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It took another day for the rain to dissipate, giving way to more favorable weather. At the park Jodie watched Luke pushing Rose on a swing, the warm spring sun catching the highlights in her pale blonde hair. His animated features and proud smile transformed him. Gone were the bloodshot eyes and contorted expressions of his drunken stupor. He turned for a moment to watch Grace showing off on the jungle gym before grinning at Jodie.
Relief washed over her. Seeing Luke in a non-
depressive, non-intoxicated state gave a measure of hope. Jodie could feel the tension leave her shoulders, the pleasure of the outing exactly what they had all needed.
Zach had been busy while they’d been out, completing all the chores that Jodie had been avoiding. Touched by his efforts, Jodie felt the need to reciprocate. The guys needed to get out and have a break. Even though Luke had been out all morning, Zach had not. Jodie suggested they to go to the gym and get Luke signed up. It would be a good outlet for him to get rid of some of the stress he’d been under.
The euphoria of the park outing didn’t last long. The next day saw Luke jittery and anxious, wanting a drink so much he could barely sit still. He looked close to coming undone, and the girls had begun to notice. Zach decided to take him to the gym again.
The girls knew something had happened and they wouldn’t settle. Jodie couldn’t tell them the truth about Luke, so she lied and told them he missed Mara. She then had two sobbing children who also missed the psycho woman. Time for plan b, except that Jodie didn’t have one.
Jodie remembered that she had seen an old soccer ball in the garage and took the girls out to kick it around in the back yard. The level of enthusiasm couldn’t have been much lower, but they soon got into the swing of things.
After no shortage of effort on Jodie’s part, they were entertained. Their girlish laughter, eased Jodie’s tension, but it didn’t last. Grace gave an almighty kick, and the ball sailed over the back fence.
Jodie climbed over the fence, tucked her hair behind an ear, and looked around. How in the heck did a six-year-old kick so far? Then she spotted it just beyond the tree line, completely deflated. It had been an old ball, but that shouldn’t have happened.
As she took a step toward it, a low growl stopped Jodie in her tracks. She had only heard it on two occasions, but it wasn’t something she would forget it in a hurry. My leopard! The reverberating growl that rolled in her direction sounded anything but playful. He appeared to be trying to give her some sort of warning. Just what does he want to protect me from now?
Jodie could hear the girls, running toward her. She backed away from the woods until her buttocks crashed into the fence. Once she felt the hard wooden palings behind her, she turned abruptly and threw herself over. The girls thought it hilarious until they saw the look on her face.
Jodie began trying to shepherd the girls in the direction of the house. The empty porch beckoned like a sanctuary, the door ajar, as the girls had left it. It isn’t that far... but it might as well have been ten miles away for all the good it would be to them. Before they could get there, two boars charged at the fence and the whole damned thing fell to pieces. Jodie screamed and threw herself over the girls as best she could, determined to protect them at all costs.
Stampeding around the yard grunting and squealing, the boars annihilated the lawn and gardens. When they’d finished with that, they gouged Jodie’s car to the point where she knew it would never be salvageable. She had little care for the damage they were causing; all she could think about was getting the girls to the house where they would be safe.
Behind Jodie, the leopard jumped the fence and crept across the lawn. The boars were so busy trashing the car that they didn’t hear him coming. Jodie tried to ignore the crying and pressed the girls’ heads down into the dirt. The sweet scent of their strawberry shampoo wafted upward, Jodie choked back a sob realizing that it might be the last time she smelled it. Grace tried to wriggle out from underneath her, but Jodie stayed unrelenting. She didn’t want them to see whatever might be about to happen; while she could explain the boars and justify their presence, she couldn’t do the same for the leopard. He risked so much to be out here in broad daylight, and he’d done it to protect them.
The leopard growled and hissed as he pinned one of the boars against the car. It struggled beneath him, trying to gore him with one of its tusks. Still rumbling from deep in his throat, the leopard wrapped his jaws around the beast’s shoulder until it could barely move.
All of a sudden, a sickening sensation took hold of Jodie. Where is the other boar? She searched frantically for something to use as a weapon. The best she could come up with was a heavy garden fork with thick straight metal prongs. She groaned, knowing that her chances of escaping unscathed were dwindling by the second.
Reaching as far as possible, Jodie hooked it with her foot and flung it closer. She picked it up just as the pig charged her from behind. The momentum as she turned added power behind to the swing. Connecting with the pig’s skull, she felt a surge of relief as it fell over sideways. Again and again she hit it, all the while yelling at the girls to get inside as fast as they could. Jodie almost wept with relief when they listened. The boar jumped to its feet steadying itself for round two and Jodie adjusted her grip on the handle. She raised both arms to strike, but the animal ran straight past.
A few feet away Grace and Rose neared the steps to the porch, almost there, but not quite. A vicious snarl came from the boar as he thundered toward them. Looking back, Rose screamed as she saw what was almost upon her.
“Nooo!” Jodie shrieked, feet pounding the soil as she ran.
Grace got to the porch and ran inside, leaving the door wide open. Rose didn’t even make it to the steps before she tripped and fell.
“Help me – Please God help me!” Jodie sobbed.
The leopard leapt from halfway across the yard and caught the boar in a rolling tackle. Rose of course saw none of this as it all happened in the blink of an eye. Jodie shoved Rose in the door and slammed it shut, not even pausing to catch her breath. Without breaking momentum, she turned around, fork still firmly in hand and ran back into the yard.
Looking up at her from the yard, the leopard’s concentration broke. Jodie hadn’t meant to cause a distraction, she’d meant to help the leopard, and couldn’t have been more furious. In the brief moment, his furred face turned to her the other boar charged at him, gouging the leopard with its tusk and ripping a hole in his beautiful furry side.
“Shit!” Without thinking about her personal capabilities, Jodie ran toward the fight. He’s going to die and it’s going to be because of me, I can’t let that happen!
Jodie raised the fork up above her head and brought it down on the boar with as much force as she could manage. A terrible strike by any standard, one of the prongs glanced off a rib. Struggling to retain her footing, Jodie tightened her hold on the fork, and using it for balance. She’d done enough to distract the boar but the injury would not hinder the beast much. Spinning the fork around, Jodie changed her grip and swung it downward like an axe. This time she caused significant damage and the boar fell. The leopard seized the opportunity, clamping down on the pig’s neck with his strong jaws and holding firmly until it stopped thrashing.
The leopard didn’t release until it stopped twitching, no longer posing a threat. He staggered to the boundary, the pain making each step an achievement. Preparing to jump over the fallen fence, he lurched forward three times; seeming unconvinced he would make it. When he finally did leap over, he let out a mournful cry. Jodie wanted to run after him but she could not. By God and all that is holy please let him be ok.
She still stood there rooted to the spot with the heavy garden fork, when Luke and Zach returned from the gym. Why do extra people always turn up immediately after the threat has passed?
She wondered with irritation.
The horrified looks on Luke and Zach’s faces caused stirrings of nausea in the pit of Jodie’s stomach. For the first time since the attack had begun, she began to grasp the consequences of what had occurred. When the animals eventually did die, they would revert to their human forms. Even though she hadn’t delivered the final blows herself, Jodie could go to prison for murder. She had no way to explain what had happened. A sense of numbness enveloped her as the shock began to set in.
“Holy crap Jodie,” Zach breathed wide-eyed.
“The girls...” Choked Luke.
“Inside,” she answered with a vacant stare. “They’re okay.”
Jodie decided that her version of ‘okay’ needed redefining as they entered the house. Grace and Rose were so hysterical hey barely noticed that three additional people had entered the room. She wanted the girls to be their first priority but she couldn’t stop freaking out about what had happened. What am I going to have to do to make the outside mess go away? Oh God this is so bad, I can’t even think straight.
Luke sat with his daughters and held them while they cried. He struggled to explain what they had just been through, but he stayed strong, and unwavering. He promised to build a better fence so that wild pigs couldn’t get into the backyard again, assuring them this kind of thing didn’t happen often, they’d been unlucky. Luke did an amazing job of keeping his cool. Despite everything, he was still a great father.
In the end, Zach and Jodie assumed the job of covering the bodies until they could be disposed of. They couldn’t go to the police with such a complicated mess. Even if they told the truth and someone believed them, with Luke a shifter and Zach soon to be one, they would both be in danger. Jodie believed what Zach had said about the government. She couldn’t let them be taken away, or worse, shuddering as the implications weighed upon her.
Outside, Zach and Jodie stood for a moment surveying the bodies. One had already reverted to human form, and thankfully, not someone either of them recognized. The other boar kept doing some sort of weird twitchy thing with its fur, suggesting that its change was close. Jodie fetched a couple of large blue tarps and some rope from the garage, and dumped them in the yard. Zach rolled the first body onto the plastic sheet. Somehow, the nudity disturbed Jodie, making it seem more real.
Even though Jodie hadn’t killed the man, she felt a heavy sense of guilt. Why do I feel like this when they tried to kill the girls and me too? How can I feel guilt when technically I wasn’t the one who ended their lives?
Perhaps because she’d been brought up to believe that life was precious. A fine line existed between self-defense and murder. Whether the fault lay upon her or the leopard bore no consequence. She questioned the necessity of killing them at all. Could it have been avoided?
Jodie had to help Zach drag the second boar onto the tarp. Still holding onto a thread of life, he couldn’t survive the injuries, but he hadn’t been choked to death like the other guy. His death would come slower as his body failed to repair itself. Jodie considered ending it for him. It’s the humane thing to do isn’t it? Before she could make the choice, fate decided for her. The man’s human form emerged and he left the land of the living.
When they had both bodies in a position to pull up the edges to conceal the horror, Jodie uncoiled a length of yellow rope and wound it around the tarp nearest her. She tied it off and Zach used a knife to cut the remainder loose. Then they began to bind the second tarp. They dragged the bodies to the rear of the yard, two distorted blue sausage shapes near the broken back fence. Jodie hoped they’d be safe there long enough to collect their thoughts and decide what to do.
A colossal bellow erupted out of the forest chilling Jodie to the bone. It was like nothing she had ever heard before, neither leopard nor boar, and had no idea what else might be out there. All the tiny hairs on the back of her neck prickled as she scanned the woods for the imposed threat.
“Zach,” she hissed as they exchanged looks of terror.
“I think we need to go back into the house right now.” He didn’t need to be told twice, they both flew inside. Zach put on the deadbolt, which didn’t reassure Jodie very much. She had a feeling that if whatever animal had made that noise wanted ‘in’ they weren’t going to be able to do a damned thing to stop it.
Regardless of the danger, Jodie had to see. She tore through the house and into the kitchen to look out the window. Gripping the edge of the counter with both hands, teeth clenched, Jodie stared at what had come out of the forest.
Two enormous polar bears padded through the yard. Jodie didn’t know what size ordinary polar bears were, but she’d have given anything that they weren’t as big as these two. The same could have been said about the leopard. Perhaps mixing the blood of human and animal, produces a freakishly large result? The mind boggles.
The bears each approached a body bundle. Picking up an end in their jaws, the two white giants dragged the bodies off into the woods. This is too surreal for words... where are they taking them? Shit, I don’t think I want to know.
Jodie wondered for a moment if the bears were friends of the leopard and had come back to clean up after him. The very idea of it seemed ludicrous, polar bears and leopards socializing together refused to compute in Jodie’s brain.
“Are you getting this?” Jodie whispered, noticing that Zach had appeared beside her.
“I’m seeing, I’m just not sure I believe it.” He murmured.
She chewed her lip. “I don’t know whether to be relieved or even more concerned. On one hand, we can now deny all knowledge. On the other hand, we could fabricate whatever story is going to keep us out of hot water. I’m wondering if I should be concerned that we now know of three different types of wild beasts roaming the woods out yonder.”
“Well when you put it like that...” Zach gave a hollow laugh. “So the leopard was here again then?”
How in God’s name do you keep missing him? “Yeah,” Jodie nodded. “I couldn’t have protected the girls on my own; you should have seen him... That’s twice now he’s come to our aid.
”
“Why would he do that?”
Tucking a lock of hair behind an ear, Jodie knit her brows together. “I don’t know Zach, but I really wish I did.”
Right then, Jodie couldn’t think about the leopard’s motivation. She wanted to know whether he was alright and she had no way to find out. After the recent turn of events, she didn’t feel enthusiastic about a stroll in the woods either.
For the next twenty-four excruciating hours the girls battled, reliving the trauma of the attack. They didn’t sleep much that night, and were grumpy and teary the next day. Luke struggled to cope without alcohol amidst the upheaval. He did his best, but Jodie could tell he was going through hell. Having made it to day three of the road to sobriety and starting to realize the long road ahead, she felt overwhelmed. It would get a lot worse before it got better.
John and Penny Fletcher called from Florence. Jodie managed to escape out onto the porch with the phone and avoid them hearing Luke or the girls in the background. She could have invented a reason for them being there, but it seemed far easier to pretend to be alone.
Listening to the details of the trip caused a lump to form in Jodie’s throat. All the beautiful things they’d seen and done served to remind her of the hundreds of thousands of miles separating them. Every part of Jodie just wanted to blurt out all the bad things that had just happened.
The little girl inside her wanted to beg for Mummy and Daddy to come home and save the day. She ignored the little girl and played the good daughter. Then she got off the phone and went back into the house to play the good sister some more.
Though hard to believe, Friday had arrived. Two more days and Jodie would have to go back to work. Even though she welcomed the distraction, Jodie couldn’t bring herself to leave Luke and the girls. She struggled to leave Luke with Zach, never mind landing the guy with two small children as well.
Laura stopped by on her way to work. She listened in astonishment as Jodie filled her in on all that had occurred since they had last seen one another, and assured Jodie that she had no reason to feel guilty. No matter how much Jodie kept telling herself that, it did nothing to dispel the turbulent emotions swirling within.
Gratitude warmed Jodie though Laura only stayed for half an hour. Somehow, she’d said everything that Jodie had needed to hear, leaving her feeling both reassured and justified.
Jodie stood on the porch looking out into the woods after she’d gone. A tranquil calm befell the place, but she could hear birds and insects going about their business. Everything is as it should be with no predators lurking nearby, halleluiah. Now if I could just stop worrying about the leopard everything would be just peachy. She almost hoped for a growl, just so that she knew he was still alive.
She wondered then how the healing varied from shifter to shifter. Some were bound to be better at it than others were. Did it differ between species too? She tried to talk herself into believing that he was just fine. He’d completely recovered, becoming busy with his real life; the one that did not include Jodie.
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