Apocalyptic Love

My back was pressed into the wall, wincing only slightly at the rough and jagged surface. My fingers wrapped around the hardened material of my katana, holding it close to my body, steadying the blade against my chest and feeling the cold of the flat metal against my cheek. My heart pounded against my ribs as I waited. The low hum of a growl echoing in the silence.

The smell of wet fur lingered in the air, a fresh whiff tingling my senses and sending a wave of goose bumps up my spine. The leathery feel beneath my fingers groaned as I clenched tighter, praying to a non-existent higher power to spare me. It was a habit I hadn’t managed to kill just yet.

The growl grew louder as the animal approached. Its footfalls could barely be heard against the soft jungle floor. If it weren’t for my keen ears, I knew I’d be dead already.

“I know you’re out there. I can smell your fear.”

The voice was unnaturally deep. Growls echoed within its words in a cavernous rumble and I shivered. The sound pounding in my head was twisted and disgusting, and though I’d had years to grow accustomed to it, I couldn’t.

“Come out, come out, little lamb.”

At the presence of the lion, the jungle was silent. The game had all scurried back into their holes, leaving me with yet another night of hunger. I inwardly groaned at the thought, cursing the betrayal of my stomach as it let out an unsatisfied grumble. It screamed into the silence, alerting the predator to my whereabouts.

In a last ditch attempt to cover my position, I sucked in my stomach, willing the whining to stop. Too late, the lion stalked out of the leafy brush, its yellow eyes trained on me almost as if it was amused.

“Fuck,” I muttered bitterly, breathing out in frustration.

The lion prowled patiently as it stalked the open space. Running was pointless and it knew that as much as I did. There was no hurry for it to devour me. I wasn’t going anywhere. Instead I unfolded from the wall with my katana held stiffly in front of me.

The cat laughed, its mere breath sending the jungle into a collective shiver.

“There is nothing you can do, little lamb.”

My finger tapped impatiently against the leather, considering my best option at attack, but as I stood eyeing the animal, I couldn’t help but wonder. What was the point of the predator stalking me so long? Why did it decide to take me now? My resolve to fight quivered faintly.

“What is it you want with me?” I asked, thankful that my voice didn’t shake as I’d thought it would.

“Do you hear them?” the lion asked. “Do you hear the drumming of their hearts?”

My face twisted into confusion at the golden animal in front of me. I hadn’t realised how large it truly was until I studied my opponent now. My eyes grazed over its muscular body for a weakness that I couldn’t locate. How could I ever think to face a lion with a single fang the size of my arm?

“They watch,” the lion continued. “They are not so quiet as they might think. They are not of the jungle as you are.”

“Who?” I asked giving into the curiosity.

The lion shook his mane casually before stretching his forelegs out before him. Unsettlingly sharp claws scratched at the soft ground, trailing deep gouges in its wake. One hook of its paw and my body would be mutilated beyond recognition.

“They are your people,” he answered with a yawn. “I hear the quiver of their bones. The shaking of their hands. The beating of their hearts. They wait.”

“For what?”

My first mistake. I’d let my guard down; allowing the distraction of petty conversation with an animal sidetrack me from the immediate problem at hand. That there was a fucking lion stalking me. The lion was closing the space between us quickly. Barely two steps and it was within striking distance, and my sword wasn’t going to do much about it.

The lion scowled as it reached its vicious claws to my quivering body; its laugh resonating through the jungle in a taunting manner. As though provoking fear into any who watched. The hearts he heard. My people waiting. The thought was fleeting but it was there, in the crevices of my mind and I had half a brain to ask the lion what it had meant.

Luckily I didn’t need to.

My body was frozen in horror at the monstrous beast before me; unable to move. Unable to save myself from my fear. But the loud ring of a shot screamed louder than scowl of the lion and the scuffle of it paws against the soft dirt. The single sound rang out like a tsunami, blunting only slightly at the exact moment I realised that the lion had stopped.

Retreating its paw, I could see its golden fur stain quickly with red crimson as blood welled from a wound I couldn’t see. The lion’s malicious roar reverberated in my bones, but the lion was no longer interested in me. It jaws stretched apart as wide as they would go as he bellowed into the jungle, his moan full of fury and pain. Whatever had happened to his paw had injured him enough to set his world in red.

Another shot rang in the trees, muffled by the angry rumble of the animal before me. Ignoring the red seeping quickly into the dark ground, the lion snarled, lips curling back in a furious wrath. A jaw of white daggers flashed dangerously as the beast whipped his head around, seemingly unable to locate the position of his attacker.

I could see more red. Dripping in pools from the lion's flank, but still it didn’t stop. Instead the lion struck out in rage, slashing at the trees surrounding the clearing I stood in. The space quickly became more deadly as mountainous trees toppled down, cracking and clambering against each other in a desperate fight over gravity.

The shadow of a falling tree towered over me. I could no longer see the lion, though its snarls were clear in my ears. Wherever it was, it wasn’t interested in me anymore. Even if I had to dodge trees to escape, that was good enough for me.

Bark flew through the air, whipping past my head in splintering chunks but I didn’t stop. I ran, and leaped, and crawled for safety. I ran until I could no longer hear the sounds of war. I only stopped once I’d reached a lonely riverbank.

Only then did I stop to think.

Something had saved me from the lion. Or rather someone. The lion hadn’t lied. A human had been there. Mere metres away from me. I could barely believe that there were still humans alive. In my jungle.

And I had left them to die.