Lonesome Dove Fan Fiction ❯ The Lion King: The Freak ❯ Chapter 3: I Will Find a Reason ( Chapter 3 )

The Lion King: The Freak
Chapter 3: I Will Find a Reason

The cub's claws arced through the air, in opposing directions. His right set of natural blades tore through the monkey's jugular and trachea like they were nothing, and the others stuck in her throat and came out after a second, bringing a whole mess of ganglia with them. Blood spewed from the wound, dying the leaves on either end of the monkey's jump a gruesome shade of mauve.

Freak grabbed the monkey's head in his jaws, and crushed it, still in midair. His paws hit the ground, along with bits of bone, brain, and more blood. A second latter, he opened his jaws, allowing the monkey's limp body to fall to the Jungle floor. Her eyes were still wide open.

He was breathing heavily. It was not from the exertion of the task, as he'd forced himself through a tough training regimen in preparation for his first hunt. But it was the first time he'd killed in an act of predation: the other times, he'd only done it to take the milk of an animal. But this time it was different.

Freak looked at the monkey, but didn't shudder. With his paw, he shut her eyes, then started to eat her flesh.

“Why do I always do that?” he thought, rearing his head back to swallow a hunk of muscle.

“It's not like it's saving her any pain. And causing more pain than necessary is dangerous: it distracts me from my goals, and takes my attention away from other, more serious threats.”

“Closing her eyes doesn't change anything. She's dead.”

Half an hour later, Freak walked alone through the Jungle. He'd eaten the monkey down to almost nothing, using as much of her as he possibly could. No drop of blood had gone without being licked up, no shred of flesh unconsumed, no bone left with marrow stuck inside.

“Being wasteful is not smart. Nothing is certain: I don't know if there will be a meal tomorrow, or if there will even be a tomorrow.”

He was still a cub. Still far from being a full-grown lion. But he was incredibly tough: maybe even already capable of taking down a full-grown hyena in a one-on-one fight. Such prowess did not come without a price, however. He was adorned with many scars, some small and transient, some more permanent. Though the one on his eye had healed completely long ago, it had never disappeared. Each of the cub's injuries had a story behind it.

He was five weeks old at the time, and he'd just killed off a mother monkey to drink her milk. Predictably, the father had taken the child and put it higher in the tree, out of Freak's reach, and then attacked the small li-tigon. But by now, he was used to it. He had no idea why, but each time he killed one being out of a group, the rest turned on him. So rather than waiting for the lanky male to put his fists up, Freak cut his gut open before he could react.

The cub felt neither regret nor remorse towards the action; after all, the monkey was clearly in between him and life. And though he still didn't know why, he knew that he wanted to live. He felt nothing as he looked up at the baby monkey higher in the tree, way out of his reach.

“Not a threat, not a milk source.”

He ignored the younger being's cries as he drank from his mother. Suddenly, the cries stopped abruptly, and the cub heard a gruesome splat from the Jungle floor. He got up from the monkey, and looked down. The baby monkey had fallen, and was... broken... on the roots of the tree and some other plants. Still, the cub felt nothing, and he turned back to the female monkey.

Suddenly, he heard the softest fluttering of wings, and threw himself to the side, nearly jumping of the tree. At the last second, he dug his claws into the trunk, pulled himself upwards, and scampered to a higher branch. Then, he turned his attention to his would-be assailant.

It was a large, sooty-looking vulture with horrible, bloodshot eyes, a curved, yellow beak, and steely black talons. The avian yanked his talons out of the tree, and looked at Freak with malice.

The cub was confused.

“Why are you trying to kill me? Meat is there,” he said, nodding towards the male monkey's body.

The vulture looked at it, and laughed, squawking as he did.

“I ain't gonna eat that crap,” he said, and spat at the still-warm corpse.

“I love to hunt and kill. I love the feeling of warm blood on my talons and beak, and to watch the last, futile struggles of my prey as they breathe their last. I love fresh MEAT!”

On the last word, the vulture crowed and flew towards Freak, its talons outstretched. Thinking quickly, the cub dropped into a low defensive stance, tensed his muscles, and as the bird closed, he jumped high into the air. The vulture's talons drove hopelessly below him, but the beak was still a threat. The curved, bony mouth open, and Freak was hit in the face with a blast of foul-smelling air. But he kept cool, and smack the bird's head with his diminutive paw, as he didn't have time to extend his claws and remove the attacker's eyes.

The cub flipped over the bird as he squawked in pain, and landed on the branch. Freak hit the treetop and spun around, knowing that he couldn't possibly run away and give the vulture a shot at his back and neck. But now... he was at a disadvantage: the bird had the high ground. Worse, he hadn't dodged the talons as completely as he thought. Though his torso and head remained unharmed, his tail had a long, deep cut in it, and hurt terribly. Freak flinched in pain, but still refused to look away.

“Must protect all of body in the future. Blood loss will kill me as surely as anything else.”

And he also knew now that other creatures couldn't be trusted to be reasonable or take present meals. This apparent lack of reason and logic confused him as much as the desire for one being to protect another, but the vulture had attacked him. He wasn't going to waste any energy or thought into talking again. Instead, he went on the offensive.

He gave the most intimidating roar he could, noticing that it was bit by bit getting louder and scarier. He extended his claws, and raced up the side of the tree. When he was about a foot higher than the vulture, he quickly jumped off and twisted around in midair, facing the vulture, claws aimed straight for his neck—

But for all his other flaws, the bird was not stupid. He saw the attack coming, and responded quickly. Being a bipedal, he could not use his talons to attack when he wasn't flying. But he still had his beak.

Suddenly, the bird thrust out his wings to the side and crowed again, looking a thousand times as evil and intimidating than the cub had a second earlier. Dust and feathers flew everywhere, but Freak lost none of his resolve, and pressed the attack.

However, the vulture's movement with his wings was as much to scare the cub as to prepare a counterattack of his own. He leaped up, gaining just enough velocity to fly horizontally, and grabbed Freak by the shoulder and chest in his scissor-like beak.

The cub mewled in pain as white-hot pain filled his torso. But he managed to regain control of himself after a second. His right upper limb was pinned, immobile, and Freak dared not move it for fear of injuring it further. And though his chest felt like it was being branded, he could tell that the wound was far from mortal. But the problem was, now he was fifty feet in the air, and rising. He'd have to kill the vulture quick to have a hope of surviving the fall.

With his left arm, Freak struck blow after blow towards the vulture's face. He claws clashed against the bird's beak, scratching it, even creating a long puncture once. And though the avian flinched and shuddered, he held his beak clamped shut. The cub was still too small to reach the face or eyes of the bird, and he was still rising inexorably higher into the air.

Though Freak had only ever used his forelimbs to strike the fatal throat-cutting move that his mother had shown him, he improvised. He had to.

The li-tigon cub flexed his abdominal muscles, and curled up. Then he lashed his feet sideways, extending their claws as they tore through the thinning air. Suddenly, the vulture's eyes widened, and he gurgled blood onto Freak. The cub's head flopped to the side a little, and he could see that he'd cut the bird's throat apart; at least five deep cuts across the jugular. The vulture managed to flap uselessly for another second or so. Then, the two stopped.

One hundred feet in the air, bleeding from the tail, shoulder, and chest, and the cub began to fall.

Worse, he was still trapped in the vulture's beak, so he couldn't hope to cling on to some branch to break his fall. He struggled to turn around or get free, but it was useless. He was still trapped, and the treetops were getting closer. Freak closed his eyes, waiting for death to take him at last..

“I must live.”

The cub forced his eyes to open, and worked harder than ever to live on. But this time, he didn't try to free himself of the bird's mandibles. He knew that the harder and harder he tried to pull away from them, the more they dug in. So, instead of trying to turn himself about, he turned the much larger bird about, so that it would hit first.

The ground was now only ten feet away, so Freak put himself over the bird's lower ribs, and braced for impact.

A bird's bones are very interesting creations. They must be super-light, but still capable of holding a shape. Hence, rather than than being solid, they are hollow.

When Freak and the bird hit the ground, the cub heard a thousand tiny cracks as he pressed up against the vulture, probably liquefying half of its gizzards as he did. After what felt like a long time, he rolled over to his back, and as black, sooty feathers fell all around him, he knew that he was alive. He slowly got up, and dusted himself off.

The cub turned around, and looked at the vulture. A horrible reek was emanating from it, and liquids were already pooling at the side of his open beak. The bird's bloodshot eyes were still wide open, and flies were arriving, starting to eat away at their retinas.

This time, Freak didn't close his enemy's eyes. He just turned and walked away, climbing back up into the tree of his kill to drink his milk.

“Closing his eyes wouldn't have changed anything, either. But somehow... it felt satisfying to not give such an illogical being a peaceful appearance in death.”

“Maybe that's why I do it. Maybe because although I have to cause pain to live, it makes other beings look peaceful when I close their eyes.”

“But why do I do it? It doesn't change anything.”

The cub shrugged. He'd had enough thinking for one day. Freak arrived at his log, and leaped into it for the last time. His belly and sides scraped the edges of the hole, and if he made the opening any larger, it would allow rain and any other predator to enter without giving him a moment's notice.

“Tomorrow, I'll find new shelter. Something bigger, and closer to the Dark Zone.”

“I'm getting bigger, and I can hunt. I'm big enough to kill any creature that I've met so far, and whatever it is that's in the Dark Zone can't be much bigger than I am, to be able to kill and leave without being seen.”

“But whatever is out there... is still a very big threat. It must be extremely dangerous, capable of dealing out incredible amounts of pain. I will watch the area... for as long as it takes. I need to see at least a glimpse of what's there before I make my move. I want to kill it—I need to know that after staying alive for this long, that I'm strong, and not just lucky.”

“After all, everyone is a threat.”

Freak woke up bright and early the next day, by lion standards. He got out of his log before stretching, knowing that attempting to do so in the confined space would probably break it open. Despite the fact that he was no longer going to live there, the cub had no affinity for destruction, so he left it be.

He was still reasonably full from the monkey, so he didn't need to hunt. If he saw a good opportunity to catch a snack, he'd take it, of course, but he wouldn't require another big kill for another day or so. So, he had the whole day to devote to searching for a new home.

Through listening in on many conversations, generally between prey animals, he had a general idea of where the Dark Zone was. It was to the north of his present location, in fact, closer to the Pride Lands, but the cub had not even heard a whisper of that place. Not yet, anyway. But after piecing together all the rumors he'd heard about the much-feared Dark Zone... he'd deduced that he'd gone straight through it on his first night alive.

“That was luck. But I can't rely on luck, or anything else. All that can be relied on is what I control.”

So Freak sauntered up as far north as he'd ever been since finding the log. He took his time, but kept out of the general view of the Jungle: he was, after all still a cub, and knew that secrecy was to his benefit. The time that he could finally come out of the shadows was a time that he neither anticipated nor dreaded: it could come tomorrow, it could never come. As long as he lived, he wouldn't care.

The problem was, the cub had used that log because it was the only conceivable home for him in that entire sector of the Jungle. The southern part, where he'd spent the majority of his life so far, was isolated from the rest of the Jungle by the narrow band that comprised the Dark Zone. To the east and west were high, rocky volcanic mountains that stretched outwards for miles. Not easily passable by a lion or any animal that couldn't travel far eating little. To the south was a delta of rivers and a waterfall that Freak had never been to. They were nearly impossible to cross, but a very determined, very small being could do it.

Chukizo panted. The lionesses were closing in.

They'd told her that she had until dusk to get out, but the Sun still had a full twenty degrees in the sky before it crossed over the horizon. The small tigon didn't consider for a second reminding them that, though. The determined, steely-eyed glances they kept giving each other left no doubt in her mind that they'd forget their original demands the second they caught her.

She didn't plan on giving them that chance.

But she was still just a cub. Though she'd gotten as far north as she possible could, she was just now reaching the watery delta at the northernmost part of her former pride's territory. She'd seen the waterfall from afar, and set that as her destination. She'd lived a lifetime without much water, and knew that alone, such a commodity would be far harder to come by.

Though she had been raised as a lion, she knew that her tiger blood would allow for survival in the rumored Jungle. Her father had supposedly come from the south, from some strange forest that was supposedly isolated from the desert.

Apparently not.

But that was the last thing on Chukizo's mind. She scrambled up the sheer rock face as fast as she could, knowing that the much larger lionesses would be hard-pressed to follow her up. On the downside, though, she was completely exposed.

“There she is!”

The tigon heard a lioness call out her position, and looked down to see the rest of the pride converge at the bottom of the cliff, only twenty feet down. A lion can jump, when properly motivated, up to twenty-five feet.

Chukizo climbed as fast as she could, but it was too late. The lionesses were already at the base of the cliff, and trying to climb up. The face of the cliff was just too sheer, however, and the one lioness that had managed to get all paws off the ground suddenly screamed and fell. So, the pride switched tactics. Now, they started jumping at the small tigon, swiping at her. Fortunately, she was just beyond their reach. Chukizo stopped on a small ledge, and took a breather. Big mistake.

She heard a roar, and foolishly looked down. This took her attention off her balance, and she fell, grabbing onto the ledge again with her front paws. But her rear was now in range of the lioness that had made a nearly impossible jump of twenty five feet, straight up.

Chukizo looked down, trying to see a place to dig her feet in to get up. But as she did, she saw a terrible sight. There was her mother, with nothing but pure hate in her eyes, coming towards her, fast, claws extended and snarling. The tigon gasped in fear, and tried to get back onto the ledge—

But it was too late. Chukizo's mother got her claws a full centimeter into the tigon's upper back, and tore all the way down to her flanks. The small tigon screamed and mewled in pain, but managed to hold on, even as her mother's claws held onto her hide for a second, then cut free, dropping her on the ground.

Then, for the first time ever, the lioness spoke to Chukizo.

“How does it feel, daughter, to go through such pain? Imagine what you just felt, ten times as bad, and finding out later that you must deal with cubs,” she spat, “from the experience. You think you suffered here... you didn't suffer for a second, compared to what I went through. Remember that, you FREAK!”

She screamed the last word, as blood slowly dribbled down from the tigon's form. She was hanging there, by the tips of her claws, on the ledge. She seemed dead, almost, totally limp and motionless. Then, she started to cry. Tears mingled with the blood from her wounds, and fell together to the feet of the lionesses.

“Mother... I'm so sorry that you had to go through that for me. I didn't mean to hurt you... please don't hate me any more. I'm sorry.”

The tigon struggled for a minute, then managed to get back onto the ledge. But she didn't stop there. She kept climbing, and disappeared over the top of the cliff.

The head lioness of the pride, mother of Chukizo, glared at the retreating form until her tail flicked out of sight. She growled, then looked away.

“Come, sisters. We are finished for today. We will post guards here, to make sure that she doesn't return. But I'm finished caring about that little abomination.”

The lioness thought of the dangers of the Jungle, and knew that no lone lion would last there for long.

“She's dead to me.”

Freak was frustrated. His search for suitable shelter had been completely fruitless. He knew, from eavesdropping, that the Jungle to the north, the part not isolated by the Dark Zone, was easily twenty times larger than where he was now. The Jungle didn't go so far north, but rather expanded east and west, to the very toes of the volcanic mountain ranges. Perfect hunting ground, far better than the south.

But there was still the small matter of the Dark Zone, and the fact that Freak needed to kill whatever predator lurked there. For his own peace of mind.

Now, he was on the very edges of the forbidding place itself. He could tell: there were few sentient beings around, and none bigger than he was at birth. The two sentient beings in the area, a monkey couple, were moving as quickly and quietly as possible. Why they'd chosen to go through the Dark Zone was a mystery to the li-tigon, but many things were. So he did what he always did: sat back, and watched. With a great deal of luck, the fabled predator of the Dark Zone would show itself.

Freak wasn't disappointed.

He was a predator, a top predator at that, and one that had spent his life watching and listening. His senses were honed as finely as any big cat's could ever be, and then some. From where he was, he could hear the soft sounds of the monkeys moving, despite their efforts to the contrary. But he also heard something else, on the very fringe of his auditory sense.

It was like a soft rustling, or flowing sound: kind of like water, but on land. Like a small stream, cutting its way through the Jungle. But Freak's senses told him that the stream, while extremely quiet, was extremely large. He only had a few seconds of hearing the sound, before it was quiet again, save for the monkeys.

He concentrated further, but couldn't hear the sound again. He just heard the monkeys, moving a little bit faster. They'd somehow sensed the impending danger, but that didn't save the one to the rear.

Freak's visual senses were as finely tuned as his others. He'd fought off the vulture due to the fact that he saw its attacks coming, and managed to counter them. But what the li-tigon saw next shocked him.

It was so fast that all he saw was a blur: a giant, long, camouflaged blur, that caught the male monkey without being noticed at all. It was visible for only a fraction of a second, then it was gone.

The female apparently noticed that her footsteps were the only ones, and slowly turned, as if she knew what she was going to see. There was not a bloodstain on the branch: her mate was just there one second, and gone the next, like so many other creatures that traveled through the Dark Zone.

She whispered his name a few times, but knew that he was gone forever. She cried, silently, while running as fast away from the area as she could. Freak didn't understand her, however. The predator had his meal, and seemed to be the kind that only killed when necessary. Sensible.

The li-tigon didn't move as the monkey passed only inches from his muzzle without her even knowing he was there. Freak wasn't hungry, but he was busy thinking about what he had just seen.

“This is an ambush predator, like frogs are. He waits until prey appears, then gets into a good position, and strikes with blinding speed. He must be very silent—that's why no one can tell when he's coming. I don't think that he can move that fast all the time, however. If he did, he'd need much more energy and the killings would be far more frequent. No... he slowly gets into position, and then strikes quickly once he's there.”

“I'll have to practice in order to kill him. From what I saw... he could easily kill and eat me if I gave him the chance. I don't know exactly how big he is, or even what he really looks like. But I know that he's a very serious threat. I'll have to hunt him: I can't allow him for a second to think that I'm potential prey, not even as a trap. He moves too fast for that to be possible. I'll have to be the hunter: I can't use bait, he'll see through it. I can't hope to pin him into any part of the Jungle, he'll just strike once and slip away.”

“There's only one way to do it: I'll have to sneak up on him. I'll have to pinpoint his location, and be even more of a shadow than he is. I'll have to find him, and land one serious hit. I'll have to injure him too much for him to be able to get away. Then, I can just follow the trail of blood to him, and end him. But I'll have to be extra careful after injuring him: he'll hide somewhere, and back himself into a corner so that he can strike at the only direction I can attack. He will escape my initial attack fast, that much I can count on. But what then? Can I run him to exhaustion? Or will he just stop, and make me back off?”

“...I don't know. And I think that he saw me. I can't hope to ever see him again without practicing... and if I do manage to see him again, I'll have to use that opportunity to kill him. I only have one shot at this.”

Freak listened on.

He'd been like this for two whole days now. He had neither eaten nor slept, nor allowed himself to drink the rainwater that was pooling at his feet, nor urinate. He'd chose the spot because so many creatures passed by it.

The li-tigon had gotten to it without being noticed by the practical treeful of monkeys, lemurs, and thousands of other small animals or insects. He hadn't been found by the keen-eyed birds, or the sensitive little lizards, or the curious monkeys.

Freak listened on.

He heard everything. His own heart beating, he had toned down by lifting his belly away from the floor when he really needed to listen. But when he put his ear back to the ground, he could hear everything in the tree. All of their hearts, their snores were like avalanches, the soft sounds of their fur shifting, he missed none of it. Not even a three inch lizard could lift a leg without his knowledge of it.

The li-tigon was now becoming part of the environment. Bark of the trees overhead flaked onto him, making him more invisible. Dirt from the ground splatted over his hide and fledgling mane due to the rain. Leaves from the shrubbery around him stuck to his body, plastered onto him by the mud. His own scent had been virtually eradicated from him, due to his hermitage.

He wasn't even hungry. He'd taken meat in preparation for the campout: a particularly large male monkey. The li-tigon hadn't killed him as quickly as he would normally; instead, he'd allow the primate to pummel and strike him, strengthening his body and learning to take a hit. Instead of striking fatal blows when he saw openings, he made long gashes along the animal's body, as he knew he'd have to with the Dark Zone predator. Finally, the monkey had collapsed out of exhaustion, and only then had Freak cut it across the throat. Just as he planned to do with whatever lurked in the Dark Zone.

To increase his speed, he'd taken advantage of some exotic plants he'd discovered in the Jungle. They were strange, with leaves shaped like jaws, and the slightest touch would snap them shut. Freak had seen them eat flies, but had never been able to see the jaws shut themselves. So, he'd tapped the leaves with his claw, setting them off, and then tried to move his claw out of the way quick enough. He'd been unsuccessful the first hundred times, but the next time, he'd done it. Then, he tried to set the trap off, then leap into the air. A hundred failures, one success. Then, he'd tried to set the trap off, jump into the air, and strike with his other paw. A hundred failures, one success. A long time later, he'd finally succeeded in his real goal: set the trap off, jump into the air, strike three times, and land in a good fighting stance, before the jaws shut.

But the cub kept his mind on the present. He got up, and quietly urinated into a tree. He'd need all his wits about him for the next few days, however long it took to encounter the Dark Zone's dark master. He couldn't afford to be distracted by any worthless bodily functions. He needed to be ready to fight at any second, and maintaining the highest level of attention for the whole time.

Freak quietly walked away, still gaining no attention from all the animals in the tree. The dark cat headed towards the even darker strip of the Jungle, with only the desire to hunt in his mind, and the weapons offered by his own body.

The li-tigon was still a cub. True, he was bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter than any other feline cub ever, but he was still a cub. He should have been frightened the second he stepped into the Dark Zone.

It was noticeably different there. In the southern tip of the Jungle, where Freak lived, animals lived and conversed freely. Even though now the rumors of a son of Chukizo were more rampant than ever, he was still a virtual legend, and for the most part, the denizens of the place did not concern themselves with the possibility of his existence. Sure, one or two of them might suddenly disappear now and again, leaving only bloodstains, bones, and fur. But it was the Jungle: death was as naturally a part of the Circle of Life as birth. Such losses were mourned, but quickly, forgotten. With only one, forgotten, but very serious exception.

In the Dark Zone, however, every sentient that dared step through it was fearful. The cub could smell it in their breathes, hear it in the shivering of their bones, and taste it in the air. It didn't get to him, however. He'd lived his whole life knowing that from behind the next tree, around the next corner, death might come and try to take him. But Freak knew that to inspire such fear in so many beings... it would have to be quite a threat indeed.

The cub sat down in the shadows of a bush as he watched a lone monkey wander around. Maybe the being was suicidal, maybe it was insane, maybe it was just stupid. It didn't matter to him. But it was prey, and might attract the predator...

Two hours later, the same monkey was still waltzing around in the Jungle, as oblivious to the danger of being in the area as the insects crawling on the ground. The li-tigon still refused to move, knowing that anything could alert the predator to his presence. He'd need to be unnoticed by everything in order to have a chance at killing the other hunter, the only being in the Jungle that could challenge him now.

But what kind of a predator was it, to not try to take such foolish, easy prey? Did it not have sense? Was it sleeping? Or had it somehow found Freak?

All the li-tigon's answers were answered as he heard the same, ominous watery sound behind and above him. Except, at this range, it didn't sound like water. It sounded like... slithering.

Freak carefully tilted his head a little, so he could see the predator in its entirety. It was as long as a tree, and was wide around as the li-tigon. It was a brilliant pattern, formed of dark, green diamonds, and a brownish undertone. Now he understood why no one had properly see the animal before. Even where he sat, two feet away from it, Freak couldn't see it properly.

But he saw enough. The animal had neither claws nor paws, its only weapon was its jaws. Freak could smell the faint, toxic odor of poison, and decided that the reptilian's longer fangs were venomous. Suddenly, the creature tensed up, and the cub saw his chance to attack approaching fast. The animal's long, muscled body coiled around the branch it was on, ready to leap through the air with blinding speed and bite the monkey, carrying him away in his jaws before anyone could see him.

Freak heard a faint hissing sound behind him, then saw the telltale blur. The li-tigon chose that moment to strike.

The snake shot out of the brush as if fired by a cannon, moving at incredibly fast speeds. Before it could get five feet, however, Freak roared and jumped up, digging his claws deep into the animal's flesh, just under its neck. And though the scaled animal tried, he couldn't slow down in midair. The li-tigon dug his claws into the ground, holding himself into place. His claws ran down the entire length of the predator's body, slicing up muscles, bones, and even squishy organs. The blades finally broke free at the creature's tail, almost thirty feet from its head.

The monkey only noticed when the snake practically ran into it. The predator wasn't paying attention to the prey or his own movements, such was his pain due to the li-tigon's attack. The snake continued on its path, but due to the changing of its shape from an aerodynamic line into a floppy mess, ran head on into the ground. The reptilian slid around in the dirt before finally coming to rest near the base of a tree.

The monkey screamed and loped away from the scene. The snake, and the soil where it had landed were actually smoking from the immense friction that they went through. And though Freak had landed a very serious hit... he was too smart to think that the predator was dead.

So he waited.

And waited.

A full hour later, he finally moved cautiously to the snake. He'd been listening as closely as he was able to. But there was one thing he didn't know.

The very spot he was standing on was grown from volcanic soil, which is widely recognized to be some of the best plant-growing material on Earth. In fact, sometimes, volcanic ash still floated down into the Jungles, bringing new life with it. The dip in the ground had collected a load of the stuff, and the snake was laying in the center of it.

Being that the ash was virtually lighter than air, it muffled sound very well. The predator was alive and well, and now waiting for a chance to strike at the cub.

He got to within twenty feet of the snake, when finally his eyes picked up the minuscule up and down motions of the reptile's ribs. The cub knew that the snake was alive and well, and waiting for him to get close enough before landing a blow with those venomous, curved fangs.

So rather than move towards the snake, Freak sat down on the ground. Blood loss would force the animal to make a move soon enough. In fact, from the li-tigon's judgments, the animal had only minutes left before its movements would be hindered down to almost nothing by the terrible wounds.

But the predator was one step ahead of Freak. He was too smart to hope that the cub would assume he was dead, and his guesses were confirmed when the cub didn't get any closer. But the whole time, he'd been timing the slight, imperceptible motions of his tail. He'd move it, millimeter by millimeter, in time with his inhaling, closer to his body, making small mounds of ash as he did so...

Freak saw movement, and prepared to react. But he'd been outsmarted. The snake deliberately shot its head skywards, and the cub's eyes had followed it, keeping his attention on those wicked fangs. But the snake's tail shot out and whipped dust into the cub's eyes, blinding him.

He felt his eyes sting and puff up, but knew that he had to dodge in order to live. So he leaped into the air, and scampered up the nearest tree by touch alone. Every few second, something would tip him off: a change in air pressure, a sudden hiss, something... but each time, the cub managed to evade another strike.

Another few seconds later, he was at the top of the tree and jumped into the air. At the apex of the jump, he forced his eyes to open for a second and looked down, straight into the gullet of the snake. So the clever bastard was going to skewer him on those fangs, not even bothering to pursue the feline into the air.

Freak knew that he'd get bitten, he had no delusions to the contraryt. But he wanted to take the predator down with him; at least die along with his enemy. He closed his eyes again, but faced his body down and outstretched his claws, preparing to tear apart the snake. He felt a blast of warm air and knew it was now or never—

His claws and face hit something warm and wet, and there was an unspeakable pain in the cub's gut. But his paws were doing their jobs without conscious thought, ripping up the great snake's mouth and throat, tearing apart gums, flesh, and tendons without much thought from Freak. He felt the pain in him increase, roared in agony, and thrust all claws straight up.

Everything stopped.

There the cub was, half his body down the throat of a thirty foot long snake that was erect in the air, like some organic extension of the tree it was perched on. After a moment of nothing but the same pain in his belly, Freak forced his eyes open again.

There was bloody everywhere. Not an inch of the snake's mouth that he could reach was unscathed. And as he looked up to where his claws still were, he saw that he had punctured through the animal's skull cavity, straight into its brain. The predator was dead, no doubt about that.

But Freak had no time to revel in this fact. Rigor mortis was overcome by gravity, and the snake fell, the cub still held in its fangs.

The li-tigon was far too exhausted and injured to do anything at this point. Apart from the venomous fangs, he'd been cut up more than a little by the other ones as well, and the introduction of the poison to his system... it was enough to kill an elephant.

Combine that with the fall, and you have a combo deadly enough that it should have pulverized the cub into oblivion.

All Freak could remember was a great impact, and the feeling of the fangs pricking ever deeper into his skin. Blood from the snake's skull and his own body mingled together, but it didn't matter any more. Not to the cub.

“I am strong. I killed this other predator. I did it. I am strong. I may not have survived it. But I did it. I am strong. I lived long enough to become strong. I am strong.”

That's what he kept thinking as he quickly and quietly lapsed into unconsciousness.

“I am strong.”

The cub woke up. How long it had been since he lay inches from death in the jaws of the serpent, he didn't know.

Freak tried to get up, but quickly flinched at the series of bloody wounds all over him, and lay down again. So he just looked around from his position on the ground.

He was in some secluded part of the Jungle, probably in the southwest corner, where there was little greens to support many of his usual prey items. He had been placed at the base of some tree, with a freshly killed rat at his side, practically asking to be eaten. The li-tigon was immediately suspicious, and sniffed around.

He got two scents: one was totally new to him, and he didn't recognize it at all. But the other one, he recognized straight away.

“He did say he'd have his revenge.”

“He's awake now. Should I attack?”

“No. Not yet. I want him to be at his full strength. I want him to feel each blow you lay on him, each time his flesh tears in your jaws. I want him to feel a taste of the pain that I felt when him and his accursed mother killed my mate and daughter. I want him to feel it.”

“...I can't pretend to understand your motives. But you are hiring me, and for the price that you will pay... I'm willing to listen. But remember what you promised me once I kill this freak.”

“Usiku of the Bloody Shadows... rest assured. Your time will come.”

“Not for some time. I must return to the Bloody Shadows soon. I will not be able to return for a few years, and by then, this cub will be a full-grown lion. Killing him will be a challenge... one that I shall enjoy.”

“I do not care. As long as you kill him in the end, you may return. I consider every moment that the freak spends alive a build-up to his final punishment. By now, he knows that I have not forgotten him, and that I will get revenge. He's probably going to piss himself every morning, wondering if it is his last day on Earth.”

“... You've changed, Mganga. I remember, years ago, when we were both young. You used to help every creature that needed it, but now, it looks like your only mission in life is to bring this pitiful cub pain.”

“Losing a family will do that to you.”

The monkey looked in at the large, black hyena next to him. The being's motives were totally foreign to him, but his price was simple, and one that the monkey could guarantee with no problems. And he didn't care. The freak, and his abomination of a mother: beings that could turn a being that used to love all unconditionally into one that was only filled with hate deserved everything that they got, and everything that they would get, a thousand times over.

“Why do you want to lead the Outland hyenas?” the monkey casually asked.

The hyena growled, and in a flash, pinned the monkey to the Jungle ground, holding his teeth a hair's breadth from the primate's face.

“That is none of your business, Mganga. You are to call in the favors that the four leaders of the hyenas owe you, and insert me above them. This you know. But why I desire it... is a matter that does not concern you.”

Usiku allowed the monkey to his feet.

“As you wish, Usiku. Though I'm not sure your father would approve.”

The black hyena snarled at that, but did nothing to the monkey.

“What Kivuli of the Bloody Shadows would or would not do is none of my concern. I am different from that being.”

Mganga looked at the black hyena. He was the spitting image of his father, whom the monkey had aided, like so many other creatures in his life.

“As you say. All I want... is for that freak to suffer.”

Usiku grinned. If he was in any way like his father... he was just as capable, if not more adept at causing pain.

“And he shall. Make no mistake. The son of the abomination will suffer.”

Then the hyena left, heading towards the Bloody Shadows. His journey would take him over the treacherous volcanoes to the west, and he'd need sustenance. Usiku grinned.

“Finally, a chance to do what I do best,” he thought, as he neared a family of nearly a dozen lemurs.

Freak finally dug into his lemur. He'd sniffed over it carefully, and judged it to be totally devoid of poison. He didn't need to move too tenderly, his wounds had been attended. It must have been by the monkey that had sworn to avenge his family, as each cut had a complex paste of many jungle plants on it. The venom had been treated too, with some sort of antivenom... Freak had no idea how to make either drug, but it was doing him a world of good.

He leaned back, and slept. Though he had killed the snake and shed light upon the Dark Zone... he knew that he was was far from invincible. But now, he had a plan. He would take his mother's home back as his own, and live in the much more fertile northern lobe of the Jungle. Life would finally be easy for him, and he might even find the reason that he still fought so hard to live...