After Jimmy healed the brains of those children, as best as he could, it was then time to head home.
The simple hunt for salt had developed into a horrible blood bath, one that couldn't have been predicted, yet it happened. There was nothing they could do to undo the bloodbath that Anna caused, or the events before that which triggered the bloodbath.
Everyone just wanted to head home, and put this matter to bed. Jimmy's eyes were burning for sleep, he was disoriented, dehydrated to the point where a litre of water barely helped him, and overall, he was in poor shape. He couldn't even use his own magic to help himself feel better, and he had even tried to do so, but he spent the remaining five percent of his mana when he tried, and still didn't feel any better.
Despite their urge to go home, transportation was a bit of a problem. It would take a while to get everyone home, because Bonita couldn't carry four adults, and four children on her back. The collective weight of the group was heavier than she was by a solid one-hundred kilos, or two-hundred and twenty pounds, so no, Bonita could not carry all of them on her back.
With Jimmy disoriented, and Anna not in a talking mood, Zik took it upon himself to figure out an effective plan. Someone had to hold the sleeping children, and he could only hold two of them at a time without running the risk of dropping one, and Anna couldn't carry any of the kids, because she had to steer Bonita.
Anna realized that she was being quite antagonized, so she wanted to focus on transporting the kids safely. She wanted to show them that she cared enough to guarantee a smooth ride for the kids that Jimmy had healed. In reality, she didn't care about these kids at all, but she didn't want to be seen as more of a monster than she was already portrayed as.
"Okay, we'll get them home two at a time." Zik said, and then climbed on Bonita's back.
Afterwards, he looked back at Gaark, and asked him, "Can I trust you to look after Jimmy, and the kids, Gaark? I need you to make uncle Zik proud today, can you do that?"
"Yes, uncle Zik." He nodded. "I won't let anything hurt them. I promise."
Zik was not sure if he could trust Gaark's words, but he had no choice other than to trust him. Jimmy was in no condition to help anyone right now, so Zik had to rely on the man who most likely had severe brain damage. This was not an ideal situation, but it was what he had to work with.
Bonita then took off, and started flying towards the top of the mountain. The trip home and back was going to take roughly two hours, as they could not risk rushing the trip on account that they were holding children. It was a long trip, but there was nothing they could do about it.
Gaark, with an untreated case of cannibalism, and severe brain damage, had to be the most responsible person here for two hours. He had to look after Jimmy, and the two sleeping kids in front of him.
This was a tough task, and he tried to stay focused, but he wasn't quite capable of doing so. Thankfully, Anna had already eliminated the main threat that had plagued these lands. Gaark mainly had to protect Jimmy and the kids from small scavengers, which wasn't too much of a task, because scavengers didn't come up here in the mountainside that often. If they did, the bloodbath that was about a hundred meters ahead would attract them, and therefore Gaark would be left alone. They were relatively safe up here.
Anyway, when Gaark felt himself drifting off, he spoke with Jimmy just to stay focused. His conversations were pale, and a bit senseless, but he was trying his best.
"Are you feeling better, brother?" He asked. "Talk to me, how is mother, and father? I can't remember their names, sadly not. I only remember you, and Hanna. Is mother's name Larisa?"
Jimmy could barely hear what his brother was saying. His ears rang, his stomach was bloated, and he felt beyond sick, so he wasn't in a talking mood, or condition at this point.
"Lasra," He winced, "Mother's name is Lasra."
Expecting what Gaark was about to ask next, he then said, "Father's name is Gnegor. I'm guessing you were named after him, kinda?"
"Gnegor and Gaark, heh, that has a ring to it." He chuckled, "Man, I miss them so much!"
"You'll see them today, don't worry." Jimmy said, and he put his fingers in his ears, trying to shake the ringing away. "I'm gonna make you all better, Gaark, I promise. You'll forget that these five winters ever happened."
Jimmy had run out of mana, so he couldn't heal his brother today, his own blood. He felt horrible about it, but Zik had forced his hand.
This was a bad situation, but inwardly, he was glad that Zik pushed him. When he thought about it, he couldn't have, in good conscience, abandoned these innocent kids. It would have been cruel, and he wasn't that kind of person in any world. He wasn't a monster.
It was a shame that he couldn't help his brother just yet, and he still suffered the aftermath of helping these kids first, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He just tried to hang on, and he had to wait for his mana to regenerate.
The regeneration process was slow, but nearly two hours in, he felt that he had recovered fifteen percent of his mana.
Jimmy still felt sick. He had thrown up all the food he ate, and so his stomach acid burned like hellfire as it searched for anything to consume, and yet he still held off on using the mana on himself. He held off, because he had to make an important decision.
Anna and Zik were supposed to come back very soon, so he had to decide if he should use the mana to heal himself, or use it to keep the kids asleep, so their ride to their new home can go smoother. Even though they were mostly healed, he figured that kids would be terrified of flying on top of a dinosaur. They weren't conditioned for situations like that, they weren't experienced in it.
Bonita landed close by two minutes later. He found great relief when he saw Anna walking towards him with food, and two full leather flasks of water!
This meant that Jimmy didn't have to try and heal himself just yet. He could just eat some food to calm his stomach acid down, and the water would surely help him too.
"Thanks," He said.
"I'm sorry you had to go through this," She stroked his hair. "I didn't want any of this to happen, Jimmy, I just wanted to find salt."
"We'll talk about it later," He said, and took a bite off the seared meat chunk. "Let's just get these kids home as quick as we can. I really need to sleep this off."
Jimmy then poured most of his mana on the kids, to keep them asleep. He was left with only five percent of mana again, but he wasn't bothered by this. The food Anna brought him was already starting to help him feel better.
After Anna took off with Zik, Jimmy then turned to Gaark, and said, "Grab a bite to eat, brother. You must be sick of all the bull crap they've been feeding you."
"Sick?" He repeated, "I'm grossed out! They ate people, Jimmy! People!"
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