"What if we get lost?"
"We won't. Just go down and down this mountain, I can track all of your scents, I will bring all of us together. Trust me." Khalil assured his friends in a hurry. The three other kids looked at each other in worry but ended up agreeing with him.
After that, Khalil ran on a dark path, but he easily got scared and so he quietly walked close by the bushes. He heard a few steps and voices of men, this made him stop, curl underneath, and stop. Even with his breathing. He clasped his mouth tightly in fear of making a noise. Thankfully, the men soon left the place and ran away.
Young little Khalil looked up to check if the men were gone, and he saw no trace of them anymore. He sat back down with a sigh of relief. Now he wants to go find his friends but he is scared that the night is too long and the men are still going to search all over.
'Maybe one of us gets caught.'
He immediately shook his head with that thought and eagerly hoped that everyone is fine and safe. He activated his ability and sniffed the area to find his friends. Most can still be tracked, while the others might have gone too far. It doesn't bother him because he can roam around and easily find a trace of any of them for sure. He had done that exercise in the orphanage almost a hundred times.
There is something that bothers him, though, it is the thick scent of blood coming from the direction of the orphanage. It doesn't take much for someone to realize that a tragedy has occurred there. His mind could not stop thinking that one of his friends may have been in trouble. He gulped hard when the flash of the boy who decided to return for his other friend came to his mind. "Let's just hope the guards accidentally shot each other," he whispered.
He decided to walk down the mountain. He kept his eyes pinned on the tracks as he goes down. He barely even noticed that he had gone far down and that the sun is almost up. Thankfully, he had no more encounter with any of the men chasing him.
That is what Khalil thought before he suddenly went face to face with a man in uniform from the orphanage. The guard is grinning widely at him, which made his blood turn cold. He took a few steps back but the man finally ran the remaining distance between them and grabbed his arm.
"Let go of me!" Khalil wildly screamed and struggled against the man but the guard acted like he isn't hearing anything. He kept pulling Khalil without any discomfort as if the boy is just a leaf in his hand. While Khalil kept crying, wailing, and fighting for his life. He doesn't understand why they had to make all the trouble of capturing them back when they were about to poison them anyway.
"Hey! What are you doing to the kid?"
The guard halted and Khalil got distracted from crying. There they saw a group of men in uniform.
"And who are you?" the man holding Khalil asked, annoyed by the disturbance.
"We are the forest rangers assigned here. Now can you answer our question?"
"Just leave us alone."
"No, please help me!" Khalil finally managed to speak. After he said that, the man suddenly silenced him by grabbing his neck by the arm. This action immediately alerted the forest rangers and they start grabbing their knives. "Let go of the kid." one of them ordered.
The man holding Khalil even tightened his grip on his neck, which made him make choking noises. "I will stab his skinny little body if any of you come any closer," he warned the men as he draws a knife and aimed it at Khalil when the forest rangers tried to get near.
The forest rangers were not able to do anything but do what he says, however, they are still putting their weapons up.
When he saw that the rangers are not retaliating, he took a step back, further and further from them to get away. Khalil could not struggle to fight back too because of the knife in his neck. He started crying as he makes eye contact with every man in front of him.
All of a sudden, one of the forest rangers looked at him shouted, "Close your eyes." he was too desperate not to follow anyone that he immediately did what he was told. As he shut his eyes tight, the man who screamed ran towards them and threw a small knife right at the guard's forehead. The next thing Khalil knew is that the man let go of him. He opened his eyes and tried to look back and see what happened to the man but the forest ranger immediately covered it back again and carried him, "You don't need to see him. You're safe now."
Khalil was shaking all over when he was taken back to the ranger's quarters. That has been the most life-threatening experience a six-year-old could have. The people in the quarters offered him food and clothes. Police also came to see him and ask questions but they could not believe half of his stories. The first question is why would the people in the orphanage want to kill them?
Khalil wanted to show his ability but chose not to, for his safety, as taught by the orphanage.
In the end, they have just concluded that the man was a child abductor who fortunately failed. One of the forest rangers, the one who threw the knife, came to him to check after the police left, "How are you feeling now?" the police left when it was almost sundown. Aside from that, Khalil had been, fed, bathed, and clothed the whole day
Khalil slowly nodded as he answers, "Fine. Better."
"Did I scare you? When I told you to close your eyes and attacked?"
The kid shook his head, "No, I didn't see anything."
"Oh, right. That's good." the man chuckled, "Are there other kids from where you were almost caught? Have you seen some?"
He eagerly nodded as his friends flashed in his mind, "Yes, and I have to find them."
His urgency startled the man, "Are they in some sort of danger?"
"I think so, I have to go back to the mountains and track them." he started climbing down the bed that was given to him but the ranger stopped him, "You mean now? It's getting dark and it's not safe in the forest. There are wild animals and bad people around."
"But that's exactly why I have to find them now!" he worries that his friends might be waiting somewhere and he is the only one who could track them.
In addition to the guilt that he promised them.
"You won't be any help for them anyway. Worse case, you and your friends could all get in trouble." the forest ranger reasoned out, "Leave it to us. Some of the forest rangers will go on their final patrol tonight. I'll ask them to look for your friends."
Khalil wanted to reason out more of how he will be a better help but the topic was out for discussion he was left there to sleep for the night.
He laid back in his bed to sleep but couldn't. He tossed and turned around the bed but it was no use. The night only got deeper but Khalil's mind is as active as it was supposed to be the whole day. He was at loss and spaced out today, with a reasonable explanation but, now, he's ready to move. He stood up from his bed and looked around the empty room where he was placed. It's supposed to be a room for guests and visitors but no one is there now. He held a deep breath and then slowly head towards the window that would be big enough for him to fit in.
'I'll just go back quickly before they realize I'm gone.'
Khalil jumped out and quickly ran back to the forest. His eyes glimmered in purple as he tries to sniff around the area. He found a lead from one of his friends and started following it. He sniffed at the random trees as well to see their memories or if his friends held on to any of them. It took him about half an hour of walking, getting lost in the focus of tracking when he sensed wild animals.
He could tell it was a bear, could be an adult mother bear because he can also sense a cub or two. It's still far away but he can smell it nearing his direction. He took a step back as the scent got stronger and stronger, until he finally made a run down, to his surprise, the quarters is no longer within his sight. He must have gone too far. He went down into a busy city without worries of getting lost because he can surely just go and track the scent back to the quarters.
He is still mindlessly running in the city in fear of the bear when suddenly, an old man grabbed and stopped him from running in the road. He gasped out loud due to it.
"Watch where you're going kid." the old man was rugged-looking, with its long hair and beard, added with baggy clothes. Khalil managed to calm down after realizing he had fully gone down to the city and the bear will most likely not come this far. He looked at the man, "Thank you." he faintly smiled.
"It's fine. Where are your parents?"
"I don't have a family. But I have to go back to the quarters of the forest rangers, they might be worried about me. Also, my friends-"
"I see kid, commitments huh? But how about you join me here in the back of this truck for a while?" the old man asked out of nowhere. He is red from getting drunk but Khalil was way too young to notice that, he smells like it, though.
Khalil's mouth agape with what he just heard, he instinctively knows it's not a good idea. "I don't think that's-"
"Actually, today is my birthday. But I'm all alone! Can you just give this old man a chance? I have chicken, just one night, okay?" the old man kept on urging, he held Khalil's shoulder and drew his face near the kid. At this point, Khalil is too pressured and intimidated to refuse, "Okay! Okay! Happy birthday..." he finally gave in.
The man yelped in glee and gave Khalil a full hug. He escorted him to go at the back of some old truck that's opened at the back. They sat down there, "Here, eat some. This is the only thing I could get," he handed a bucket of chicken, "...and of course, this." he raised the bottle of liquor and drank. Khalil tried to smile in spite of the discomfort. Good thing the chicken was delicious.
The man spent the rest of the night blabbering about his life in a distorted manner. He only managed to get a few details like how it lived out in the street for a long time. How he begs for a living, and that most people are no good. Khalil soon got tired and sleepy, "I'm tired now. Where can lie down?"
The man simply pointed further inside the car, "There just take a rest for a while, since the sun is almost up."
And so he did what was told of him. He lay down in an empty and messy back of a truck, it didn't take long for him to close his eyes and fell asleep.
He had no idea how long did he fell asleep but he was awoken by the shaking of the ground he was sleeping in. He opened his eyes and realized that the car has been moving. He quickly jolted in panic when the road looked unfamiliar and the man from last night was sleeping next to him. He shook him rigorously, "Wake up! Where are we going?"
The man looked annoyed at being woken up to but was also freaked out when he realized they were moving, he could only utter simple words
"Oh no, this is bad."