Slave: The Fight to Save a Species

“Tag you’re it!” Lily yells excitedly.

I watched as she ran off, waiting before I charged to give her a head start. I chased her around their extremely spacious back yard at a slow run so that I don’t catch her too fast. For a first time player, I must say that I’m doing pretty well for myself. All I have to do is run until she touches me, and then I chase her. Kind of like hunting, only I do all the chasing and the caught never breathes again.

Closing in on her I gently touch her hand with my nose right before I quickly change directions and speed off, only to come to a complete stop at the sight of her brother watching us from the porch. Not paying any more attention to the game I slightly jump when Lily climbs on my back laughing the whole time.

Her excitement grows when she sees her brother. She bounds off my back and jumps into Adrian’s arms.

“Come play tag with us!” Lily pleaded

“I don’t know Lily; it seems like a lot of hard work, chasing you around.” Adrian replies teasingly

“Please, please, please, please, please-“

“Okay, okay, I’ll play. Who’s it?”

“Carmella!”

“How do you know her name?” He asks, puzzled

“Because she told me. Are we going to play now?”

I watch as he looks to me and slowly smirks.

“What do you say to teaming up against the wolf, Lils? She seems a bit fast for you, how about we both are it?” he questions

Lily claps happily and squirms from his grasp, slowly walking to me.

“Oh, and how about we even the odds, hmm?” he adds

Smiling even brighter, Lily nods her head enthusiastically.

I back up wearily watching as he turns to reenter the house.

“I’ll be right back Lils. Keep an eye on the wolf for me.” Then he dispears.

I make sure to keep one eye on the sliding glass door and one on Lily, who’s trying to get my attention.

“- Are you listening to me?”

I jerk my eyes to her, giving a small nod.

“Good, anyways, you don’t have to worry about Adrian’s cat. He wouldn’t hurt anyone.” She supplies helpfully.

For some reason I don’t completely believe what she’s saying, but just as I was about to take a step forward a gigantic black shadow appeared at the porch. Standing at the doorway was a large black leopard, one with his eyes fixed straight at me. Before I could even think about the game I bolted, running as fast as I can in the opposite direction.

“Hurry Adrian, she’s getting away!”

Jeez Lily, whose side are you on? Ignoring her I continue to run, folding my ears back to try to catch the leopard’s footsteps. Up ahead I spot a fence, while behind me I can hear Adrian catching up. Quickly making a decision, I run even faster, leaping over the fence at the last minute. Landing on the other side, I was about to slow down until I caught the sound leaves shaking. Chancing a look I can see the leopard’s big body running in and out of sight, jumping from one tree limb to the next, taking the high road over the fence.

Once again I push forward, running so that I won’t become prey, my hard breathing the only thing counting the minutes. I dodge between trees, over rivers, and straight into a meadow. I was about halfway through when sharp, shearing pain exploded into my side. I soon find myself flying through the air, coming to a hard stop against the trunk of a large tree. Blinking through the pain I can see Adrian on top of a male deer, a death grip on the back of the buck’s neck. Over and over the buck jumps, trying to dislodge the leopard’s strong grip. Up and down - side to side Adrian moves, his body gracefully agile on the bucking animal. I watch as Adrian avoids the deadly antlers and can’t help, but wonder why two of the 8 appendages are covered with blood.

I try to stand, my legs unable to hold my weight, while three things run through my mind: Lily’s going to be upset if anything happens to her brother, that granma never warned me about this, and why me?

Once again, my world goes black.

~*~

Adrian held on for dear life. Jumping onto the buck was not one of his brightest ideas, but witnessing how those antlers skewered the wolf had his canines exposing unconsciously. Sensing that the buck just wanted to run away and not attack again, Adrian quickly jumped back and watched the animal disappear. Giving a feline sigh, he hurried over to the still canine.

Making a quick decision, he shifted into human form and bent to cradle the sleeping wolf. Telling himself that he shouldn’t care, that she wasn’t worth it, and that he should just leave the darn wolf for other predators Adrian started the long walk home.