Capítulo 2: Chapter 2
While Rhen slept awkwardly there was a group passing through the same forest at the same time but had entirely different reasons for choosing it, The wagon they drove rocked back and forth as they continued along the long forgotten road while the people in the wagon groaned either in pain or discomfort every time a bump was hit.
A tall thin man jumped up onto the wagon next to the driver before leaning into the rear area. "What's yer problem??!" The man growled while looking over the six bodies laying the in wagon and soon noticed some blood and wounds, The look on his face instantly changed as he dropped the sneer and his face became expressionless as he noticed the one was beaten.
Jumping down from the wagon he walked up to the one that had been 'on guard' alone last night and before even a word could be spoken the thin man shifted form and his head became that of a snake and he bit into the shoulder of the other man, The other three that witnessed this froze in place while the snake man stuck out his tongue and lashed the face of his victim.
The man that was bitten dropped to his knees while sweat beaded on his forehead and he tries to speak but not a word was coming out. "Don't bother, My poison is a paralytic and silences the victim. I warned you what would happen if you tried to touch the merchandise again."
The snake man put his boot onto the chest of the dying man and pushed him to the ground while he looked at the others. "Strip him, Then make sure to hide the body." The wagon slowed to a stop while the snake man raised his head and stuck out his tongue a few times before looking at the others. "Do you smell that?"
Each one shifted into beastman form and then sniffed for several seconds at the air before they all shrugged their shoulders and shook their heads. The snake returned to looking fully human again before opening the wagon and bringing out the six tied up people they had in the back and began looking them over for wounds.
"Here's his things." A shorter but swift man placed a bag of money along with a few personal effects next to the snake man who nodded and stored them as he finished looking over the six bodies. "Poor care means poor quality which means poor sales. You don't want to be poor, do you?" He said as he looked over his motley group with each shaking their head to him in response while he bandaged up the one that was injured.
"Good, Make sure they are fed and warm enough. Keep an eye out, We might find a real treasure if that wasn't just the wind." Each of the prisoners looked back and forth between themselves as they wondered what the snake man meant, However that thought quickly vanished as they plotted and watched for the chance to escape if it turned out there was one as they may not be in their best condition but they would still be able to outrun these alpha's if they are lucky and got a bit of a head start.
During the late evening the wind shifted direction just as they were laying down to sleep for the night and The eyes of all four alpha's seemed to light up and glow as they sniffed at the air and began talking about a minty scent, while all six captives felt small pangs of guilt for wishing and praying against whoever was out there so that they would have the chance to escape.
Continuing to watch the four men with their daily routines they noticed that all of the alpha's were bothered and all of them were moving slower, Each one was either staring at the others in the group or looking upriver and their eyes didn't even glance towards the six of them even when they made a noise and realization hit them.
The six laid still while being careful and acted as if sleeping while they whispered among themselves as they planned and plotted, Tomorrow they would wait to see how the day would go and if the men continued to behave as they suspected and hoped then they would be able to use this chance.
An unpaired alpha's instinct to 'Claim' an unmarked omega that was nearing estrus was something that couldn't be completely resisted without aids of some kind, Even with their higher functioning brain and training so they don't completely lose themselves they still needed to rely on inhibitors, suppressors and blockers or they could end up no better than a rutting beast while influenced.
During the next morning no one was surprised that the wind continued to shift directions and that for a while the pheromone scent was gone but it was already too late if they wanted to hide, The four men were definitely behaving differently as they moved even slower and were more cautious of each other while completing their routines.
The six captives now knew for certain that they would have an opportunity in the next few days and they would use their captors being unsettled and agitated to their benefit, Again there was a brief moment when concern for the omega was raised but the truth was that with the amount of infighting that was likely to occur they would probably be safer and have even more chances to escape than the six of them ever would.
Groans and curses escaped from Rhen upon waking as his body complained from the awkward sleep but after climbing down and splashing his face with some water and even drinking some he felt a bit better though his stomach once again protested at the lack of food being provided, Relying on willpower and hope of discovering something edible he began following the river again after checking directions with the rising and setting of the sun.
Just a few hours after starting to walk there was a fallen tree with some fairly long branches and after looking at them he decided to try breaking off one, It took some real effort on his part and he was heavily sweating now but he managed to get a walking stick or staff that was almost 2m long and even if it was taller than himself it was better that way.
Continuing along he would break off bark and smaller branches as he walked until he spotted a rock that was shaped something like a knife, Knowing that he didn't have the strength to make something better he grabbed it from the river and used it to help him smooth and peel his walking stick while he continued along.
When the sun was directly overhead Rhen took a break under the shade of a tree as he tried to figure out why the smell of mint not only stuck around but he felt it was getting stronger as time went on, Thankfully the river made caring for the back of his neck which he suspected had been burnt from the sun easier by cooling it as he soaked the cloth in the river.
Looking at the trees in the vicinity really had him wondering and confused if maybe the scent was coming from them? But after managing to get some leaves and needles from nearby trees and crushing them that was proven wrong, If there was trees that smelled like mint it would be nice but he found the the leaves smelled as could be expected so he was left wondering when he finally continued walking.
Mid afternoon and the sun had just started to lower towards evening in the sky when flashes of silver caught Rhen's eye in the river, Not wasting a second he swung his staff and he managed to splash the small fish onto the river bank where he pounced upon it and held it in his hands with a glint in his eye.
Finding some twigs and other wood pieces he gathered them near the river until it looked like he had enough to roast the fish, Stripping bark with the stone knife and then struggling to get the tinder to light had him so frustrated and angry that was almost ready to cry when a misstep made stones jump and he got a spark!!
Thanking his luck over and over he put more tinder on it while blowing gently until he had a small flame, He pumped his fist in the air a few times before finally skewering the fish on a stick he'd prepared and then rinsing the fish once more before setting it over the fire to roast.
The smell had his stomach making noises every few moments and he had to continue sipping at the river to keep his stomach from cramping until the fish was done, Holding it in his hands Rhen trembled slightly at the thought of this being a meal but he shook his head to clear it and then nibbled at the fish while forcing himself to chew slowly.
The fish was bland and without much flavor but it was food which was a huge relief so with a somewhat satisfied sigh he buried the entrails with the remnants of the fire before drinking his fill of river water, Seeing he had a few more hours it was decided that he'd continue to walk along the rivers edge while taking note of a few small animals had appeared along the way.
Each animal sniffed at him with caution before accepting his presence as he slowly continued on with a smile on his face and in his heart, Cute and fuzzy creatures didn't run away like he'd heard they would. Was this because they had never seen a human before? Didn't know that people would or could hunt them?
This didn't really matter to Rhen as he couldn't really hunt but it made this day feel a bit brighter, Finding a tree again and doing his best to find some way so that he won't fall took a lot of effort and used up the last of the remaining daylight, but was achieved so he could close his eyes and get some rest.
The four alpha's were travelling through the day with their work slowing slightly and they had even managed to cook without actually looking at the pot which really surprised the six captives they were transporting, Though it was only the end of the second day since they discovered the pheromone scent and captives were now completely confident in being able to escape at the right time.
When camp was made the four always had their noses pointed up into the air and maintained their beastman forms, This surprised the captives as they not only learned that the leader was a snake but also the others were a hare, a warthog and a jackal. Looking them over and thinking about the human forms it was almost a joke how they resembled their beast forms but not one of them would laugh, Each of them had their own qualities that would make them fearsome and deadly if provoked but it did give some relief that none were a more powerful form that could exert aura.
The next morning was welcomed with more cursing from Rhen as he felt his body again groaning in protest even worse than yesterday making him grumpy as he lowered himself out of the tree and grabbed his stick, Using it as a Bo staff he did a few stretches and exercises while his body creaked and cracked before it began to ease and started becoming more limber.
A thought of the convenience store near his apartment and his favourite morning snacks that he would sometimes get as a treat popped into his head and his back trembled slightly before he slapped himself, 'I'm getting out of here! I'm getting home!' He told himself as he took a deep breath and stomped his feet before washing his face and soaking the cloth on his neck again.
Drinking deeply to confuse his empty stomach let him start off on another day without too much trouble while he continued to fiddle with the walking stick, The stone shaped like a knife wasn't good or anything special but using it kept his mind and hands busy enough that he could continue moving forward.
Panicking right now would only make things worse for him and waste what little time and energy he has, Rhen was doing his best to keep busy with looking for edible things and working on his walking stick to keep himself from thinking too much but in the back of his head he knew there was a timer he was facing if he didn't manage to find some form of civilization and proper food soon he would only get worse.
Birds would occasionally fly over head and he had thought about trying to find nests at first but gave up soon after because of just how tall and how many trees there are in this forest, It felt like an illusion that sometimes he would smell different things in the forest that reminded him of home. Sometimes it would be a food smell while other times it would be the smell of something chemical in nature, Sometimes he wondered about his decision to walk along the river but it was proven to be the safest choice with the open space.
Memories of getting caught in an alley before he had really learned to fight flashed through his mind but he pushed them away as he shook his head before pausing and doing a few punching and kicking drills to ease his mind, Rhen knew he wasn't the fastest or strongest by any means but he could face someone head on and not blink which let him ignore dangerous attacks and though he would let himself take damage while doing this, he would inflict even more wounds to them.
This had earned him the nickname 'Madman' and though it wasn't something he was proud of and it wasn't something he sought out, He learned that after facing so many of his relatives that would have played him to death, it was better to be thought crazy because people won't mess with crazy.
Sinking into memories and losing focus of where he is caused him to lose track of the sun and he wasn't paying attention when the light was getting low, It was only once the last rays of light faded into the night that he finally lifted his head and looked at the sky to see the sun had already set.
'Shit!' He cursed himself for getting lost in thought as he searched around but with no light he couldn't find branches to climb which made him concerned, Stumbling into an old hollowed tree was the best he would be able to find right now so he squeezed himself into the little nook until he felt he hid himself away pretty well for now.
At the slavers camp the hare, jackal and warthog were getting careless with work and were nearly constantly staring in a single direction when the hare spoke "That scent, Fresh and pure. I'd bet it's their first." Locking eyes with each other all three reached into their things and pulled out a sword at the same time.
The three of them shouted at each other while getting ready to fight when the snake beastman walked over from behind a tree and spoke up "You boys REALLY wanna fight this out? Or do you want a mountain of coin?" The four of them stood in a deadlock while the three looked at each other with hesitation.
The snake finally gave in and explained "It's an omega, We can all tell that. -'The three others nodded along'- But there's only One of them. What about your 'brothers'?" They looked at each other with a mix of hatred and greed. "Just this One will fetch enough that we could all buy a home AND a wife and you want to throw it away on instinct??" The warthog scratched at the side of his head while it grumbled "They smell... so good..."
The snake hissed angrily and sprayed the three of them with something right in the face and each one covered their nose while coughing and tears ran down their faces "Now, What do you smell?" The snake said and the three of them glared at him with hate as they uncovered their noses but a look of surprise showed on their face and the warthog spoke first "I.. I-I can't smell'em! Why was I so crazy, Boss?"
The three looked at the snake who was showing a smile that didn't reach his eyes as his heart was nearly bleeding and hating the three for making him use the suppressant spray, It cost him nearly a fortune to get it and was his most valuable tool but over the years it had been slowly used up until there was barely any left now.
The snake he had been scheming to spray it on the omega so he could swap it for one of the beta's they already had but as he thought it over and he decided his brothers would generously use their portion of the sale for a new spray, The snake tasted the air with delight as he could tell the omega was unmasked which meant that they were likely to be young and would fetch the highest of prices which cooled his anger.
Estado de energía semanal
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