This story was posted a few years ago on another site under my pen name of mandil.
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For the last half-hour they had been walking in a region covered with small rocks with just a few trees growing here and there. They then crossed a small creek and soon they stood at the limit of an another forest. The minute that they entered the relative darkness and coolness of the forest, Vincent could detect a definite increase in the humidity of the air. Everywhere he looked he again saw enormous trunks covered with thick and scaly brown and black bark. The deep green leaves growing on the lower branches were the size of a large pizza.
The look of the place didn't reassure him at all. He told himself that he was going to penetrate only a few miles inside this sinister forest then he was going to turn back and return toward the high peak mountain leading to his world which was no longer visible now. This he was going to do with or without Nika.
Their progress was much more difficult once they entered the gloomy forest. They had to walk around the big trunks or climb over the mounds of soil that the growing thick roots had created everywhere around them. For those reasons it was impossible to walk in a straight line for any length of time. To make matters worse, the ground was littered with dead branches and sometimes a giant, fallen tree, would block their path completely.
After about an hour of difficult progress within the forest they suddenly heard the sound made by the breaking of small branches far ahead of them. He did recognize the sound for what it was. Vincent knew that there must have been many feet, to produce these noises. It was very similar to the sound that he had heard when he first encountered the Arons the previous day. Both he and Nika heard it at the same time and as soon as they did they looked at each other with apprehension written all over their face. They definitely didn't want to make contact with these ugly creatures again. Judging by the noise they could now hear very clearly, there must have been a large number of them coming their way.
They both immediately took cover in the low foliage near one of the tall trees, crouching low next to the enormous trunk they remained motionless. Soon, not more than fifty feet from where they were hidden, a group of twenty to twenty five of the Arons as Nika called, appeared as they walked in a single file.
They were walking in a northwesterly direction, heading almost in a straight line in the direction from which Vincent and Nika had just come from. The group was entirely made of adult males and aside from the noise they made while walking, none of them was talking, grunting or whatever. Soon their smell reached the hiding duo and once again it reminded Vincent of the smell of rotten meat.
They disappeared into the dense growth of the forest as quickly as they had appeared. But before Vincent or Nika had a chance to get out of their hiding place, a second group appeared. This time it was made of females and young ones. Except for the noise made as their great weight broke the dead branches on the ground as they walked, Vincent was surprised at how quiet they were while moving so fast.
As with the previous group, there was no talking, no laughing of course no unnecessary noises. Even the children seemed very used to this kind of walking as they remained in a single file keeping pace with the rest of the group.
It occurred to Vincent that if they were on the move all the time as it seemed to be the case, their survival did depend on strict discipline and of course in paying a lot of attention to their surrounding when they moved from place to place. The fact that they were trying to be as noiseless as possible did tend to prove that they certainly had enemies. Had it not been because of the unavoidable sound that their feet made as their great weight broke the small dead everywhere on the forest floor, Vincent and Nika certainly wouldn't have heard them until it would have been too late.
They both remained carefully hidden for another ten minutes so as to make sure that there were no more of them coming their way. Finally, they went to the spot where they had last seen the Arons and they discovered a well-used path in the forest. It went between the trees turning here and there, and by its appearance it had been in used for a great many years judging by the depth of the eroded ground of the trail in some places.
That did it for Vincent. There was no way that he was going to go further without being better prepared and knowing more about the dangers to be expected in this place. For one thing he wanted to ask Nika questions about the topography of the terrain ahead of them, but he didn't understand her language at all and he couldn't think of a way to communicate with her. Also he had no idea as to where she was trying to take him. This plus the fact that he only had three dozen bullets left for his rifle, didn't reassure him. As for the food, it was almost all gone now except for half a bag of biscuits and two remaining cans of meatballs.
When they reached a small clearing where the trees were not as numerous, he took her hand and he pulled her gently toward the general direction of the north making it very clear to her that he wanted to go that way. He could see shock and fright written all over her face as she began to talk very fast. But the only word that he recognized was ‘Arons' which she used a couple of time. Vincent could tell that she understood that he wanted to go back the way they had come but still she refused to follow him.
