"Honey! I'm back! Apparently Branch never left last night. He was still on the island. I don't know now though. He could have left but Tiny is with him so I don't think he would have...." Bruce's mind was just going in circles. He couldn't think properly because of the lack of sleep.
That's when everyone else gathered in and Brandy decided to tell them what the children saw.
***
"Here." Creek tossed a few berries their way as he ate his.
"I'm not eating anything you feed me." Branch said in an act to protest.
"Me either!" Tiny wanted nothing to do with the evil troll. All he could really do though was cling to Branch. He wished he could do more.
"If you die, so will the baby." Creek stated as he received a startled look. That's when he eventually heard both Tiny and Branch start eating. "That's what I thought."
After Creek ate he jumped out of the wheeled boat and grabbed the rope to start pulling again.
Branch could only sigh in frustration as he looked around at his surroundings before noticing the cloudy sky was darker in some areas. A storm seemed to be approaching. They shouldn't be caught out in it. Especially with the Egg and Tiny. "Cr-Creek..."
The purple troll glanced behind as he continued.
"There is a storm coming, we can't be stuck outdoors. You know how dangerous they can be." Branch warned when he received no reply. "Cr—"
"Be quiet, I know." Creek growled at them as they all heard rumbling in the distance. He would find someplace before then.
***
Creek was racing through the rain while pulling the others behind him when he quickly ran inside some small cave entrance.
"I warned you!" Branch was angry with the other. "You should have Listened to me! You're going to get us killed!"
"I said, be quiet." Creek warned as he squeezed some water from his hair.
"No, I'm sick of this! You're just some psychotic delusional idiot!" Branch yelled at him when all of a sudden the half boat was tipped over and he fell out along with Tiny.
"Ouch.." The small troll landed harshly on the ground before he was picked up and shoved underneath the boat, effectively trapping him in the small space. "Hey! Let me out of here!" He yelled.
"What are you doing?! Let him out!" Branch demanded as he watched the vile troll grab some rope that fell to the ground before walking over to him. He tried to back up.
"Get away from him Psycho!" Tiny shouted as he hit the side. He could see from the small gap near the ground.
"He'll get in the way." Creek said as he grabbed the blue troll by the hair and started to drag him out of the cave and into the rain.
Branch cried out as he tried everything to stop this from happening by digging his heels in the ground but it was too muddy and slippery from the rain.
"Stop struggling." Creek yanked him which caused Branch to fall face first into the ground but that didn't deter him because the other was still persistent.
Luckily Creek wasn't going too far, just to the small sapling where he pinned Branch to the ground as he tied some more rope around his body. It was quite difficult with the other squirming around but he somehow managed. He then proceeded to climb the sapling while holding a longer piece of rope before he jumped down off the limp and Branch was pulled up, just dangling there. He then quickly tied the rope around something.
"CREEK!!" Branch shouted his name in hatred before a gust of wind caused him to yelp as it jostled him around. The rain seemed to come down harder as a loud booming sound could be heard.
"Have fun out here Branch, enjoy the nice weather!" Creek had to shout over the wind and rain before he quickly ran back to the cave.
"CREEK! CREEEEEEEEEEK!!"
***
It was morning when Creek woke up. The sun was brightly shining and it felt very warm compared to last night. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day.
"Hey!" Tiny was sniveling as he clawed at the ground where he could stick his arms out. "Let me out! I want to see Branch! What did you do to him?!" He hiccuped as he cried.
"Oh right, I forgot." Creek got up and walked outside the cave and over to where he left the blue troll except he wasn't hanging anymore and on the ground. The rope must have snapped at some point.
"Mate, are you still alive after that fall?" Creek asked as he got close to the ground and Branch struggled to open his eyes. He glare at the other but it was weak and unfocused.
"Good job on staying alive." Creek congratulated him by booping his nose before plunging his hands into the other troll's hair to look at the egg.
Branch flinched and trembled as he started to tear up. "St-stop..." He weakly opposed as he tried to move away but he was too weak.
"Looks like the egg is fine." Creek touched it a little when he noticed it started turning Gray in the areas he had his hands. Once he removed them, the egg returned to normal. "Interesting that it's rejecting me." He wondered if the baby somehow knew.
Pop-poppy...." Branch broke down at this point and started to really cry. More than he had before. "Poppy!" He hoarsely sobbed her name before he went into a coughing fit.
Creek rolled his eyes before letting go. It was almost fully grown so maybe by the end of today he could finally dump Branch somewhere and be on his way. He smiled at the thought as he grabbed said troll by the legs and dragged him back to the cave.
Once Creek let go, he freed Tiny who quickly latched onto-
"Branch! Branch, are you okay?!" Tiny sniffled but got no response when he felt the troll burning up. "I think he might be sick!" He desperately looked at Creek who chuckled before quickly realizing that there was no one there to help.
"You're a monster!" Tiny bawled as he clung to the blue troll.
***
Hours passed by as Creek watched Tiny do the best he could to take care of Branch but the small Troll was failing miserably. Everything he did just didn't seem to help.
Eventually though, the time finally came because there was a small flash from Branch's hair and they all knew what that signaled.
Creek didn't hesitate to get up as Tiny jumped onto Branch with his arms spread out.
"No! I won't let you!" Tiny bravely spoke even though he shook in fear.
Creek wasn't bothered by this as he Grabbed the small troll by the hair and tossed him back under the half boat to keep him out of the way.
Branch was desperately trying to move away as Creek practically jumped on him. He made an attempt to swirl his hair around the egg to form a harder barrier but the other troll started to pry it open.
Branch was just too weak, he couldn't defend himself let alone his and Poppy's egg. Eventually he lost and Creek snatched the egg while holding it up high. He was laughing hysterically.
Branch cried as he tried to push himself over to Creek and get the egg back but the other ended up kicking him away.
"Please, don't do this!" Branch pleaded with him. "I'll- I'll do anything!"
"Anything? Anything you say?!" Creek laughed but there was nothing funny about what the blue troll said. "Now you know how I felt when the Bergen's tried to eat me!!" He yelled as he stepped on Branch's face and pushed it into the ground. "There is nothing I want more than to see you suffer!" He finished by giving Branch one last kick which seemed to cause the egg to flash and wiggle a little.
It took Creek a few seconds to regain his vision before he wrapped the egg up with his hair. "Seems like it can sense what is happening outside it." He felt the egg wiggle more as if it was trying to free itself.
"Creek!" Branch kept weeping his name, not really sure what else to do. He tried to stop him by using his hair but he was too weak to hold any kind of grip.
Creek just ignored the annoyance as he walked over to free Tiny before catching the small troll by the hair.
"Let me go!" Tiny tried to fight back as he was trapped in Creek's hair next to the egg.
Creek then walked to the cave entrance before spinning around towards the other troll. He placed his hands together and took a slight bow before saying, "Namaste, Branch."
As Creek walked off, he heard a loud broken cry of anguish.