Chapter 58 - Chapter 58. The Hunting Contest

Lily and Kevin were about to go hunting in the woods when Sherwin Blair suggested that all the families play a high stakes game. Every family would chip in ten million dollars. Whoever caught the most fish or game would win the pot. Lily finally agreed to let the Jones family participate.Soon, the teams were decided. They were Kevin and Lily from the Jones family, Phoebe and her brother Blake representing the Andersons, Sherwin Blair and Officer Emmett from the Blair family, and then there were six other families too."I'm not much into hunting or fishing, so I'll be the judge," Neil Blair said as he looked at his watch. "It's nine AM and you all have three hours to catch as many fish or small game as you can. Be back here by noon. Good luck to all of you!"Seeing that everyone else had already started to move, Lily immediately pulled on Kevin's sleeve and urged him,"Let's head up that way, into the woods!"Don't panic," Kevin said very calmly."We just bet ten million dollars. What if we lose?" Lily said nervously."We can't lose," Kevin said as his eyes swept across the forest not far away, "This is a good place to wait. If we go running recklessly into the woods we won't catch anything. Let the other teams head in there first."Phoebe walked over with Blake and agreed, "What Kevin said makes sense. We can head into the woods a little later."She didn't know why, but when she saw Kevin and Lily together, she felt extremely uncomfortable."It wouldn't hurt for us to wait a few minutes before going in there," Officer Emmett commented.Lily opened her mouth to speak but didn't say anything. She wasn't sure what to do.While they were waiting there, Blair sent a message to one of his relatives, who was secretly entering the woods from the other side.When Kevin and the others finally started to head into the woods, they saw some members of the Steele family picking wild berries.After about an hour, Kevin and the others had only caught a single wild rabbit, which they put in Lily's hunting basket.Suddenly, they all heard a rustling sound coming from the nearby bushes."Did you hear that?" Blake asked with a worried look on his face."What's that sound?" Officer Emmett asked as she gazed cautiously around their surroundings.As soon as she finished speaking, a large, ferocious cougar jumped out of the bushes and growled at them.Kevin was the first to react. "Run!" He shouted as he grabbed Lily and Phoebe's hands and pulled them in the opposite direction."How can there be a cougar here?" Officer Emmett said with a shocked look on her face."Let's not worry about that for now. Let's just get out of here!" Kevin shouted. Their priority was to get to safety. They could answer her question later.Just then, Blair suddenly stopped and pulled a hunting knife out of his jacket. He shouted loudly, "You damn beast, get the hell out of here!"Sherwin!" Officer Emmett exclaimed.When everyone turned around, Blair was already standing face to face with the cougar. He waved his knife from side to side and slashed at the animal.The cougar yelped before it turned around and ran off into the woods.Kevin knew something wasn't right. He clearly noticed that the cougar was running on its hind legs."I'm certain that was a man disguised as a cougar," Kevin thought to himself.By then, Blair had returned and was standing in front of Officer Emmet saying proudly, "Kelly, don't be afraid. As long as I'm here, nothing can hurt you, not even a cougar."Officer Emmett melted when she heard this. She thought to herself, "I never realized Sherwin was so brave. Maybe I've been wrong about him."Lily turned around and looked at Kevin. How could Blair have been so brave standing up against a cougar, while Kevin just wanted to run away. This was very upsetting for her."Lily, what's wrong? Are you still frightened?" Kevin asked with concern. He could tell that Lily was worried about something."It's nothing!" Lily sighed softly."Since there's a cougar roaming around in these woods, we really ought to head back to the camp where it's safer. We should also tell the others about it so they don't get hurt," Blake said cautiously. He was still a little afraid."What is there to be afraid of? It's just a cougar! If it dares to come back, I'll kill it and we'll cook it on the spit for dinner," Blair said arrogantly.He figured that once they got back to the camp, the news of him chasing away the cougar would immediately spread. They were all sure to see him differently now.Phoebe's face suddenly turned pale with fear. She raised her trembling hand and pointed behind them saying, "Here comes another one!"Everyone turned around and looked. They were almost scared to death. This cougar looked like it was almost twice the size of the first one. And it was less than a hundred feet away from them."Run!" Blake yelled as he turned around and started sprinting for the camp."What's going on? I only have one guy dressed up like a cougar," Blair thought to himself."Ouch!" Phoebe yelled as she suddenly fell to the ground."What happened? Get up!" Kevin was worried this time because he was sure that this cougar was real."I think I sprained my ankle," Phoebe said as she winced in pain."Phoebe, we have to get out of here!" Lily said in panic."Lily, Run!" Kevin shouted as he picked Phoebe up and put her on his back.Just then, Blair shouted again, "Come on, you filthy beast!"Suddenly, he heard a voice shouting in the distance, "Sherwin! It's a real cougar! Run!"Hearing this, Sherwin Blair's face turned pale. He threw down his knife and sprinted out of the woods.As they all started to run, the cougar was triggered to see them as prey and started chasing after them."Blair, I thought you weren't afraid?" Officer Emmett asked as she was running toward the camp."That's a real freaking cougar!" Blair shouted. As he was running desperately to get away, he fell to the ground, but he didn't care about his injuries. He immediately got up from the ground and kept running through the brush.Blair ran for his life, without showing any concern for his fiancée.Officer Emmett felt very helpless. Although she was a highly trained law enforcement officer with years of martial arts practice, she was completely freaked out by a wild cougar. "Kevin, just leave me behind and save yourself," Phoebe said in despair."Bullshit. We all came in here together and we're going to leave together. Do you think I'm going to let you face a wild animal alone?" Kevin said firmly.When Phoebe heard him say this, her eyes welled up with tears and she tightly hugged Kevin's shoulder.She had already decided that if she ever survived this catastrophe, she didn't care if Kevin was married or not. She had to be with this man, even though everyone in the Jones family said he was worthless trash.She was even willing to fight Lily for him. Phoebe didn't really care what anyone thought.Suddenly, Kevin stopped. He put Phoebe down and turned around to look at the fierce cougar that was running toward them. "Keep heading for the camp. It's that way!" he shouted as he pointed through the trees."Kevin! No!" Phoebe shouted anxiously."Go as fast as you can! I'll keep him here!" Kevin yelled as he ran at the cougar without looking back. He picked up the knife that Blair had tossed on the ground and threw it at the cougar."Come on!" Kevin growled loudly. He pulled out his own hunting knife and slashed at the ferocious animal. Kevin looked like he was ready to take on ten cougars at once.This was the last image Phoebe had of him as she limped as fast as she could toward the camp.The knife didn't hurt the beast, so Kevin picked up a rock and smashed it on the head. The cougar immediately let out what sounded more like a shriek than a roar.Without thinking about his own safety, Kevin ran towards the dense forest, away from the camp. The angry cougar quickly followed behind.Just as they reached a clearing, Kevin dropped to the ground and the cougar ran past him, smashing into a tree.Kevin immediately jumped up and leapt back into the dense forest.*When Phoebe finally limped into the camp, Blake saw her and ran over to help her."Phoebe, where's Kevin?" Lily asked anxiously when she realized that Kevin wasn't with her."He. Kevin, in order to save me, he lured the cougar away in the other direction!" Phoebe said sadly.They all heard a wailing sound that echoed from one end of the woods to the other.That sounds like the cougar got him, they all thought. Some of the Joneses were happy to finally be rid of him. At least Phoebe had made it back.They had no sympathy for Kevin at all."No. No, Kevin can't die!" Lily sobbed as she kept shaking her head no, unable to hold back her tears."Kevin!" Officer Emmett's eyes were starting to tear up, too.Was Kevin still alive?