• Sînge looked around him, taking in his surroundings. He watched as the leaves flew in the air, and as the weeds dance in the direction of the wind. He saw squirrels and bugs everywhere, and the sun loomed downward, proclaiming that sunset was occurring before. He watched the orange lit sky, gradually darkening in his view, and sighed at the beautiful sight.
    “Sînge,” He looked over, startled to his father’s voice, “see the adolescent to your far right?”
    “The desolate one?”
    His father nodded in reply. “That’s your mark.”
    Sînge looked at his father nodding in agreement and he lie down in position where his belly lay flat on the ground. His father did the same crawling adjacent to Sînge.
    He scanned the clearing for his target finding the small elk grazing on grass to his far right. Eyeballing his mark he raised his rifle preparing to neutralize the animal. When he was ready to pull the trigger his mind refused to pull it. He thought about the young creature he was bound to obliterate.
    Then abruptly, the young elk looked up meeting Sînge’s eyes for a moment. He couldn’t do it, he grew fond of the small elk in just five seconds. “I can’t…” he whispered to himself, but his father noticed his struggle, “I can’t…”
    His father’s hand came into his view, setting itself on Sînge’s rifle. “You don’t have to do this fiu.” His father said in a comforting voice. “It’s okay.”
    Sînge’s nodded, thanking him in his thought. They both stood up to return to their home. Sînge dusted off the earth on his stomach taking another glance at the adolescent. He sighed at the thought of his failure, but he just could not kill a creature that appeared innocent to him.
    As his father turned to walk away he paused crouching down. “Sînge!” He hissed waving Sînge to come to him. As he approached his father he pointed at something in the shadows.
    Curious, Sînge looked to the direction his father’s finger pointed, “What is it papa?”He scanned the bush, trying to spot anything different. “What do you see?”
    “Shhhhhh…” His father whispered getting lower on his knees.
    Sînge felt frustrated, “Tell me what do you se—” He stopped himself as he saw four lions closing in silently on the herd, their assumed prey. Sînge gasped, and turned to his father whom was now going the same direction the lions did. Sînge followed him in concern of the elk, unaware of the danger ahead of themselves.
    One of the mountain loins snarled, sending the rest charging toward their prey. Surprised one elk was brought down to the ground by one of the loin’s unbearable weight. Yelping in agony the elk thrashed about in the lion’s jaws, then with a sickening crunch, the elk was silenced.
    Sînge watched in horror as another one was devoured in front of him. In reply, he raised his rifle at the mountain lion and pulled the trigger. The shot echoed through the forest. His hand vibrated along with the handle of the gun making him drop it to the ground. Sînge groaned in pain as he grabbed his hand. He watched as the mountain lion lay there lifeless, and smiled at his success.
    He turned around and saw a mountain lion five feet away from where he stood in the air coming towards him. As a first impulse he jumped to his side to dodge the attack, but the mountain loin grabbed his shoulder and brought him down.
    He screamed as he struggled to keep the mountain lion’s jaw a few feet from his face. “Help!” He screamed. As the lions jaw was about to take a bite from his neck, the lion’s head made a sudden jerk as he heard a gun fire from behind.
    He pushed the lifeless lion off his torso, and got to his feet. “Watch yourself fiu.” His father tossed him his rife.
    Sînge caught it with one hand, and nodded at his father. He checked his ammunition; he had ten more bullets for backup on his belt.
    They both turned as they heard a growl from behind. Sînge watched in horror as he saw the adolescent elk alone, trapped from escape. Sînge aimed at the predator closing in, and shot his rifle. He shot a tree nearby, but totally missed his target. He cussed under his breath.
    The mountain lion looked toward his direction. As the lion was distracted, the small elk galloped further into the forest. Enraged the lion turned and pounced toward him. He shot his rifle again, making a direct impact on the beast’s heart. He waved his hand around the air in pain as the recoil sent another wave of pain through his forearm.
    He looked to his right as he saw two lions rush past him, sending his hair and coat billowing in the air. They were pursing the adolescent. Sînge watched in trepidation as they were getting closer to the helpless animal. He cussed loudly as his body jerked into a sprint, desperate to catch up with them. He rushed through the thick vegetation, nearly tripping on a twig laying on the ground. Searching for his father as he ran, he was disappointed to find him nowhere.
    He cocked his rifle as he ran and spotted the elk, trapped in a dead end, with the predators blocking its way. Pausing, he raised his rifle, and shot at the lioness that launched itself toward its lunch. It while in the air and crashed to the ground, sliding slowly extinct in front of the aware elk.
    The alpha male roared as it saw its mate lifeless in front of him. The young elk dashed past it desperately seeking escape, but the lion recovered from its lost and leaped into the air with innumerable force.
    Alertly, Sînge tossed his hunting knife, strapped on his belt, towards the airborne threat. The knife made a hard impact, which showed how much impact Sînge put into the weapon, on the lion’s neck. He was relieved at his hit, but was aghast as he saw the lion’s humongous body crash into the elk, which sent them rolling in the ground. “No!” He whispered as he ran towards their location.
    He saw the dead lion on top of the elk as he approached them. Terrorized, he pushed the lion’s heavy frame off of the helpless animal under, revealing the badly wounded elk. He rubbed its small head lightly with his palm, and at they very moment, his eyes met with the gentle creature’s own. He smiled weakly as a stream of tears escaped his eyes. He moved his hand to the creature’s chest, and felt the slow, deep heartbeat come to a devastating halt. He searched life in the animal’s eyes, but found none.
    “No….” Suddenly enraged, he grabbed his rifle and sought the murderer’s dead body. When he found it, he clubbed the lion’s lifeless form, not caring whether it was dead or not. He growled as he continued on beating the lion, sending blood flying into the musty air. He let a flood of tears break out from his swelling eyes as he shouted unintelligibly. Finally ceasing his massacre, his knees gave up, forcing him to land on his butt. Now sitting on the mossy grass, he spotted two remaining elk watching him, tilting their heads to their dead kin.
    His voice broke, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He shook his head as the two elk came to their child. The male elk nudge the adolescent’s lifeless body, urging it to life, but saw no change. The female tilted her head up wailing to the heavens, they both turned to leave, ruefully leaving their kin, lying their.
    Sînge felt anger as he thought about how it would’ve went if he had saved the helpless elk. He wished to go back and changed what had just happened. Nevertheless, he was only able to rest his head onto his scabbed knees, sobbing endlessly alone in the forest; he had forgotten about his father, whom was now searching for him, but was so far away.