Page 49

“Why?”

“Because the bear will see him off. They might rumble, but in the end the lion will choose self-preservation. Shooting the bear will bring the attention of the lion to us and there is no way I can reload in time. Davey is likely to want to put some holes in it which would be hard to explain to Martina.”

“I would,” Davey whispered.

“So… yeah…fuck!”

“What if you tranquillize the lion now though?” Steph asked.

Michael paused a moment. Then he shook his head. “The bear would likely kill it for not moving out its way.”

Steph supposed this was true. She had witnessed grizzlies coming to blows with each other when one did not give ground. The results could be hard to stomach. She doubted the cave bear would fully grasp that the lion wasn’t moving because it had sedative coursing through its blood vessels.

The bear started to trot towards the lion. The lion continued to try and make off with Daniel’s body – limply hanging like alifeless puppet. It had made it a good fifty feet or so from the buggies. Unfortunately for the lion, the bear was gaining. The lion, sensing it was futile, waited until the last possible moment and then leapt aside. The bear grunted for a few moments, made a sharp movement towards the lion to test its resolve, and then buried its muzzle into Daniel’s open neck.

Steph instantly became concerned as to which way the lion was going to slink off. She needn’t have worried.

Seemingly going against the tide of events, the lion, who had been so comfortable in its resignation of dinner without a fight, leapt at the bear’s head whilst it was preoccupied.

“Oh, shit!” Davey choked.

The bear, stunned, reared up as the lion clung to its face. Then, in one powerful thrust, the bear flung its full weight down towards the ground. The lion, sensing danger, let go just in time to avoid cushioning the bear’s giant skull as it fell. It tumbled to the side, regained its footing, and edged back as the bear shook its head.

“Right, let’s go!” Davey said, pulling both Michael and Steph up by the shoulder.

“What?”

“Now!” Davey said, dragging them a few feet before releasing them and bolting for the buggies.

Adrenaline took over and Steph ran. Then she began to sprint. She started to edge past Davey who was flicking glances into the darkness in the direction of where the lion and bear were fighting. Michael was slightly slower behind the others.

Steph wrenched open the door of the buggy without the trailer and leapt in. It was the driver’s seat. Davey was at the open door in a heartbeat.

“Move over!” he demanded.

Steph obliged. He knew the place better than she did.

“What about Michael?” Steph asked.

“I’m sure he’s fine!” panted Davey as he turned on the engine and switched on the lights.

A second beam of light, widening the radius of the first, signalled that Michael had made it to his buggy.

“Let’s get the hell out of here!” Davey spat as he floored the accelerator.

And with that, they were out of harm’s way. No chase from the cave lion. No giant cave bear hammering down on the front of one of the large buggies. It was odd. It was as if they could have simply walked to the vehicles rather than all the panic. They couldn’t have, Steph knew that, but even so, the contrast was stark. Then Steph remembered Daniel. The person. Not the distracting piece of meat being fought over. She began to sob.

TWENTY-SIX

“What happened?” Kelvin asked.

Steph found herself back in the lounge, a whiskey in her hand. Davey had poured one each for himself, Michael and Steph. They sat together on one sofa whilst Kelvin paced up and down the room. Martina was with him, of course, spinning a pen in her fingers.

“What happened was that Daniel got eaten and the big fucking bear got in the way of us bringing in the lion,” Davey replied.

Kelvin stopped pacing and stared out of the window into the darkness.

“How did he get Daniel?”