to him?"Joe mused to himself.
"And what kind of one is that ?? Looks kind of dangerous ..." he added and put on the fearful expression on his face that he had almost perfected in the last few weeks.
"Maybe you should really get medical treatment for your fear of strangers, kid ..." Norman grumbled.
"We'd better set up a watch so that we can keep an eye on the boy tonight. We don't want him to be scraped off until tomorrow morning. I'll be happy to take on the first shift.", He suggested and Bunny made up her mind to spend the night around the campfire. Buster made himself comfortable at her feet and after some back and forth Joe preferred to stay with his friends because he couldn't decide which situation presented the greater risk.
A few hours later, the fire was still roaring warmly while Bunny and Norman were having a hot game of Mau Mau and Joe nodded over the Atlas he had fetched from the hut.In all the excitement he had completely forgotten about the mysterious book that lay wrapped up under his mat.
But then the peaceful atmosphere was suddenly interrupted by a rustling that made the two card players look up.
"I think our frostbite is waking up," Norman whispered and nodded his head at the wrapped up person, who was slowly beginning to come to life again. In any case, she turned on her side with a groan and opened her eyes shortly afterwards.
At first the poor boy seemed just completely shocked and stared at the two with plate-sized eyes, but in view of his restricted position he slowly panicked and tried to get out of his prison with jerky movements. Bunny rushed over to help him, but unfortunately that didn't have the desired effect, because although she talked to him in a soothing voice, he started yelling at her loudly and thrashed out.Bunny shrank back in shock and Joe was also startled by the noise and rubbed his eyes in confusion.
"What's going on here ...", he started, but couldn't finish his sentence because the dark-haired boy had managed to jump up despite his leg injury to run away. Unfortunately, his still very shaky knees thwarted his plans and he ran into Joe, with the result that the two were now slightly knotted on top of each other, with the frightened boy beating poor Joe wildly and this like on Spit screamed.
When Norman wanted to separate the two, the defrosted one bit him hard on the arm and then ran away with a strong limp and disappeared into the darkness.
"What was that gig?", Norman groaned and rubbed his arm, which now showed a clear bite mark.
"He probably bit his own leg with his teeth, the little vampire ..." he grumbled while he let Bunny blow a little on the damaged area."He must have panicked completely. Maybe he thought we were cannibals who wanted to eat it as a small midnight snack.", Bunny mused.
"That is by no means a reason to beat me almost to death!", Joe whimpered and at least caught a pitying fluff of hair from Bunny.
"I said right away that you have nothing but trouble with strangers. We take care of his wounds and thaw him again and that's thanks!"
"Well, I really don't think he meant bad. Shouldn't we be looking for him? Who knows what can happen to him all alone out there at night." Bunny interrupted, turning more to Norman than to her whining Colleagues. But even the more adult part of her team gave her only a frown.
"In general, I would of course agree with you, but for now I have been served. Little Prince Fang can see where he is staying tonight. He has himself to blame for that.", he grumbled and trotted back to the hut. Joe followed him at a distance, because his numerous injuries, which he thought he would soon die of, did not allow him to move faster.
Bunny hesitated a moment. Should she look for the boy with Buster? On the one hand, she could hardly bear the thought of letting him wander around there on his own, on the other hand, she was afraid of his reaction if she actually found him. He would probably run away again, or maybe nibble on her too. So she decided against the nightly search and spent another night on her straw mat in Norman's hut. Before she went to bed, however, she put one last plate of stew on the edge of the clearing. Probably just some animal would go after it later, but you never knew ...
For a long time nothing happened and if you listened carefully you could even hear Norman's snoring wafting through the silence of the night clearing.But suddenly a shadow broke out of the thicket and a dark figure flitted almost silently over the moonlit grass over to the plate that had been prepared. The strange visitor probably wouldn't have made any noise at all if his leg injury hadn't made him moan softly with every step. He didn't even bother to dive back into the safe darkness with his prey, but greedily plastered it on the spot. The fact that the food had gotten cold didn't seem to bother him in the slightest and after he had finished his meal he stroked his satiated stomach contentedly and grunted appreciatively.
For a long time he had stood there in the dark, leaning against a tree, wrestling with himself. He could have seen his attackers disappearing from the camp one by one and the smell of their food had tickled his nose, but maybe it was all just a trap.A trick to lure him out of his hiding place. He had no way of knowing what these people were doing to him. He hadn't been on this island in a long time. It used to be uninhabited, and sometimes he'd rested here after one of his long swimming trips.
He was uncomfortable with these strangers. He didn't want to trust them, even if the bandage on his leg might indicate that they might not want to harm him after all.
Normally it would have been no problem for him to take care of himself on such an island. He was a good hunter and tracker and his eyes seldom escaped movement, but in his current condition he had no choice but to accept these handouts. On the one hand, he felt bad when he swallowed the stew and he looked around frantically, but after a while his cravings won out and the delicious taste of his prey gave him the rest. Was it because he was completely after all the exertions was starved or had he really never eaten anything so good?Not a crumb was left on the plate and he wiped his mouth three times with the back of his hand so as not to waste anything. How he would have loved to lie down next to the fire again and take a little digestive nap, but his senses weren't that clouded after all. That was what they wanted. They wanted to lull him and lull him to a safe place to then lie in wait for him in his sleep. But not with him. He would spy on them and find out their weaknesses. Because he wouldn't get away from this island too quickly and as long as he was stuck here, he had to know what he was dealing with.
Slowly he crept towards the little hut, which looked rather crooked and cobbled together to him. These people didn't seem to have much of a clue about survival in the wild. On the other hand, that was maybe just part of their diabolical plan ... He slapped his forehead to drive those paranoid thoughts out of his head and stepped as quietly as possible into the little porch.When he looked carefully through one of the windows, he saw the three islanders sleeping peacefully on their mats. The fat man with the hairy arms was lying on his back. A penetrating snore came from his open mouth and his beard danced up and down with every breath he took. The little guy with the girl's voice had curled up in a ball and looked terribly scared even in his sleep. And right next to the window slept the girl, because of whom his stomach had finally stopped making such a fuss. The moon threw its pale light through the window and made her blonde hair shine.
When she tried to hold on to him earlier, he almost bit her too, but her voice and eyes had unsettled him. He had little experience with girls. Admittedly, he generally had little experience in dealing with others.
His head jerked towards the door when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. The little spotted dog he had seen with the others earlier came walking out of the hut and was now looking at him carefully.Would the animal sound the alarm and give him away? Would he still have enough time to hide? And why the hell was this mutt wearing a hat?
They both stared at each other for a while and neither of them moved. But then the four-legged friend seemed to have made up his mind and slowly approached his counterpart. The two-legged man had also decided against fleeing and was still waiting. Only now did he notice that the dog was carrying something in its mouth, which he now willingly put at his feet. The boy leaned down and picked up the find. It was a black piece of cloth. A smile replaced the dark-haired man's astonished expression.
"You found my headband? I had already missed that. My hair kept falling on my face," he whispered softly and with a routine hand movement he knotted the scarf around his head. Then he sat down next to the honest finder and scratched his ears.
"Thanks buddy.I owe you. Your name is Buster, right? I heard earlier that they called you that. By the way, I'm Jaguchi. I'm glad that there is a decent guy on this island ... ", he added, making sure to keep his volume level as low as possible.
Buster gave a benevolent yawn and rested his head on Jaguchi's lap.
"I knew right away that you couldn't be such a bad guy ...", suddenly a voice came from behind him and made Jaguchi jump up frantically. His leg thanked him by sending a stab of pain through his body that brought tears to his eyes.
"Perhaps you should stop such actions for a while. Norman said that the wound needs some time to grow back together properly.", Bunny said and grinned at him. Somehow she had suspected that she would see this guy again. But that it would go so quickly ..."How do you know that I'm not a bad guy? You don't know me at all. Maybe I came to strangle you all in your