Food doesn’t fix everything

Before Kato could turn in the direction of the noise, symbols flooded his vision. Familiar yet strange to him all the same. ‘This again,’ he sighed, running his hands through tousled, messy hair.

‘When was the last time I slept?’ He rubbed his eyes and blinked furiously, but the symbols refused to leave. They just swirled around him, mockingly.

“I haven’t eaten mushrooms in weeks! LEAVE ME ALONE!” He shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Huyuhu,” a staggered, shaky breath broke out from behind him. He refused to turn; he couldn’t look at her. Not now. Not after he failed.

‘I should’ve been there, gotten you out days ago, I’m sorry,’ is what he wanted to say but instead he said nothing. At least not to her. The thoughts remaining unspoken, and trapped inside, just as he had been.

“Evil, evil symbols,” he ranted at his surroundings. Each word coming out more choked and incoherent. Kato swatted at them again and again, sending sawdust flying with each motion. But the symbols stayed, he could wish them away all he liked, but it didn’t seem to make a difference.

Eventually, the symbols faded away, just like they always had. With nothing left to lash out at, Kato sank to his knees with tears stinging at his reddened eyes. “Why won’t anyone leave me alone” he muttered softly, “I can’t help you.”

A warm paw gently rested on his shoulder; Kato flinched.

Kato remained facing forward for a moment, taking deep, slow and controlled breaths. He forced a small, smile to his face and turned around.

“Hi” he said, his voice shaky.

The poker meeped at him in her strange language again.

Kato held its gaze, his bottom lip quivering eyes brimming with unshed tears. Tufts of white fur, matted red, lay strewn around the enclosure. Bare patches of scarred flesh lay exposed to the world, a painful reminder of the past few days. Kato looked away sharply.

The paw squeezed his shoulder.

He looked back, forcing the smile to his face again.

“Let’s get you some food,” he paused. “Hey, champ?” he gently knocked his knuckle against her shoulder.

“Eughow,” the poker cried out in pain.

“Sorry, sorry” Kato exclaimed, his heart racing, ‘what was I thinking?’

“I’ll get you some stuff,” the poker looked at him. ‘Right, words don’t word here.’ He massaged his forehead, firmly. ‘Think Kato.’ He looked back at her then opened his mouth wide and made exaggerated chewing motions, his eyes bulged forward as he bared his teeth at her, moving his jaw in slow motion. The poker recoiled, her hand slipping from his shoulder.

‘Does she not like food?’ Kato questioned himself perplexed, ‘maybe she didn’t understand?’ Kato brought a hand up to his mouth and started chewing it gently, his eyes locked on the poker’s, keeping constant contact. The poker’s eyes slightly widened, her ears drooped down, and she tried pushing herself back, retreating over the wooden floor in futile, drawn-out motions.

Kato stared at her for a moment, ‘she probably understands.’ He stood up, determination flooding through him. He would provide.

Kato went outside, the stench of the battle assailing his sense once again, but he would power through. Through the gloom, he began walking towards the saddled beasts. ‘They must have kept food somewhere.’

Crunch! A sound broke out ahead of him. He tensed, dropping his body lower and shimmying around in the direction of the noise, keeping one of the large wagon beasts to his flank.

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Crunch! Kato finally saw what was making the noise. It was a blurson, ‘the tall one,’ he thought, or at least what was left of it. Pale blue legs and arms hung at unnatural angles out of the half blind creatures’ gaping maw. Thick canines tore through flesh and bones alike. The wagon beast looked at him for a moment its blind eye seeming to stare into his soul, then, as if satisfied, crunched again.

Its companion beside him moved suddenly, the antlered head snapping forward at the carcass. Slam! The heads butted together, as they made war over the free meal.

Kato stared at them for a moment, ‘they found food, what if…’ “Uhh.” He shivered, the blursons were far too human like to eat, no matter how much their beasts seemed to be enjoying them. ‘At least they’re not upset.’

“Kind of thankful they mistreated you,” Kato muttered, “did not want the wrath of walking buildings.” A baleful white eye, turned to stare at him again, victorious over its smaller companion. “Um, not that I wanted them to mistreat you or anything, that obviously sucked” he paused, “big time.”

Knowing his luck the wagon beast could actually understand him, he shook his head softly, that would be a turn of events.

Walking closer to the beast, he felt the air warm, as it breathed out in large, foggy, puffs that rose and dispersed in the now night sky. The side of its body heaved, as he watched the thick muscles actively contacting and expanding with each breath.

He waited a moment, gathering his nerves, before striding over to the leather clasped saddle bags. He fiddled with the straps for a moment before tugging backwards with a powerful jerk, the straps came free, and he stumbled back. The blind wagon beast turned to him again, raised a questioning eye and blew a puff of warm fog into his face, plastering his hair to the side.

“Uhh, sorry about that” Kato muttered, it puffed on him again. Kato’s hair went wildly flapping, before settling at a ridiculous ninety-degree angle upwards. ‘Thanks for that’ he thought, careful not to voice his displeasure next to the walking behemoths.

Scurrying back to the packs, he examined their contents.

“Jackpot” he whispered under his breath, there were several flasks and enough rations for days dried fruits, nuts, jerky and… mushrooms. His nose slightly turned up, and his eyes narrowed. Food was food…but could he really take the risk? Again?

He grabbed an armful of the goods and turned to walk back to the wagon.

Only to see the poker standing on the edge of the wooden floor, her wide eyes frantically scanned the death and destruction surrounding them. She glanced at Kato for a moment, an unreadable expression flickered across her face, then involuntarily stepped back. She stiffened, her shoulders trembling, as a small paw rose shakily to her mouth as if suppressing the urge to vomit.

Kato broke in a run towards her. “Don’t worry! It’s fine. They’re gone. It’s over”

She stared at him, frozen, her ears flattened tight against her head. Her tail drooped lifelessly, brushing the floor beneath it. As he got closer, she shuffled backwards in tiny, panicked steps, her paws tripping awkwardly as she tried to retreat.

“It’s okay, it’s okay” Kato reassured her, reaching her side. Gently he reached out laying a hand to her shoulder. “We’re okay now.”

The poker recoiled from him, as if struck. Her lips pulled back in disgust, as she furiously wiped at her shoulder, as if dirtied by his touch.

She stared at him for a moment longer, her pupils madly contracting and expanding, flickering between fear and anger. Then without warning, her lips curled higher, and she bared her teeth in a silent, heated snarl.

“Poker?” Kato whispered.

The phantom snarl, became real, a harsh, guttural noise, rising above even the methodical crunching of the wagon beasts, Kato stepped back. “P-poker?” he whispered again, his voice shaking.

Then she jumped, her agile form, flying over his head and bolted toward the undergrowth, without so much as a glance behind.

Kato turned in suit, “You’re hurt!” he ran. “Wait!” he cried as she tore away from him.

She disappeared, slipping back into nature. He stopped there wasn’t even a rustle, as her lithe form darted away. There was no he was going to catch her.

Kato looked over the short hill she had ran down, the green of the grass giving way into a dense forest, there was no point in even trying to follow her. “I-I have food,” Kato spoke softly into the silence, but the silence didn’t reply.

Thrum! Kato’s bag began to violently vibrate against his leg, buzzing insistently at him.

“What!” His face snarled as he looked down at the small bag. “You going to leave me to?” He spat in anger. It fell to the floor with a dull thump.

“Of course you are.” His anger melted away. His nose tingled, and tears pricked the corner of his eyes. “Alone, again.”

A small purple orb rolled from the bag, glowing furiously, back the all-consuming blackness of night and painting it purple.

Kato stared at the orb, his heart sinking. ‘This again?’

Then it rolled towards him, almost eagerly.

Kato spun on his heel, without a word, and sprinted down the hill, desperate to gain distance, get away, from that evil little thing.

The orb rolled onward joyfully, gaining momentum, with little thought to the rocks and twigs it bounded over. That was until it hit a jagged small, exposed stone angled upwards and was sent flying through the air.

Thwack!

It struck Kato square in the back.

The world blurred.