Patagonia

Puma

~Jasper~

Another month passed bringing winter ominously closer to our door. The fish completely vanished, most of the lake became frozen over. My hunt for food grew increasingly more disappointing.

Growing inwardly panicked, I began secretly fending off most of my rations to Abby. Her frame was beginning to look gaunt and her energy levels were crumbling by the day. On the rare occasions I was able to nab us a deer with my makeshift bow and arrows, the mood around would change for a few sparse days of hope.

When I felt my own body beginning to decline, hunting became a desperate task, an excruciating endeavor. I couldn't stop though. The moment I laid down was the moment we both starved or froze to death.

One night in November, I held Abby close to me after having her legs parted for my mouth for nearly an hour. I blamed our lovemaking on most of our spent energy, but I considered it a necessity to say the least. I needed her like I needed water to drink, food to eat, sun to shine upon my face.

I stopped thinking about the future, only enjoying the present and the fleetingness of our created haven. Even if we made it out of this place alive, I couldn't begin to fathom what my life would be like once she was gone from it. She loved to argue otherwise, but deep down I knew what was inevitably coming.

A faint rustle of leaves alerted me of another presence outside the shelter. Gently moving Abby's sleeping body off my chest and onto the mossy bed, I pulled my jacket up over her shoulders higher before silently getting up.

Barely lifting the door flap, my eyes narrowed in on the darkness of the wooded night. A large, black shadow sauntered around the shelter only four or five yards away in the trees.

Shit.

Quickly and stealthily, I dropped the flap and moved to grab the spear I had crafted out of some driftwood.

Abby stirred in the bed.

"Baby?" She called out sleepily. I turned and dropped down, shushing her before kissing her lips.

"Keep quiet, don't move." I murmured back almost imperceptibly. She seemed to sense my alertness for she immediately nodded with wide eyes while sitting more upright.

"Stay here." I repeated adamantly before caressing her cheek and standing to my feet.

"Okay." She answered, tracing her hand against my leg.

I swallowed down the nervous adrenaline that had always used to hit me in waves during my time in the military. Quickly, I switched my mental state to go-or-fucking-go mode as I reopened the tent flap and searched for the puma.

He was directly on the other side of the tent, digging and sniffing for the rabbit I had caught earlier.

If I could kill this creature, that would be enough sustanence to see us through another month.

I raised my spear, taking a quick inhale of breath.

My heart pounded deafiningly inside my own ears.

The puma suddenly turned and ran off into the woods.

My hand dropped the spear to the ground. I exhaled and slumped down, shaking subtly from the adrenaline.

Abby's arms wrapped around my waist then. My hand instinctively found hers as I caressed her fingers and breathed in the comforting scent of her, drawing peace from her chest pressed against my back.

"It'll be be back." I said quietly, breaking the silence.

"We'll be ready." She answered. I vaguely smiled while squeezing her hand tighter. Inwardly, my mood was anything but calm. I was pissed at that cat for trying to steal my hard-earned game. I wanted to spear it and eat it for breakfast, let it be a lesson to any other predator out there that thought about stealing our food.