[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Umeme was also about to stop Lina from leaving but Muroki beat her to it, so she instead went over to Kasi, hoping to comfort him. "Kasi, are you alright?" She asked, hoping that he would talk. She also knew about Tango, so it wasn't like Kasi was the only one who lost a friend.

Kasi didn't even look at Umeme. "Go away!" He mumbled though his arms. He didn't want to talk right now. Why couldn't they get it? He sensed Umeme sigh and move away from him.

Returning to Muroki and Lina, Umeme sat down next to them, feeling slightly angry at Kasi. She understood that he felt bad, but did not understand why he wanted to shut himself from everyone else. "Can't he see that we are trying to help him?" She asked quietly so that Kasi would not be able to here. "He's not the only one who was friends with Tango. Why does he act like we don't care?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki felt the urge to lash out at Kasi and his rude behavior, but he remained seated and did not approach him. He knew that Kasi was taking this much harder compared to how Muroki and Delano took the death of their parents. Hopefully his cousin will get back to his senses soon. "He just needs some time..." he said, his voice as low as Umeme so to not give Kasi any other reason to lash out at either of them. Again Muroki wondered where Delano was. If only Delano had bothered to at least tell him where he was going, then Muroki would at least be able to anticipate when he would get back.

[DGFone]

Umeme sighed and rested against Muroki. She didn't really want to stay in the den, but she wasn't sure that it was a good idea to leave now. Not while Delano was still missing, and it wasn't a good idea to leave Kasi alone now anyways. She looked over at him, and saw that Kasi hadn't moved since he lashed out at them. Feeling both angry and sad at Kasi, she hoped that he would at least get somewhat better soon. The way he was acting now, he was almost unrecognizable.

Together, the three of them stayed inside the den, letting time just pass bye. After a long time, Umeme saw that the sun had moved quite a lot, based on the shadows, the sounds of Delano were heard outside of the den, and he quickly came inside. He was out of breath, as though he ran for a long time.

Spotting Muroki, Delano quickly made his way over to his brother. Seeing that Umeme and Lina were also there, he wasn't sure that saying what he found out was a good idea, not next to them, and certainly not next to Kasi. "We need to talk," he said in between pants, "outside."

He turned and went back to the entrance, and looked back inside as Muroki moved past him outside. Delano saw Umeme and Lina also get up to leave the den, but he shook his head, hoping that they would understand. Quickly turning back, he left the den and sat down next to Muroki. "It's... a mess," he finally said, "I went to the police caves. And it's just one big mess."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki almost let out a sigh of relief when his brother finally arrived back, only for the confusion to come back when Delano motioned for him to follow outside. He followed and listened to what Delano had to say, hardly understanding anything. "What? What exactly did you see when you were there?" for a moment he thought about going to take a look itself, but it would be pointless. He was kind of hoping that Delano would return with some answers about what was going on, but now he was feeling even worse.

[DGFone]

Delano sighed. "Tango wasn't the only one attacked last night," he said, "There were several. But one survived. They were interrogating him back at the caves." He shook his head. "It looks like the attacks are random. If you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, you can get hit." He motioned at the den. "They were thinking of imposing a curfew. No wandering outside at night, not even for hunting..." He knew that he had to say the next part, even if he didn't want to.

"We might in fact be called back. They need everyone they can get... They simply don't know what's going on. They only have some suspicion, but not enough. Looks like whoever is controlling the attacks, they know what they're doing. This is not the work of some amateurs." As he explained what he saw, he felt fear inside him increase, as though he was also only realizing what he had witnessed. "I... I think we are only seeing the beginning." Delano finally said. "I hope not, but it this might be leading to something else. We'll need to be really careful from now on, but I can't tell how or for how long."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki brought one of his paws over to his forehead and rubbed it, letting out a shaky sigh. "This will never end will it? We walked all the way from where we lived to here, but it just followed us anywhere we go..." if there was one thing he was sure of was that he wasn't letting either Umeme, Delano, Lina or Kasi out of his sight. He had already lost his parents, and that was more than enough and unnecessary. He felt lost like a little cub whose parents are no where to be found. It just seemed as if there was absolutely no solution for this.

[DGFone]

Delano agreed with Muroki. He also wanted to see the entire thing end, so that he can go and live his life in peace, preferably with Lina. But as things were now, he was lost and confused. "I don't think that leaving will be a good idea," he said, "There... there's no safe place anymore." He looked at the den, where inside the rest of his family were. He now considered even Lina and Umeme as family, and would hate to leave or lose them. "We have to do something bout this..." Delano said. "But what?"

The more he thought about it, the more he came to the conclusion that just waiting would not solve anything. He felt like he had to get involved somehow, if only to get a better clue as to what was going on, and to know what to do based on that information. Like before, he needed answers, something that sitting around wouldn't give.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki sighed and shook his head... "I don't know..." he again rubbed his forehead with one of his paws, "There has to be something that can be done, but what?" there was a rather long silence in which Muroki tried to think of something. Whoever was doing this kept attacking lions who were alone, so to outnumber them and get rid of them easily. "I think I might have an idea..." he looked at Delano. "They attacked that lion we saw when he was alone, Kasi's friend when he was alone, our parents were on their own and I bet that that lion who survived and is with the police was also alone when he was attacked."

He had no idea whether what he was about to suggest was any good, but if the murderers were playing so smart, then he and Delano had to think of someway to outsmart them back somehow. "What if they only think that the target they see is alone?" he paused for a moment, trying to think of a better way to explain it. "We could maybe suggest this to the police, they might just agree to do it... If we could gather a few more lions and find a spot for them to hide, while next to that point one of us will wait to be attacked, we might be able to kill some of them... Hopefully that will scare them off and if not we'll have to do it more than once."

[DGFone]

Delano thought about Muroki's plan. "It might work..." he finally admitted, "but it's very risky. But the biggest problem I see with it is that I don't think that it will solve the problem." He tried to explain what he was worried about. "Lions are dying, Muroki. You don't kill someone and expect others not to fight back. That's what I am concerned with. I don't think we will manage to scare them off. And if we try something like that... we might just massacre ourselves..." As he spoke, Delano felt his fear rise again, and he had to stop talking momentarily.

He felt tears form over his eyes, but didn't bother to wipe them off. Eventually, he was able to calm down enough to speak again. "We just don't know enough. We need information, but I don't know how to get it."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki let out a sigh. That plan might prove useful only if the group of murderers turns out to be a small group, but in order to know if they were a small group or not, like Delano said, they needed information. "Did anybody from the police have any sort of a plan when you were there?" maybe the first step they should take is to talk to the police again, and try to figure out what they could all do together. Then again, Delano did say that everything there is a big mess, so that just might prove as nothing but a complete waste of their time.