Page 25 of The Rewilding

A wild boar shuffled into view, its head down, snuffling through the dirt. Michael hissed and the animal turned tail and threaded itself back through the trees.

Steph was aware that she could hear her heart beating. She wondered whether the others could hear it too. They seemed not to. They didn’t say anything.

“What are your thoughts?”

Davey asked.

“Well, there are a few possibilities and options,”

Michael replied.

The whispering of the pair seemed to calm Steph a little as she controlled her breathing. If they were happy to whisper, they must have felt they were not within earshot of anything to concern themselves about. That was her thinking anyway.

Michael continued to scan the area through his night-vision scope.

“Either the lion has not yet found a target – this seems unlikely, it might have moved on and found something else – we know the boar are about, it was never tracking the bison at all, or we are just in the wrong position and it is out there but can’t see it. Even so, I would have expected it to have attacked by now – the bison are there for the taking. Some at least.”

“And options?”

“We stay here and wait for it to make a move it might never make, we radio Kelvin to get an update and risk giving away our position or we spook the bison in the hope it forces him out of cover.”

In the moment Davey took to consider the options and give his opinion, a thought surfaced in Steph’s head. She looked back in the general direction she thought they had left Daniel and the buggies.

“Spooking them might draw attention to us,”

Davey whispered.

“He has already started to see us as an easy meal. Not sure I’d trust the bugger knowing our whereabouts in the dark.”

“Not a filling meal though,”

Michael exhaled.

“Otherwise he wouldn’t be here.”

“In fairness, he didn’t manage to get as much of Fergus in his mouth. Bit of a messy eater what with smearing him all over the floor.”

“So… radio Kelvin?”

“I think it might be safer.”

Steph turned to see Michael lowering his rifle whilst reaching to his side. Then all plans changed.

A distant scream carved its way through the night sky, from across the field. All three heads whipped around. Steph’s stomach knotted. The bison ran. There was silence for a moment save for the heavy thudding of hooves. Then another scream, higher, more desperate.

“Radio Daniel!”

Davey said, not bothering to whisper.

“Daniel?”

Michael said. Nothing.

“Daniel! Pick up, you jackass!”

Still nothing.

“Damn it!”

Davey grunted, rising from his crouch.

There was no need for debate; the three started making their way across the heath-strewn field in the direction of the electric buggies. As they ran, the radio kicked in.

“What’s going on?”

It was Kelvin.

“Have you heard from Daniel?”

Michael panted, stumbling over some unseen pothole.

“Not for the last five minutes,”

Kelvin’s voice responded.

“He said he had lost contact with you just like I had. Is he all right? Also, listen, you need to…”

Whatever it was they needed to do, they never heard. Steph was appreciative that Michael had at least had the decency to switch the radio off and focus on what was important.

They neared the buggies. Sweat trickled down Steph’s back as she ran. Her breath burned as it flowed back out through her throat.

A hand stopped her running. She wouldn’t have seen it if it were not for the night-vision goggles she had begun to bring up periodically to her face as she anticipated the buggies. It had been Davey who had put his hand across – yet again – but it was not only him who had decided to suddenly cut the urgency.

“What are you doing?”

Steph hissed. She could see they were still a couple of hundred yards away from the vehicles. Where the cave lion was, she could not tell.

“Listen!”

whispered Davey, crouching down again.

Ahead of him, Michael was already looking down the sight of his scope.

Steph listened. Nothing. No. Not nothing. Just less than expected. Every so often there was a soft guttural growl in the direction of the buggies.

“It’s the lion!”

Steph replied, her tone purposely saying a thousand other urgent things all at once. But then it sank in. Davey needn’t have continued explaining.

“Only the lion,”

he sighed.

Steph swallowed. It didn’t seem real. It didn’t seem real that she could be in such a situation. One of substantial danger. Sure, she had seen what had happened to Fergus, but she had never met the man. There was a detachment, not just from him, but from the reality of the danger posed by what killed him. By what was everywhere. Knowing that she was surrounded by large predators – even genetically modified ones – had not made her appreciate the danger. She knew there was danger – she was not an idiot – but she had never appreciated it properly until that point.

“Clever fucking pussy cat,”

Michael sighed.

There was an audible click and Steph turned in the direction of Davey. Michael had apparently done the same.

“Put that thing away,”

Michael whispered.

“We aren’t in need of it yet. Besides, I think for every hole you put in Martina’s prized possession, she would put ten in you… and then probably fill them with some extinct flesh-eating worm or something equally unpleasant. Come on.”

Michael guided them closer. Davey lowered his revolver but didn’t put it away.

Steph could see through the goggles that the buggies were now only a hundred yards away. Less probably.

“He’s behind the buggy,”

Michael whispered, his voice so light that it almost blew away in the breeze.

They edged further around to one side. Sure enough, there was the lion. There was also Daniel. It almost seemed as if there was life in him still, but this was just an illusion. Each small convulsive movement was nothing more than the lion ripping at the contents of his stomach.

Through the goggles, Steph could see his throat was a crushed, bloody mess. The lion, who was now gorging itself blind to the world around, had not made quite the same mess he had with Fergus. Even so, it was upsetting.

“Why is the door open?”

whispered Davey.

Both Steph and Michael trained their respective lenses on the buggy. He was right. The side door was open.

“Who knows,”

grumbled Michael, training the tranquillizer on the lion.

“Who fucking knows…”

Steph watched him for a few seconds through the goggles. His whole focus was directed at the lion. At that moment, it was all he saw. He slowed his breathing. His chest seemed to almost cease to move. Considering the rate at which Steph’s own heart was beating, she found this quite impressive. Then his finger twitched slightly over the trigger, positioning itself, getting comfortable. Steph spun the goggles back to the lion.

A large, conceited roar broke the night once more. Steph’s stomach didn’t so much as clench as almost fall out of itself. It appeared that neither Davey nor Michael had noticed the sudden appearance of the cave bear amongst the heath. Nor had the lion. It instinctively placed itself over its kill, roaring back. Steph felt horrifically exposed.

She began to crouch closer to the ground, backing off slightly. Davey did the same, but Michael remained where he was, his tranquillizer rifle scanning back and forth between the two large predators.

Due to the position of the bear, Steph was still not certain whether it intended to head to the lion’s kill or them – not that the lion was aware of their presence.

“You have your cowboy gun handy?”

Michael asked very quietly.

“Might be best to have it close.”

Steph watched Davey unholster the revolver that he kept at his side. He brought it up and gently pulled back the hammer.

They watched as the bear lumbered closer. The lion, sensing it wasn’t going to stop, now desperately tried to drag Daniel’s carcass to some sort of safety. Steph was surprised at the speed with which it was able to move with the body. She supposed she had only seen leopards trying to perform such a manoeuvre before and their prey was probably a fair bit heavier than the delicate, broken frame of Daniel. Besides, no leopard Steph had seen had ever had muscles bulging out quite like the lion. In fact, now that Steph considered it, there was something off. Or was there? Was that just how a cave lion was meant to look?

As impressive as the lion was, it had nothing on the bear. The creature was gargantuan. It started to walk with more purpose – to Steph’s relief – in the direction of the lion. Again though, there was something odd about the bear as with the cave lion. It was as if its muscle was too pronounced. It was hard to tell through the shaggy fur and night-vision goggles. Also, as Steph had already admitted to herself, she had no reference as to what was normal, but she felt something which seemed slightly off. Exaggerated. Certainly, a noticeable difference compared to other bears or lions she had seen before. She’d have to talk to Martina.

“Fuck!”

Steph turned to look at Michael.

“What?”

she whispered.

“What do you mean ‘what’? We’re going to lose the goddamn lion… and have lost Daniel for our troubles.”

Steph watched as Michael pinched the bridge of his nose and crumpled his eyes for a moment before returning to the scope of his rifle.

“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 a lifeless 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.