The Last Lion

It took him a while to shake off the trauma of losing his entire pride. In a way, he hasn’t fully recovered. All tucked away, deep in the last remaining forest, he continued to hide. While all around him the forest continued to dwindle. He knew there wasn’t much time left. He drank from the stream, he hunted. That was his routine. Once in a while, he would try to explore. But his fear kept getting the better of him. He was easily startled by loud noises that sounded like gunshots. Or unnatural sounds, like those from machinery. He would have nightmares about the day of his capture, or the day of his death. He would have daydreams of running with his full pride by his side. He would never fully understand how it came to this point. He would never fully understand why he is alone now, living in fear. He just accepted it as the way of the world. The unnatural, made natural. Things come and go. He thought of it in terms of the animals he’s hunted. They were once living and then they were not. There will come a time when every living creature will be no more. For him and his kind, that time has come. The thought occurred to him of going out with a bang. He would go out to the human village and try to take out as many of them as he could before he got put down. It was inevitable that they would get him soon anyways. He might as well go down fighting. But he brushed aside these suicidal thoughts. As the last of his kind, he felt a sense of responsibility. The only way he could think of to honour his kind is to live for as long as he could. He wanted to extend the existence of lions, to delay their disappearance as a species for as long as possible. Every second counts, he felt. Every second that he’s alive is a second that his kind is still represented in the world. That was how he made peace with his continued existence even though he was the last of his kind left. That’s what made him want to continue living, even though it was a very lonely life.

Years passed and the lion was now old. Death was now not far off. He was surprised that he managed to make it this long. He thought for sure the humans would come for him before he died of natural causes. In fact, unbeknownst to him, he did come close to dying at the hands of a hunter. A billionaire paid a huge sum for the privilege of killing the last lion. Of having this lion’s head mounted over the fireplace of his cabin. The lion came into focus on the hunter’s crosshairs as the lion was drinking from the stream, fully unaware that his time had come. But as the hunter stared at the lion, he was hit with a sudden wave of sadness like nothing he had experienced before. This was unusual for the hunter, for he had a dark heart. He’s had people killed to further his business and his wealth, without a second thought. He’s had people killed who had families, young kids of their own. There was no limit to his depravity, or so he thought. But as he watched the last remaining lion in the world go through the motions of his life, a tranquil moment, through the scope of his rifle, the hunter couldn’t help but pause. The lion finished drinking and has now turned away from the hunter. The lion walked away slowly, completely oblivious to how close he was to being shot to death by a hunter. The hunter continued to watch, as warm tears unexpectedly streamed down his face. He finally lowered the gun to wipe his eyes. He could only shake his head at this inexplicable change of heart. He felt shame at this moment of weakness. But he couldn’t shake it off. The guilt, or whatever emotion it was that stopped him from killing the last lion, gripped him tightly and never let go. His trip ended with him buying the lands in which the lion lived. It became one of the most heavily fortified and protected places on earth. The lion would never have to fear poachers again.

But the lion did not know this. He was unaware of how close he came to dying at the hands of a hunter. He was unaware of how he succeded in changing the darkest of hearts, one of a ruthless killer, a psycopath who gained extreme wealth at the expense of the lives and suffering of others. The joy the lion would have felt at knowing he accomplished something that was virtually impossible would just be completely lost in time. But that’s life. Some things that happen stay as mysteries forever. They are mysteries to the conscious mind, but only made sense in the grand scheme of things.

The lion got up for the last time. He hobbled slowly to the stream to take a sip of water. He was too old and weak to hunt, but he could still drink. So that was what he did. As he drank, an antelope appeared not too far away from him. It must have sensed his weak state for it no longer feared being hunted. After he had his fill, the lion hobbled back under his tree. His thoughts filled with memories of his life, of the good times with his pride, and the bad times, of living alone. All in all, he was satisfied. He lived for as long as he could, longer than he expected to live, for himself and for his kind. He kept his species from going extinct just by being alive, if only for a little while longer. He felt he served his purpose. He watched the sun go down over the grasslands for the last time. He marveled at the beauty that he would never seen again. Finally, he closed his eyes and laid his head down. He breathed his last as darkness fell on the tree that he was lying under.

The lion was no longer aware of what happened next but the world was still around. The world continued on without him. But it was now a world where lions no longer exist. In the distance, the sound of a helicopter can be heard. It landed near the tree that was the lion’s final resting place. A team of scientists exited the chopper. One of them, a spectacled young man carrying a bag on his left hand, crouched near the lion and placed his free hand on the lion, as the rest of his team huddled around him. Words were exchanged that could not be heard over the sound of the helicopter. The wind from the rotating blades kicked up dust and whipped the grass back and forth. This time, it mattered that there was one less species on earth.