Tom and John went out hunting. Tom was a nerd and didn’t want to go hunting, while John liked this kind of outdoor activity. Tom was scared and was constantly saying that they should go back. But John insisted, so Tom stayed.

When they finished setting up their camp, they saw a bear rushing towards them. Tom panicked and started to run and didn’t realise they had their hunting spears and he could have used it. John stayed and fought the bear and managed to hit it.

Tom ran too far and was lost. The forest was all green and covered with thick trees, so to look for Tom was like finding a needle in a haystack. After packing some weapons and supplies, John set out to locate Tom. He shouted as hard as he could, but there was no reply. It was getting dark so John set a camp in a clear spot and spent the rest of the night there.

Early the next morning, he again went to look for Tom, but still had no luck finding him until the late afternoon when he heard a low scream. He quickly ran towards it. When he got closer to the sound, he soon found Tom.

Tom was stuck in a cave, bleeding. He helped Tom out of it and quickly bandaged him. He asked Tom what happened.

“When I was running, I got so scared that I didn’t realise how far I was going and by the time I realised it, it was too late as I was stuck in a hole after tripping over a branch. There are some people here for deforestation and this hole was for animals. They know that I am here, but they are not letting me out as I they feel I will tell the government about their illegal activity. They are right down this valley.”

John looked down the valley and saw a fort and behind it was a really big area from which trees had been cut. While they were talking, a group of those people saw them and took them into custody. They took the boys to the camp, where there were many animals in cages, including two lions and a giraffe. They were taken to the leader named Thomas.

Thomas wore a green shirt and black pants with a sidearm pistol. He had a scary face and one of his hands was burned. He sat on his chair and asked John and Tom about what they were doing and threatened them. Tom was scared, but tried to answer calmly. Later the two boys were taken to a jail, guarded by two armed men.

There were five other people, Ben, Matt, Charlie, James Olsen and 1 girl Lena, held captive like Tom and John. Ben was shy and wore shorts and a T-shirt and the same with Matt, but he wasn’t shy. Charlie was wounded by a snake, but was brave. James was the big brother of Lena, who was a strong woman. They told the boys that there was a way to sneak out of that place but it was dangerous.

John volunteered to take the risk so he crept out at night and checked the surrounding area, looking for the right direction to escape to. He returned before morning and assured everyone that they would go out at night. They spent the rest of the day planning and at night they sneaked out. While going, a snake bit Tom and he screamed, which alarmed the soldiers.

They all started to run and Tom was helped by John, who carried him on the back. There was a little chase by the guards, but, thankfully, no one got hurt and they reached their camp safely. From there, John called the police and soon the people chopping the trees got arrested.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 23rd, 2021