Broken (15 page)

We crouched in the high grass as we slowly moved
forward into the field of marshland when another howl came, then another and
then a high-pitched, shrill howl. The pack was assembled and now howled in an
ear-piercing chorus. If they were warning each other because we had been
spotted or they sensed our presence I didn't know, but I hoped they knew we
were there. I was hoping they sensed the danger. I wanted them to be alert. I
wanted them to know their final hour had come. The king of the swamps was
coming and their strength was nothing compared to mine and
Aiyana's
.
We had yet to experience an animal as strong and fierce as we were. Neither of
us felt the slightest fear, only the sensation of the hunt about to happen, the
kill, the intoxicating smell and taste of blood that we craved.

We ran towards the high-pitched howling coming from
our prey. I glanced at
Aiyana
as she ran beside me
through the high grass. Our eyes locked for a few seconds and I felt such a
great love for her in that short moment as we neared the coyotes and their
smells and sounds became even more vivid to us. Through the darkness I spotted
movement ahead, dozens of legs moving in the grass. I heard paws moving across
the marshland and panting and heavy breathing. I sped up and ran like the wind,
feeling the freedom and thrill of the expected kill as we got closer and closer
to our prey. The howling had turned into a bawling alarming sound from one
coyote to another as they ran for their lives. I was close now and could snap
out at legs that were running wildly. At least nine coyotes were trying to
escape their destiny. I snapped for a leg and heard the bones crunch between my
teeth. The coyote yelped and barked in panic as it tumbled to the ground. I
didn't stop to kill it right away but knew it wasn't going anywhere with a
crushed leg. Quickly I found another victim.
Aiyana
was ahead of me now and lashed out at one coyote with one paw, causing it to
fall with a loud whining bark. She stopped and sank her teeth into its skull,
killing it instantly. The adrenalin rushing through my body was overpowering,
supernatural and I managed to maintain an incredible speed through the marsh.
My long muscular legs felt elastic and resilient underneath me. It was the
closest I had ever come to actually flying.
 
It exceeded anything I had ever done
physically. It made me feel more alive than anything else.
 
As I ran I could hear my own heartbeat
and the blood rushing through my veins to keep up with my incredible pace. I
came closer to another coyote and sank my teeth into its back, biting through
the greyish fur and into its vital organs as it slowly sank to its death
between my jaws. Blood ran from its wounds into my mouth and satisfied the
immediate thirst for its sweet taste but also left me longing for more, craving
raw meat and blood. I spit out the lifeless body and ripped off a piece of the
meat before I immersed my entire face into the red intoxicating drug that I
could no longer resist. I dwelled in it for a while and satisfied my lust for a
few minutes when I suddenly heard
Aiyana's
roar and
detected a cry for help. I lifted my head above the high grass and identified
several animals gathered in one spot to the left not far from me. I leaped out
of my spot and ran towards her.

The remaining coyote pack had surrounded her while she
was feasting on her prey. I ran growling and watched as they closed in on her,
howling and barking. I roared again and again as a warning when I saw one of
the coyotes snap at
Aiyana's
leg and bite it. In
return she lashed at it with her claws and ripped its face. The coyote withdrew
with a whimper until it was backed up by its pack as they slowly moved forward
towards her while she crouched over her prey to protect it, snapping, snarling
and growling at them. But they outnumbered
Aiyana
. I
counted six as I ran. They closed in on her, snarling and baring their teeth.
The smell of blood in this place from wounded and dead animals agitated me and
aroused something inside of me. The adrenalin in my body was explosive. Now
these animals were small compared to
Aiyana
and I,
only around forty pounds but they were clever and when they gathered in a pack
like this they could take down even big animals and I had even heard of attacks
on humans on rare occasions but didn't know if that was only rumor. As I ran
towards the pack and
Aiyana
I sensed something behind
me that made my skin shiver. I turned my head and realized yet another pack of
at least five coyotes was right behind me. They were barking and snapping their
teeth. Their slanted eyes were fixed solely on me. With a huge roar I jumped
one of the coyotes threatening
Aiyana
and ripped its
skin open and didn't even look back as I heard more snarling and snapping of
jaws.
Aiyana
broke into another roar as she attacked
the pack from the other side and started killing them one by one. One latched
onto my leg from behind and wouldn't let go no matter how much I tossed around
causing it to fly through the air. I roared and snarled while lashing at the
attacking coyotes that tried to bite me from all sides. I knocked some to the
ground with my huge paws, but were quickly back on their feet again while
others bit my legs and jumped on back, biting into my black fur. I killed one;
I killed two, three and four. Still they came at me like an endless stream of
attackers.
Aiyana
was growling and killing her share
of as well but we were heavily outnumbered even given our size. We were in
trouble.

The coyotes were everywhere, biting us, trying to
bring us down and have the feast of their life. Three coyotes jumped me from
one side while one was biting my hind leg and I was forced to tumble to the
ground with them on top of me. I managed to grab one of them with my teeth and
crunch his bones between my jaws before I threw him lifeless across the ground.
I started desperately to search for a tree to climb or a waterhole to get into
where they couldn't follow us, but nothing was in range. I knew I was probably
going to die but yet I never thought about giving up. It never occurred to me.
It simply wasn't an option. This was what I had lusted for. This was the fight
I craved and wanted. And I had gotten it. I was incensed, infuriated, maddened,
I was wild, a savage predator. This was nature and the rawness of it was
intoxicating. I faced the animals attacking me and looked them straight in the
eyes. With three of my attackers still on top of me I managed to lift my entire
body along with theirs up till I stood on all four legs again. Blood was
streaming from my legs where I had been bitten but I was not yet defeated. I
burst into a huge roar that echoed in the trees far away. I heard my own
growling breath as I stood on my proud legs with three coyotes holding on to my
body, their teeth sunk into my skin. I hardly felt the pain as I started
shaking my body running back and forth, throwing my body in the air like a wild
horse forcing the animals to let go of my back and be thrown into the air.

When I finally managed to throw them all off I ran
towards
Aiyana
and removed her attackers one by one
by biting their necks and killing them instantaneously. She got on her legs
again as I heard the barking and growling behind me and turned to see the rest
of the pack now reduced to only five coyotes coming closer, blinded by rage and
madness to let go of their prey even if they knew it would mean certain death
to pursue their intent to kill the both of us. I crouched on my hind legs ready
to spring forward. I roared again. The coyotes stopped. As if they had a sudden
change of heart the first one, the one I assumed was the leader, stared at me,
bowed its head and trotted several steps backwards, crouching and whining. The
rest followed and walked slowly backwards. Their sudden retreat gave me
confidence and I stepped forward with another growl and now they all put their
tails between their legs and turned quickly, running fast in the opposite
direction. I turned and looked at
Aiyana
with victory
in my eyes when I realized that I wasn't causing the coyotes to run. Something
else was heading in our direction, something big, something that certainly
wasn't part of nature.

Humans.

Chapter 19

First
I heard the
voices, then the barking hounds that lucky
for us were still on a leash.

"Fresh tracks," I heard them say to one
another. They were talking with low voices to not reveal themselves but my
improved hearing could hear everything, every little word whispered in the
night. With my night vision I could follow their every movement. There were
several of them. Not only one or two, but many. I stared at
Aiyana
.
I saw fear in her yellow eyes. She knew what I knew. I had seen her. I had seen
her die in a premonition many years ago. I knew she would die in these swamps,
shot to death by Jim my old friend whose leg she had taken in self-defense ten
years ago. I recognized his voice among them. He was there, walking through the
high grass with prosthetic leg and his cane. I breathed heavily while
desperately trying to find a way out. It couldn't be her time already. I wasn't
ready to lose her yet. Not now when we had just found each other again. I
probably never would be but I wasn't going to let her die without even having
fought for her. We both knew we would have to run, but that would also reveal
our whereabouts. With their guns and rifles they could easily bring us down.
The only other choice would be to stay in hiding. But that was like sitting on
death row waiting to be executed.

A coyote only half dead in the grass gave a shrill cry
and lifted its snout towards the sky, ears pressed back and eyes rolling,
shrieking like it was pleading to die.
 
Its cries led the human's eyes to look in our direction. I heard my own
breathing as I stared at the coyote slowly dying on the ground. It looked like
a roach mashed to the ground with its legs in the air, still fighting yet
knowing it was all over.

This is it, I thought as I heard the voices and steps
coming closer. The hounds were still on a leash which was to our advantage. I
looked at
Aiyana
. She stared into my eyes and
understood.

We ran.

Like a gush of wind we blew across the marsh-land
exploiting the fact that the humans would only hear the cries of a half death
coyote and before they reached the massacre scene we would be long gone in deep
waters or hiding in a tree somewhere. That was the plan. That was all we had.

It worked, at least for a couple of hundreds yards.
Then they released the hounds. They found the dead coyotes and figured we
wouldn't be far away. I knew how this worked. I had been a hunter for a short
period along with Jim. I had searched for a jaguar myself. First they released
the master hound and the rest would follow. As I ran for my life I tried to
figure out how many hounds were following us. Their sounds and smells came from
at least ten different directions. Each had their own bark and I counted at
least a dozen. So somewhere between ten and twelve I figured. Or there could
even be more. Their strategy would be to wear us down. Our only hope was to
reach the river and dive into the deep waters where they couldn't follow us. A
tree wouldn't work. Even if it was a closer solution the hounds would surround
it and the humans would be able to shoot us down. Water or thick, thorny
vegetation was our only choice. I knew we were far away from both.

"More dead coyotes over here!" I heard a
voice yell. "It hasn't even taken a bite from this one. We must have
disturbed it getting ready to feast. We must be close to the jaguar now."

I realized then that the hunters were only looking for
one jaguar. We could use this to our advantage. I started zigzagging in front
of
Aiyana
and running around her in circles
deliberately and then repeatedly doubled back on our tracks to confuse the
dogs.

The hounds were now barking and howling not far from
us, finding more leftovers from our fight with the coyotes. Then I heard people
running. They were close now. They were running, coming from several
directions. The hunters were everywhere now, they had surrounded the area. Or
was I simply being tricked by their voices echoing off the wall of trunks in
the forest in front of us? I looked at
Aiyana
running
next to me when I heard the first shot. It came from behind us. I gasped.
Anxiously I locked my eyes on
Aiyana
. I thought if I
kept looking at her then they wouldn't be able to hit her.

I was panting heavily as I spotted the tree line that
marked the beginning of the forest not far from us. All we had to do was to
reach the trees and then head for the river. As soon as we were in the forest
we would be better protected and it would be difficult for the hunters to aim
at us. We knew it and so did they. That's why they started firing at us now, to
hinder our path to the forest and the trails leading to the river. Another shot
was fired, an explosion echoing in the air. A third shot rang out but this time
it came from another direction. It came from the forest we were running
towards. Yelling came from behind us and dogs were closing in on us, and now
another shot fired from in front of us, but there was no stopping now. We were
surrounded by hunters. There was no way out. All we could do was to keep
running while zigzagging to make sure they couldn't aim at us and confusing the
dogs. But they were right on our trail and wouldn't be fooled.