To the Land of Green

Chapter Fourteen

"Marie!" Lucas and Patricia yell. "Marie?! Is that you?"

For some reason, the voice sounds familiar. I turn around and see Nando pointing a gun at me. Then, I see Manoy, Andres, and José coming closer.

"Nando, put your gun down," Andres says slowly. He looks like he washed with blood. He is limping and so is José. Manoy, on the other hand, looks the same as yesterday, but this time with a few more bruises. I look back at Nando and he is also like Manoy, covered in bruises.

"As much as I want to know what has happened to you guys, I have to help Lucas first. He was bitten by a snake, and I need to help him," I say, focusing my attention on Lucas.

"What are you doing?" Patricia snaps.

"I need to tear some of his shirt because it is cleaner than the bottom edge of my dress," I say reassuring her. I started tearing the bottom edge of Lucas's shirt and put it around his wound.

"José, I think you should go and help him," Andres says.

"Why? I don't even know him," he replies. Andres gives him a look and with that José rolls his eyes and agrees. "Move, let me take a look," José says.

I move away and watch as José slowly unties the cloth I put around Lucas and inspects it. "Do you need anything?" I ask.

"Yeah, I am going to need some herbs to prevent the poison from spreading." he says. "Okay, Marie and I will go and collect the herbs," Nando says.
"Okay," José says as he tells us what herbs to get.
**

"Thank you, for helping Lucas." I sit down next to José. "There's nothing to be thankful about," he says.
"What happened there when you were taken?" I ask.

"Why act like you care, now? You never cared what would happen to us and I am pretty sure the only reason you came with us is because of my brother. He offered you assistance and once you get what you want you are going to leave us. So why care now?"

"I am not like that. I might have only accepted Andres's offer for security and safety, but you must also think that I am a human and it was a big risk for me to accept a man's offer not only a man but also a stranger." I stand up and walk away from him. What is wrong with him? I only asked a question and then there he goes again acting like I am the worst person he has ever met. Not wanting to think about him anymore, I decide to talk to Andres. I need to know why he lied. Why didn't he tell me that the Lobo has something to do with their sister? I need to know how they opened the portal.

"Hey, Marie," Andres says, smiling weakly. No matter how much I don't like him for lying to me and losing my trust, I still pity the situation he's in now. He is bruised up and can barely walk.

"What did they do to you guys?" I ask.
"It was horrible, but it's fine. We're not in their hands and we survived."

"Look, I need to ask you something. I know it is not the right time, but I need to get this off my chest. It has been eating me up and I need answers now," I say.

"What is it?"

"How is the Lobo related to your sister? And where is this remote control that you used to open up the Lobo?"

He looks at me for a second. A look of shock comes over his bruised face. He probably didn't know I knew. After a minute of silence, Andres finally begins to speak. "José and I never knew anything about the Lobo. We were just young kids living with our farmer parents. We would plant rice and vegetables with them, and study at night. Now, you might be thinking who studies at night right?" he says with a laugh. "You see only mixed Filipino's were given a chance to study. They had the money, and they were not as dark as we were, so they were still accepted in schools. We, pure blooded Filipinos on the other hand, never got to. However, that all changed when a priest in our village started teaching children at night secretly. We called him Father Rivera and one of his sayings is that 'people have taken everything away from us, but there is one thing no one can take away no matter how hard they try and that is knowledge.' He decided to teach a class at night when most Spaniards are in deep slumber," he says.