Point-of-View: Aurora Pretorius
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"Co on, be patient, you’ll burn your mouth," I remarked with a smile, as I blew on a freshly cooked piece of at to cool it down.
Six years had passed since that day, I’m fifteen now, and I had all but settled into my life with the cheetahs. I made an effort to keep track of the days, and also made a point of talking to them as much as possible.
If you asked , I wouldn’t be able to give a specific reason for that, but I think a part of it is my desire to hold on to my humanity. Because I’ve definitely changed a lot in the last few years.
Cheetahs usually find new dens regularly, but thanks to , this group has stuck around the sa spot for the past six years. I had built a fence around the place to keep any stronger predators from invading, plus I think I’ve gotten them addicted to cooked at.
I’ve influenced them, and in turn, they’ve influenced too. I’ve gotten used to walking on all fours now, I can now walk equally comfortably on either twos or fours. And I’ve also gotten used to killing animals.
At first, the sight of dead animals and blood made nauseous, but after a while, I got used to it...and then ca a turning point. Whenever the other cheetahs would go out to hunt, I’d stay back with the mother and cubs. I was nervous about another animal attacking, so I used a sharp rock to carve a spike at the end of a sturdy branch, to use as a weapon.
But I never actually expected to have to use it...or rather, I sincerely hoped that I’d never have to. That turned out to be wishful thinking though, because after a couple of uneventful weeks where I bonded with the big cats, a different big cat showed up...a tiger.
One that was clearly hungry, and had its sights set on the cubs and I. I was terrified, and found myself standing in front of the cubs with the makeshift weapon, trembling and convinced that I was about to die.
The fact that I didn’t die was due to nothing more than sheer luck. When the tiger pounced at with a fierce roar, I closed my eyes in terror and held up the spike, and the tiger ended up impaling itself through its open mouth, accidentally killing itself.
Anyway, the cheetahs ended up eating it, I cooked it for them but couldn’t bring myself to eat it. I wasn’t even sure if it was safe to eat a carnivore’s flesh. I instead ended up using its skin as clothes for myself. After that, I decided to build a fence, and also try to learn to defend myself.
I ended up making myself a spear out of a sturdy branch, and ssed around with it everyday to get used to wielding it. My biggest interests have always been animals and nature, and six years ago, before my dad and I ca here on vacation, I watched a lot of videos about animal trivia and camping.
Mostly the latter, because I had an animal encyclopedia and picture book that I used to read all the ti, so I already knew a lot about various different species of animals. Camping videos also led to survival videos, which I found fascinating, but never actually thought that I’d have to use the knowledge I gained from those videos.
My dad couldn’t afford to send to school, and instead taught things like math and english himself. He told that, if I’d gone to school, I’d have been a top student, he said I was a genius. But he might have just been saying that to help build up my confidence.
Anyway, since I didn’t go to school, I used to have a lot of free ti in between studying, so my dad would often give his phone and let watch YouTube videos, through which I learnt a lot.
Phone...its been a long ti since I’ve seen one of those. From ti to ti, I find myself missing so things from my life before I ended up here, but for the most part, I hardly ever think about the past anymore. Because it’s...it’s just too painful.
And besides, this new life had grown on . The cheetahs felt like family to , I’d even nad them, and so of them actually responded whenever I call out their nas.
I had gotten used to living like this, I mostly ate at, but I’d also found so edible nuts, berries and mushrooms that I ate from ti to ti. There was also a small stream nearby, that I used to drink from and also bathe in.
I don’t know that much about plants, so I’ve been afraid of getting hurt or injured, since I don’t really know what plants to use to heal injuries. I might end up using a poisonous plant and making things worse. I was only able to find out which nuts, berries and mushrooms were edible by watching squirrels, monkeys and other small herbivores.
Anyway, today is the 2nd of May, 2016...I think. I haven’t taken leap years into account, and I might have miscounted at so point. But I think it’s close enough to whatever the actual date is...then again, it doesn’t really matter.
I had just woken up, to see the cub that I had first encountered was asleep with her head on my chest, I’d nad her Spot. Not very creative, but I decided to give them all simple nas, to avoid confusing them. Spot was pretty much fully grown now, and she was definitely the most clingy with .
And I loved the attention, she’s just so cute! That said, all the other cheetahs acted really friendly towards too, they let pet them as much as I want. I let out a yawn, as I scratched the top of Spot’s head, in an attempt to wake her up.
It took a while before she finally woke up, after which I headed for the stream and took a bath, before going back to the den and starting a fire, as the others had brought back a couple of zebras.
They tore it apart for , and I then stuck the at onto sticks, which I stuck into the ground around the fire, cooking the at. The cheetahs hovered around , licking their lips as the scent began to waft out.
I placed the cooked at in front of them, as they restlessly waited for it cool down. They’d ended up burning their mouths a bunch of tis at first, so after that, they started to wait for the at to cool down before eating.
Before long, we began digging in. I’ve gotten really good at cooking at, though I guess that’s only natural, considering that I’ve been doing it every single day, multiple tis a day, for six years.
After we finished eating, most of the male cheetahs set out to hunt again, while I returned to the cave and curled up next to Spot, who had followed in. There were also seven cubs in the den, which were all hers. The mother cheetah that had been here when I first arrived had died three years ago, and Spot had started mating shortly after that.
The first couple of litters of cubs that she gave birth to had grown up, and the females had left to live on their own. Besides Spot, all the others cheetahs staying at this den were males. Very few of the cheetahs that had been here when I first arrived were still alive.
So most of the current group had been born after I’d arrived, aning that they’d been around their whole lives. The cheetah that had dragged back here, who I’d nad Drag, was one of the few cheetahs that was still around from back then.
Though he was starting to grow weaker and more feeble, and didn’t go out to hunt as much as he used to. He was also staying back along with Spot and the cubs, and having eaten, he was sleepily lazing about on the ground, closing his eyes as I walked over and stroked his fur, purring slightly.
Alright, I should go get rid of the remains of the zebras we ate, and then close the fence while waiting for the others to return. They had seed puzzled by the fence when I first started building it, but they soon got used to it.
I stuck thick, tall branches that I’d carved into spikes around the area, and found vines to loop in-between them. I left a wide gap for the cheetahs to exit and enter through, which I close using a door I’d fashioned. Actually, it was more like a raft, a row of thick branches bound together, wide enough to cover the space.
I don’t know if the cheetahs understand the purpose of the fence or not, but it doesn’t seem to bother them or anything. Other animals, especially bigger ones, rarely ever show up in this area, so it hasn’t actually been put to use yet.
And, well, the ’door’ isn’t all that secure, a strong push would be enough to knock it down...I an, I’m a fifteen year old girl, and I can still lift it myself. I do find it heavy, but not so heavy that I can’t carry it. And there are several animals that are much stronger than I am.
Suddenly, I heard a deep roar coming from outside the den, Spot and Drag both sitting up, their ears perking as the hairs on their back stood up. I could hear heavy footsteps approaching...okay, that’s definitely not a cheetah.
I peered out of the cave and stiffened as I saw...a black bear. It was drooling as it lumbered over to the bones of the zebras and sniffed at them, before it noticed , letting out a ravenous growl as its eyes hungrily stared at .
O-oh, no, it’s inside the fence already...no, even if I’d put up the door, this animal could easily knock it down without even trying. Did it get a whiff of the cooked at? It’s only the second predator to show up here after that tiger a few years ago, so I don’t think that’s what attracted it...it might just have been wandering around and co across this area.
It then let out a roar as Drag ca out of the den, snarling threateningly to try and scare the bear away. I then noticed that the bear had several bite marks and scratches all over it...I see, it’s injured and unable to hunt, so it must have been searching for food to scavenge.
It looks really hungry, and wild animals are most dangerous when they’re hungry. As Drag stepped towards it slowly while growling, I hurried back and picked up my spear, my body in a cold sweat as the bear only seed to get more agitated by Drag’s aggression.
Wh-what do I do? Cheetahs aren’t very physical strong, a single one can’t beat a bear...isn’t there anything I can do!?
As the bear then took another step forward, Drag let out a snarl before pouncing at the bear, aiming to bite into its throat...but he wasn’t as agile as he used to be, and I could only watch in helpless despair and horror as the bear struck him down with a powerful swipe of its paw, knocking him to the ground with a sickening thud, before lumbering over him with a ravenous look in its eyes.
"N-no...not again, p-please don’t-...!" I cried in despair, as the bear tore Drag’s neck open with a snap of its jaws...killing him.
Why...? Why is this happening again? What...what did I do to deserve this? How many more tis...how many more tis do I have to watch my loved ones get killed right in front of my eyes, huh!? I...I can’t take it anymore!
I let out a furious yell as I began to charge at the bear, before sothing grabbed my clothes and pulled back, nearly causing to fall.
"S-Spot, what are you-...?" I began, as she tugged on my waist.
The bear noticed her and let out a low, deep rumble, stepping over Drag’s body and lumbering over, its jaws dripping with blood. Spot responded by stepping out in front of and nudging my belly, pushing towards the cave, before turning her attention to the bear.
H-huh? No...don’t do this...c-co back, please! A sense of desperation and anxiety ca over , as she crept forward towards the bear, warily keeping her distance.
She then glanced back at , letting an urgent chirp, telling to go into the cave, but the mont she turned her gaze away from the bear, it imdiately shot towards her with a roar, its fangs bared and claws extended...I froze in anguish and distress as, right in that mont, only one thought went through my head...’she’s going to die’.
And that’s when I felt a strange sensation...sothing surging inside , changing . It felt like ti was slowing down, as if my eyesight was rapidly getting sharper, along with my other senses, while my body started feeling lighter and lighter.
I felt an indescribable sense of murderous intent as a mix of sorrowful anguish, deep despair and unimaginable rage welled up inside , the strange sensation continued to surge, and then...it erupted...
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