Chapter 17: Chapter Seventeen--Between A Rock & A Hard Place

“I’m pretty sure it knows we’re alive and kicking. Even if we lay on the ground, we’re just making it easier.”

“Wait!” She cried. The animal bared his teeth. Oh god, was that blood his pearly whites?

“Shutthefuckup.”

“Make noise. Be big.”

“Have you lost what little remains of your pea brain?”

“Be aggressive. Yes, that’s it!” She threw her arms into the arm, jumping up and down.

I smacked her shoulder, where the bear couldn’t see. “Stop that. The last thing I want to do is wrestle him before it rips my head off.”

A rippling holler split my eardrums. The ringing in my head drowned out Lola’s shriek. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Batman and Robin! What the hell is that?”

The bear drew back, snarling at something above our heads.

I looked up. My fear tripled.

On the branch above our heads was an unfeasibility. Shoulders down, haunches up, mouth curled back over impossibly long teeth, burning green eyes, was a jaguar nearly twice my size. Definitely not native to the area.

“Oh, no, no, no.” My teeth chattered.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Did we stumble into Narina’s rainforest? Do you remember walking through a damned closet on the way here?” Lola plastered herself against a tree behind me.

The jaguar dropped the ground, and paced inches from my legs, bellowing monstrous sounds all the while.

“So which way do you want to die, Kat? Cat or Bear?” Lola tittered wildly. “Think the cat would be kind enough to put us out of our misery before it begins to feed on our still beating hearts.”

My mind raced through the possibilities, as the cat tossed an uncannily familiar stare over his shoulder.

The bear’s indecision was clear as he eyed the other threat: feed or flee? Two more jaguars and a cougar barreled down the incline, throwing themselves through the air, landing on the quivering bear.

Blood and saliva few in every direction. The crunch of bone sickened me. The bear never stood a chance. I tried to breathe and failed. My knees weakened. I couldn’t make sense of what I saw.

The first jaguar jackknifed, padding toward me.

“Get away.” I blanketed Lola’s body with mine, protecting as much of her taller frame as I could. The jaguar cocked its head and paused. All the aggression faded. The beautiful animal looked downright friendly. Intelligence shone from him.

“Honey, listen to me,” I said calmly.

Lola didn’t say anything. She buried her face into my neck and cried.

“This is what I want you to do, okay? Wait for me to draw the cat to the side. It will probably attack me. Once I’m down and it’s busy, run like hell. But do not scream. Stay quiet, focused. Do not climb a tree, because I’m pretty sure he would get to you.”

The jaguar growled low in his throat. A warning not to move? Could he understand me?

Lola sobbed. “No, I’m not leaving you.”

“Baby doll, please,” I begged. My eyes flooded with tears I refused to let fall. “If you go quick enough, you can get help. For me.” Fake bravado and courage were wonderful things. “Promise me that you’ll go get help, all right? Think about it, you can run way faster than I can. You were the athlete in school. Way nimbler too.”

She didn’t say anything. Just clung to me.

“Lola? Please. Hurry. I’ll be fine. You know me, the ultimate trooper. Now go, while he’s still calm.”

“Okay,” she moaned. She didn’t go.

The cat didn’t move either. “Inch around the tree, really slowly, until he can’t see you anymore. I will distract it.” I swallowed, held my hand out. “Won’t I, Mr. Cat? You and me are going to get to know each other real well.”

In a roll of sinew, the cat strolled forward. The animal stuck its head under my hand, like how cats do to pet themselves. He purred as he arched his back, rubbed against my legs. Knocked me over onto my ass.

The bear yipped, a sound of pain that went over my head as I marveled at the beast in front of me. He sat on his haunches and licked my cheek.

“Ahh, Kat, what are you doing?” Lola trembled.

“Making friends apparently.” I scratched him behind the ear. Was he an escaped zoo animal or something?

“What it’s doing?”

“Purring,” I said, awed.

“I think I read that wildcats purr to calm their victims.”

The jaguar licked my hand with a scratchy tongue. He looked at the others and growled. They responded with a series of noises I’d never heard a cat make. He nosed my arm with a flick of his head. When I didn’t move, he did it again. I stood on unreliable legs that threatened to give. He headbutted my knees.

“Ahh, I think he wants us to move,” I said.

“So he can kill us somewhere else?”

He snorted. I didn’t argue this time. Despite the violence, the surreal moment kept me superficially calm enough to thread my arm around Lola’s waist. The cat’s silky fur stroked our legs as it herded us away.

The noises fell away as we increased our distance. We weren’t safe, just safer. Lola sobbed as the back of Kalvyn and Carmen’s sites came into view.

If one thing was for sure, I wouldn’t be going hiking for a very long time.