Without Law 2

by Eric Vall

  The trap site looked unchanged since last time. The track I had first found was still there but it very obviously was not as sharp as it was the previous day. I followed it off in the direction it pointed until I saw the marked tree in the distance.

  “This is where Anna and I turned back yesterday,” I whispered as I pointed to the tree.

  “So you’re saying we are close then?” Tara asked in a low voice.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “But if we can pick up the trail again, we might find the den. None of you have seen or heard any signs of the kitty yet have you?”

  “Not yet,” Anna confirmed.

  I nodded and continued forward to the tree. I motioned for the others to stay back while I got down on my hands and knees and started to search for tracks.

  It didn’t take me long to find evidence of the day old trail, but, at first nothing pointed in a particular direction. Then I found another paw print, and it was fresher than the day old evidence too. It pointed me off to the left, and I stood, motioned for the girls to follow, and headed off in the direction.

  “Keep an eye out for any signs that something went this way,” I whispered when the group caught up. “Found a track that pointed me over here but we need more evidence to stay on the trail.”

  “What about that?” Bailey asked as she pointed to a tree about ten feet in front of us with several scratches in the bark.

  “Perfect,” I said.

  The trees thinned out and the terrain around us became more rocky and mountainous. Several small caves and holes dotted the hillside that we found ourselves traveling towards.

  “Great, our kitty could be in any one of those little caves,” Bailey moaned.

  “Yeah but if we follow the signs, we should be able to find out which one,” I replied in a whisper.

  The farther along we went the easier it was to find signs of our prey, which was a good indicator that we were going in the right direction. Then, shortly after we moved fully into the mountainous rocky region, I found fresh blood and fur.

  “We’re close,” I said after I crouched down and dipped a finger in a small pool of crimson. It wasn’t warm but wasn’t colagulated either.

  “Alright ladies, be on guard,” Anna hissed the order.

  More and more bits of old fur and dried blood lead us to a rather large cave opening nestled in the hillside. The smell of rotting meat drifted out from the warm, dark, hole.

  “Fan out,” I said. “Create a semi-circle in front of the cave. That way, if the thing tries to slip past me, you can get it before it escapes.”

  I raised the shotgun to my shoulder and started towards the cave mouth.

  “We got your back,” Paige whispered as I slipped out of the sunlight and into the darkness of the natural cave.

  I stopped right inside and gave my eyes time to adjust to the light change. I could hear the hiss of the large cat before I could see, but as I grew accustomed to the dim light, I found myself staring at one of the largest cougars I had ever seen, and it was clear that I was not welcome in its home.

  Chapter 7

  I pulled the trigger, but the cat was already on the move so the shot tore at the cave instead filling the air with bits of rock and bone. I staggered backwards out of the cave as the creature rushed towards me.

  “What’s going on?” Anna yelled.

  The cougar roared and leapt out of the darkness.

  I fired again but hit nothing but the rocky hillside. Then I lost my hold on the gun as the massive brown cat slammed into my chest.

  Bailey screamed, and all the girls went for their pistols as the cat and I hit the ground and rolled backwards down the rocky incline.

  We came to a stop with the cat on top of me, and I barely had time to wrap my hands around its throat as it tried to bite at my face. I stared into the creature’s wild eyes as I heard the girls shouting somewhere above me.

  I struggled against the snapping and growling cat that tried to claw and bite at me. We bucked and rolled but the beast was stronger than I was, and I would already feel my strength starting to fail.

  “Can anyone get a shot?” Paige yelled.

  “No, they are moving around too much!” Tara screamed.

  I grunted and pushed the cat away from me as it snapped at my face again. Its claws bit into tough earth and tore up large chunks of dirt and grass.

  “Someone do something, please,” I shouted.

  The cat’s saliva dripped onto my face as it snarled and snapped its teeth. As I took in ragged breaths, I was assaulted by the hot, fetid breath that poured from the cougar’s maw.

  The cat on top of me completely blocked my view from my allies, but I hoped that they were moving to do something helpful. I shifted to avoid a claw

  I tried to pull my legs up towards my chest in order to get my feet planted on the cougar’s stomach. If I could do that, there was a chance I could launch it off me.

  Just then I heard a yell rise up above the sound of the snarling animal and glimpsed Tara for just a moment. Then there was a wet thunk and the cat roared and spun on the platinum blond warrior, and I could see a spear sticking out of its back as it turned.

  I took that moment of distraction to grab my knife and I yanked it free from my vest. I was presented an opening as the cougar roared and tried to lunge for the, now screaming, blonde. In that moment I leaned up and slashed its neck. Hot blood poured onto me as the mountain lion shifted its attention to me once more. It wobbled as its life spilled from its neck, but it came in for one last bite aimed at my face. I rolled away and felt the fangs clip my shoulder instead.

  Anna and Paige took that moment to charge in and pushed the cat off me and onto the ground.

  It slumped over onto its side and let out one last pitiful whine before dying.

  “Holy shit,” I grumbled as I sat up. I was covered in blood, and my shoulder hurt like a bitch but the animal was dead.

  “Yeah, that was pretty damn close,” Anna said as she helped me to my feet.

  “Thanks for the help,” I said as I gave the girls a nod.

  Bailey, who stood behind the others, hung her head. She put her pistol away and picked up the spear that she had dropped at her feet.

  “Hey, you are included in that statement,” I called out to the hippie blonde.

  “Why?” she asked. “It’s not like I really did anything.”

  “If you had a clear shot would you have taken a shot at the lion?” I asked.

  “Well, yeah,” she said as she looked up at me.

  “That’s enough then,” I said as I gave her a smile. “Things just got a little more complicated than intended.”

  Bailey smiled and went a little red.

  “Yeah that thing was on top of you in seconds,” Paige said.

  “Predators are dangerous,” I said with a nod. “I was expecting it to see me coming, but I had thought I could land a solid shot and end this fast.”

  “Aw but then we would have missed seeing you wrestle a wild animal,” Tara teased.

  “That was kinda fun,” Bailey admitted.

  “Yeah, but are you okay?” Paige asked.

  “I’m fine,” I said as I looked at my shoulder. It was hard to tell exactly how bad the wound was under the layer of blood that covered my upper body. “Got a small wound, you can patch it up once we get back home.”

  “Will you make it back okay?” she asked as she looked me over.

  “Oh yeah, it’s just my shoulder,” I assured her.

  “Mission accomplished then?” Anna asked with a huge grin on her face.

  “Pretty much,” I said with a nod before I walked over and retrieved the shotgun. I slung it over my uninjured shoulder and returned to the dead animal.

  “So what, we just carry it back home?” Tara asked as she kicked the cougar.

  “Yep,” I said before I bent over, and, with a pained grunt, hefted the creature up onto my shoulder.

  “Um, do you want help with that?” Bailey asked as she
raised a brow.

  “I got it,” I said with a shake of my head. “Though let’s get going. This thing is heavy enough that I don’t want to just stand around with it up on my shoulder.

  “Well then, I guess I’ll lead the way,” Anna said. “Everyone ready?”

  After a quick check of their gear the girls all nodded.

  “Oh yeah, let’s get back before we run into any more wild animals,” Tara said.

  “Plus, I need to patch up Tav,” Paige said.

  “Think I can watch to see if I can learn anything?” Bailey asked.

  “Of course!” Paige replied excitedly.

  I grinned and followed the girls through the woods. My shoulder throbbed as the cougar bounced on the wound with every step, but it did very little to impede my good mood.

  The whole group kept a more casual pace, and they laughed and talked all because of the dead creature that sat on my shoulder. I noticed Bailey frequently look back at me, smiled, and went bright red before she quickly looked away. It was funny that she was still shy with me after these couple of weeks.

  “So what are the plans once we get back to campus?” Anna asked as she glanced over her shoulder at me.

  “We need to gut and skin the mountain lion,” I replied. “If Rolly has his new, larger smoker completed we might be able to smoke up this cat.”

  “You mentioned something about jerky at some point,” Paige said. “Any chance we could learn how to make some of that?”

  “Yeah, jerky would be nice for days like these,” Tara agreed.

  “Sure, we can work on making up some jerky,” I said. “I think we will do it with the deer though. I haven't exactly had mountain lion before.”

  “Wow, you know so much that sometimes I forget that you have not done everything,” Bailey muttered.

  “Well yeah, he hasn’t done you yet,” Tara said with a grin as she winked at her hippie companion.

  Bailey went bright red and hid her face from me as the rest of the girls giggled. “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Oh I know,” Tara replied. “But I totally couldn’t pass that moment up.”

  “You never can,” Anna said with a smirk.

  “I don’t mind,” I chimed in. “And don’t worry, I don’t generally turn down new experiences.” I gave Bailey a wink as she turned back around to glance at me. That just caused her to look away again quickly, and I shook my head as I laughed.

  “Sounds to me like we are eating cat tonight then,” Anna said.

  “So nothing new for Tav then huh?” Paige said with a goofy smile.

  Tara laughed while Bailey and Anna groaned.

  “That was pretty bad,” I said with a chuckle.

  “I thought it was funny,” Tara said with a shrug.

  “Well yeah,” Bailey said. “It is something you would say.”

  “That’s true,” the platinum blond agreed.

  “I am honestly a bit surprised Paige beat you to it,” Anna said.

  “I’m kinda surprised Paige said it at all,” I said.

  “What can I say, Tara must be influencing me,” Paige joked.

  “I would love to take credit for your corruption,” Tara admitted. “Though, for once, I don’t think I’m, like, the one to blame.” She turned to look at me, smirked, and raised an eyebrow.

  “Hey, don’t blame this on me!” I exclaimed.

  “She was so innocent before you came along though,” Anna said sarcastically.

  “For some reason I don’t think that is true,” I said.

  “We all know that the nerdy ones are always the biggest freaks,” Tara said with a laugh.

  “You don’t know if that’s true,” Paige added quickly as she adjusted her glasses.

  “Wow, I was joking,” Tara said. “But you got, like, super defensive super fast. Maybe there is some truth to it after all.”

  Paige went bright red and quickened her pace and pulled ahead of the rest of the group.

  “Wanna chime in on this subject, Tav?” Anna asked as she watched her brunette friend take the lead.

  “Nope,” I said before I shook my head.

  “Quite the gentleman,” Bailey said.

  “What can I say, I’m old fashioned,” I replied with a wink.

  We all laughed as we continued our forest trek, and not long after we arrived back at the campus.

  Rolly had been busy building while we were gone and a brand new smoker sat about five yards away from the fire pit. The last one was about the size of a small safe but this one looked more like a large closet or wardrobe. It was more than big enough to hold a deer, a large cat, or several rabbits.

  “Nice work,” I said as I dropped the mountain lion onto the grass and took a seat on one of the benches by the fire. I let out a sigh and massaged my wounded shoulder. It had started to stiffen up during the trek back.

  “You should have let me look at this before we walked back,” Paige said with a frown before she took a seat next to me, and pulled out her medical bag. It was full of band aids, clean gauze, alcohol pads, antibacterial lotion, medical scissors, and a small sewing kit in case she needed to stitch up larger wounds. She pulled a clean rag and a bottle of peroxide from her backpack, soaked the rag, and started to dab it at my bloody shoulder.

  “It’s not that bad,” I said with a shrug.

  “That’s for me to judge,” the bookish brunette said as she continued to clean up my shoulder. “Does it hurt?”

  “Not enough to slow me down,” I said. “Though carrying a cat on top of it didn’t help much.”

  “I could have at least put a bandage over it before you did that,” Paige said as she shook her head.

  “What, and ruin his whole tough guy look?” Tara said as she joined us and took a seat.

  “Yeah, because we all know it is just not bad ass to get your injuries cleaned,” the braided redhead said sarcastically.

  “Dirt and gore are some of the most manly things,” I agreed.

  Paige rolled her eyes and wiped enough of the blood away to reveal the actual wound.

  There were two angry red gashes in the top of my shoulder, and I winced as Paige poked at them with the peroxide covered rag.

  “Well, it looks like you got lucky,” Paige said. “The area is inflamed, but the wound looks to be pretty superficial. As long as we can keep it clean I think you will be alright. I would suggest getting a bath before bed.”

  “Welcome back,” Rolly called out as he walked up. “Looks like, once again, things went well.”

  “Yeah, but Tav got hurt being all heroic again,” Bailey said.

  “Well if you have to get hurt, that seems the best way to do it,” Rolly chuckled.

  “Gave me another chance to practice patching people up,” Paige said as she set down the rag and grabbed a patch of gauze. She applied a liberal amount of antibacterial cream to it and set it gently on top of the wound.

  “Well you seem to be doing a fine job,” Rolly said.

  “She is,” I confirmed with a nod.

  “I think he gets hurt just so Paige can play doctor,” Tara teased.

  “As if he needs an excuse for that,” Anna added.

  “Plus I don’t think Tav would ever do something dumb like that,” Paige said. “Not even for a pretty girl.” She finished setting the bandage in place with medical tape before she looked up and winked at me.

  “I don’t know any guy who hasn’t done something dumb for a girl,” I said. “Depends on how pretty the girl is, though.” I smirked as everyone laughed. “Alright, come on, let’s get this kitty cut up.”

  “We could use the nice new smoker that Rolly built once we do,” Bailey said.

  “Yeah, it looks nice,” I said to the old man as I stood.

  “Thanks, I spent a little more time building this one,” the grey haired man said. “I still wanna reinforce the door so we don’t get a repeat of what happened last night. I will add a nice big lock to this one too.”

  “Perfect,” I said
.

  “Can we use it to make jerky?” Anna asked.

  “I have some racks set up inside just for that purpose,” Rolly said with a proud smile.

  “Well there you go,” I said. “Today you learn how to make jerky. Though we have to get to the meat first. Anna, Bailey, you two get that thing gutted and skinned.”

  “I was afraid you were going to say that,” Bailey groaned.

  “It’s okay, it’s just meat now,” Anna said.

  “Yeah,” Bailey said quietly. “Let’s just get this done quick.”

  “Tara, you and Anna will take most of the entrails and bury them in a nice big hole,” I instructed. “Make sure they are down deep enough that they won't smell as they rot.”

  “Alright, what about the head?” Paige asked.

  “Take it off too,” I said. “Keep the heart, liver, and the tongue though. I think it’s about time we start making better use of what we hunt.”

  “Ew,” Tara said as her face wrinkled with disgust. “Why would we eat something’s heart or tongue?”

  “Tastes good,” Rolly said.

  “That and they are packed with vitamins and nutrients we don’t get from the regular meat,” I explained.

  “You know, eating meat is one thing, but I think eating their organs is a bit too much for me,” Bailey said as she started to cut open the cougar.

  “You at least have to try some,” I said. “It is not so different in taste or texture from normal meat. If we put it in a stew, you won't even be able to tell the difference.”

  “Fine,” Bailey sighed.

  “Well I’m excited to try out some organ,” Anna said.

  “Yeah it will be a nice change,” Rolly agreed.

  “Good, then let's get to work,” I said. “I’m gonna help rolly get a nice fire going in the bottom of the smoker so we can throw the cat in there tonight.”

  “I’ll start grabbing some wood,” Rolly said.

  “What do you want us to do once we get this thing skinned?” Anna asked

  “I want to go over the butchering process with all of you,” I said. “So give me a shout when it’s naked.” Then I headed off after Rolly and caught up with him as he piled wood up in his arms.