Tigers of the wild

         
      Neva jumped to her paws quickly as an overwhelming sound filled her ears.  She crept cautiously to the mouth of the den.  The sun wasn't up yet, but she heard another loud booming sound.  Confused, Neva prodded Nola's side. 
      "Wake up," Neva whispered.
       Her littermate stirred and yawned sleepily.  Her eyes opened to slits and she got to her feet.  Barking filled the air.
       "What is that?" Nola grumbled irritably.       
"I was hoping you would know," Neva replied, sniffing the air again, trying to identify the place where the noise was coming from. 
        "Let's ask Mom," Nola murmured.  She gently prodded her mother, who stirred and got to her paws. Nola opened her mouth to talk, but her mother automatically stiffened when her nostrils twitched, and a boom filled the air once more. She ran in front of Neva and Nola to the mouth of the cave. 
        "What is it?"  Neva asked anxiously, but she waited and waited, but her mother did not reply.  Neva and her exchanged a puzzled glance. Now the barking was growing closer, and the pawsteps of dogs were near, followed by louder footsteps, heavier, and Neva guessed they were coming from humans. The dogs were leading the humans toward them, Neva realized. 
        "Oh, no," Nola whispered beside her.  
        "We have to leave!" Their mother growled fiercely to them. "Follow me!" 
        She nudged her cubs out of the cave and began running in a direction that seemed to be away from the scent and noise.  Neva and Nola were surprised, for they had never been this far from their den.  They had been born there.  Though she was scared, Neva liked the feeling of running so fast.  She felt like she could go for days, and her fear drove her on.  She didn't know what she was running from, but she couldn't remember any other time when her mother had been so scared or fierce. 
       Finally, they stopped at a den, hidden in the snow. It went downward, into the earth. Their mother nudged them into it quickly, and they panted with fear and exertion.  Finally, Neva calmed down enough to talk.
      "What was that?" she said quietly, and she couldn't stop her voice from shaking a little.  Her mother sighed, and it was a moment before she replied. From her expression, she seemed to be searching for words.
      "White tigers are very special, Neva, and you listen, too, Nola," she began slowly. "Sometimes, humans want to help us.  They make loud noises like we heard, and they make us go to sleep for a little while,  and then they take care of us forever.  Other times, though, people want us, they think they need us, and they make booming sounds that will hurt us. Those make us go to sleep, but they don't take care of us."
      "What happens when we do wake up from the hurting noises?" Nola asked, just as Neva was about to say the same. The dogs were growing closer. Neva could smell them now. 
  Their mother nudged them deeper into the cave, and Neva realized they were really in a tunnel. It opened up into a large cave, big enough to fit three or four full-grown tigers, so Neva assumed her mother would come into the den, too, but she stayed a few feet up into the tunnel, standing protectively over the den her cubs were in.
      "When the hurting sounds hit us," their mother replied very quietly, when she was sure she could protect her cubs, "we don't wake up." 




   Neva got up and stretched as light from the morning sun shone into the den.  She turned around and saw her sister, who always slept on the other side of the den.  It was a large den, and it was deep in the ground.  There was a tunnel that led upward and out of the den.  Their mother found it when they were young cubs one winter, when hunters and their annoying barking creatures called dogs were chasing them. Their was still a deep pawprint in the tunnel, from when her mother stood protectively over them, and unsheathed her claws with bunched muscles, digging them into the dirt, so much that one of her pawprints still remained. It reminded Neva and Nola of how much their mother loved them.
   "Nola," Neva murmured quietly in her sister's ear, "I'm going hunting, want to come?" 
    Nola opened her eyes and got to her paws slowly, then shook the dirt from her fur. 
    "Let's go," she agreed.  
     They began climbing up the tunnel, and Neva's paw slid into her mother's pawprint.  Neva's paw was still very small in comparison, though she was a little than the day that her mother's pawprint was made. 
     When they got out of the tunnel, they began to sniff the fresh, open air for prey. Neva caught scent of some, and began to follow the scent silently. Nola went another direction.  Usually, when they hunted, they went seperate directions and met back at the cave, because they usually hunted most of the day, but their hunts weren't always succesful, so they didn't eat every day. 
     Neva followed the scent, and was surprised by how strong it was. She usually didn't find prey so fast.  She finally reached it, and looked through the bushes carefully, so her white pelt wouldn't stand out. 
     There were a few boar, and Neva watched them attentively.  Then she found what she was looking for-a large boar, which was slower than the others, with a slight limp. The weak ones were easiest to catch, and whenever you found a group of animals with one that was weak, a tiger could almost always catch something.   
     Then Neva heard the soft sound of more pawsteps, and caught a faint scent of another tiger.  Neva had to act fast, so she positioned herself, then leaped onto the boar. It squealed and squirmed, and the others tried to escape, too.  The other tiger leapt through the bushes with a snarl, and knocked Neva off with his paw, which was much larger than hers. Neva got to her paws as fast as she could and bit the other tigers ear, locking her claws into the back of its neck. The other tiger was stronger, though, as it was larger.  It pushed Neva off him and leaped onto her, pinning her down and making her vulnerable.  Neva snarled, and the other tiger was about to bite her sensitive neck, when confusion and recognition mingled on his face, forming an odd expression. 
    "Neva?" he said. 
    "Toko!" Neva said after a moment, realizing it was just another tiger who lived nearby Neva and Nola.   
    "Sorry," Toko said, gently getting off of Nola. "I didn't recognize you at first." 
    "It's okay, sorry for driving off the prey," Neva replied. 
    "It's fine, I smelled some deer near my den, I'm gonna try to hunt those on the way home later," he replied. He was gold, unlike Neva and Nola, who were white tigers, so it was easier for Toko to hunt, so he was stronger, because he blended in better.   "So, how are you and Nola?"
    Neva knew what he meant, because his tone became awkward.  He meant how were they doing, just her and Nola, without their mother.  Toko's mothe had stayed with him until he was three years old, so he didn't know what it was like for them at all.  They began living alone when they were a few months old. 
    "We're great," Neva lied.  They were really having trouble hunting, because noone ever taught them, and they only learned by examining other tigers secretly. 
    "That's good," Toko said. "It's great to see you again, Neva. Tell Nola hi for me. See you later."
    "Bye, Toko!" Neva said to her friend, then they returned to their hunt.

    Neva returned early that day, because she later caught a deer, which she ate quickly and hungrily. Nola returned later, a little past sunset, and Neva was allready in the den with her remains of her deer, which was a fair portion, for the deer she caught was large and strong, probably her best catch ever.  Nola looked disappointed as she entered the den, and Neva guessed that she hadn't caught anything. Neva felt sad for her and her sister, and she nudged the deer toward her gently. Nola looked at her in surprise; she'd thought Neva was saving it for later. 
   "Thanks, Neva," she said softly, then ate some of the deer. When she was done, she moved close to Neva, though she always sat five full-grown tiger lengths away. It was the first time they sat together since they were tiny cubs, since the last time they saw their mother.  




-- Edited by Neva at 21:22, 2008-12-26