Savariana

Chapter Eight

Mason woke up in a dark, cold place. He tried to stand up, but he hit his head againts a metal celing. He glanced around. He was surrounded by metal bars. He was in a cage. He didn't know if he was still at the zoo. He cowered down with fears when he heard footsteps.

The cheetah peered through the bars and saw a human walking up to his cage. It dragged the cage outside. Mason inhaled the air. There were so many familiar scents None of them reminded him of the zoo. He was back in Africa.

The human opened up the cage door. Mason glanced back and fourth, and then walked out. He watched the human place the cage in the trunk of a truck and drive away into the distance.

"I didn't get to say goodbye to Jake," Mason chirped to himself. He laid down on the savannah grass. The air was much dryer than the air in the zoo. He wanted to go back into the cool indoors, but he knew there were none out here. He stood up and glanced around. He was starting to feel parched.

Mason began walking through the savannah, in search of water. He saw a lake in the distance. He raced up to it and stood on it's shore, glaring at the lake water. He would rather have clear, clean human water than bacteria-filled lake water. He sighed and lapped it up. It was a bit cool, but a bit warm. He swallowed it and sat down.

There was a female cheetah on the other side of the lake. Mason walked around the lake and walked up to her. She looked familiar. He wanted to get her scent, so he sniffed her.

"Hey!" The female hissed. She smacked Mason right on his face with her paw. "Stop that, you creep!"

"Ouch!" Mason moaned. "I'm sorry! You just look familiar."

The cheetah gazed at him and chirped, "Jasiri? Is that you?"

"Maisha?" Mason was surprized. "You remembered me!"

Maisha purred and smiled. "You're alive! I thought the humans took you away- Wait....what's on your neck?"

Mason looked down at his neck. There was a black radio collar on him. "Oh, this? This is just a thing the humans put on me so they know where I am."

"They did what?" Maisha snarled bitterly. She slashed her claws at Mason's face. "Jasiri, you're such a fool! Get out of here, or those humans will take me away too!"

"My names not Jasiri anymore!" The male snarled. "It's Mason. The humans don't want to take you away. They just want to help cheetahs! There are some bad humans that kill us, but there are also some good humans that want to help us!"

"All humans are the same!" Maisha hissed.

"They're not!" Mason growled. "I know that because I was with the humans for a few months. They took care of me. I lived in a zoo and-"

"What the heck is a zoo?"

"It's a place where humans keep animals so they can be safe. See? Humans help animals!"

Maisha spat, "Cheetahs don't need to be held captive by humans! We are fine wild!"

"But you'll live longer in a zoo!"

"What happened to you? You're not the Jasiri I remember."

Mason spat, "I have a new name now!"

Maisha chirped, "So you hate the name your mother gave you?"

The male cheetah gasped and cowered down. "No, I don't. My zoo name was Mason. But now that I'm here again, I am now Jasiri."

Jasiri's sister sighed. "Okay. Please, take that thing off!"

"Don't you see?" Jasiri complained. "I can't. It won't come off."

Maisha rolled her eyes. "Fine. Keep that stupid thing on your neck."

"Where's Savariana?" Jasiri asked.

"She left the lake," Maisha chirped. "She wanted to see new places. I just wanted to stay here. There's plenty to eat. Speaking of eating, you're not as skinny as I remembered you were."

Jasiri rolled his eyes. "Again with this? Ugh. Well, in the zoo, there is no need to hunt."

Maisha growled, "Then what do you eat?"

"Meat that has allready been killed."

"So, you eat carcasses?" Maisha grimaced. "That's gross!"

"No! It's fresh meat. It tastes like antelope." Jasiri sighed with releif.

His sister rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Well, while you were gone, the savannah has been named Savariana. All of the cheetahs called it that."

"Savariana?" Jasiri smiled. "Cool. I wish I had a savannah named after me."

Maisha laughed. "That'll never happen. Keep on dreaming, brother."

"Oh, believe me. I will."