"Who is Aurora?"

He had expected this question as soon that asshole of a Lu brought her name up. But she had waited to ask him about that, until they were back at the shack.

"Aurora was one of five children, that were placed here. She arrived her some three years ago, and she was the first child I ever saw in here. Which by the way is a crime, the one who came up with it should be put in here. This is no place for a child, no matter the crime. But like Lu said, I delivered her to the town where a man named Chris calls the shots. He is one of the old-timers in here, and he told me once that he was a gang leader outside this hellhole. But he hated the fact that some gangs had used kids. So it sounded reasonable in my mind that I would bring her to him. And he promised me that he would take good care of her, and he has. At least from what I hear." He said, and she gave him a small nod.

"So you do care." She said, and he sighed.

"I am not made of out of stone." He snapped. "She is only fourteen." He said if that would explain everything. "I was not leaving her anywhere I thought I would not be safe for her. The same went for those other kids, which I also pointed towards Chris. I have never seen them back in the forest, which is something good in my books."

"And why..."

"Because that means that he didn't, got them killed. You will see in time that you will see familiar faces inside the forest from time to time. And now I need to carve out some of the animals, we have killed. The trader comes at sun set, and maybe he carries coffee with him. And if that is the case I need furs and meat to pay him." He said and walked away.

"But I want..." He couldn't hear the rest, because he was already too far away. He needed to let go of some steam. Lu had to bring up Aurora? He just could kill him, and he would not even feel the pain. But he knew he had failed Aurora and the other kids. Nobody, and he meant nobody, especially that scum back Lu didn't need to tell him that. And he didn't need to hear it from Tamora, or worse what if she agreed with him. That he had not seen those kids inside the forest didn't mean shit, it just meant that Chris didn't get them, killed, that was all. He growled softly, he always stocked by the rule, out of sight out of mind. But now he started to worry about Aurora and the other kids. And that was thanks to her. "Orisino." Her voice was like thunder, and he almost jumped out of his skin. Almost, but still she had noticed it. "You need to be aware of your surroundings." Of course, she threw his words back at him.

"I was just deep in thought." He said. He lowered his shoulders. "You make me question things."

"What kind of things?" She asked. It was a simple and honest question, but still it made his blood boil.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"Everything, about the well-being of the greens, the kids." He snapped at her, but she didn't back down. "I am not a Jimmy Two-shoes, and I never claim that I am one." He said.

"You may not be a saint, but still you go out of your way to help the greens." She said, and he started to laugh.

"I started doing that after a few idiots walked into the shack, and started to claim that it was theirs from now on." He said. "I killed them without a second thought, sending them a clear message that everything in here most be earned." She looked at him and nodded.

"Well at least after that you showed them the way to the cities, were they can work their ashes off." She said, calmly. He nodded and laughed even harder. They had arrived at the road, and the corpses of the animals and plants were still on the ground.

"So let's grab as much of them as we can." He said, pointing towards the cart. She nodded and started by dragging one of the tigers. He grabbed a bear.

"What are we going to do with them?" She asked. When he helped her with lifting the tiger on the cart.

"I am going to clean them, the pelts can be used for clothing, bedding, and as rough. The meat I do not have to explain. The bones, are used to make soup. Do I need to continue?" He asked, and she shook her head, she got the picture. "We do not keep everything for ourselves. A merchant, one I love to kill until his lives run out, comes every month to ask if I need anything. Until this point I never made use of his services, but now there are some things I need. Like coffee and stuff." She looked up in surprise. "When we get back to the shack I will explain my plans."

*****

The gate closed behind them, and he made sure it was locked this time. He brought the cart next to his working bench, where he cleaned the Paracidic Dazzler yesterday.

"Alright, I am going to make some changes to the shack. To make it more livable for two persons. I was thinking about an extra bedroom, indoor kitchen, and bathroom." He started, and she nodded, with every he said. "I do not want to brag, but I am very good at building stuff. So that would not be a problem, but there are some elements like a toilet, or a coffee machine that I can not make." He said. She nodded for a second time.

"Alright, yell if you need my help. I am going to work inside the garden." She said, before she wanted to walk away. He could use her help with cleaning the animals and plants. But they needed an extra working bench for that, he looked at the large pile of corpses on the cart.

"Tamora, bring me two buckets. One for the blood and another for the things we can not use." He said, she said nothing. She just walked away, to get back later, with two buckets. "Alright, look closely." And he started to clean the tiger. "Alright, the pelt we are going to hang here." He placed the hide on a metal wire. So that it could dry. "Place the meat inside, shit I forgot to pick the bucket from the smoke house." He said, before he stormed off. The meat house was near the little shower stall he had built yesterday. He grabbed the bucket and run back to the table. "Place only the meat inside this large bucket. We're going to dry and smoke it for the jerky." He said, while he cut a piece of meat and placed it inside the bucket. Tamora watch as he showed her every step. "Place the bones on the piece of cloth and then there is nothing left of them. We burn the rest later in the day and the ash will make a good fertilizer." He ended the lesson. "Now it is your turn, I will be nearby. Making another working bench." She nodded and started to work on another tiger.