Santri Famiglia's

Inland Vampires in the Modern Age

The red robe covering Tendei's slender body was slightly exposed as the man reached out. Long bite marks seen on dark arms or more appropriately called redness. The color of the skin was as if it was lit when exposed to sunlight.

Sanubari. Never before had he seen such skin color. They know each other.

Moments later, Fanon returned with large pots. He put it all to the ground.

"You have to stop catching bongos, Tendei! They are protected animals. Lions too!"

"The population of bongos has increased tremendously. It's okay to hunt one once in a while, right? Let's just say I'm helping control the number of bongos so as not to overdo it. After all, there's not much to eat in this wilderness."

Tendei laughing. He took off the red robe, threw it on the chair. Tendei's body looked stocky with a sleeveless shirt. He wears army pants and shoes. On his waist, it was embedded with a knife and a half-long spear.

The spear shaft seemed to break to leave a third in length, then repaired without replacing the supayya stalk can still be used. Tendei put the short spear to the ground. Taking out a knife, he crouched down next to the bongo.

"You eat lion meat too?"

Sanubari's attention was on the lying lion. It was inconceivable how a savage beast felt.

"Only the bongo will we eat. The lion is proof of my maturity. I hunted him for four years. After failure after failure, finally, being able to catch one as well," Tendei replied while skinning the bongo.

"As far as you are! But, I won't help if the police catch you."

Finished saying so, Fanon left again. While Tendei was just smiling. He continued to slash, separating the skin from the flesh. The movement is quite fast and accurate. The skin is cut neatly without any random tearing.

"What does it have to do with adults and lions?" tanya Sanubari closes her nose.

The smell of water was strong in that place. Abrizar and Fukai close their noses. The three had never been directly involved in such a butchery procession.

"That's a tradition for Maasai like me. To prove maturity, we had to hunt down one lion and bring its head home when it entered the age of fifteen.

"As long as it hasn't worked, our young Maasai are not allowed to go home. Usually, the young hunt in groups. But, since my mother was from the Fang tribe and left father with unclear reasons, people excluded me.

"I don't know the exact reason for being a baby at that time. But, because of that, I had to go hunting alone and was almost eaten by a lycaon. Fanon. From that moment on, I came here often when I failed to get food from the wilderness.

"I also met another forest explorer at a later time. They gave me these clothes. My old clothes are no longer fit."

As Tendei finished the story, Fanon had arrived with two buckets of water. Tendei washed his hands after sticking a knife into the meat. He took a clean knife in the pot.

"Well, it's hard on your life too, huh?"

Sanubari. Four years of living in the wild with wild beasts must have been very mentally draining. There is no day without fear.

"Four years. Then you're nineteen now?" continued.

"Yes"

Carefully, Tendei tried to collect blood into the small glass that was in the pot. Once full, he laid the meat. He also holds the blood to another container, then drinks the collected in a glass.

At once, Sanubari vomited. Imagining the rancid taste of blood passing through the esophagus makes it nauseous.

"You, how can you drink fresh blood?"

Finished asking, Sanubari vomited again. The nausea refused to leave him.

Tendei instead filled the glass again and thrust at Sanubari. Sanubari.

Abrizar replied, "No, thank you. In our belief, blood is forbidden to consume. So, we can't ...."

Fukai added, "While I don't adhere to your beliefs, the ban I think is justified. Human digestion is not equipped to digest blood. At certain levels, blood can be toxic to the human body. You'd better stop that Tendei habit."

"I only occasionally drink to increase vitality and not much."

Tendei put down the glass. He continued cutting meat.

Unexpectedly, the giant stalks near them his skin moved. Sanubari. He stared at the shifting bark of the tree without blinking.

Seen jeep and tronton cars in the middle of the trunk. That's a very astonishing sight. Both cars were silent with the engine running.

"There's someone there. How'this?" ask the jeep driver.

"It's impossible to back off, right? They've also seen us" said the man next to the driver.

"It's your fault, Sison!" the woman sitting in the back.

He stared straight at the place where Sanubari had gathered with the others. Everyone in the jeep and tronton cars is tense. They had never been out of the headquarters when many people were wandering around the giant tree.

They also could not judge the common people or those who accidentally entered this forbidden area. It would be contrary to the principle of association.

"Hey, this is our routine. Every date is a harvest day. We are not deviating at all. So, what's my fault?"

Sison who was holding the wheel defended herself. During this time, they never stumble into problems by following the existing schedule.

Although Sison made such a plea, Afra still cornered her, "You usually communicate with Fanon. So, you should be the one who knows when we should get out and not, right?"

"Fanon didn't send me anything. How do I know there's gonna be someone like this." Sison picked up the phone, but it wouldn't turn on. "Oh, fuck! My phone's dead."

"Eat him, don't play games!" Afra hit Sison's head.

"It's not my fault entirely. Why don't you guys do some recon before we get out? You are also negligent, ignoring the custom when Fanon is not here" counterattacked Sison.

He doesn't want to be blamed himself if he gets a ticket. They're out together. So, bearing sanctions must also be together.

Abravo, sitting next to Afra, magnified his vision with goggles, and pointed forward. He exclaimed, "Hey, look! Fanon walked over here!"

"Ah, right. That's Fanon," said Sasin, who sat next to the wheel after lowering his goggles. The glasses were previously on the head like a bandana.

Fanon did walk towards them before running small. The gathering distance of the people and them was approximately a hundred meters.

Abravo delivered his conclusion, "If he's also here and welcomes us, that means it's fine to show up, right?"

The tronton driver did not dare to advance. They also know the rules for not going out when there are people outside the association. They could have closed the door. However, the one holding the key at the moment was Sison. The decision is in the hands of the open jeep driver.

"True, let's get to him! Don't let him get tired just to get close to us. Sison tancap gas.