As the three of them started to run up the hill Ramos had an idea of going through the steep rocks as a shortcut that was pointed as another safe pass guided by his friend Samuel.
Ramos was a bit concerned about the kids but Samuel tapped his shoulder and said to relax and they started their climb towards the hill.
On the other side Arch, Vinay and Geet were running their way towards the fort. Arch and Geet were falling behind as Vinay leaded the way running faster as hey was very agile and had experienced going on adventures with his father in the past. He was feeling as if he was on an adventure with his father again, but a moment later drops of tears formed on the corners of his eyes. These were the fist time that he was happy and was enjoyed the air of being free again with people he could call friends. He then realized that he had outrun them and was far ahead. He halted his feet in the middle of his sprint and started trembling and his legs shaking and was drowned in sweat not due to exhaustion but due to fear of what was in front of him.
Arch and Geet were starting to catch up with Vinay but when they were about 20 feet away Geet's halted and started to panic but Arch on the other hand who was jogging all the way burst out and shot like a bullet going pass Geet and was headed towards Vinay who was frozen on his place and didn't know what to do as he was sucked in the deep green eyes of the *Caracal that was headed towards him. Just as the wild cat pounced towards Vinay, Arch who shot from behind him grabbed the Caracal and crashed to the ground with his right arm around the neck and left in the mouth of the big cat.
Arch was just an average kid, studious, skinny and average built far weaker then Vinay, seeing him fight to save a stranger's life, who he just met a few hours ago. Soon Ramos and Samuel climbed and came a top of the hill jus about a hundred feet away. Samuel halted and hurriedly reached his backpack and took out the flare gun and shot towards the Caracal, the caracal now finding itself surrounded left Arch's hand and squirmed around to get free from Arch's hold, now it was trying to escape and had no killing intent, sensing the hand released Arch let the Caracal go and was happy to see his new found friend unscathed and layer back due to exhaustion and relief.
When everyone reached the place where Arch lied to everyone's surprise he was not hurt at all just a few scratches but no bite marks from the wild cat, but a thick layer of cloth rolled on his hand avoided any injury. Ramos was relieved and also amazed at the thought process of his son. Geet and Vinay told them the whole story and Ramos was even shocked at what a genius his son was to come up with the strategy to faceoff the wild cat.
Vinay on the other hand came to Ramos and said "I owe him my life and that's all I can offer him, for an orphan like me, I guess no one will be willing to put their lives on the line."
Ramos felt that the kid was sincere and was now in deep thought "This kid could provide to be a good big brother to my son and take care of him in my absence." he said to himself and patted shoulder and said relax and let's go to the fort to complete our expedition.
After 3hrs when they returned to the sanctuary Ramos met with the Warden of the orphanage and expressed his willingness to adopt Vinay. Ramos wanted to keep this a secret for Arch and give him a big surprise, unaware of this Vinay and Geet were on the other side of the sanctuary pledged to be friends for life and standby each other come what may.
Samuel got the lunch ready for the kids and then headed towards Ramos to call him for lunch but couldn't avoid hearing the conversion between Ramos and warden and was overjoyed of the fact that his friend wanted to adopt Vinay. Ramos requested that he takes Vinay out with him for the rest of the day as it would help him and Vinay to get familiar with each other.