Survival

Ragoorok was too busy skinning the squirrel to notice the rustling in the bushes. The obsidian knife in his hands was worn from weeks of usage and he was focusing intensely on the removing fur. The good meat was on the inside. Ragoorok was sitting cross-legged in the middle of a forest; ancestral trees of oak and pine outlined his peripherals interlaced with cycads and dragonflies the size of squirrel he was holding. The sun shone high in the sky as there was a buzz of insect life from mosquitoes and flies, each as large as Ragoorok’s fist. They would occasionally land on him, but Ragoorok would either shrug them off or eat any with an exceptional amount of mass.

There was another rustle in the bush; Ragoorok noticed this time. He slowly began standing up, leaving the squirrel carcass on the ground and tightly gripping his knife. The hairs around his body stood up as he listened. Nothing. He took a breath. Another rustle. Behind him! Ragoorok jumped and turned in a single motion as a saber-toothed cat lunged at him from the cycads. Ragoorok was still in the air when it tackled him, its claws dug into his skin. He let out a shout as he slashed out at the cat’s neck – a piece of fleshy fur soared away as they hit the ground. Ragoorok kicked his knees out, shoving the cat off. He turned over quickly to meet his adversary. The cat was bleeding from its neck – the bloody flesh stood out from its dark brown fur. Its left saber-tooth was chipped and there was a chunk of its jaw missing, but it snarled as fiercely as any beast Ragoorok had ever seen.

The cat lunged again, but Ragoorok was ready. He brought the knife up high and slammed it hard into the cat’s skull, knocking its lifeless body hard into the ground. Ragoorok struggled to get the knife out of its skull until it broke at the handle. He let out a roar and tossed the piece of obsidian away. Useless.

Ragoorok looked down at his fallen foe. This would feed his family much longer than a squirrel would. He picked up the body and flipped over. It was a female. He froze. Female saber-toothed cats don’t hunt alone, they hunt in packs. Gragra! Ragoorok ran as fast as he could, abandoning his bounty. The cat he killed wouldn’t have wandered too far from its pack, and Gragra was still at the cave. Trees and bushes flashed by him as he burst out into a small clearing. Before him was a wall of rock that stretched as far as he could see until it curved into more forest. The cave was there! No sign of cats.

There was a scream. Gragra! Ragoorok rushed for the cave as he saw her run out. Her right arm hung lifeless, covered in blood and cut open in three, thick parallel gouges. Despite that, her left arm clung her swollen belly as she ran for Ragoorok; the sounds of hunger called from the cave behind her. Ragoorok grabbed her and moved her behind him as he looked for something, anything, to fight with. Two saber-toothed cats stalked out of their cave with their razor eyes settled on Ragoorok and Gragra. Drool dripped from their jaws as they crept forward. There was no need for them to hurry, Ragoorok knew, with Gragra hurt they couldn’t run and these cats were fit so they wouldn’t get far anyways. He could only fight.

Ragoorok picked up a large stone in his left hand and a thick piece of wood in another. He didn’t have to kill the cats, he only had to hurt them enough to force a stalemate. But the odds were against him and his chest stung from where the cat had pierced him earlier. And Gragra couldn’t help him. She clung to him close, he knew she would try to help him if she could. She grabbed a stone from the ground. They would die together.

The cats attacked first. One lunged from Ragoorok’s left, he swung his stick and splintered it across the cat’s face. The other cat was in the air before Ragoorok could recover, but it was stuck solidly between the eyes by Gragra’s stone. It staggered back and Ragoorok stabbed it in the left shoulder with the stick. The cat cried out and stepped back, wrenching Ragoorok’s stick out of his hands. Only the stone was left.

The cats snarled and clawed at the ground. A moment passed and they lunged together. Ragoorok hit one away but was taken down by the cat he had stabbed. He held the cat out with his arms as it tried to claw its way into his body. The cat cried out and was motionless. Ragoorok quickly tossed it aside and saw Gragra standing above him. She had stabbed the cat in the side with the stick. Ragoorok got to his feet, stone in hand. He and Gragra stared down the last cat. It clawed forward, but turned and ran back into the forest.

Ragoorok and Gragra stood in place for a moment as they listened to the sound of their heavy breathing. Safe. Ragoorok embraced Gragra, taking care not to further injure her arm. He went down on a knee to listen to her stomach; a simple small heartbeat answered him. They were still alive.