UNTAMED (The True Color of Adventure)

Chapter 8

The hill breathed in my dream, could this be the tiredness I feel? Or just tension? I kept asking myself, not wanting to wake just yet, I was exhausted. I turned to my right side, curling up for a more comfortable sleeping position when I saw something like large eyeballs beside me.
Suddenly, the hill began to shake; slowly and then violently.
Was this an earthquake? We jerked up in fear, our eyes wide open.
“What's going on?” I shouted, holding Alex's hand so we wouldn't fall.
“I don't know” he shouted in response as though he was supposed to know.
It became sloppy suddenly, and then I and Alex began to slide down in opposite direction. We screamed through our lungs and soon landed on the floor. Fear gripped me, I moved sharply away from the hill. My eyes were becoming accustomed to the place, I could see better than when we first entered. Probably, adrenaline at work?
I heard a loud growl and the ground underneath my feet trembled. This must either be a nightmare or the end of the world like in Marvel movies. The hill, now looking more like a figure stood erect. My heart stopped.
“Holy sh*t!” I shouted in awe at the figure right in front of me, actually, we slept on Zara!
“What the…” I heard Alex shout from the other side.
Reflexively, I began to check my body for any strange colour or pores, remembering what Uncle Tom said about Zara's poisonous tail and what happened to Aunt Bianca. I saw nothing strange on my skin, I probably didn't have contact with its tail and so did Alex, I hoped.
Lifting its head, it roared into the sky. Even the forest feared it as everywhere trembled at its voice. Then, it rang in my head that this must be the Dark-Zone Zara lived. I could not believe I walked into Zara's home on my own accord.
I was trained to face Zara, but now that it was right in front of me roaring in irritation at the two humans in its territory, I suddenly lost all my training. This was much more terrifying than the bear, the bandits and other animals we had encountered on this journey. I ran back as fast as I could, hiding behind a tall tree.
I sighted Alex also hiding behind a tree a few meters away from me. As I gestured towards him, he saw me. “Are you fine?” I shouted, hoping he also did not come in contact with Zara's tail
“How can I be fine when Zara is right in front of us” His response assured me that he had nothing else as a matter of concern at the moment. As I was trying to communicate with my hands, the tree hiding me was uprooted.
I screamed in utter shock as I saw Zara having its attention on me. My weapons crashed to the floor as my hand tremor increased. Zara raged like a mad dog, and myself and Alex kept dodging its attack with all our strength, running as fast as our small legs would carry us. Soon, Alex and I were together.
As we ran to take cover behind trees, Zara soon uprooted and destroyed all the trees in that space.
It got angrier as we kept dodging its attack as tiny as we were.
Suddenly, Zara's foot stomped right in front of me, I pushed Alex as hard as I could, creating enough space for the foot to fall to the ground and not land on either of us. The whole activity was in a frenzy that my blood boiled as I reflexively hustled to save my life.
“Kevin!” Alex shouted from the other side and threw me a spear with all his might, himself holding another.
He nodded at me and I immediately understood him. We ran in sync towards Zara, slid down each foot with all our strength, and dug at its feet with the spears. Alex handling the right foot and I, the left. We did that as quickly as we could four times before we were sent flying. Zara roared in pain and increased in madness. As I intended to run away from the horrific proximity, I slumped.
A jolt of adrenaline flooded me, my muscles stiffened, Zara was approaching me again right on the floor. As it drew nigh, Alex shouted out to me and threw me a spear. As soon as Zara's foot was lifted in an attempt to step on me, I erected the spear and with its own energy, Zara stepped on it making the spear stuck deep into its right foot. We planned to at least render its feet useless if we could not take it down fast enough before it killed us.
Soon, it began to rain. Nursing the pain under its foot, it stepped back and continued to roar, giving me space to flee.
Nature helping us at the most desperate time, it started thundering heavily followed by strong bolts of lightning.
Zara's height put it at a disadvantage, lightning struck it profusely and it fell to the ground. As Zara fell, it took down with it countless trees as they collapsed on each other. Alex, initially standing beside a tree for the cover was hit by the branch. The branch sent him flying, hitting his head hard against the ground, he passed out immediately with blood oozing out from a dash on his head.
Seeing this, I sprinted towards him in an instant. I must not lose him, no, I am not losing any more person. I lifted his head on my thigh and began to cry bitterly, calling out his name. We had gone through a lot together and we needed to return together now that Zara was dead.
The rain was pouring so hard that it was washing away the blood from his head and I could hardly see through my tears and the rain.

*********
I rose, running helter-skelter in a circle deadened, looking for help that might never come.
Suddenly, I sensed a great figure behind me. I raised my head to look without having to turn and there it was – alive again.
I became petrified, all hope was lost. I waited to be consumed on the spot.
Immediately, a great force pushed me away and I landed on the opposite side of the plain. I turned around sharply to see what just happened, my jaw dropped as I caught sight of Uncle Tom taking my previous spot with Zara's mouth and long tongue close to his head.
Apparently, Uncle Tom and the others, in their search for us wandered into the Dark Zone as well and fortunately met the scene. As Zara was about to devour me, he immediately took out two hand grenades from one of his bags, unpinned them and pushed me away from the reach of Zara, with the intention of throwing the grenades into its opened mouth.
Unfortunately, it was too late for him to throw the grenades as Zara picked him up with its tongue and swallowed him up.
My eyes widened as I watched Zara pick up Uncle Tom, swallowed him up and exploded from its bosom. We were all sent flying as the grenades exploded inside Zara. I could not believe my eyes, the death of Zara didn't matter to me at this point, but what just happened to Uncle Tom.
Miranda and Joe rushed towards the carcass of Zara, having the hope of saving Uncle Tom.
Getting there, Zara's bosom was burnt beyond recognition, and Uncle Tom was nowhere to be found. We all wailed and a few minutes later, we remembered Alex who had been unconscious on the floor. Joe carried him on his back towards a stream outside the Dark-Zone and attended to him, having an experience in giving first aid treatments to wounded soldiers back at Japetus.
A whole day went by clouded with the mourning of Uncle Tom. I could not stop crying as I had just lost the only family I had left. Miranda and Joe tried all they could to console me, while also making sure Alex recovered.
After the second day, we felt the need to stop wandering in the miserable forest and head home. I remembered the promise I made to the people in the tunnel that I would not leave them to die. We rescued them as promised. After much struggle and merry-go-rounds in the forest, we finally found our way out. I returned to Japetus with Joe who would now be my caretaker. Miranda and Alex returned home, though they promised to visit me often at Japetus. The people we rescued also were taken to the hospital for proper care.
King Lemuel declared one week of mourning throughout Japetus in honour of Uncle Tom who sacrificed his own life to save the world. He also took me in to live with him in the palace. Will a life of luxury take all my horrific experiences and pain away? King Lemuel conferred upon me the title of the Grand Cordon and I became the youngest knight in Japetus, though my proper training would start in few days.
Soon, words spread far and wide about the sacrifice we made to conquer Zara. Moore visited Japetus to honour Joe and I while he also participated in the mourning of Uncle Tom and others including Lucas, who lost their lives fighting Zara.
It soon became very busy as visitors kept flooding Japetus asking to see the young knight. The president of the country also came down to Japetus requesting an audience with me and King Lemuel.
The following day after the president of the country visited, the president of the U.S also came, awarded me with a medal of bravery, and made a golden statue of Uncle Tom in front of the castle.