MOUNTALY, MASAN...
It was getting to four years that Denzel had stayed in the woods and it already felt like home to him.
Denzel sat on a log of wood with a worn-out tent hanging behind him, on the ground, there were tons of dead animals' heads resting on dry leaves. On a stick, he hung multiple hides of animals on it.
"Wow, another day to burn out, what am I going to do today?" Denzel flexed his right-hand muscle that held a long metal in it.
"Ten Lions, twenty-four bears, more than fifty snakes, Mann, I have killed a lot," Denzel said, looking around him. His eyesight moved from his surroundings to his body and he saw how muscular he had become.
He was buffed up, anyone who knew Denzel before he left would surely have a problem recognizing him.
Denzel began to fight animals after two years of his stay in the woods, and at some point, killing them wasn't a tough task anymore.
Out of boredom, Denzel began to forge new clothes for himself with the hide of those bears. The skin was thick so during the winter, there wasn't much problem for him.
When his tent began to wear out, he used sticks to try and hold them up but it still kept getting weaker.
"Ahh, should just rest today, maybe sleep..." Denzel stood up and walked to his tent, bending his body to be able to go through.
All of a sudden, the tent collapsed, and all the sticks used to hold it were no more strong. The clothes of the tent were all torn and Denzel knew he had to do something.
He walked back and took one of his hides, laid it on the ground, and he took another to cover his body. He did that, laying on the hide he spread on the ground.
He slept, for a long time and the next time he woke up, everywhere was dark. His body kept shivering as everywhere felt cold and Denzel couldn't take it anymore.
"Seems I have to leave this spot and look for somewhere warmer." He stood and saw how cold the temperature there was. It was dark so he couldn't search for a new spot, he just had no choice but to deal with those harsh conditions.
He sat on the ground, his legs folded up and his hands holding them together.
After some thoughts that Denzel gave to it, he eventually decided to leave Mountaly.
"Wow, it should be at least five to six years that I have lived here, I think I should go back home, I should have gotten strong enough to face off with some haters." He said, thinking back to what actually drove him there.
"I don't think I should still have a case at Hilldale. Five to six years is enough to forget about me." Denzel had totally forgotten about what happened two years ago, the day he heard the news of him being a serial killer.
The fact that he thought he had spent more than five years when it was just almost four years he had stayed there was not surprising, for someone who didn't have any form of the timepiece or anything with him.
"Leia... I guess she should have forgotten about me, but I haven't, and I would make sure I take my revenge. I only hope that she hasn't killed Ted by now." Denzel kept mumbling to himself, memories of his friends running through his mind.
"Ted... I miss Ted and his nerdy attitude, I hope I would get a chance to meet him when I get back home.
Denzel kept on reminiscing about a lot of things and before he knew it, the day was starting to break.
"Wow, did I really sleep for that long? Guess I just have to get things prepared." Denzel stood up, picking up a few things and inserting them into a worn-out bag. He took out a few pairs of clothes, rumpled pants and a hoodie that he was yet to wear, taking a look at it.
"I actually took this cloth along and left it so I could wear it on this day, but, will it be my size?" Denzel held out the rumpled cloth and saw how little it looked.
He looked into his bag and saw his wallet that he took along and he took it out quickly, to check if anything was in it.
"Wow, I have some cash in here, 1, 2, 3, 3000 Xin in total... Wow..." He counted the money he had in hand, placing the money back into the wallet when he was done.
He took out some other few things and saw that he had a little bar of soap in his bag. When he left Hilldale, because he was out of time, he took out only a few things so he didn't know some of the exact things he took.
After he emptied the bag, he carried some things and threw them into the bag. He went to wash up at the river he always used with the little soap he found. With a little cloth, he cleaned off some milky stuff in his tooth and gargled water in his mouth.
Denzel was done taking all he needed with him and he carried his bag, walking away from his spot.
"Wow, after spending years here, I am finally leaving. Would miss this place a bit. Bye..." He walked away, waving his hand to the woods. Everywhere looked dim since the sun was still rising, so for some few reasons, Denzel couldn't see too clearly.
After walking miles, he finally found a road he could go through so he sat there, taking a break before he continued.
Denzel thought of transforming into his eagle form so he could easily fly back, but when he remembered when last he did anything in his beast form, he took his mind off it.
When the day had broken completely, Denzel stood up and just beside him, he saw a bike covered in leaves and shrubs, and he cleared everything he saw on it.
The bike was still kind of dirty and that was when he remembered where the bike came from- Zoey.
"Wow, Zoey! How the hell did I even forget about her, I do remember telling her to leave it behind." Denzel gave off a light smirk, sitting on the bike that was all stained.
He started it and to his greatest surprise, the bike worked. After many years, he didn't expect it to come on. Then he drove off.
On getting to the gate of Mountaly, he came down it and walked towards the gate.
'Wow, it's locked,' Denzel thought when he tried pushing the gate open. He was about to turn back when he noticed something written on the gate.
It was already fading off, but after a closer look, he confirmed that it was four numbers written on the gate.
One of the numbers was not clearly written so all he could see was, '5 0 4'.
Actually, he couldn't tell if it was the number eight or if it was the number nine that was written on it.
So firstly, he input the number eight into the password lock and when it didn't work out, he tried out the number nine.
To his greatest surprise, it opened.
'Wow, it worked! Whoever must have written that here must be from the heavens" he thought to himself and returned to the bike to take it along.
When Denzel moved the bike towards the gate, he went through the little space that was left and he turned back to pull the bike along.
The bike was already almost out when the gate closed all of a sudden, making a very loud noise and shattering the part of the bike that was in its way.
What the hell?!" Denzel was on the ground, shocked about what happened. He fell initially because of the shock the sound inflicted on him.
He eventually got up when he got himself back and he walked away, thinking of the easiest way he could get back to Hilldale without transforming into his eagle form.
After so much contemplation, he eventually decided to walk the way back.
Denzel at that point had strong endurance which he got from the harsh training he went through so he felt he could pull it off.
That was a mistake on his part, the fact that he underestimated the distance between Hilldale to Mountaly. It was long, long enough to make a person spend about 10 hours on foot.
When he walked into the next two cities after Mountaly, he saw a bus and just decided to take it to Hilldale with the last cash he had on him.
He walked to a bus stop and sat, waiting for a bus to come by.
Denzel could notice attention people paid to him, some walked away, claiming they couldn't deal with the stench coming from him.
He didn't care, all he wanted was to get back Hilldale. He also couldn't blame them, knowing where he was coming from.
They also couldn't get a good look at him, since his hoodie could cover his face the way to his nose.
Soon, a bus came to a halt and he walked in, taking a look at the price tag in the bus.
'1300 Xin just to Hilldale's border, things have gotten really expensive," He said, putting in some rumpled cash into a basket just beside the price tag.