Stalk

“Between the twigs and the rocks, Roti, do not put pressure down until you feel the earth settle beneath your paws.”

My breath caught at a snap. I froze, waited for the rush of discovery, but none came. The night was still.

Mama made it seem easy. Even with paws so big they could swallow five of mine, she would stalk silently through trees. No river hog has ever known she was coming ‘til her teeth were already inside their gurgling throat.

“Keep your chest low to the ground, let the brush shield you while you get close.”

Tall grass parted as I crept, gliding my paw gently over a thick stick. The canopy overhead sprinkled light over the base of the thickets we had bedded down in this evening. I crouched until my belly scraped the ground, and then I inched forward. Low grumblings now replaced the deep boom that had sent us fleeing into the night.

There were humans here.

“It will walk on two legs. It will look small, and smell weak, but its claw is the most powerful of any beast you will meet. It will not be alone. You must hide.”

My shoulders tensed as I watched them. Three in total, walking steadier on long legs than seemed possible. They made strange noises at each other as they touched the ground where mama’s big body usually curls around me, and –

Snap!

I flinched, looked sharply left, and pushed back further into the grass. My ears sprang back, and I fought to even my breathing. The humans grew louder, alerting just like the deer do when they smell danger. One plunged into the grass and howled at the others. He stamped and lumbered through the brush, emerged after a long moment swinging Kiwal from the neck just like Mama carries him.

Kiwal whined. His pitch made my body twitch. I wanted to run, to roar, to do anything other than hide. But that’s what Mama said to do.

Kiwal swiped at the human’s arm with a paw. He screeched angrily as the human shook him.

My chest vibrated with a silent growl. The other humans danced around the one holding my brother. They took turns tracing the lines of his stripes or pulling on his tail. He dangled in the air, lurching side-to-side the way Mama’s prey does when she wants to snap their neck.

If she weren’t hiding too, they wouldn’t dare touch him. They were big, but not bigger than her. Their soft skin looked easy to puncture. Much easier than fur. But their claw was big, much longer than mine were; the moonlight glinted on it from bottom to top. It stretched out further than my whole body.

“Always call for me if you need. I will come.”

I yearned to give the call for Mama as Kiwal shrieked. She wasn’t far, I could smell her on the other side of the clearing. Maybe she was watching, waiting to see how Kiwal would defend himself from these creatures, wanting to see how long it would be before he needed her.

At last Kiwal twisted in the human’s grasp. He swung a paw out and hooked deep into its arm. It screamed terribly when he bit into its flesh.

Yes!

Dirt parted beneath my claws. I dug deep for purchase, mentally urging Kiwal on. I could smell the human’s blood, taste the tang in the air. My mouth watered.

I pressed closer to the ground, feeling the frantic stamp of the humans now gathering around Kiwal in a frenzy. Another grabbed him around the middle. The bleeding one prised his jaws open, and Kiwal screeched once again. They threw him into a metal box so hard he stopped moving. My blood ran cold.

The human made more angry noises, clutching its arm. Another grunted back at it, waving toward the ground to the erratic tracks my own paws made when I fled. I sunk further into the grass as one advanced toward me. Its heavy paws scattered the earth beneath it noisily.

“If you cannot hide, Roti, you run.”

I wanted to hold my nerve. Wanted to make Mama proud. But the snap of a branch broke my resolve, and I sprang up with a racing heart. I sprinted through the wild grass for Mama’s spot. She wasn’t far, and I was fast. I dashed around roots and rocks, doing my best to avoid the louder spots.

The humans scrambled behind me. How can such loud creatures scare Mama so bad that we needed to hide? She needed to get up! They were coming! We had to get Kiwal!

I tasted the blood in the air before I reached her, still and silent in the brush. The rasp of her breath caught on the breeze as I rounded her huge form.

“When all else fails, fight.”

The humans broke through the bushes. They shouted into the night. I reared up onto Mama. Her stomach rose and fell too quickly under my paws. The growl she let loose rumbled through my chest. The humans fell back into each other, clumsy on their two feet.

For a second, I thought they would flee. I would flee if mama growled at me. But they each just raised their long shiny claw, and boom after boom tore through the night.

Mama’s body jolted. Ears ringing, I sprang to the side, tripped over her paw, and rolled. Before I could get my footing, before I could even take a breath, one of the humans clamped its hands around my belly. It squeezed so hard the only sounds that came out of me were strangled.

I swung my claws, catching nothing but night, and called out for help. But even though everything else had failed, Mama did not fight.