About halfway to the cairn that watched over the final resting place of the crew, they came across a mother and a cub on the trail. The big cat roared and bared its teeth, crouching low. They stopped.
“What do we do, Mom?” Yvette asked.
“Back away slowly. Michael, make yourself as tall and as big as you can. No one look at the cat in the eye.” She was already backing away.
They followed suit. “If we stay close together, it probably won’t attack.”
It roared again, loud and fearsome. It took a few steps toward them. “What if it does?” Yvette asked.
“You two run for home.”
“What is it?” Michael asked.
“Some kind of panther. It eats little animals.” Probably some not so little animals, she guessed but left that thought unsaid.
“It’s beautiful,” Michael said. “I’ve never seen anything so black.”
“Keep moving and don’t look it in the eye.”
It was soon obscured from view.
“Did you see its eyes?” Michael asked. “Fierce yellow, they were, and so intense.”
“I wonder why it’s here?” Savanna wondered. “I’ve heard some in the distance but never so close.”
As she said that, another roar answered, not far behind them, in the direction of their home.
“This is not good,” Savanna said.
“Are they dangerous, Mom?” Yvette asked. “They only eat little animals, right?”
“I don’t know what these guys eat. Just to be safe, we should assume they could eat us.”
Michael took the sling from off his neck and pulled a round rock from a pouch on his loincloth. “You’re going to need bigger rocks, Adam,” Yvette said.
“Look for some sticks, you two,” Savanna directed. “About this big around.” She pointed at her wrist.
The mother roared again, but it seemed farther away. Still, it shook the jungle around them. Michael and Yvette looked through the dense underbrush as Savanna looked both directions on the trail. To her dismay, another large black cat padded around a bend in the trail and then stopped. Its head was large, and its eyes narrowed into slits. It looked quickly around and then crouched, moving silently toward her.
“There’s another panther on the trail,” Savanna said, holding her ground.
“Duck,” said Michael, behind her. She heard the sound of a spinning sling and crouched. The panther began to trot and then run toward them. Michael let loose with a grunt. Savanna saw only a blur and heard a whistle. The projectile hit the animal on the shoulder, making it only angry. It was close when Yvette stepped out of hiding and onto the trail with a long straight stick. The back end was against a tree trunk. The front was broken at a shallow angle, sharp. She swung it into the path of the panther and caught it on the chest in the air, one leap away from her mother. The stick bent but did not break. The panther twisted and flailed with its paws when it hit the ground, partially impaled.
It roared, its breath on Yvette as she disappeared back into the underbrush. Savanna heard the sound of the sling and moved off the trail as well. Michael yelled a primal growl as he flung the larger rock that hit the head and bounced off into the trees.
The panther looked at Savanna, now standing tall with her arms above her head, and at Michael, who again bellowed his own curdling howl, and padded away, bleeding and defeated, a spear that would soon steal its life dragging in the dirt.
Stunned, Savanna collapsed to a cross-legged sitting position in the middle of the path. Yvette came again into view. Michael panted through flared nostrils. The two of them knelt next to Savanna.
“Wow!” Michael uttered.
“Are you OK, Mom?” Yvette asked.
“That was quick thinking, young lady,” she said. “And good aim, young man.”
“I was so scared,” her daughter said.
“How did you know to make a spear?” Savanna asked.
“What’s a spear?” she answered.
“We’re going to need to make some weapons if these predators come around like this,” Savanna said, relieved once again to be alive.