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Chapter 9: The Predator
When the dawn light filtered into the cavern Ike woke up and immediately
looked up at the ‘skylight’. The light in the cavern was dim, an indication
of a storm outside. The cavern was also colder than usual, another indication
of the freezing winds outside.
Ike got up quietly and put wood on the fire and removed several
fish from Zac’s Fish Corral. When Taylor had begun hunting, Zac had taken
over the chore of catching the fish. They hadn’t ask him to do it. One
morning he simply said "Catching fish is now my job." And they let him
do it. It took him several days to get the knack of it but Zac took on
most tasks with enthusium. Several days into his job, Zac decided that
he was going to build what he called a "corral" for the fish. That way
he could catch as many fish as he wanted at one time and simply put them
in the corral and it would hold them until they needed them for food. He
and Antonio spent hours stacking rocks in the stream into a box formation.
It was a good idea. One that had been praised highly by his older brothers.
Taylor slid out of the blankets and shivered. His brother handed him an extra shirt and he put it on.
"Why is it colder in here?" he mumbled.
"Major storm going on out there," Ike whispered back. "How does your lip feel?"
"Swollen, stiff," Taylor slurred.
Ike took a wet warm cloth and tryed to clean his brothers wounded face, then he applied a cold pack over the broken skin.
"Do we have any aspirin left?" Taylor ask.
Ike nodded and got up to find the pills. If Taylor was asking for medicine he must really feel bad, because he hated having to take any type of medication.
The next several days seemed to move very slowly. Taylor’s split lip began to heal, the swelling going down slowly and leaving him with a slight scar above the lipline. The storm continued to rage outside. The temperature within the cavern dropped fifteen degrees. It wasn’t nearly as cold as the plane cabin had been, but they had gotten accustomed to the consistently warm temperature and the cavern felt cold to them. They resorted to wearing more layers and constantly draping blankets around them for warmth.
After the sixth day of confinement they were all cranky and beginning to argue and snipe at one another over the smallest of offenses. Studying could only take up so much time, and Taylor and Zac had already had to trade their books upward, Taylor using Ike’s, and Zac using Taylors’. They made up a set of cards using notebook paper and played endless games of poker and rummy. They could also only fill so much time with music. They wrote song after song, practiced them, memorized them, and perfected the harmonies. They even took their music beyond the scope of pop. They wrote hard rocking lyrics and soft romantic ballots and then argued endlessly about the probability of the music label allowing them to record the songs.
The seventh day of the storm was a repeat of the day before. Ike had almost depleted his stockpile of frozen rabbits. He had one rabbit, and one large fish roasting over the fire. Whatever he fixed for their meals, they ate without complaint. Not once since the crash had Zac complained about being hungry although they were all eating limited portions.
Antonio and Zac were lying by the fire, reading outloud from Zac’s history book, when Ike heard a low menacing growl come from behind him. Just as he turned around, Katie screamed, galvanizing everyone to their feet.
A wolf was standing at the entrance of the cavern, his legs braced apart, his teeth barred, drool dripping from his mouth.
Ike snatched Katie up into his arms and practically tossed the little girl to Zac.
That action resulted in the antagonizing the snarling animal.
"Don’t move!" Ike ordered.
Taylor ignored the command. He was about five feet from his bow and without it they were helpless. He stepped sideways in a smooth motion and in three steps was standing beside the bow. But, by moving he had also drawn the attention of the predator. The wolf lowered itself on its haunches readying for attack.
"For Gods’ sake stand still!" Ike yelled, drawing the animals attention back to him.
Taylor used that second to bend and snatch up his bow.
"Ike pick up your knife." Taylor commanded. "And, when I yell, throw it as hard as you can."
The hunger crazed animal was shifting its attention from brother to brother as they spoke. When Taylor yelled, Ike slowly knelt and picked up the nine-inch hunting knife and held it in his hand as he had in practice so many times before.
Taylor slid the barbed tipped arrow shaft onto the bowstring and took careful aim. "Now!" he shouted.
The arrow struck the wolf on its side in center of the ribcage. Ike’s knife struck it head on in the chest below the throat. The animal dropped to the rock floor and quivered slightly.
"Holy cow!" Zac exclaimed. "You killed it!"
Taylor walked over the animal and kicked it and when he was sure it wasn’t moving, took his knife and cut the arrow out and retrieved Ike’s knife. Ike walked over and just stared down a the animal.
"It was probably so hungry that the smell of the food drew him right to us." Taylor explained.
Ike was just standing there looking down at the animal.
"Ike!" Taylor exclaimed. "Are you okay?"
His brother nodded and picked up the knife. "Good God, we killed it!’ he exclaimed, turning the knife over in his hand and stunned at their own actions.
Antonio was spewing out a string of Spanish so fast that they couldn’t understand him at all. Finally the little boy spit at the wolf and crossed himself, making his feelings if not his words, very clear.
Ike and Taylor were putting on their coats to carry out the carcass when Taylor turned to Zac and requested that he also put his coat on.
"We can handle this," Ike said.
"You and Zac can carry it out. I want to stand by on guard." Taylor explained.
"Do you think there might be more?" Zac ask with a uneasy quiver in his voice.
Taylor nodded. "There is a whole pack of at least six, five now." he admitted.
Ike turned and riveted his brother with a look of anger that caused Taylor to step back.
They carried the carcass of the animal outside, threw it down from the cave entrance and climbed down the cliff. Ike and Zac faced the cutting wind and carried the animal as far as they could without losing sight of the cliff edge. Taylor walked beside them on guard for any of its companions. When they returned to the cavern, Ike left Zac and Antonio to the task of finishing roasting the meat over the fire. He went over to the pile of branches and started dragging some of the longer ones out of the pile.
"What are you doing?" Taylor ask.
"Get out of my face right now!" Ike said with so much anger that his brother backed off immediately.
It wasn’t often that Ike lost his temper but when he did it was not
a good idea to be in his path. Especially if you were the person that made
him mad.