The Hunt

The sun shone through the trees of the jungle as a tiger and her young cub walked along peacefully. The birds were chirping and all seemed well. The young cub was busy gnawing at his mother’s tail as it swished back and forth through the air, while the mother tiger was in search for food. Suddenly she heard loud chatter. She perked her ears up listening carefully. The young cub stopped playing with its mother’s tail and looked around in the trees.  Loud crackling of leaves and twigs could be heard above the noisy chatter. The mother prodded her cub along, knowing it was hunters. She had been hunted before, but that was before she had a cub to protect. The sound of the hunters was getting closer and closer. She quickened her pace staying close to her cub. Suddenly a hunter broke through the brush to their right. As soon as he saw them he jumped back. He then lifted his rifle and shot directly at them. The bullet hit the mother in the leg and she let out a loud yelp. The loud footsteps of the rest of the hunters could be heard running towards them. “What’d ya get.” One of the hunters yelled. The hunter that had shot the tiger struggled frantically to reload his gun. The tiger cub began to run as fast as it could, into the trees, away from the hunters, the mother limping close behind. Another shot rang out as a bullet landed close to them. Suddenly there were bullets flying all around them, the rest of the hunters were now shooting at them. One of the hunter’s bullets hit the mother in the side. She fell down unable to run, bleeding out. The cub stopped running and walked over to his mother. He began to whine and nudged her with his nose, trying to get her to get up. The mother licked him affectionately. The hunters could be heard cheering and congratulating themselves, arguing over who hit her.  The mother nudged her cub away. He immediately walked back over to her, whining. The mother pushed away again, trying to get him to run. Finally the cub started running into the brush as the hunters jogged closer. Just before he disappeared into the brush he stopped and turned around, giving his mother a longing look, still hoping she would get up. The hunters reached her and circled her. One of the hunters took a shot at the cub. The cub started running as fast as he could into the trees. The hunter started chasing him, then one of the hunters said, “Let him go, this big one will do just fine.” A single shot could be heard as the cub ran far away.