“Mom! Mom! I found one!”
“Found what?”
“A prey! I found one! Come and see it!”
“Hmpf … all right.”
“Come, come! This one is perfect! It’s slow, clumsy, and yet, it smells juicy!”
“A prey like that is always big. It takes a whole pack to bring it down. I’m not in a mood for that right now, I’m not that hungry.”
“No, no! This one is tall but it isn’t big! It’s like a deer that walks on its hind legs. Imagine that, a creature walking on two legs only, and it’s not a bird! Umm … why are your ears fluttering like that? Have I said something wrong?”
“I’ve heard of the creatures that walk on two legs, standing upright. But they’ve always stayed away from our forest. We respect their territory and they respect ours.”
“Do they smell tasty?”
“Yes, they do.”
“Then let’s go get it! I told you, it’s perfect! It’s slow, clumsy, and it’s all alone!”
“Only the predators walk alone.”
“This one can’t be a predator! It has no claws, nor the sharp teeth. I saw them, it has the teeth of a prey! It eats grass. It must’ve lost its way, got separated from its herd somehow. It’s wandering through the forest aimlessly.”
“Is that the prey you’ve mentioned?”
“Yes, that’s the one! See how slow it is?”
“Hmm …”
“Come on! Let me get it! You’re the one who insisted I should go for the weak prey first!”
“I was thinking of rabbits when I’ve told you that.”
“Even rabbits are faster than this thing! And, while it won’t be dangerous, it will be challenging! It has nothing to defend itself with but it will take some time to bring it down. I can’t go for its neck right away, I’ll have to get its legs first, make it fall. It will be good practice for me!”
“Hmm … no.”
“What? What do you mean no?”
“I mean no!”
“Why not? It can’t defend itself and it’s slow! It’s perfect for my first prey!”
“First of all, I don’t like your attitude. You don’t get to question the pack leader. If you don’t like my leadership, you’re free to leave.”
“… I’m sorry …”
“Second thing is, that’s a human.”
“So?”
“You know how some prey can defend itself, how some deer have antlers, and so on.”
“But, this one has nothing!”
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“That’s where you’re wrong. Do you see its upper legs?”
“Yes. What about them?”
“Do you see its paws?”
“Yes.”
“Look at how long its fingers are. It has no claws because it doesn’t need them.”
“What, is it going to slash me with its fingers?”
“No, it will grab you with its unusually long upper legs. See how those can contort themselves? It will contort one of its legs around you, stop you from moving, and then it will shove those long fingers into your eyes. That’s why its fingers are long, so they can reach the back of your skull once they pierce your eyes. But you won’t die right away, you’ll suffer in darkness, dying in slow agony until you bleed out from your eye sockets.”
“Urgh!!!”
“But that’s not all. All humans have those weird upper legs and long fingers, but some of them have even more. Just how some deer are more dangerous due to their antlers, some humans are also more dangerous than others. Some of them can kill you just by looking at you.”
“Huh?”
“You’ve heard me! Some humans can kill you with a single stare. We stare at others to intimidate them, humans don’t. They don’t need to intimidate anyone, there’s no point. If a human is staring at you, you’re already dead.”
“That makes no sense, how …”
“That’s how it is, boy, and you’d be wise to remember that! Leave the human alone, that’s the best thing to do. Yes, I’ve heard they’re tasty, but it’s not worth it. Even if this human is harmless, it’s not worth the trouble. They live in packs, just like we do, and if one of them gets eaten, the others come to exterminate the threat to their pack. That’s the thing about the humans, most of them are prey but some of them are hunters, like you and me.”
“Do these human hunters have claws and big teeth?”
“No, they can kill you just by looking at you. Pay attention to what I’m saying! Do you remember that tinny pack which begged to cross our territory?”
“Those who paid with their strongest youngins?”
“Yes, those. What do you think has happened to them?”
“The stronger pack took their feeding grounds.”
“Would they be so terrified and desperate if that was the case? To the point they’d give us their strongest youngins just to run away?”
“Umm …”
“They were fleeing humans. They’ve eaten a lone human who has wandered into their hunting grounds. Then, they tried eating some more, because it looked like easy prey to them. They went into human territory. And that’s when their strongest hunters were wiped out. The hunters fell dead as soon as the humans saw them. But the humans didn’t stop there, they went after the rest of the pack, into its territory. They’ve decided to exterminate the entire pack, even though it was no longer a threat to them. I guess they didn’t want to wait for the next generation of hunters to grow up.”
“But … but that’s not what prey is supposed to do!”
“Creatures aren’t supposed to walk on their hind legs either, yet the humans do.”
“And they also aren’t supposed to be coming towards us!”
“Wha … oh, it really is coming this way.”
“It’s looking at us mom!”
“Don’t move! If it wants to kill us, we’re already dead! Just stay still, hopefully, it will realize we aren’t a threat.”
“But … aren’t we supposed to be a threat?”
“Just stand still!”
“It’s … it’s getting really close mom!”
“We’re still alive so it has no ill intentions towards us.”
“But … why is it coming closer?”
“Who knows, just let it pass by.”
“Umm … now what?”
“Just stand still and make no sudden moves.”
“Mom, I’m scared … its fingers are too long and too creepy.”
“It’s ok, it’s keeping the fingers to itself. See, it’s putting them in front of its own head.”
“Is … is there something in its paws?”
“Could be, it looks like those fingers are very dexterous.”
“This isn’t how prey is supposed to act mom!”
“That’s what I’ve been telling you! When you see a human, leave it alone.”
“How long will it hold its paws like that? Mom, more of them are coming! There, they’re coming out of the bushes!”
“Ok, this is slowly starting to irritate me.”
GGGRRRRRR!!!
“It’s running away! They’re running away!”
“Not all of them, some are covering for the rest. I guess those are their hunters.”
“Those who can kill you with their eyes?”
“Just stand still and don’t move. If they wanted a fight, they’d already attack us.”
“Looks like they’re slowly pulling back.”
“Hmm, they’re not a danger then. Maybe they were testing where the borders are. Still, if you see any of them in the future, don’t eat them. You can growl at them to scare them away but don’t harm them. It looks like they won’t hurt us unless we hurt them, which makes sense since they eat grass. Ok, let’s go. We must tell the rest of the pack about this. You didn’t get to hunt today but you did well. Had someone else seen that human first, everything could’ve ended differently.”
“Thanks, mom!”