Soldier Fred
The gears were smaller, and yet our weapons were the same. They may be kids, but surely, the soldier doesn't see them as invalids. Beside's Fred knew, being a newly conscripted soldier, that they don't really have that much of a gap when it comes to military knowledge. He saw the first one who woke up. She folded her sleeping bag and slid it inside her gear. Noticing that he was looking at her, she approached him. She looked up the tree and called.
"Good morning, Sir," the girl greeted, and she smiled at him. "I can take the watch now. You may rest."
He chuckled. "The captain would kill me if I do that."
"I'm Meow," she said and sat down beside the adult. "And you, sir?"
"You can call me, Fred," he answered. "Drop the honorifics."
He didn't want her as a substitute, so she decided to watch him. The soldier watched the little girl who was now climbing another tree. Kids are indeed small, but they're not entirely useless. It was evident that the girl wanted to help.
But instead of looking at the forest like a sentry should do, the kid turned to her bag and trotted out a book, then a little flashlight. The sun is still asleep, so it's still quite dark. The girl named Meow started reading.
Fred shook his head in dismay. He was wrong. The kid would rather read than be a sentry. Instead of calling this out, he concentrated on guarding the camp and ignored the kid's presence. This forest is full of beasts such as mountain lions, leopards, and bears. There are also a variety of snakes lurking around. An hour passed by, and the soldier, although drowsy, was still concentrating on detecting any sort of hostilities. He turned to the kid again and saw her turn the page of her book, still reading. He stared back at the darkness of the forest again, listening and sniffing the air for any changes.
"Fred, sir," the kid's voice was small but urgent. "We should wake up the others. We're not alone here anymore."
The soldier frowned with doubt. What is this little girl playing at? Then he realized that the girl probably spoke of ghosts being a child and all, and he chuckled.
"Relax, kid," he said. "We're safe."
"No," she put her book back and climbed down the tree with the speed of a squirrel. She calmly rested her hand on her handgun and trotted it out. "I can hear it, sir."
He watched the kid with a mixture of amazement and distrust. He was about to wave her off when the wind picked up and sent him the new scent. He jumped off the tree. Now, he stared at the little girl in wonder but then it was too late. For when the girl pointed her little flashlight at the nearby foliage, the light set two orbs ablaze.
A lioness welcomed the sight.
---
MEOW
I watched the soldier perched up the tree and waited patiently. I can just run back at the camp and employ insubordination. But the creature is approaching steadily, and we barely have a couple of seconds to spare now.
I knew that something was coming, but I didn't know what it was. So I pulled out my handgun as the soldier jumped off his tree. And then, when I felt the creature's presence just a couple of feet away, I pointed my flashlight in its direction.
For the love of Yolly, what a huge cat!
I couldn't believe my eyes. It's a real-life lioness.
I need to getaway. But I knew that the effort would be futile, for the beast would've sunk its teeth on my neck just before I got to touch a tree. The soldier in front of me made a whining noise, and then it dawned on me that he was as scared as I was. Let's see. How many bullets would take that thing down? Yeah, right. With my whole body frozen in fear, no way can I aim as accurately as I could.
He wouldn't be of any help from the looks of him. I stared at the lioness and realized that it wasn't full-grown yet. Maybe just a few months old, and just by the size of it, I knew we had the chance. But the soldier Fred, cant see this simply because he is scared.
Fear is making him overestimate things, clouding his judgment.
I can only imagine what he is thinking based on the expression on his face. I mean, don't we have guns? For when you are fearful, know that you will exaggerate the dangers you face--- says my book. Of course, it is just a book and what's a book to do against a mighty beast such as that? But the book has armed me with wisdom, and it would probably save me from this beast's mighty jaws and claws as much as my guns and knife would. If it hadn't been to the book, I would be as frozen as the soldier Fred who can't even pull a weapon out to defend himself.
The lioness started to circle us playfully. For it knows that we had been cornered, and it had won. But then I heard and felt another presence lurking above us. The lioness and I looked at the tree probably at the same time, for when I gasped, the lion snarled at it viciously.
I thought the situation couldn't even worsen, but then here I am, staring at another beast with spotted fur.
Another huge cat had appeared.
And by the size of it, I knew we were doomed. The soldier Fred looked at it and looked at me. He was as white as an eggshell. Why I compared him to an egg was probably because his face is shaped like it.
However, I knew we still had the chance to survive. The law of the jungle is unknown to me, but I can now see that the two beasts had ignored us in the meantime. We cant climb the trees since the leopard itself came down from it. The beast can climb one probably faster than we can. Now that both the ground and the trees were out of our options, I stood there inching my way away from the two beasts. It was just so sad that the second I took a step back, a twig snapped. And the sound of it could've been the sound of thunder on the beasts' ears. That was the cue. The two huge cats attacked each other, snarling and clawing. I knew that it was time to run. Soldier Fred, despite the fear, took this cue and aimed his gun at the two cats only to miss. The boom of the handgun echoed throughout the forest, enough to wake the others up. I, on the other hand, ran without looking back. When I heard audible clicks, I groaned in frustration. Fred's gun had jammed! It didn't surprise her the slightest bit to listen to the man's approaching steps from behind. Soon, he had outrun me, and I ran behind the soldier. When I realized that the snarling and growling had died down. I looked back at the two huge beasts, and I halted.
The leopard had won and is now rising from the ground. One glance, and I knew we were dead, for it had pounced its way toward us. My heart was thumping with both fear and excitement. I had to suppress it if I was looking for any chance of surviving at all. I am not an inhabitant of the forest, nor am I some goddess of the wild like Artemis. But I know that I am human, fragile but clever.
I knew that the leopard would jump at me and then would sink its fangs on me. Luckily for me, I didn't have to employ any of Professor Nigel's lessons on the beast. It only has one known avenue of attack. Bearing this in mind, I ran towards it, gaining momentum. I need the speed if I want to dodge death. Running at the beast, I trotted out two handguns and braced myself waiting for the right moment to put my plan into action. I had long foregone the attempt of taming the wild thudding in my chest.
I need to pull this through if I want the soldier Fred to live.
And as expected, the leopard leaped, and I took this as the signal for me to slide myself beneath it. I pointed my handguns at the beast's belly and fired. I didn't miss, for who would miss in such a distance? Yet, the beast's reaction speed was fast, for it had its claws stab my right shoulder blade as well. Being a beast of pure muscle-- feral and deadly, the beast did not fall right away. I expected this, though. So remembering the trick I always use on Loki in our self-defense class, I raised both my feet before the cat's carcass could fall on top of me. With my feet making contact, I pushed it off me before it could pin me down. Damn it, it is so heavy it felt like I was throwing two sacks of rice off me. I barely managed to perform the deed, but the days of running and fitness lessons paid off. The adrenalin helped, for the frantic thumping in my chest never ceased.
I leaped up, steady on my feet at speed unfamiliar to me. I looked at the beast and realized that the beast was about to jump at me again. This is my last chance. If I still don't take it down after these last two shots, then I am doomed.
I fired at the beast which had leaped to kill me. The bullets pierced the flesh exactly where I wanted them to. Knowing my luck had run out, I tripped on a rock and had no time to dodge its gigantic carcass. It fell on top of me.
Dead.
I stared at the starry sky, panting. I knew that the beast was now and forever irrevocably dead. Point blank, I shot it in the head. Excellent, it rhymes. The thumping in my chest started to subside, I pushed the beast off me. I wobbled up with much difficulty, but honestly, I am alive.
That's when I felt the pain in my shoulder. I put a hand on it and looked at the blood on my hand. Just a scratch.
I wanted to deceive myself by believing so, but the wound was deep and looked much worse than the usual stab wound. I stared at the yellow cat before me and slumped down next to it. That's when I found my classmates kneeling down before me. The adrenalin must've died down because I suddenly lost consciousness.
---
Fred ran as fast as he could, thinking of nothing but safety, only to realize that he had forgotten the little girl who was accompanying him before. The girl! He turned to glance if the girl was still running behind him. He was, after all, still a soldier. A sentry trained to protect the weak and unsuspecting.
But he found no little girl after him. He halted and looked in the direction where the beasts were. And he couldn't believe his eyes.
He heard footsteps drawing behind him but ignored them because twenty yards away, the girl was running toward the beast, not away from it. He watched with horror bracing himself from witnessing the girl's inevitable death only to witness her slide underneath the beast and fired. With an expertly accomplished throw, the leopard was then airborne instead of pinning her petite body down on the ground. He slumped on the meadow, a couple of feet away from the fragile thing.
The leopard leaped again, and the girl was already on her feet. She fired at the beast. How a little kid had the nerve to hit a fast-moving, horrifying beast, he has no idea. It took only a couple of seconds to kill the beast, but it felt like it lasted longer for him. The leopard fell, and the little girl rose.
He knew then that he had failed her and himself for being the soldier he imagined himself to be. He knew then that he was nothing but a coward and a failure. Thus, he realized he was no soldier. He was pathetic. He was worse than a vermin. He had let the little girl protect him instead of the other way around.
Kids started running toward the little girl, who was now kneeling beside the carcass of the beast. He felt a hand rest gently on his shoulder. He turned and found the team captain looking at him. The captain nodded like he understood him.
"Let this serve as a lesson, soldier," the captain told him. "Sometimes, you need to know fear and the consequences it brings for you to overcome it next time. There can be no bravery where there is no fear."
"But the kid," he answered, looking at the kid still kneeling on the ground, a hand on her wounded shoulder.
"The kid, I can assure you, was scared," he said. "Even I would think twice to meet a fully grown leopard head-on. The girl must've thought of it too but acted otherwise."
"Then why? Why didn't she just run?" he asked, bewildered. He wondered and hung on the captain's following few words like it will salvage his dying self-esteem. But the captain just shrugged.
"That is not for me to answer," he said and walked past him. The other soldiers approached the wounded kid and now carried her to the clearing where they camp. He followed them back at the camp, thinking of nothing but regret. If he was the one who fought the leopard, would he have lived? He started blaming the military training not preparing them to fight such a hideous monster but ceased, for the kid hadn't even reached a year's training and still managed to overcome the beast. He envied, hated and at the same time idolized the little girl. Walking back into the campsite, defeated and remorseful, he sat down and watched the little kids huddle beside the unconscious body of Meow, leopard killer.