Page 15 of Creed
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he assured me. His voice was confident, but in the dim light of dusk I was just able to see uncertainty flash though his eyes.
I chose not to point it out and focused on collecting firewood. With so many trees nearby, I didn’t need to go far, but I took my time to give Kayden an opportunity to work on the tent without feeling like he was being watched.
It reminded me of my first expedition in boot camp. One of our trainers took a bunch of new recruits out into the woods to practice basic survival skills. I’d grown up in a major city and had rarely ever even seen a tree that wasn’t growing out of a hole in the concrete. I’d never built a fire or pitched a tent. Suddenlydropped in the middle of the forest, I had no idea what I was doing, and as it turned out, all the other new recruits had been avid campers.
I’d felt like a total idiot, struggling to set up my tent while everyone else had been done within minutes. They pretended not to watch me, but I could feel their stares on my back.
Their silent judgment had burned me worse than if I’d just stuck my hand straight in the fire. After that, I’d signed up for every survival class that I could until I became the leading expert, but the sting of that first failure never went away.
I never wanted to make Kayden feel that way, so I hung around in the woods, slowly collecting firewood until enough time had passed for him to flip through the tent’s directions and figure out the basics for himself.
When I finally returned, the tent still wasn’t up, but he’d figured out how to put the support poles together, which was the first step.
“Need any help?” I offered as I set my pile of firewood down.
He waved me off over his shoulder. “No, no. I’ve got this. It’s simple.”
“Okay. I’ll leave you to it, but feel free to ask for help if you need it.”
“I’m fine,” he insisted again, but at that exact moment one of the support poles slipped out of his grip and snapped him on the hand. He yelped, then bit his lip to silence himself as he shook out his hand.
I swallowed my laughter and turned back to my fire pit.
Nightfall descended on the mountain just as I finished getting the fire set up. It was summer, so the nights didn’t get too cold, but the warmth was still comforting. The soft orange light of the fire fended off the gloom of the forest and created an almost homey atmosphere around us.
“How’s it coming?” I asked when I turned back to Kayden. He’d done surprisingly well with the tent. It wasn’t perfect, a little lopsided and the ground anchors weren’t hammered in far enough, but it was better than my first attempt had been.
Just as I opened my mouth to compliment him, a pair of glowing eyes caught my attention.
On a ledge of the cliff sticking out just above the spot where Kayden was setting up the tent, a mountain lion was crouched and ready to pounce. Its sandy fur blended into the stone, making it invisible in the shadows. If not for the glint of firelight reflecting off its eyes, I never would have seen it.
My body acted on instinct. I dove and tackled Kayden out of the way just as the mountain lion pounced. The creature landed right where he’d been kneeling, its claws digging deep grooves into the dirt.
Kayden gasped when he hit the ground, trapped under my weight. He shoved at my shoulder, demanding to know what I was doing, but froze when he heard the large cat growl.
“What is that?” He tried to look around my shoulder, but I shoved him farther back. “Oh my God.”
“Kayden, get out of the way,” I snapped at him. There was no time to check that he followed my directions. The mountain lion was furious after missing its target and turned on us with even more determination.
Getting my feet under me, I pulled the knife from my belt and met the creature head on.
There must be something wrong with it. Mountain lions were fierce creatures, but they didn’t usually go after full-grown adult humans for no reason. Maybe in the middle of winter, if the creature was starving, I could understand. However, it was summer, and there had to be plenty of much easier prey for it to go after.
A quick glance confirmed that the mountain lion was male, so it couldn’t be a mother defending cubs.
It must be sick and acting irrationally. Unfortunately, that would only make the fight harder. An irrational opponent couldn’t be predicted.
The cat swiped at me, its claws extended, but didn’t press the attack farther. It was only testing my strength.
I couldn’t let it perceive me as weak.
Standing to my full height and extending my arms out from my body, I made myself look as big as possible. The knife remained clutched in my hand, and I shifted my weight to the balls of my feet, ready to react at a moment’s notice.
The cat swiped again, a little closer now. I blocked its paw with my knife, letting it feel the sharpness of the blade. It’s claws barely touched the steel, but the force of the blow was enough to send a numb vibration up my arm. It was only about three feet tall, but solid muscle. Taking it down would not be easy.
I could shoot it if necessary. There was a gun in my pack, which I might be able to grab if I hurried, but I didn’t want to kill it if I didn’t have to. This wild animal was no enemy combatant. It wassimply a creature fighting for its life. There would be no honor in killing it.
The flickering firelight made the mountain lion’s expression look like something straight out of a nightmare as it snarled at me. Its teeth were sharp and long, and even more intimidating than my knife.
