Trek For Survival

She opened her eyes and looked up at him with a smile. "Alright."

Standing up, she glanced around to see that her mom had put everything away, and they were just waiting on her to start pulling the cart. Mikey was awake, but didn"t seem interested in walking.

"If I start walking too fast, let me know, and I"ll slow down," she said to her parents.

"Don"t worry about us," chuckled her father. "I"m sure I can keep up. It"s Vonn I"m worried about."

"Hey, I can keep up with no problem!" complained Vonn, half laughing as he tried to feign outrage.

"We need to get going!" said Truffle as Gia picked up the cart and started to pull it. It wasn"t nearly as hard with both her parents walking. Once the wheels started turning, she just had to keep it moving forward.

"How much longer are we going to be down here?" whined Mikey, propping his chin up on the side of the cart.

"We still have to go through the tall mushrooms, and the mushroom village, before we reach the edges of the blue mushrooms. There, we"ll probably have to be careful of the wild mushroom creatures. They"re bound to be on the move with the forest about to spore," explained Truffle, his little legs shuffling so fast, Gia was surprised he didn"t fall or trip.

"There"s a village down here?" exclaimed Mikey sitting up quickly.

"Mikey!" cautioned Carla, from behind them.

"Sorry," he said quickly, hopping out of the cart.

Gia sighed in relief. The cart was even lighter without him. How did Vonn do this?

"The mushroom village is where most of the mushroom people live. It"s safer if any of the mushroom creatures decide to rampage. They do that occasionally."

"How is it safer?" asked Mikey, dancing in front of her, to walk next to Truffle.

"Well, we have a wall around it, and there"s mushroom guardsmen who protect everyone there," explained Truffle, scratching the underside of his little mushroom cap. "Not much can get past them. It"s a good thing you came across the king, because he ordered me to go with you. The guardsmen won"t bother you while you"re with me."

"That"s good," said Tom, "I would hate to have to explain why we were lost."

"Well, it"s because you were giving directions, of course," laughed Vonn.

"I don"t know what that says about your intelligence, boy, if you were taking directions from a blind man," joked Tom.

In the distance, Gia could see some really tall mushrooms. Their stalks were as thin as her pinky, and they stretched high into the air, with a white bulb at the very top. Some of them had long thin hairs standing out straight, while others had cl.u.s.ters of white bulbs gathered around their bases, as if the stalks never grew on them.

"Is that the tall mushrooms?" asked Mikey, pointing at them.

"Yes, but don"t touch any of them," cautioned Truffle. "Those long thin hairs are toxic. Anyone who touches one will become paralyzed for the mushroom to eat."

"Wow! How can you let them survive if they"re so dangerous?" asked Carla, horrified.

"They make the most delicious wine!" said Truffle with a dreamy smile. "One taste and you would understand why we let them live. Besides, the mushroom trolls tend them. They love doing that sort of thing."

"Are they the ones who let us in here?" asked Mikey.

"I believe so," said Vonn.

They had reached the very edges of the thin mushrooms, and Mikey gaped at them for a while, making sure to point out each and every one that had the toxic hairs so no one missed them.

"Mikey, it"s hard to see that one," said Tom, after he pointed out one for the hundredth time.

"No, it"s not!" declared Mikey, turning to look at him, before realizing he was joking with him. Mikey"s giggles had them all laughing.

"Gia! Watch out!" cried Vonn, jumping forward and pushing her to the side as a mushroom came crashing down on top of the cart.

"Vonn!" she screamed, rolling in the dirt to see the mushroom laying on top of him. Most of the weight was on the crushed cart, but enough was on him, to pin him in place.

"Oh! I"m so sorry!" came a cry, from the area the mushroom had fallen. Out from behind a cl.u.s.ter of white hairy b.a.l.l.s, a beautiful girl, with long golden hair hurried towards them. She wore a red mushroom cap on her head, like a cap, and Gia could see mushrooms growing along the back of her hair.

The girl rushed over to Vonn, and Gia immediately wanted to rush over to keep the girl from touching him.

"Don"t touch him! You"ve done enough!" she cried, stepping towards the girl.

"Oh?" the girl asked, turning towards her, while pulling on thick brown gloves. "I"m sorry the tree fell on him. I didn"t realize there would be anyone on the road. I"ll have it moved in a jiffy!"

"That"s Fungee," said Truffle, laying a hand on Gia"s arm. "She normally cuts the mushroom trees that are older and threatening the safety of travelers. I"m sure she can handle getting this one up without hurting him anymore."

Gia wrung her hands, seeing her parents waiting patiently on the other side, while Mikey hunkered down to watch as close as Gia would let him, as Fungee began cutting the thin stalk with a small handsaw.

"The stalk is surprisingly heavy, for as small as it is. I"m glad he isn"t hurt more than he was," said the girl, as she worked.

"Why isn"t he moving?" cried Gia once the stalk was off of him.

"He"s paralyzed, hunny," said the girl with a smirk. "Those hairs on the thing aren"t just for decoration, you know."

It was official. Gia hated this girl.

Pulling out a small vial from her bag, Fungee leaned down over Vonn and gently poured the silvery liquid into his mouth.

"How dare you!" shrieked Gia when she realized the girl was purposefully leaning over him so he couldn"t help but stare up her little mushroom skirt. The material was made from a giant mushroom cap, and matched her hat, which meant, it didn"t bend, so when she leaned down, it flared up, and his face was directly underneath the skirt.

Giving Gia a smirk, Fungee slipped the vial back into her bag and stepped back. Vonn rolled to his side and coughed.

"Fungee, why would you taunt a guest of our king?" asked Truffle, shaking his head. "I don"t want to have to report you again!"

"Oh, Truffle, don"t worry. The poor human didn"t mind the view. Besides, this girl could use a lesson on her manners. That was my last potion. I didn"t have to use it on him."

"Fungee, one of the human"s is blind. They needed that cart you crushed. You can complain about using your last potion all you want, but if I report that you dropped the mushroom on one of the king"s guests and took out their cart, you"ll be in a lot of trouble!"

Fungee looked back over at Carla and Tom, and noted how Tom was smiling at her, waving his hand in front of his face to prove he was blind. Glancing down at the crushed cart, she scratched her ear.

"What do you want me to do about it, Truffle? I don"t have another cart like that one, and I can"t fix his blindness."

Gia was so furious, she knew that if she went anywhere near the girl, she was going to attack her. Going over to Vonn, she leaned down and touched his back, making sure to keep her knees together and be a decent woman. She may be wearing pants, instead of a skirt, but that didn"t mean she couldn"t be decent.

"Gia, I"m fine," he finally managed to gasp, wincing in pain as he tried to push himself up. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn"t do it. Vonn had to work his legs up underneath him, and get up without using his arms.

"It"s all your fault!" cried Gia. She knew that his shoulders were hurting from hauling the cart so much, but she was going to blame this s.l.u.t! "He"s so hurt, he can"t get up right! You owe us a new cart and recompense for his hurt shoulders! What are we going to do if he can"t raise himself up off the ground with his own arms?"

Both the mushroom people turned to look at them, having been in a conversation over how Fungee was going to pay them back, and saw that Vonn was struggling to stand without using his arms.

"Gia, I"ll be fine," Vonn said softly. "Please, calm down."

"Don"t tell me to calm down with this floozie dropping a tree on you and then flashing herself while "tending" to you!" Gia roared.