13: The Beast

The campsite is cleaned up with the fire properly extinguish: watered, covered with dirt and watered again. Eve and Evan are packing the last of the things they took out last night. Eve stiffens suddenly. The squine and the shoats are behaving nervously. She may have ignored the squine's behavior, but she knows her shoats. They either smell or hear something she and Evan can't.

"Evan," Eve nervous.

Evan feels her unease, "What's wrong."

"I'm not sure. But the animals…" the animals jump into a run causing Eve to scream, "Run!" Evan glances back and sees a large animal with a huge mouth full of razor sharp teeth charging them.

"Separate," Eve shouts shoving Evan and darting in the opposite direction of her shove. And it follows her. "Great," she grits through her teeth.

Evan circles back around to their things. He didn't know it was possible for someone with short legs to run so fast. But what he's about to see next will astound him.

Eve thinks even faster than she can run. It's gaining on her. She can't out run it. Dodging around trees gives her a little edge. It's not a nimble predator. It head butts into a tree she's dodged and falls over backward. Eve knows this is her opportunity, because she can't keep running. She spots two good-sized trees within a couple feet of each other. It only takes her seconds pushing up with her legs jumping in a zigzag pattern between the two trees and she's up in the branches.

Evan looks up long enough as he's rifling through their things to see her zigzag up between the two trees into the branches. He has to push his astonishment aside. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed it. But the will to survive is a powerful force, and a snarling snapping hungry beast that has decided you are the menu is an excellent motivator; especially when your will to live is larger than your predator's hunger, impossibilities become realities.

Evan can't remember where they packed their weapons. He's throwing things everywhere trying to find one of the two weapons they brought along. Meanwhile, Eve has had to move higher up into the tree because it can reach the lower set of branches.

"Bad beast," Eve talking to herself in order to stay calm. She does the same thing when performing medical procedures. It helps her stay focused, "you're supposed to love Beauty… OK, I'm not Beauty. But I'm sure I taste very bad." It's one of her little brother's favorite bedtime stories.

It rams the tree determined to knock its prey out. It nearly shakes Eve from the tree.

"Evan, some assistance, please!"

It rams the tree again. Eve manages to hang on.

"I swear I taste horrible. Evan!"

Evan's coming, he finally found a weapon. But it seems like an eternity.

It rams the tree again. One of the branches Eve is holding onto snaps. She loses her footing and comes crashing through the branches. All air is forced from her body as she slams into the ground. It charges her. Evan throws himself over Eve. His arm outstretched, weapon in hand. He fires, aiming for the head. It slides to a stop and tries to back away, but its head is trapped in the beam from the weapon.

Its head commences vibrating vigorously. Next, its eardrums burst; blood shooting out from its ears and Evan takes his thumb off the fire button. The beast collapses to the ground. Its whole body twitches for a few seconds. Finally, it lies there completely lifeless.

Evan takes a deep breath, but it doesn't feel right. His eyes widen with panic. He doesn't feel anything from Eve.

"Eve," Evan picking her head up and touching her face. She's not breathing, "[Eve, do not leave me.]"

Eve gasp and Evan gasp with her. Their breathing is simultaneous for a time, until Eve breaks the silence.

"What took you so long?"

Evan releases a laugh that is mostly a relieved sigh.

"You can't get rid of me that easily," Eve smiles, "You got me for life."

"[That is all I require and desire]," Evan hugging her close.

"Ouw," Eve still manages to smile.

"Where does it hurt?" Evan concerned.

"It might be easier to tell you where it doesn't hurt because basically it hurts all over," she answers. Then she spots it lying on the ground barely a meter away from them. She clutches his arm, "[Is it dead?]" whispering as if she's afraid it will hear.

"[Ahda]," Evan nodding yes. "[Its brain is a liquid running out its ear onto the ground.]"

"Just yes would've been fine," wrinkling her nose in disgust. "[Do you know what it is? Have you ever seen one before?]"

Evan shakes his head no, "[It looks like something my father described to me when I was a child. He did not have a name for it. He believed it was a territorial animal. We must be in this one's territory.]"

"And I must be the most appetizing thing around," letting Evan help her up. "It has a nice hide. My father says it's a sin not to use an animal you've killed."

"Sin," Evan questions.

"A great unforgivable wrong," explains Eve.

"The hide is good," agrees Evan, "But let's get you a medical scan first."

Eve has a sprained ankle, a broken little finger, the humerus of her upper left arm is fractured, numerous scrapes and bruises and a concussion. Evan wraps the ankle, sets the finger, puts her arm in a sling and applies antibiotic ointment from the first aid kit to the scrapes. He can't do much for the concussion except watch her and try to keep her comfortable. She insists on helping him with the beast. She analyzes it and finds the meat is reasonably lean and exceptionally nutritious.

While she's going over its skeletal structure and internal organs, Evan positions himself at its belly with a laser to begin skinning it. But it will be easier than he expected because the hide separates on its own without laser cutting. Eve simply stares not sure what to say as the hide pulls apart and away from the body easily for Evan. By now the shoats and squine have returned. They stomp nervously nearby.

"Well, that makes things easier," Eve shrugging not knowing what to make of it.

"What's that?" Evan asks Eve.

"Jerky laser," she answers. She can feel Evan's confused curiosity, so she explains, "This jerks the meat as it slices away strips. Jerked meat is meat that has been preserved in an edible state and won't spoil."

Evan smiles at Eve's sober concise description, "[You would have made an excellent Malyon.]"

Eve gives only a partial grin, "I need you to catch the jerky as it comes out the other side."

He stares at Eve for a few moments longer. Even the scrapes and bruises can't hide her beauty. And the sunlight slipping down through the trees only accentuates her beauty.

"[Evan, what are you looking at?]" She knows what he's feeling. She can feel his love and concern for her, but she doesn't know his thoughts. "Do I look that bad?"

"[Kar trepty]," you're beautiful. It's the first time he's told her she's beautiful. Eve smiles and he continues, "[Before you, I only existed. But with you, I live.]"

She gives him heart felt kiss, "[Now, let us finish up here and be on our way. If there are scavengers in the area, it will not take them long to find this carcass.]"

They finish up quickly. Evan repacks the mess he made and hooks up the animals. Eve watches from a rock sitting and feeling helpless. He saddles the squine and orders it down so they can mount. Evan has to catch Eve as she nearly falls off.

"Dizzy," she explains as he mounts behind her.

They hear snarling and howling echoing to them from off in the distance. "Scavengers," they say together in a hushed tone. These beasts mostly live off other animal kills, but the packs are always open for a fresh meal. Evan sets the squine off at a quick gallop. The shoats manage to keep up even with the carts attached to them.

Evan keeps the gallop pace till midday when he stops to let the animals drink their fill from the river and rest. The squine could keep that pace all day, but Evan doesn't think the shoats could. Besides, Eve doesn't look well to him. He carries Eve to a large rock and sits her upon it. She gets an uncomfortable look on her face, turns, leans over the back of the rock and heaves. She hangs there a minute or two with Evan messaging her back as she loses most of her breakfast. She sits up slowly, leaning heavily against Evan. He puts his arm around her and she rests her head on his chest hearing the double beats of his two hearts.

"[You were correct]," she says staring at the river.

"[About what?]" he asks.

"[The day we met, when you fell on me in the river. Lonely I was. But then dropped into my life you did. I was expecting to live my life alone. Many thanks to small miracles.]"

In a couple of days, Eve's ankle is fine. It was only a very minor sprain. She's thankful her right arm was undamaged in the fall. She's fairly ambidextrous, but she favors her right hand. Evan's worried because she's hasn't had much of an appetite.

After traveling for a whole week, Eve is a full six weeks pregnant. It's progressing twenty-five percent faster than a human pregnancy, yet twenty-five percent slower than a Malyon pregnancy. To Evan's relief, Eve's appetite has returned to normal. They have started a habit of tai chi one night then crichow the next to loosen stiff muscles at the end of the day. Even with one arm in a sling, Evan finds Eve a challenge to practice with. She's more agile than any Malyon, who have a tendency to rely on their size and strength. He's learned that you can't allow yourself to be fooled by her petite stature, and she's stronger than she looks.