I guess I should start from the beginning that led up to this. It started after I went to the bathroom just before the wildlife preserve closed down for the night. Usually, there isn’t a curfew enforced, but with the recent attacks from poachers on the preserve, a curfew was established and security was tightened significantly. Just before I went back to my room for the night, I heard a loud noise off in the distance.
“Who’s there?” I said.
Growing suspicious, I quietly make my way onto the open field carefully looking out for poachers that may be lingering in the area. I look up and see that the moon is full and bright, which makes it easier to see where I’m going. As I continue moving on, I hear some voices in the distance and decide to take shelter behind a tree. I look closely and see that one of the cheetahs on the preserve became caught in a trap, critically wounding it. I knew if I didn’t get rid of the poachers and get to that cat in time, the cheetah might die.
“Ok, now how am I going to do this…?” I ask myself.
I continue to assess my options when I see that there are young cubs hiding in a bush close to the truck and immediately knew there was no time left. I notice that the poachers are beginning to move away from the truck. I assumed they were heading to a watering hole to refill their canteens, but regardless of what it was, time was of the essence, and I began to move quickly.
“I hope this works; otherwise, this will be the shortest offensive of all time.”
I manage to quietly sneak my way over to the wounded cat and assess the damage. From what I had seen, there was a bullet wound in the cheetah’s side.
“No way she’s going to make it back in this condition.”
I decide to take off my shirt and try to use it as a makeshift bandage to stop the bleeding, but when applying pressure, the cheetah loudly screams in agony.
“SHHH! Just hang in there! I’m gonna get you out of here and get you some help.”
Not sure why I was talking to an animal; they can’t understand a word I’m saying, but whatever helps. I quickly manage to wrap the cheetah up and continue to put pressure on the wound to attempt to stop the bleeding, but nothing seems to be working.
“Come on, come on… just stay with me; everything will be fine.”
Again, not sure why I’m doing this…
I look up again for the poachers and see that the cubs are no longer in the tall grass where they were hiding.
“Damn it, where’d they go?!” I said quietly.
I begin to hear talking in the distance and decide now is the time to make my escape. Carefully, I pick the cat up into my arms and begin carrying her away from the truck into some trees near a river. As I continue on foot, I go back to thinking about the wound lodged in the cheetah’s side. I set her down again to look and notice something different about this. Just as I begin to figure it out, I feel a sharp pain in my back and completely stop moving.
“What the…?!” I choked out.
I go to look around only to discover that the poachers had found me and they were coming to reclaim their coveted prize.
“Get the cat and get rid of this guy,” says one of the poachers (we’ll call him the head poacher).
I do my best to try to protect the cheetah, but they separate us and with a bullet in my back, there wasn’t anything I could do.
“The catch isn’t looking to good, boss.” says the assistant. “What do you want me do to?”
“Well, she’s no good to us dead. Leave it.”
The assistant goes and turns me over sending agonizing pains up and down my spine.
“What should we do with him?”
The head poacher walks up to me and stops.
“Leave him here to die along with his animal friend.”
He then proceeds to knock me in the head with the back of a shotgun and I fall to the ground, barely conscious. The two of them then leave the cheetah and myself for dead in the middle of nowhere with no help in sight. I do my absolute best to crawl my way over to the wounded cat, yet the wound in my back has other plans. I stop and lay myself down on my stomach next to the dying cat, upset with myself that I couldn’t do more to help.
“I’m… sorry…”
I look up and place my hand on the cheetah’s lungs only to find out that it has stopped breathing and then only to feel myself slip into unconsciousness. After a while, the cheetah cubs come out from hiding again and wander over to their mother trying to wake their mother, but to no avail. One of them walks over to my limp body and tries to nudge me awake. Unfortunately, that attempt failed as well. After several minutes pass, it seems there isn’t much hope for the cheetah family or myself. That is until I began to hear a voice talking in my head.
“Do not cry, my children…” the voice said in a calm and comforting female voice.
“What…?”
Shortly thereafter, I gradually notice the pain in my back is subsiding. I figured at that point that I was officially dead, but it sure didn’t feel that way. I fought my way back to consciousness and then sat up, leaning against a tree, only to see the cheetah cubs looking up towards the moon. Since the bullet was still in my back, quick movement wasn’t an option. I looked in the same direction the cubs were staying in, but didn’t see anything. The heads of the cubs then turn to their fallen mother as well as I did. Once I began moving towards the body, I began to see a white mist forming in front of all of us.
“Now what?” I said.
There’s a brief flash of white light and I shield my eyes; once the smoke cleared, I saw a tall feminine figure that wasn’t human, at least not entirely. She stood upright on two feet, or paws, and had white fur; she had the head, tail, paws, and ears of a lion and wore clothing that appeared Egyptian in nature. There was also a faint white aura surrounding her, which suggested she had some type of supernatural ability. She walked over to the three cubs and kneeled down to them and the cubs calmly walked to her without hesitation.
“No way…” I said with disbelief.
She then stands up again and walks over to the body of the mother and places her hand on it. She then proceeded to say something, yet it was in a language that I didn’t understand. A white aura envelops the lifeless body as the spirit that used to inhabit it rises upwards and hovers next to the lioness.
“There, there…” she said as the cheetah purred softly.
There is another flash of bright light and the cheetah spirit transforms into an anthro form wearing similar clothing to what the lion was wearing. The white lioness then proceeds to walk over to me and kneels on one knee, and reaches out her hand.
“Don’t be afraid; I am not going to hurt you. Take my hand and I will help you,” she said.
She didn’t actually speak words; it was entirely telepathic. I took her hand and instantly I felt the pain from my back disappear completely.
“My back… it doesn’t hurt anymore…”
“Your bravery tonight has saved three innocent cubs from harm. I, as well as their mother, thank you,” she said calmly.
“Er… you’re welcome?” I said, confused.
I wasn’t exactly sure how this was happening, but it damn sure was. More importantly, how was I going to explain this scenario back at the preserve camp?
“These cubs will not be able to survive on their own, not with the danger that has fallen upon them. I will continue to guide them on a safe path until they are able to survive on their own. Until then, I will leave you with this gift as a token of my gratitude.”
“Gift? What gift?”
She raises her hand up to me again and chants something in a language that I don’t know and then stops.
“Um…”
Before I can say anything else, I feel a rush of energy surging through my body and then feel myself rising off the ground.
“Wait, what’s happening?!” I said freaking out.
A golden aura surrounds my body as I notice several changes are taking place to my body starting with my hands. I see that they are turning more paw-like in nature, just like a cat’s paw, but with opposable thumbs. Black fur with gold spots begin to grow on my arms and legs at an accelerated pace; pressure builds near the base of my spine as a tail sprouts and rips through my pants; my feet shrink and become more rounded and form into paws which cause my shoes to rip and come off; my mouth protrudes outwards slightly and whiskers appear on each side of the black triangular nose that formed with it; my eyes change color to a golden yellow and two large ears grow outwards from my head. Thin gold stripes encircle my eyes before traveling downwards to both sides of my mouth. The fur then spreads to the rest of my body and the aura disappears signaling the transformation is complete. The transformation leaves me weak and I fall to my knees to see that everything about me has completely changed from the tips of my ears to the bottom of my newly formed paws.
“Whoa… this is… incredible! I feel amazing, refreshed, and lighter than air! Whatever the reason, I could get used to this.”
I look off into the distance for an open space and spot a tree about two miles away. I take a deep breath of fresh air, start walking towards it, and gradually start to jog; the jog becomes running and eventually becomes sprinting. After sprinting for a while, I realize that I haven’t broken a sweat nor have I gotten tired.
“This is nothing; let’s see if I can kick this up a notch!”
I push myself even harder and before I know it, I find myself approaching the tree within seconds. Once there, I stop and climb the tree and look out over the savanna for the preserve.
“This has to be the strangest and greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I can’t wait to show this to everyone back home!”
END
