The Hunt Read online

  “Dragon, one, five.”

  You could hear the internal doors, windows, and barriers locking into place. As Marcus walked over the courtyard, he noted that today was going to be a windy, fall day. That made it harder to tell if anything was approaching him. The cat was stealthy anyways but this just made it worse. It was better to be safe than sorry, so he decided to load one of the small military sensor arrays and a small solar defense shield on the four-wheeler. The sensor array could detect any physical movement within a half mile radius. Although it could protect you from attack, the portable shield didn’t keep you from wrecking or being knocked around by an outside force and if you were knocked around enough the shield could fail. It was controlled by the main computer in his compound.

  After loading up, Marcus drove down a small path that branched off the main road through his compound and went about three quarters of a mile back through the wooded area behind his house. After topping a small hill in the woods, the area opened up to a small barn and pasture on the right. Further on his right was a small stream that eventually flowed into the lake that covered the entire northeastern section of his canopy. He had built a small lot to the left rear of the barn where he had four pigs enclosed. The pasture housed a couple of cows and a bull. He had set up an automatic feeding system but he only used it on occasion. He liked to feed the animals to keep them accustomed to his presence. He fed the animals then loaded back up on the four-wheeler and headed back to the central part of the canopy. As he approached the main road he turned left instead of right which led back to the house. After about a quarter mile, he crossed a small bridge that spanned the stream. He stopped briefly on the bridge to look at the water flowing below. He had caught some nice brown trout in that stream last week but had let them go because he was still trying to get the stream stocked. He travelled several times to some of the streams near the Tennessee-North Carolina border and had netted and brought back several. As he was focused intently on the water, a nice rainbow trout broke the surface in pursuit of a large fly. Marcus smiled. It looked like it was working. Turning his focus to the four-wheeler, he put it in gear again and headed in the way he had been going.

  Marcus was trying to remind himself where camera 37 was located. He had an idea close to where he needed to go but he knew it wasn’t going to be easy. The area was heavily wooded. You could drive through it but you had to work back and forth because there wasn’t a cleared path. It took about thirty minutes but he finally reached the small clearing where the cat was seen and stopped just inside the edge of the canopy. He turned on the array and gave it few seconds to fully scan the area. It picked up several decent sized animals to the northwest but they were inside the canopy and too small to be the cat from yesterday. Noticing the size, location, and grouping, Marcus figured that this was a small herd of deer and the array confirmed that. After his cursory look, he decided it was probably best to program the array to eliminate deer and any of the other commonly seen herbivores. After doing this he was able to tell here wasn’t anything close that would be a danger to him. He set it to scan mode and enabled the alarms. He didn’t turn on the shield. While the shield was engaged, it drained the battery at a very fast pace and it caused a steep decline in power overall to the machine. He would only use it if necessary.

  He shifted the four-wheeler into first and eased through the edge of the canopy. There was always that feeling when you passed out of the protection of the canopy, that the safety net was gone and you were walking the high wire without it. These were extremely dangerous times and those who weren’t cautious usually ended up dead. Still nothing from the array, so he stepped off the ATV and began to look around the area. He noted incredulously the sheer size of the paw prints left by the beast. From all indications, the cat had been hunting the surrounding area because you could also see a commonly travelled game trail that came through here. First thought was just to bait him right here and set inside the safety of the canopy and wait but it could be days or weeks depending on how successful the saber tooth was at hunting. Letting him continue could also upset the game patterns in the area and when your success as a hunter directly affects your chance of survival, then it was serious business.

  After a few minutes Marcus got back on the ATV and headed off down the game trail. He followed it for over three miles and there was still nothing coming through on the array. He went down a smaller hill and then back up another hill. As he crested the top, the trees opened up and he was in an open area and from what he could tell he wasn’t far from the small roadway that travelled the length of the mountain. About three hundred yards away, at the end of the field was a house that he hadn’t seen before. He thought he had actually visited every house in the area and had pilfered just about everything that was useful and had carried them to his compound but apparently he had been wrong.

  It was still only mid morning, so after some debate, Marcus decided that he had plenty of time to investigate the house and see if there was anything worth taking and still find the spot he thought would be the best for taking the cat.

  Chapter 3

  He still didn’t know how he had missed this house, especially when it was only a few miles from his little compound. Of course if you came at the house from any other angle than the one that he just did you would probably never notice the house there. He drove up into the front yard which must have been well kept and cared for at one time. Although mostly overrun with weeds, saplings, and vines, you could still see a broken down birdbath, concrete picnic table, and a couple of those concrete benches in the undergrowth. The house was a split level log home with a faded red tin roof and solar panels. For the most part, it looked intact. The right hand section of the front porch looked like it had sustained some damage from a fallen pine tree that stretched across the ground on one side of the front yard. He thought of turning the bike completely off but his sensory array was being powered by the ATV so he left it alone and turned up the volume on his audio alarm.

  Leaving the 700 in the boot attached to the four-wheeler, he unholstered his 44 and unsheathed his knife. It looked like he was going to have to hack his way in through some of the undergrowth to get to the front door. After about thirty minutes of work he was able to step on to the first step leading up to the front porch. He was impressed at how well the house was made. It had withstood the elements and total isolation very well. The front porch swing was somewhat askew, but that could be due to the fact that one of the limbs from the fallen pine tree had crashed through it. After cutting his way through to the front door, Marcus sheathed his knife and transferred his 44 to his right hand and tried the door handle with his left. Surprisingly, the knob turned with relative ease and was unlocked. Although stiff, the front door opened rather easily.

  “Lights?” Marcus said in an almost question.

  Although it seemed there was some slight hesitation, the lights flickered and flashed finally illuminating a large living room. Marcus was thrilled that they still worked. From the looks of things, he was the first person to be in this house in the last five years. It was dusty and there were some cobwebs around but other than that it was in decent shape. He went from room to room looking for anything useful. After visiting the kitchen, he knew he was going to have to come back with the truck. The cabinets and food pantry were fully stocked with an enormous supply of food.

  About fifty years ago, Pristine Packing had invented a container that would not only preserve food in a perfect state but would also keep it sealed for hundreds of years with no refrigeration and with no preservatives added. The shelves were lined with these and between the cabinets and food pantry; he thought he could fill up a pickup truck. It still puzzled him as to how he had missed this treasure trove. Whoever had owned this had hid it with the intention of it staying hid. It wasn’t on any of the maps he had found in the county seat that were located in the valley. As he was still checking the cabinets and celebrating his find… all of a sudden the perimeter alarm shrieked to life on the
ATV.

  “Warning! Warning!, Warning!” the sensor array blared through his earpiece and speaker on the ATV.

  Marcus rushed to the front door. He only cracked it open. The alarm array’s volume was set to gradually rise as the object approaches and he could tell by the volume of the alarm that whatever was coming was moving extremely fast. As he opened the door slightly, he muted the alarm with his remote and glanced to his right. A large female whitetail came barreling over the crest of the rise faster than he had ever seen one run. Confused, Marcus said to himself. “I wonder if there’s a problem with the array. A deer shouldn’t have triggered the alarm.” He almost decided to walk out and check it when the enormous saber tooth topped the hill coming his way. He then understood. The array didn’t pick up the deer; it had picked up the saber tooth. The animal was slowing because it realized that the doe had gone into the dense undergrowth of the forest. Marcus eased the door shut and moved over to gain a better vantage point, to see what the cat was doing without being seen. Marcus could have kicked himself for not bringing the 700 in with him. It was still in the boot bolted to the side of the four-wheeler, which the saber tooth, sniffing the air, was now circling slowly. He had the .44 but it would be tough to bring down a beast such as this with a handgun. Despite being nervously on edge, Marcus laughed to himself. What was that tiger that He-man rode in those ancient cartoons? Battlecat… You could call him Battlekitten compared to that enormous fanged creature out there. The cat circled the ATV a couple of times. He paused for a minute, lifted up his head and sniffed the air. He eyed the house for a moment. The cat then bounded off in the direction the deer went and Marcus breathed a sigh of relief.

  As he continued to search through the house, it occurred to him that the second story upstairs balcony porch would be the ideal spot to set up his blind. It was located on the end of the house facing the open field. It gave an excellent view of the surrounding area. He would bait the field next to the house and take that monster out. That is… if he could figure out how to not get eaten today.

  By this time it was mid afternoon and Marcus was ready to get back to the safety of the canopy. He needed to capture a deer to stake out in the middle of the field but he could do that inside the canopy without worrying about becoming someone’s lunch. He went back to the kitchen and packed some of the more favorable foodstuffs in his backpack. As he was packing one of the packages, his mouth started watering like a faucet. He hadn’t had a crème horn in forever. His mom had always usually bought some for him and his siblings whenever she stopped at the grocery store. Supper was going to be great tonight.

  While investigating the house, he located the security center for the house. He was surprised that the house hadn’t been locked up tight. Most of the houses he had found that way ended up having a nice rotting corpse to go along with it. Apparently these people had been away and just forgot to lock it down or it had malfunctioned. Using his electronic/computer skills he learned from his mother, Marcus reset the security system and reprogrammed it with his favorite password and headed to the front door. As he headed out the front door, he realized that he had made a bad mistake. When he thought that he had muted the alarm before, in actuality, he had inadvertently turned the array completely off. The small screen of the array was black. That was not a good thing. Nervous now, he quickly turned on the switch and waited for the array to power on and sweep the area. As soon as the array began the sweep…

  “Warning, Warning, Warning” blared the array. It was extremely loud. Whatever it was; it was almost on top of him. Without hesitation or taking time to locate the danger, Marcus gunned it full throttle and shot back toward the field. Luckily he had moved just in time. The giant saber tooth had crashed through the underbrush and had launched itself into the air and had landed exactly where Marcus was a split second before. The cat quickly adjusted, turned on a dime, and was only a breath away from Marcus as they sped across the field. Marcus thought about turning on the shield but that would slow him down enough to be caught by the saber tooth. The saber-tooth was extremely fast and he was barely staying ahead of it. He knew the shield would handle the initial assault by the cat but if the cat kept coming, he was toast. So instead, Marcus continued full throttle toward the woods on the far side of the field.

  The problem now was what would happen when he reached them. He didn’t drive on a path into the field to get here: he had gone slowly through the densely packed forest. As he noted before, this was a secluded place and he wasn’t sure how to actually get into it. The location where he entered the field was so overgrown that he knew he couldn’t drive very fast going that way. He could see that the edge of the clearing was fast approaching and although he had moved ahead of the beast, it would be on him the second he slowed. He decided to swing it wide right and make a large circle so maybe he could keep the cat behind him. At the last second as he was starting to swing it around, he noticed another clearer yet overgrown trail coming in behind a small dip in the field that he hadn’t seen before. Although there were small saplings throughout the trail, most shouldn’t be a problem for the ATV. He rocketed through the camouflaged entry way and down the trail. Although close, the saber tooth cat was tiring and as they went deeper down the overgrown trail, finally slowed and stopped. Marcus slowed the bike somewhat but kept the speed at a steady clip to put as much distance as he could between him and the cat. He continued down the trail for over two miles. It twisted and turned and went up and down several ridges. The trail finally led out of the forest and he was running along the edge of the mountain. From here he recognized the area and it didn’t take him long to find the main road and head back to his compound. In about an hour he was rolling through the edge of the canopy and breathing easier. That had been close. Too close. If he had been two seconds later, the saber-tooth would be picking little bits of Marcus Rainwater out of his teeth.

  Chapter 4

  Today had been too close for comfort. His dad had taught him to always be alert and not let his guard down. He had let his guard down today and had almost paid the price for it. After that kind of close call, he really wasn’t in the mood to capture one of the deer, but as long as that monster was in the area, it would always be a major concern. He traveled frequently out of the canopy for hunting and supplies and he needed to eliminate this threat. He checked his watch and it was around four o’clock so he knew he had a couple of hours before the deer would become more active. Time enough for him to set up his snare and go back to the main house for a much needed supper plus…. Crème horns… He hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and his hunger was overwhelming. After getting his favorite snare from the outbuilding, Marcus went back to the compound, took his 700 out of the boot and went into the house. He dropped all his gear on the couch and then took his back pack over to the kitchen table and began to unload the goodies. He had loaded about ten boxes into his pack and he had them spread over the kitchen table.

  “Jocelyn, query.”

  “You rang?” spoke the fake feminine deep voiced reply.

  “Have you been watching old movies again?” he chuckled.

  “Yes, Marcus, you told me to familiarize myself with the media, past and present, so I could better ascertain your queries and give a more accurate answer. You said that they would help humanize my responses.”

  He joked, “Well I wouldn’t put The Adams Family on my ‘must see TV’ list and Lurch is not exactly someone you should pattern yourself after. Anyway… statistically speaking… which animal located currently in this general area would be more likely to tempt a ferocious carnivore into attacking?” Marcus had been rethinking his decision to trap a deer and stake it out on his killing field.

  “Statistically speaking, for a large predator such as this saber tooth cat, a cow would be the most likely to draw its attention. Preferably a young adolescent heifer that is still nursing his mother.”

  Marcus was still savoring one of the chocolaty peanut butter candy bars as she spoke. It almost brough
t a tear to his eye. Like his mother, his dad would surprise him and his siblings with whatever candy bar he could find from whatever country he was currently deployed in. His dad was gone a lot of the time but when he was home, he made it a point to try and make up for everything his children missed.

  Marcus was jolted back to reality with Jocelyn abruptly asking, “Any further queries Marcus?”

  He paused for a moment and began to think on her answer. No way was he giving up one of his prized cows. They were way too valuable. They provided milk and on occasion, when his little herd would grow, they would provide beef. It was then that something occurred to him.

  “Yes, Jocelyn. How would a goat rank statistically for a situation such as this?”

  “Based on the animals located in this area, statistically they would be ranked number two. They tend to be loud, obtrusive, and active.”

  There must have been a farm in the area loaded with these before the virus hit. He saw them on an almost daily basis. Yesterday was unusual in the fact that there hadn’t been a barrier entry by goats. They weren’t afraid of him like most of the deer were. He had often thought about setting up some pasture for them and keeping them. Once the dinosaurs had fully migrated to the area, they probably wouldn’t last long. Anyway, just because there weren’t any entries didn’t mean they weren’t there. It was very well possible that there were some inside the compound that hadn't left.

  “Jocelyn, please do a sweep of the compound and let me know if there are any goats present.”

  “Yes Marcus, there is currently a small herd of ten in the northwest corner of the compound.”

  “Jocelyn, command four; code green; prevent barrier exits for goats for the next forty-eight hours. Save. “