Chapter 2: Refuge

They knew they wouldn't be able to find any kindness neither from the people nor from the environment and obviously no place to seek shelter. As it was the cold month of November the dusk was fast approaching, so they took the unpaved dirt path to find a village but soon even nature left their side as they saw the black clouds forming above them.

Tim noticed little Kevin was shivering, rubbing his hands against his arms. “We need to find shelter soon, there’s gotta be someplace we can rest for a while…”

Luke glanced towards Kevin with a concerned look as he took off his jacket and put it on Kevin. “It’s not much but it’ll keep you warm for the time being.” Luke softly smiled at him.

“Thank you, big bro.” Little Kevin expressed his gratitude.

Luke: “This doesn’t look...it’s gonna...” he said as he glanced above. Before he could even finish his sentence the lightning clashed with a deafening thud and it began to rain in torrents.

The path they were walking upon was completely surrounded by thick forest on both sides. They were out in the open with no shelter from the rain.

In a desperate need for shelter, they began to run in order to pick up the pace and find any sort of refuge from the cold rain.

“There’s no time, we need to cut through the woods!” Josh shouted.

With no time to think they took a sharp turn from the unpaved path and began cutting through the forest, running as fast as their bodies and the terrain allowed them.

After a minute, Josh felt a sharp sting on his back which made him grit his teeth as if he’d just gotten hit by a stone but the next moment he realized it that the torrents of rain brought a streaming hailstorm upon them. He tried to avoid the hailing ice but there was no way he could dodge a barrage of solid ice. 

Luke knew that Kevin wouldn't be able to run in this raging storm so he picked up little Kevin in his arms and sprinted carefully to avoid falling with the child in his arms.

The heavy rain along with a hailstorm could easily make any man lose his focus but Josh inhaled and focused his eyes. He glanced around and with some luck, he spotted an abandoned shack at almost a hundred meters distance.

“LOOK! We might find shelter over there!” Josh pointed towards the old cabin and spoke in a loud voice so the others could hear.

Mustering up their strength they reached the old abandoned cabin. It was a normal-sized cabin with two rooms in total. Its condition was rather dilapidated but still, it was better than having no shelter. Drenched in the cold rain and roughened up by the abrupt hailstorm they rushed inside the cabin. One of the rooms seemed like it used to be a living room and the other one was a bedroom. There was also a fireplace in the cabin that they could use for the night.

Luke placed Kevin down on the dry rug of the living room. Due to his frail health, Luke suspected Kevin of a fever as he noticed him struggling to breathe. Luke’s doubt became facts as he placed his hand on Kevin’s forehead which was apparently burning up. His ailment only gave further rise to Luke’s anxiety.

Kevin opened his eyes as he panted. “Big brother…I feel so cold...and my head, it’s hurting...” his voice was breaking, he was barely able to speak.

“Hey. You’ll be fine! Just hold on, okay?!” Luke rapidly searched in his satchel and took out a water bottle. He slipped one arm under Kevin’s head and helped him up. “Here, drink some water.” Then Luke gently hugged Kevin

The heavy rain showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. The others began to settle down. They took off their drenched shirts and squeezed them of water. They kept juddering and squeezing their shirt until they became more wearable. So Luke did the same for Kevin. Josh started a fire out of broken furniture and whatever dry stuff he could find lying around in that dilapidated cabin.

Tim approached Kevin and sat beside him. “Luke you go dry your clothes too, we don’t want you catching a cold…I’ll stay with Kevin.”

Standing in the window Josh looked back and stared at Kevin with slight contempt. “How pathetic...he’s nothing but dead weight…” he spoke in a low voice, keeping his thoughts to himself.

Next moment Luke walked up to Josh. “Hey, Josh, you okay?”

“Just what the hell were you thinking?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“It wasn’t a very good idea bringing him with us, he’s gonna drag us all down.”

“Hey! He’s just a kid, Josh! I couldn’t just leave him out the orphanage. That place isn’t safe anymore.”

“...” Josh kept silent and sighed.

“That kid is my responsibility, there’s no need for anyone to worry about him.”

“I’m just saying but I’ll hate to see you being dragged down by dead weight, you’re a rather capable man Luke but your efforts are wasted. So, where hell would you find medicine in a forest thick as this?”

As much as Luke wanted to argue he knew that he won’t be able to find any medicine around in the middle of nowhere.

*** Author’s Note ***

“The copyrights of the pictures do not belong to me but to its respectful owners. The pictures do not represent actual characters or objects in the novel but show similarity to them and are merely used as a close reference for the story, to strengthen the Environmental Details.”

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