314 Why Should I Care?

When El and the rest returned back at camp, the first group of people who had returned before them had already informed the rest about what had happened. When Fendrif saw El's safe return, he rushed forward to give her a hug. 

But when he noticed that Vyrena was not with them, he was surprised. 

"Where's the newbie?" He asked El. 

The expression on her face made him fear the worse. In the distance, Sorren was carefully listening to their conversation. Has the one person who was able to speak to him after so long now died? 

El looked towards Mara before quickly looking back. 

"Mara left her in the Jungle."

"What?!" Fendrif's voice boomed with anger. 

This caught the attention of everyone in the camp. Mara's expression did not change. She remained as calm as ever. 

"She endangered all of our lives. Trying to claim glory by killing a spider beast," Mara explained. 

Fendrif was even more enraged. Despite all of their hunts in the Jungle and their training to ensure everyone was in fighting shape, none of them had ever successfully killed a spider beast. 

They had been hiding and staying hidden. Safety was their top priority but it also became their own pitfall. They had been stuck here for who knows how long yet they knew close to nothing about the creatures that constantly hunted them. 

"You're telling me that we were this close to understanding what we're up against and you just let that opportunity go to waste?!" Fendrif shouted at Mara. 

Mara was surprised by Fendrif's attitude. The man was usually kind and cordial, angry when he needed to be but this was the first time she had seen him this worked up. She did not do anything wrong. She put the safety of the people first. 

"I put the safety of our lives first! If one of us died out there, do you think any of us can live with that guilt?" Mara fought back. 

"Well, what difference does it make since you've already left one of us out there to die." Fendrif rebutted. 

Mara gritted her teeth, "Vyrena is new and she is reckless. She would not have been a great asset to us anyway."

El pushed Mara, "What do you know about Vy? You barely got to know her and you're already suspecting her. Why can't you be more trusting?"

Mara was agitated by El's tone of voice and her mannerisms. The usually calm and jovial woman's as now all worked up as well. It was as if everyone had eaten explosives for breakfast. 

"Don't you remember the time we trusted Marsh and he nearly doomed us all? If I had not caught him setting fires on our tents, we would be all dead by his hand!" 

El bit her tongue. She recalled that incident like it happened recently. The betrayal still struck a chord in most of their hearts. But even so, El could not understand why Mara would stop Vy from returning with them. 

"We need all the help we can get. Yet you decided to let Vy just live or die on her own! What is to say you won't do that to one of us in the future?" El challenged her. 

"Oh, I will. If anyone threatens the lives of the rest of us, I will make sure that person is out of the group." Mara warned all of them before retiring to her tent. 

Those were some bold and strong words. Needless to say, it left a sour taste in El and Fendrif's mouth. Everyone else whispered amongst themselves. Some agreed with what Mara did, others did not. 

Regardless, a decision had already been made. El hoped Vy would be able to survive, even if it was just one night. But the Jungle had been known to be unforgiving. The odds were slim. 

Fendrif had seen Vy train while she was in camp. She was a fighter, he gave her that. But he had not seen her in combat. It was difficult to tell if she would make it. Sorren, on the other hand, felt uneasy about how the situation unfolded. 

-Why should I care if she lived or died?- he wondered to himself. 

He never cared for anyone in the camp. Everyone he once knew was already dead. He was the only coward. The only one who survived. But Vyrena was the first person to speak to him. She understood what he was saying. 

To lose that so quickly felt like something was missing. 

"You! Your name is Sorren, right?" A voice pulled him out of his thoughts. It was El, with Fendrif coming up closely behind. 

On instinct he picked up his spear, wanting the approaching people to keep their distance. El stopped in her tracks, holding her hands up just as Vy did. 

Fendrif backed off as well, grabbing onto El by the arm. 

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked her harshly. 

"I… I don't know! Asking him for help or… just-" El flustered, "Just trying to do something!"

She turned back to Sorren, "You're Sorren, right? Vy said you can understand what we say so just give me a nod or shake your head for yes or no."

Sorren hesitated, but he nodded in response. 

"I know it's a lot to ask, but can you go and check on Vy?" El asked. 

Sorren was bewildered. Why was she asking him to do it?

"I've seen you train, you train harder than most of us. Well more than me for that matter. So I assumed you have combat skills with that spear of yours." El continued. 

Had she been spying on him? Her knowledge of him training made Sorren uneasy. It was not that he did not want to go and look for Vy. But he did not even know where she was. 

Furthermore, once night sets in, the Jungle would be even more dangerous. But he could not convey any of this information to El. 

"So will you?" El asked anxiously, waiting eagerly for a reply. 

Sorren let out a sigh, his fear of the Jungle still remained, but he nodded. Seeing the reluctance on his face, El vaguely made an assumption about what Sorren was worried about. 

"You don't have to go tonight, just when you're able to I guess. On my end, I will keep a lookout when we're out hunting. Do we have ourselves a deal?" El declared as she put out her hand. 

Sorren did not know what to do with the gesture El made so he simply nodded and went back to tending to his fire. Fendrif was surprised that the man seemed to understand what they were saying. 

The fact that he even agreed with El was shocking too. But, more hands-on-deck to help was always better than none.