The Fern Tender by Price A.M

Author:Price, A.M. [Price, A.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-05-11T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

The Jaguar

In the ferns near to the Spring with dawn still an hour away, Lillian could hear the breath of the jaguar. She dared not move. It was directly behind her, twenty yards at the most. The creeping had stopped. Now all she could hear were the rhythmic breaths of the large female. Slowing her own breath, Lillian aligned her exhales with the cadence of the jaguar, being careful not to give herself away. She knew the predator was steadying herself for the attack. The cat was waiting for any mistake by her prey, a sound, a movement, anything so she could fit the final piece of her stalk into place.

The jaguar had the better eye sight, the physical advantage, and better hearing, but still in the pitch black mist before dawn she needed one last noise to triangulate herself to the jugular vein of her meal. The waiting game had gone on for at least ten minutes, but it felt like years. All of this for a split second of death. Lillian, a predator herself who specialized in tracking down beautiful men in the Capital, knew the secrets of these big females. She knew how to store the adrenalin for the right time, how to enable her whole body and mind to synchronize with her environment to get what she wanted. Now though, this was no sexual conquest, this was life and death.

There was nothing she could do now but sit quietly. Lillian closed her eyes and waited for the animal to take her victim.

“Snap,” right on cue a small twig broke free from its branch. She heard the roar and felt the earth shake as the jaguar lunged its fangs into the monkey it stalked for the last thirty minutes.

“Killer, awesome”, Lillian let out a relieved mumble. She had heard the monkeys in the ferns earlier that night tearing through their meals, munching relentlessly on the ferns all evening. Lillian had done everything she was allowed to do by the Colony, throwing rocks, yelling, nothing worked. She kept up the pace knowing that eventually, just like a shark, the more noise and commotion she made, the better she had of attracting a jaguar.

The monkeys did their best to avoid the monster, but they were no match for the ice cold nerves of the queen of this forest. The large male monkey was the victim. The rest of the group, scampered away knowing there was nothing they could do to save their leader. They were safe away in the tree tops by the time the jaguar took his first few bites, and Lillian had retreated back to her perch above the wheel leaving the beast to her breakfast.

She’d witnessed these swift violent deaths many times before and although it amazed her every time this time felt different. Glancing back into the water, she noted the wheel had

slowed again. She silently acknowledged to herself that given the status of the wheel, she may not ever see such an efficient natural execution like this again.

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