Twins of Prey

by W. C. Hoffman

  The fire sat aglow with embers as Drake approached the first bag. Thankfully, the smoke from the fire had removed most of the mosquitoes from the camp area and Drake could utilize his full concentration without being bothered. Sleeping on his back with a monstrous snoring roar, Drake approached the sleeping bag of what looked to be a giant. Compared to his 16-year-old frame, Drake had never seen a man of Deputy Coleman's size. He also could not believe the others somehow remained asleep through the sound of the snoring giant. While stepping over Coleman's wide waist, he could not help but giggle to himself as the deputy did his best impersonation of a black bear's mating roar. Two more bags of sleeping enemies stood between Drake and Aurora.

  Henderson on her side was a quick hop over and much easier to get by than the previous bear he had just passed due to the sheer size difference between the two. Looking back to ensure the pack was still asleep he stood over Henderson. Something was different. Not only did Drake recognize the body as being smaller but there was something else. There was something about her face that drew him in.

  What was it, he wondered. Why was this human different? He quickly realized as he got closer and closer, now down on one knee. Henderson is a woman. Of course Uncle had warned them about the dangers of these creatures, but Drake had secretly always disagreed with Uncle on this aspect of human nature. Drake remembered clearly the only woman he had ever talked to. The only dark-skinned person he had ever seen besides himself and Tomek. The nurse from all those years ago. Something about Henderson reminded him of the nurse. While he could not explain his instant infatuation he was excited to tell Tomek about it upon his return.

  Still waiting, Tomek watching from his perch had an arrow knocked and instantly grew angry with his brother who was now six feet from the sleeping wolf and down on his knee staring into the face of a sleeping target.

  “What is he doing?”

  Tomek’s anger began to boil. Growing impatient with his brother's sudden enchantment, Tomek drew his bow, feeling the tension in his back as he held the string at full draw he aimed directly over his brother’s shoulder. Tomek saw his brother draw in closer to Henderson and his decision was made. Releasing the grip on his fingers holding back the string, it drug across his bare cheek propelling the arrow downrange, where it directly impacted the middle of the fire pit.

  With sparks and embers flying into the air from the arrow’s thud-like landing, Drake jumped up and peered into the darkness. At that moment two thoughts crossed his mind: “What in the hell is Tomek doing shooting at me?” and “Where in the hell is he?”

  Both thoughts continually ran through his mind as he stared into the darkness. He knew that if not for the wolf being present, their original plan would have worked perfectly. All five of the targets would have been eliminated easily from the darkness if not for the wolf. Even knowing what tree Tomek was in, Drake could not see his brother.

  “The wolf!” Drake heard the words escape from the darkness. Taking heed to his brother's sudden warning he slowly spun around, relieved to see all the deputies still sleeping, none the wiser about the arrow’s now prominent presence standing tall up on end in the fire pit. His relief quickly evaporated not by what he saw, but by what he heard next.

  The low toned, gutturally growl was not like one he had heard before. Different and somehow more intimidating than a bear or even a coyote, Aurora was awake. Looking directly at Drake with hunched shoulders, the hair on her back rose like some sort of medieval beast waiting to attack, Drake knew he was in trouble. Reaching for a knife slowly only made things worse as Aurora stepped forward showing her teeth. Drake knew that running was useless and even if he did make it to a spot he could climb, the rest of the pack would have him trapped like a cat stuck in a tree.

  Drake looked again to the darkness with hope that another arrow would find its way into the circle of sleeping men and kill the wolf holding him silently captive. He pleaded with his eyes silently into the darkness for help, but there was no arrow. Much like the moment when he was in the river with a gun to his head, Drake was alone in a fight, with his brother standing by doing nothing.

  “Aurora lay down you stupid mutt!” the sheriff demanded, without rolling over to see exactly why she was growling. Aurora held her position while taking her intent gaze off of Drake to look over at the sheriff. Much like the moment with the hunter in the river Drake relied on one of Uncle's teachings again.

  “Never close your eyes just before you kill a man. That is the moment when your weakness will be seen.” “The snake has open eyes when he strikes the rat!”

  Using the break in the wolf's concentration, Drake reached down to his right cargo pocket and tossed the contents to the ground. The jar of honey now lay opened in between him and the dog. With a great sense of relief Drake watched as she lowered her head sniffing the sweetness of the jar. The opening was big enough for Aurora to fit her snout into. Feverishly the dog buried her attention into getting every last drop of the deadly gold bee syrup from out of the jar.

  The wolf now ignoring Drake, he slipped away from the group and exited back down the path where he originally entered the camp. Stepping back over the still bear-like snoring of Coleman, he looked back and saw the arrow still sticking up in the now extinguished fire pit. Drake walked back toward the pit, grabbing the half-broken cedar arrow shaft at the fletching and quickly making his exit again over Coleman and back down the trail.

  Drake did not go far into the woods. He wanted to stay hidden and watch to make sure the tainted jar of death did its work on the wolf. Making his way back up into a tree 20 yards from the camp, Tomek joined him. They shared a glance and Tomek knew he was in for a chewing, but that would have to wait. He looked at Drake, shrugged his shoulders and in a simple attempt to compliment and flatter some of the anger out of Drake said, “I knew you were fine. You always figure your own way out.”

  Aurora finished what she could of the jar and laid back down next to Ravizza. The twins knew all to well what would happen next. If only a small, dipped dart could take down a deer, the entire jar would be more than enough to kill not only a single dog but the whole pack if need be. Within five minutes, whimpering and rolling on the ground Aurora woke up Ravizza with a constant pawing at his back. “What’s wrong, girl?” he asked, holding her tight as she lay in his lap shivering. Seeing the jar laying on the ground in the early morning sunrise he asked the group loud enough to wake them all up “”What is this jar, which one of you gave this to her?”

  Coleman, who had packed all the food provisions for the group, examined the jar.

  “I did not bring this.”

  Smelling it he said, “We have no use for honey on this trip.” Coleman took a swab of the sticky honey on his finger and again held it to his nose. “Yup, honey,” he shrugged, opening his mouth.

  The twins watched and were ecstatic as Coleman's finger moved towards his mouth to taste the death syrup. Neither of them had figured the giant would be this easy to take out of the pack. A two-for-one kill was the best possible outcome.

  Tomek looked at Drake and whispered “The big bear has to eat big meals.”

  “Nooooo!”

  “Put it down, you damn block-headed fool!” Henderson yelled while springing across the camp slamming into Coleman. Because of his size he didn't move upon the impact that flung her to the ground. However her jarring hit was enough to make him question the substance and he wiped his finger off on his pant leg.

  “So close” Drake said disappointingly.

  After the ruckus the group’s attention focused back onto the now dying K-9 lying in Ravizza' lap. With tears on his face he held onto his German Shepherd partner, pleading for her to recover and come back to him. The twins knew she was not coming back, but were impressed with how long she had lasted thus far. Still struggling to breathe, the dog remained in Ravizza's grasp, lying there with her outstretched tongue. Suddenly, the dog again began to convulse.

  “No, why? No, she is all I have left. No, why?�
�� Ravizza sobbed more unintelligible words in his moment of panicking grief, not caring who could see or hear him. The rest of the group, stunned and saddened at the outpouring of emotion coming from their brother in arms stood by solemnly.

  It was something in the way Ravizza poured over the imminent death of the wolf that struck Drake. Until now, death was just death. No sadness, no joy, just death. Drake watched the grief on Ravizza's face first with amazement and then with a modicum of his own sadness. “What must it be like to feel for something like that?”

  Drake had never felt that way when Uncle died. He just was gone and that was all. Drake even ran through the idea of losing his brother. The only emotions that arose were the anger regarding having to do all of the survival, hunting, trapping and garden work by himself. Watching Ravizza cry over his now-suffering dog did stir up emotions in Drake. He did not feel sorry for the wolf. The wolf had to die. He did feel pain and some form of sorrow for Ravizza. Both Tomek and Drake had seen enough and climbed down the back side of the large oak out of sight from the deputies still all standing there watching.

  Aurora's chest raised and lowered, shaking with each lift of her rib cage. Whimpering as she exhaled each time through her now completely dry nose Ravizza looked into her brown eyes. Glassed over and lifeless, not focusing back on her owner, the eyes seemed empty. Rubbing his thumb over her head and looking into her eyes Ravizza felt like her soul was gone. Aurora's soul may have left her body but the whimpering and crying not only remained but grew louder and more desperate.

  Drake looked back one more time to see the rest of the group now packing their gear, no longer watching Aurora's feeble struggle to hold on to life. Everyone had gone, except Ravizza and Henderson. Drake looked closely and saw Henderson now crying openly. Drake could not take it anymore.

  Silently, end over end gaining speed as it neared its final destination the throwing knife that left Drake’s hand found its mark. Blood burst from Aurora’s ribcage as the blade lacerated its way into her body, only stopping at the hilt. She shook once more and the whimpering was over. Out of sympathy for Henderson, Drake had showed weakness, he killed the wolf. Uncle would not be happy.

  9 Evidence

  It sounded like a distant rolling thunder, only it was not thunder and it certainly was not distant. The copper-jacketed lead rounds zipped through the woods tearing away at every leaf, stick and tree trunk between the deputies and the twins as they ran down the hillside. The eerie sound made by the rifling slugs as the passed overhead was unmistakable. As if a whirling, zipping pocket of air was being ripped open directly above them, the boys continued their sprint through the foliage making their way to the river. The deputies did not follow in chase. The unknown steep terrain of the hill kept them in place on the game trail.

  “Hold your fire! Hold your fire!” the sheriff demanded. After all the fire had stopped as they looked at each other in disbelief.

  Boom! Boom!

  Coleman's shotgun rang off another round from behind the rest of the group startling them all. They all looked at him with disbelief. “What, I saw something move,” he explained with his usual shit-eating grin.

  “What the hell just happened?” Magee thought out loud, “And why did he only attack Aurora?” Upon hearing this, reality began to set in with the group. Someone had just killed one of their own. A deputy was dead.

  “Gather some of these rocks and help me bury her” Ravizza said. He then added, “We say goodbye, then we go hunting.” Ravizza was not talking about hunting in the traditional sense and the deputies knew it. This was no longer a manhunt, with the death of Aurora it had become a mission of revenge. They gathered rocks and covered up the dog. Even doing so quickly, it took an hour’s time to complete the task.

  Picking up the last of the rocks that circled their fire pit, Henderson found the remainder of the arrow Tomek had shot. Pulling it from the coals the stone head glowed red hot. “What is that?” Coleman asked, seeing Henderson remove it from the pit. She ignored him, knowing full well that the only reason he was looking at the fire pit was because she was bent over it.

  “Sheriff, come look at this,” Coleman proudly demanded as if he had found it himself.

  “Who put that in there?” Magee asked.

  “Probably Henderson!” Coleman answered quickly as she shot him a look. “He put it there” The sheriff answered to break up the pending argument between his employees.

  “Who, me? Not me...” Magee pushed forward.

  “Not you. Mowgli was here in our camp while we slept,” the sheriff explained, pointing toward the barefoot tracks in the game trail. “We are not dealing with a normal kid. He has been out here for too long. He has learned to kill and at this point Mowgli is nothing more than an animal we must hunt.”

  The sheriff took the arrow and examined it closely. From the cedar-made shaft all the way to the now cooled-off head. He set the arrow down and began to remove his backpack and overcoat. The group just watched, circling around their boss with their eyes fixed on his every action. The sheriff reached down the front of his shirt, pulling out a loosely braided necklace. Attached at the end of the necklace was another arrowhead.

  Holding them up to each other, the group could see that it was a direct match. Both heads were the same size, color, type of stone, cutting pattern and weight.

  “You see, me and Mowgli have a history, it seems.”

  “He made that necklace for you?” Coleman’s question made the others roll their eyes in mockery.

  “No, the arrowhead on my neck was not made for me but it was meant for me. It came out of the shoulder blade of an elk. Not just any elk, though. It was embedded in the shoulder of the elk I hit when I put the cruiser into the laundry mat. I had wondered why that elk was sprinting through the middle of town and I found the answer to that question when I opened him up to harvest what was still good of the meat. Someone had shot that bull just prior to my hitting him. Someone who used arrowheads exactly like this one.”

  Magee agreed that the heads were identical but remarked, “That was years ago and Mowgli would have just been a toddler.”

  “Yes, it was,” the sheriff said again, examining the matching arrowheads. “Whoever shot that elk made both of these heads. Or they taught our Mowgli how to do it himself.”

  Walking over from his spot in the circle Ravizza took the arrow head from the sheriff and declared, “He killed your elk like he killed my dog. I now, too, will wear this head in a remembrance of our fallen Aurora until justice has been served.” Ravizza cut a piece of rope tying a half-hitch knot around the head and draped it around his neck. The sheriff and his crew had no idea how right his thoughts on the origins of the heads were. Uncle had indeed made both of the heads.

  10 Two Birds

  With justice in mind the group set course at daylight for the next point given to them on the GPS. They were headed directly for the orchard and again would be within close distance to not only the twins themselves but also their home.

  Hours passed as they now hiked on trails that were nonexistent. Bushwhacking through thick brush and swamp land slowed their pace to not much more than a crawl. Not to mention they had been steadily climbing uphill through the day putting them near the ridge of the valley. A summer sun and no breeze did not help with the mosquitoes and black flies who feasted on their hosts’ bodies. Hot, tired and angry, their defenses were down.

  Even Ravizza and Henderson did not notice the tracks they walked upon. Paw prints went unnoticed as did the tufts of fur floating on the tops of the knee-high ferns. Step by step, slice by slice as they cut their way through the brush, they got closer. Stopping for a break, Coleman leaned against a tree trunk. Sitting there drinking from his canteen, he raised his head, pouring the water over his face to cool down. His canteen empty, he brushed away the remaining splashes from his eyes only to realize what was above him. Their eyes met and Coleman froze. Not being able to process exactly what it was, Coleman only could mutter a broken word.
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  “La, La... La... Lio...n!” Coleman was not given the time to finish the warning. The rest of the group had seen it just as he did and although each of them was armed and could have easily shot at the attacker they all instinctively fled in various directions. The traumatic events surrounding Aurora’s death mixed with their weakened and somewhat lost states of mind made the group of deputies panic and along with their leader, each ran crashing through the bush and swamps.

  The cougar let out a shrieking roar as it soared down from its perch on the branch above. The big cat’s fully extended claws dug deep into Coleman’s shoulder as the impact took him to the ground. Fumbling for his shotgun, he rolled to his side as the cat sank its teeth deep into the thigh of the screaming deputy. Coleman quickly clutched the knife from his belt and thrust it into the left eye of the cat. The combination of the knife hitting bone and the blood on his hands made him lose his grip on the knife as the cat whipped its head away from Coleman’s leg. With all its power the cat was still much smaller than Coleman, who had now wrapped his other leg up and over the top of the lion’s back, scissoring the animal while he pulled its solid head to his chest in an attempt at breaking its neck. Interlocking his feet together, he rolled his body weight with all he had, spinning both him and the beast down a small drop off and onto a sandy ledge.

  There in the full sun the man and cat slowly regained their balance and broke free of one another’s grasp. Now both on their feet, they circled one another on the small landing. Both warriors bleeding profusely from the wounds their respective challenger had inflicted and neither yet willing to die. Coleman glanced down to his left and saw bones. Looking to his right there were more. Piles of bones.

  “So this is your pussycat graveyard, huh?” Coleman said to the cat as he realized he was now in the lair of the hunter. Claw marks on the nearby trees were evident from years of scratching and sharpening, as was the strong musky odor of the cat itself. It was the perfect spot for the cougar to lie, eat and stalk prey. The ledge overlooked the entire valley and it was clear to see that he had been watching the deputies’ ascent all morning long.