard had to make choices that kept the maximum amount of people alive. He couldn’t put everyone else in danger in hopes of waiting for two people. So he made the decision to move forward.

Waiting any longer would put everyone at unnecessary risk.

"We’ll have markers put in please so they can catch up to us." Richard added with a sigh. "So, please don’t worry about them. They’ll be fine."

Rebecca opened her mouth, wanting to say something as she glanced at Trix. However, the older woman shook her head and Rebecca bit her lip.

Finally the younger beastwoman murmured, "Alright, I understand..."

Richard gave her a grim smile before turning to his men. He quickly gave out orders, getting everyone ready to move out. Once they were ready, he shifted into his beast form and led the caravan.

As they walked, Richard looked up to the sky, praying to the Beast God that everything would work out.

***

Serena sighed as she gazed at the waterfall before her, wondering when this rain would end. It had been raining for two days straight, ending their chances of catching up with the caravan.

Well, they could still go after the caravan in the rain, but there was a massive risk of them getting sick under the downpour. And in this world, something as simple as a cold could kill you.

Especially when they weren’t sure where the nearest doctor was.

Of course, being in a damp cave wasn’t ideal, but it was better than no shelter. They just needed to keep far from the entrance of the cave.

Their problem was food.

They had some roasted fish left over for the morning, but that was soon going to go. And if the rain didn’t let up before then, Theo was probably going to have to head out to find food. The kind that didn’t need fire.

The entire situation had Serena regretting this little stop a bit. If she hadn’t insisted on them staying the night, they wouldn’t have been trapped in this situation now.

Still, she doubted she could allow Kiro and herself to head back to camp when the situation there was unknown. It was too risky.

She knew deep down that she wouldn’t change her decision, so there was no point in her feeling regret. Her feelings were just being messy as usual.

"Sister, I’m hungry." Kiro pouted next to her.

Serena glanced over at him and sighed, "I guess it won’t hurt for you to eat a little more."

After all, he was just a kid. He didn’t need to let him suffer hunger like this from her poor planning skills. Theo was already suffering by refusing to eat. He only did eat a small piece of fish after she practically begged him to.

And he only listened when she reminded him that hunger would weaken him. If he didn’t eat soon, he wasn’t going to be much help when they got out of this mess.

"Here." Serena broke off a bit of her fish. "Eat this."

She moved to hand it over to Kiro, but a hand gripped her wrist. She turned to Theo and muttered, "What are you doing?"

"That’s yours." Theo stated, giving her a stern look.

"Let the cub eat it." Serena growled. "I’m sick of fish. I want to eat fruit."

That was a lie of course, but it was the only way to ease the brooding tiger’s angst. Because Theo wasn’t taking this whole situation well either. He kept blaming himself for it despite what Serena told him.

Theo looked like he wanted to call out her words, but Kiro hurryingly exclaimed, "I won’t eat your food, Sister! It’s fine!"

"You better take it and eat it, Kiro." Serena ordered. "Otherwise, I’m not talking to you again."

It was a bit much to threaten him like that, but Serena figured it was the only way to get the cub to eat. Theo sighed, letting go of her wrist.

"Keep your food. I can give him some of mine." Theo said. "I’m not harsh enough to let a cub starve. I just don’t want you going hungry."

"I’m fine." Serena retorted. But Theo wasn’t having it, so she sighed, "But have it your way."

She then turned away from them and faced the waterfall once more, praying the rain would let up soon. Because she wasn’t sure how much longer she could last in this situation.