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Chapter 5 The Death of Gaffin and Yodas

  • At 00:59, thick fog blocked the view. Dew drops wet the forest. The thickness of the jacket does not protect them from the increasingly extreme temperatures. Amid the chills, Nick tried to act normal.
  • Sometimes, his fingers rubbed the wet phone screen. A smile appeared on his exotic lips. All the members can guess what Nick will say because they also see what's on the phone screen. Their gazes fell on what was in front of a cave overgrown with grass. The fog makes the cave look like a haunted house. Nick frowned. Why was Yodas there? Nick asked his friends to get in there via cue. No one objected, they all nodded.
  • Arriving at the mouth of the cave, Nick signaled for them to stop. A giant python flashed past, blocking their path. They froze, allowing the huge snake to reach its destination. Mehmet closed his eyes as the reptile hit his shoe. The perfect way to keep him cool.
  • After holding his breath for a while, Mehmet-the twenty-one-year-old man finally gasped when he saw the snake had entered the bushes at the outer edge of the cave. They continued their stopped steps. With flashlights on their heads, they illuminate every corner of the cave. Because of the flashlight, they could see a cone-shaped crystal hanging from the ceiling. As Nick explores all corners, he is struck by a male corpse.
  • "Gaffin!" Nick's voice rose. Everyone looks at him. Nick looked at Gaffin who lay naked.
  • "Gaffin!" They shouted in unison, then rushed toward Gaffin's corpse. They are shocked to learn that Gaffin has left them forever.
  • Nick and his friends stare at Gaffin's unkempt corpse. Nick felt so guilty. He had to bear the sin of losing the life of the young man who had been his best friend since childhood. The feeling of being crushed brought his memories to wander into the past.
  • "Nick, are you okay?" Gaffin reached out after cleaning Nick's bleeding leg. Little Nick didn't budge, hiding his face in the crease of his thigh.
  • "Why are you helping him, Gaffin? Watch out! I'll give that poor kid a present?" Their classmate said. The bad boy was about to douse Nick with smelly water taken with a bottle, but swiftly, Gaffin grabbed him.
  • "Take this, Jimmy! You can't do that to my friend." Gaffin poured the super stinky water on Jimmy's head without hesitation.
  • "Gaffin, you are mean! Watch out! I will tell my father about your actions as well as that poor boy!" Jimmy said with a very angry expression. Jimmy's contemptuous friends stared at him, afraid that Gaffin would do the same to them.
  • "You are a coward! Just report there, I'm not afraid! Just watch out if you're still bothering Nick, I'll cover you with pig dung." Gaffin shouted with her hands on his hips, Jimmy and his friends left.
  • "Come on, come with me. They're gone." Nick lifted his head to see a smile curling on Gaffin's round face.
  • "Thank you!" said Nick expressionlessly.
  • "From now on, don't be afraid, I'm here. They will never bother you again!" Gaffin took Nick's hand. The nine-year-olds smiled at each other.
  • Since then, their friendship has been established. For Nick, Gaffin is not only a friend who loves him sincerely, but Gaffin is like a father who always protects him from bad children. Nick cried as he hugged Gaffin's body. The other friends rubbed Nick's shoulder, they felt the same sadness.
  • "Yodas! Joe!" Nick suddenly remembered the two of them.
  • "Calm down Nick, don't think like that. Let's go find them!" Mehmet said. Nick took a piece of cloth from his backpack to cover Gaffin's body.
  • From the observation, the whereabouts of Yodas are a few meters away. They entered one of the halls. Unfortunately, instead of getting closer, they are getting further away from the intended point. With vigor still remaining, they walked down all the aisles. However, they only found puddles and various kinds of moisture-loving animals.
  • Tired of whacking, Youvee and friends suggested that they return, but Nick refused the proposal. The 178 cm tall young man insisted on going. After going through a long debate, Nick finally wanted to put his ego aside. They returned to the main passage of the cave with hopes that they were almost destroyed.
  • "What now? We don't know if they are alive or dead." Steve grabbed his hair in frustration.
  • "Nick, stop this ridiculous journey, or we will become corpses!" said Lutfi, his face looked very confused.
  • "Right, we better head back to the city. We don't know what we're going to face next." Mehmet chimed in.
  • "What did you say? It's not that easy, Mehmet! When we go back, what are we going to tell the their family? Tell me, Mehmet! Can you see their innocent eyes? Are you ready to be the doormat of those bastards hiding under military uniforms, huh?" Nick gripped Mehmet's jacket. His cold eyes froze Mehmet's brain.
  • "To hell with them! We'd better go back to being cowards. In fact, those big people are doormats!" Sanskar makes Nick more angry. Nick punched Sanskar until his nose and lips bled.
  • "Control yourself, Nick!" Youvee tries to calm Nick down.
  • Nick roared, venting his anger. He punched the cave wall. Nick was getting out of control. Feeling indebted, Youvee tried his best to calm him down, while Mehmet was silent.
  • Slowly, walking towards the cave wall, which he thought was a little strange. A few moments of silence and let his brain and senses of hearing work, the shock was perfectly etched on his face.
  • "Nick, stop acting like a lunatic. Come here!" Nick stops his tantrum and stabs Mehmet with his blazing glare.
  • "Sharpen your ears!" said Mehmet. A national anthem sounded softly from behind the rock.
  • "Ouviram do Ipiranga as margens placidas …."
  • "That's ... like Yodas' voice?" Sanskar guessed. Nick touched the boulder, he saw there was a gap on each side.
  • "Yodas! Yodas!" Nick called. Suddenly, the chanting of the song was accompanied by a heartbreaking sob. Nick and everyone else tried to pry the rock out with all their might.
  • "Ha … ya!" They stumbled when the stone managed to open.
  • A small tunnel stretched out. They entered, breaking through the white nets that almost filled the space. There are many tarantulas of all shapes and sizes. In addition, there are scorpions and centipedes the size of an adult's arm. Their eyes were fixed on the big white bundles hanging from the ceiling. Maybe it's the tarantula's prey. The number of cocoons makes it difficult for them to search.
  • "Yodas!" The youths shouted, then the song that had stopped was heard again. They followed the direction of the sound and they found a moving bundle.
  • "Yodas!" Swiftly, Nick slashed at the cocoons, then skinned them together.
  • "Finally we found you, Yodas, hold on!" Nick helps the helpless man to drink. Yodas smiled, his face was as white as cotton with relief.
  • "Joe, Gaffin." Yodas screamed hysterically after mentioning the two names.
  • "Yodas, calm down! We've found Gaffin, but Joe and you ... What happened to you guys? Where's Joe?" Steve, who was curious, didn't really care about Yodas' poor condition.
  • "Joe is cold by the river. Ah, no! Joe is dead. The giant monster over there killed him."
  • "Yodas, what are you saying?" Nick looked at him confused.
  • "Joe's dead, Gaffin's dead!" Yodas kept repeating his words, as if he had been through a huge trauma. Slowly, Yodas' voice lowered.
  • "Yodas! Yodas!" Nick patted Yodas on the cheek, but Yodas' voice suddenly disappeared as his eyelids closed. Mehmet checked Yodas' pulse and the air in his nose.
  • "He's dead" Mehmet said, tears welling up in his broken heart.
  • "No!" Nick's screams were like a bomb shattering his eardrums. The six youths were crying like little children.
  • They took out Yodas and placed him beside Gaffin's corpse.
  • Nick sprinkled poison powder around them. The pungent smell makes any animal will not be attracted to approach. They would check on Joe's condition first before giving Gaffin and Yodas a proper rest. The sun's rays crawled the earth, they came out of the cave and immediately looked for Joe in the river.