The life of a loner was an uneventful one. You wake up, walk around, lie around, watch life pass you by. Some days, you go hunt for food, other days it is unnecessary. Sometimes, you sleep during the day and others at night. It was all very simple, and, for years, that had been enough for Usiku. He could survive with only one or two chance encounters every now and again, just to make sue he still knew how to speak. He was alright with watching from the scattered trees of the savannah. The herds and the predators that inevitably followed them. Occasionally, he’d spy lion cubs playing, or a scuffle between a few hyenas. H watched and watched, some days he didn’t even think. Just saw.
But what he saw today had forced him to think a bit. It was a cheetah. Female, smallish even for her species. But apparently, that didn’t bother her. He rarely saw a cheetah actually hunt a wildebeest, even if it was a young, frail, limp one. Usiku watched as she chased after the calf, and envied a cheetah it’s speed, as was routine. He saw her catch it and struggle to make a kill, so he didn’t envy their small, weak jaws and dull claws.
And then he watched as, just when the calf seemed to be giving in, an adult came rushing in and threw the cheetah in the sky with its horns. Even safe up in his tree, Usiku’s fur bristled, claws sinking in to the branch he perched on. He sat up, stretching his neck for a better view. The other cat landed badly on the floor, barely having time to get on her feet before the wildebeest came at her again. Usiku realized with a sinking feeling that it wasn’t even the same wildebeest. The entire group had decided to join in.
“Run.” He said to no one. Even if he screamed he knew he wouldn’t be heard, they were too far away. But he knew this was something you didn’t need to tell a cheetah. It was a second nature to them, and after an ungraceful roll on the floor, the spotted cat was scrambling to her feet and trying to get into a run.
Another thing he didn’t envy about cheetah; their lack of stamina. After the chase on the calf, and the ensuing struggle to kill it, he could tell the cheetah was exhausted. Even afraid for her life, with all the adrenaline, she seemed incapable of running much more. Which is probably why she whirled around to hiss at the closest wildebeest, managing to force it back a few feet, only for another to take its place.
He realized that they were getting closer and closer to his tree. He also realized that the cheetah couldn’t keep this up for long, but the wildebeest, or at least three of them, on the other hand, seemed quite persistent this time around.
Later, Usiku might ask himself why he did it. He remembered seeing the cheetah stumble to the floor, and one of the hoofed beasts charging at her. Then he remembered hitting the ground himself, and running. The grass in his face blocked his view until he was up close, but now he didn’t care about watching anymore. It seemed one wildebeest had already gone over the spotted female, because he ran past as it began to circle back. The spotted female was curled on the floor when he leapt over her to lash out at the wildebeest.
Fortunately for the dark leopard, it seemed like it was all the wildebeest needed to finally decide it was best to go back to their herd. One male tossed its head, stomped around, but when Usiku snarled and bristled it gave up and turned, dashing away.
He remained still for a few moments, lips still pulled back, ears laid back. He made certain that nothing was rushing after him before finally deciding to turn around and figure out what happened to the cheetah.
He found her exactly in the same spot, a messy pile of spotted fur on the floor. Usiku wondered if all his bravado had been for nothing. He inched closer, and delicately nudged one of her paws. She stirred.
Alive. Usiku didn’t know why, because he was extremely happy about this. The female moved some more, and the leopard moved to lay by her head. “Can you hear me?” There seemed to be a long silence.
“Yes.” The voice was weak, but at least she could talk.
“I’m going to get you out of here.” He said, and immediately decided that was exactly what to do. Sat up and looked it around. He could easily drag her up a tree, but then what? Hang her on a branch? He needed a den of some sort.
“Nooooo...”
He frowned as the cheetah whined, moving her paws to lamely cover her face. He’d been worse for wear himself before. She needed a place to recover. He tried to be gentle when he grabbed the scruff of her neck, but still felt like he was being too rough as he began to pull her. The cheetah stiffened at first, then seemed to relax. He soon discovered she relaxed because she had actually passed out.
Usiku continued to pull the cheetah along for what seemed like a long time until he reached the tree. Once there, he tried to arrange her neatly among its roots, being especially careful with her limbs, since he ddn’t know what kind of damage they had seen. “You should have been more careful hunting.” He told the unconscious form at his feet. She seemed terrible. The dark male wondered if she would even survive this. Cheetah were so fragile…
You should have just left her. Why had he even bothered saving the cheetah, anyways? He had no reason to care. And now she was probably just going to die, and he would just get upset. The big bonus of living alone was never having to worry about anyone else. Just leave her there and walk away. Some hyena will find her and… Usiku found he was already too invested with this. He sighed, climbing up the tree so he could survey the land and find a shelter.
This was going to be a long, long afternoon.
