by S G Read
‘If you show us we might be able to help Billy.’ Jethro said earnestly.
They drove to the fence until Rachel, near to hysterics pointed to where they had been playing. They had been inside the fence but not far from the gate. There was no sign of anything, no blood and no torn up soil. Jethro walked to where Rachel had pointed to and looked round.
‘There are tracks here but this was no dog.’ He called to the others. ‘Best take Rachel to Ralph and tell him what has happened; he should keep everybody inside until we know what we are dealing with.’
Justine turned and flew over the settlement for the first time, what she saw would stay with her a long time. It was an animal dragging something along.
‘What’s that?’ She cried and pointed.
They all looked where she pointed.
‘That is a tiger with a kill.’ Barry declared. ‘Buzz it to make it let go if you can Justine, they choke their victims to death, then eat them, so whoever it is might still be alive.’
‘Who ever?’ Will exclaimed.
‘Looks like a child.’ Barry explained.
Justine tilted the nose of the plane towards the animal as it moved away and the engine noise changed. The plane lost height but as they neared the tiger it moved into trees near to where it was.
‘Find somewhere to put this thing down.’ Barry said with great feeling.
‘Where?’ Justine asked.
‘The road!’ Barry answered. ‘I know it is a distance from the beast but it is the best we can do.’
Justine stopped the planes dive and turned to head for the road. She saw the fence at the far end of the settlement and flew over it before she completed her turn. Now she approached from the other side and just cleared the fence where it crossed the road, getting lower as she flew. She did not hesitate but dropped her wheels onto the road keeping the plane going in a straight line while the road was straight and steering when the road turned slightly. As soon as it was safe she hit the brakes and stopped the plane as near to the area they had seen the tiger.
The three men all had guns and jumped out quickly.
‘Shut the doors and stay in the plane.’ Barry ordered before he turned and ran into the trees nearby.
All three ran as fast as they could even Will, they knew a young life was at stake. They heard the vehicles in front of them and knew someone had alerted the others but they were inside the fence.
‘Get them Jericho.’ Barry cried.
‘On my way.’ Jericho answered and turned it their direction.
Will followed Barry but was slowly slipping behind. ‘I can’t keep up.’ He called to the speeding Barry. ‘You can’t take a tiger on your own.’
‘I will if I have to!’ Barry threw back and did not slow down.
Will summoned all of his reserves and speeded up to try to keep up with Barry.
Jericho ran through the gate and fired two shots. The cars turned and drove to where he stood out of breath.
‘It’s a tiger and it has taken someone.’ He said forcing the words out.
‘Billy.’ Jethro answered as Jericho climbed in. ‘Show us.’
They drove round to where the people in the aeroplane had seen the tiger go into the trees and stopped. They all fanned out and moved forward.
‘Be careful Will and Barry are in here somewhere.’ Jericho warned.
Now they were in the trees, they moved slower, looking everywhere for a sign of the tiger or of Billy but they saw no one until they came across Will. He was waiting for them.
‘It is going that way.’ Will said quietly. ‘Barry is following its tracks.’ He moved forward with them to help now he moved faster, the odd whistle from in front told him where Barry was and he followed the noises until they caught up with Barry.
‘I think it is in the Rhododendron bush.’ Barry said quietly. ‘We need to flush him out to give Billy any chance.’
‘How do you know who it is?’ Will asked.
Barry held up a trainer.
‘Right.’ Will sighed. ‘Poor little beggar. Do you want me to go in there?’
‘I’ll go.’ Jethro declared.
‘Mob handed will be quickest.’ Jericho added. ‘Come on. Lots of noise!’
They all charged forward screaming like banshees and the tiger ran before the onslaught leaving its meal where he lay. Billy was a pathetic sight. No longer a little boy but the half eaten meal of a tiger.
‘Take him home.’ Will said stiffly. ‘We have a tiger to kill.’
Two men picked up the body, it needed two men as he was badly mauled and they carried him back to the car. They found a blanket to wrap him in and drove to the house. There was no point it taking him to the hospital, he was past anyone’s help.
The others followed the tiger until Barry had to track it again, then they followed Barry’s directions. In front of them lie the wall and the fence with the fence between the two areas to their left. They were strung out in a line to try to stop it passing them but they had not seen it since they had frightened it away from Billy. They heard the plane engine start up and Barry turned and ran in that direction with the others all following.
‘Here we go again.’ Will complained.
They reached the plane with its engine roaring and Barry ran to where Justine sat. She turned the engine off.
‘It ran across in front of me.’ She said; she was white as a sheet. ‘I thought it was the best way of attracting your attention.’
‘You did well daughter.’ He turned to see Will appear out of the trees. ‘Will you escort Justine back to the house please Will?’
‘If that is what you want me to do Barry but I’ll be coming back out after it.’ Will answered.
‘I know you will Will, I just need to know she is safe.’
‘She will be safe Barry and I’ll get them to close all the gates while I am there.’
‘Good idea.’
‘Come on Justine we need to hurry so that I can get back out after the thing.’ Will said and they walked up the road toward the new building, where there was a wide track through to the other gate, better than going through the trees. Will always had his rifle with him now and for this very reason, you never know just what is going to happen.
Barry and the others moved over to the other side of the road and Barry found the tigers tracks, then they were moving fast again. As they passed a building or caravan, one of them warned the occupants about the tiger and told them to stay inside, before hurrying after the others. By now the light was beginning to fail. They wanted to kill the tiger before dark, if it was possible.
Will and Justine ran as far as they could on their way to the house, walking when they could not run any further, then running again when they were able. They ran into the house and Brian met them.
‘Did you get it?’ He asked.
‘No Uncle Brian, it went over the other side, daddy is after it with the others.’
‘Ray took all able bodied men with him and has sent word to all the houses as well on this side.’ Brian explained.
‘Ray come in.’ He called into a radio.
‘What is it Brian?’ Ray answered.
‘It crossed into the other side, I’m shutting the gates.’
‘Damn. We’ll go over there but it is getting dark.’ Ray complained.
‘Let me through but shut the gates afterwards.’ Will said and ran for a spare car, any car.
Brian watched him drive away and closed the gates as soon as he was through each set; he was still watching when he drove back with the others. He went out to meet them as soon as he had closed the gates.
‘Did you get it?’ He asked as they walked inside from the gloom outside.
‘No; we tracked it as far as we could but it was to dark to carry on and be safe to do it.’ Jethro answered. ‘How the hell did it get inside the wire?’
‘I don’t know.’ Ray said from behind him. ‘I’m sorry I let you all down. By stopping you from finishing the wall Billy has been killed and I
blame myself.’
‘It didn’t get past my fence; that I am sure of.’ Jethro declared. ‘So we need to find out how it got in and where.’
‘So it came through the gate then?’ Brian retorted.
‘That is how I see it.’ Jethro replied.
‘The gates have cameras on them so I will watch the discs, all of them; to see when it came in and how.’ Brian announced.
He walked off to watch the discs and Ralph who was up from the hospital, went with him.
The rest dispersed to do whatever they were going to do.
Later that evening Ray joined the ones watching the discs, by now there were five of them and Ray made six. They watched discs all night but did not see a tiger coming through any of the gates at all. The last disc ended at five in the morning and they went to bed. After two hours sleep Ray came down to see the others, they were grouped in the dining room. Outside Will was using the digger to dig Billy a grave, Jericho and John were in the garage making him a special coffin and marker.
‘First we bury our dead hero, and then we find the tiger and kill it!’ Ray announced.
The others nodded but there were no smiles.
The grave was next to Dawn’s grave and it was made big enough for the special coffin which was in the shape of a tank. It took longer to make than they expected but no one moved to leave the house. Word went out and the others poured in to pay their respects to Billy, each time the gate opened and closed, with many eyes watching for a tiger to try to get through but they saw no sign of it. The coffin was finished and Ray presided over his second funeral and did not try to stop his tears from flowing, he liked Billy. The marker was hammered into place and unveiled: It read ‘here lies Billy our tank expert, survived the plague only to be killed by a tiger’
People walked away crying. Rachel had to be escorted to the grave and back inside again but she did not really understand what was going on. Evelyn watched with Blue standing next to her. She walked up to Ray afterwards.
‘The nasty old tiger wouldn’t have got Billy if Blue had been with him.’ She declared.
‘No, he sure wouldn’t have.’ Ray replied. ‘We might need to use Blue to find the nasty old tiger so that we can tell him off, will that be alright.’
‘Only if you kill it after you have told it off.’ Evelyn answered. ‘He made Rachel wet the bed again and have nightmares.’
‘I am not surprised Evelyn, I think it might have done the same to me if I were her age.’
‘Billy isn’t coming back is he?’ Evelyn asked.
‘No, he has gone to where all the heroes go and he’ll like it there too much to want to come back.’
‘As long as he is happy now.’ Evelyn declared and walked away with Blue following.
Ray watched her go and wondered if Rachel would recover as well as she had, from her own horror.
‘How do we do this?’ Barry asked from behind him.
‘Justine parked the plane on the road didn’t she?’ Ray asked in return.
‘Yes.’
‘Well get her fuelled up again somehow then she can fly round and spot the tiger from the air with you as spotter.’
‘Will can spot. I want to be on the ground where I can sort the tiger.’ Barry retorted.
‘If you are happy with that then I am.’ Ray answered. ‘But make sure Justine has something to fight it with if something happens.’
‘I’ll make sure she can remember how to fire a gun before she takes off but she will have Will with her and he can shoot the hairs of a gnat’s scrotum.’
‘I know that but if the plane should come down he might be incapacitated.’
‘I thought of that but we can only do so much, then it is up to them. She can shoot a magnum and they will stop a tiger.’
‘If she hits it.’ Ray replied.
‘There is that but I have taught her a little since the plague struck and she seems to be calm enough.’
‘I don’t know how calm I will be if I come face to face with it.’ Ray admitted.
‘Me neither:’ Barry agreed. ‘Now a man is easy, you can read them but a tiger thinks of eating sleeping and making little tigers. On that list we are dinner.’
A car drove to the aeroplane with what fuel they had brought with them and it was as refuelled as it was going to get, then Justine was escorted to it to take off. Will went with her as her spotter and if possible to shoot the tiger from the air this time.
She started the engine and taxied down to the other gate then turned and roared down the road and into the air. This time she had a clan radio with her to contact those on the ground, from now on they would all carry one.
With the plane in the air men drove out through the gate by the main house and watched it close. They drove to the next gate and did the same; now they split up with one car going right, one going forward and three going left. The idea was to have a team in the vicinity of the tiger when it was spotted and to shoot from the car. They spread out, keeping their eyes peeled and drove to their arranged spot to park and wait for a sighting when it came, if it came.
Justine swooped over the settlement, starting with the hospital and going over the field with the cows in it before turning and doing the next strip. It was not until she did the final strip that she and not Will saw the tiger. Will had his eyes inside the settlement and she was looking outside the settlement.
‘There it is.’ She cried and Will looked where she was pointing.
‘But that is outside the fence.’ Will declared and picked up the radio. ‘Seen one tiger outside the fence, I’ll shoot it anyway.’ He reported and put the radio back down. ‘Get me close to it.’
Justine turned and flew low over the area where the tiger was hiding but there was no sign of it.
‘Some sort of cave down there, I might need to drive out there to it.’ Will said a little disappointed.
‘I can see the tiger.’ A woman’s voice said over the radio.
‘Where are you?’ Will asked.
‘The old manor house.’ The woman answered immediately.
‘We are on our way.’
Justine turned the plane and headed back into the settlement and flew over the old manor house. They saw the tiger immediately and it saw them.
‘We have it in sight; I’ll go out and get the other one later.’ Will declared.
‘Moving in on it.’ Another voice said and two others said the same.
‘Mr Tiger is in for a surprise.’ Justine said as she flew back round and over it for Will to get off a shot.
The tiger turned and retreated before the approaching plane; it bounded past the old manor house and then just disappeared.
‘Where’d it go?’ Will asked in surprise.
‘I don’t know, it just disappeared.’ Justine replied and flew on past the edge of the settlement.
She overflew the fence and turned to come back. ‘There it is, just there!’ She cried. ‘It’s outside the settlement again.’
‘It can’t be that must be the other one.’ Will argued and took aim but the tiger turned back into the cave. ‘Damn.’
‘Of course I forgot the fence. So what do we do? Go and look for the one inside?’ Justine asked.
‘Yes! That is the one I want to kill. The one outside will have to die though, just in case it ever gets inside.’
As they flew into the settlement the tiger in the cave made a run for it and was soon out of sight in the bushes. They flew over the settlement until Justine had to land for lack of fuel and they had not seen hide nor hair of the tiger inside. The cars drove about in the settlement after Justine had landed but with darkness falling they returned to the house. Again the children had to be kept inside for them to be safe.
‘So when you saw the tiger outside it was just after you had seen the tiger inside?’ Ray asked.
‘That’s right.’ Will replied.
‘And you didn’t see it leap the fence with a single bound?’
‘No it seemed to go to ground, just d
isappeared from sight when it was past the old manor house.’ Will assured him.
‘Tomorrow we send a party outside to the cave and kill the tiger out there, that way they can’t have little tigers! The last thing we want is tigers everywhere!’
‘I’ll go.’ Will offered vigorously.
It was echoed by several others, mainly those who had seen Billy’s remains.
‘I’ll decide in the morning. We will need to get some more fuel for the plane, it is a handy thing to have around while there is fuel, try to bring a bowser with you this time.’ Ray said, then after a short pause added. ‘We all have cause to want to see it dead by our hand but I don’t want to lose any more to it.’
Before Ray came down stairs in the morning a car had gone down to the airport, collected a bowser full of fuel and returned with it. Jericho and Barry were eating their breakfast after they returned when he walked in.
‘Got the fuel.’ Barry declared, stopping eating long enough to say it.
‘A bowser full as requested.’ Jericho added.
‘Good, we’ll fuel the plane and it can be a spotter for us when we are looking for the other tiger; I want it dead today. I should never have stopped the work on the wall!’
‘You could hardly think a tiger might get it past the wire somehow, we know it didn’t come in through the gate.’ Will said from the doorway. ‘The plane is fuelled up and ready to go.’
Ray sat looking at his plate but did not make an effort to touch the food on it.
‘It didn’t come in through the gate and there is no break or hole under the wire. We know it wasn’t in here before because we swept it and killed any dogs we found. Sherlock Holmes would say that when you have ruled out all other possibilities whatever remains has to be the answer or something like that.’ He sat looking at the plate for a few seconds. ‘He is coming and going at will. There aren’t two there is just one and that cave holds the answer but before we go into it we need to know where the tiger is!’
‘What that cave leads into the settlement?’ Will asked.
‘It makes sense.’ Justine said from the doorway. ‘It looked to me like the tiger was running inside the settlement and then he was coming out of that cave.’