2010-01-15: Poached

Starring:

Dee_V4icon.png

Guest Starring:

Poachers and Animals NPC'd by Endorphin

Date: January 15, 2010

Summary:

Africa isn't an easy place to live.


"Poached"

Botswana, Africa

The sun sits low in the horizon and the African grassland settles toward darkness. Long shadows stretch, and the sky gets a deep gray color. The gray doesn't come from the setting sun, but from the clouds of smoke that fill the air. The fire smolders on the scrub bushes, catching onto the dying grass, carried on the wind.

The vultures are the only animals who seem to be content, circling the sky above as they wait for the time they can land and begin picking at the bodies.

And there's plenty of bodies to go around. Spead out on the rocks lay the lions, some minus the heads, some without feet. A couple skinned right there, the meat left behind. An elephant lays not far away, accepted into the pride as family and a protector, tusks sawed off.

A truck is parked nearby, teaming with the sound of flies that brim over bloody sacks. Men stand nearby, all heavily armed. Dark and pale skinned alike. They scan the horizon for any sign of coming animals.

"< Get the male onto the truck. We can stuff him for a good price. >" The leader less in a native tongue, flashing white teeth as a few of the unarmed men move to grab the male, to heft him up onto the truck.

Daphne isn't always with her pride. A lot of times, she goes to the nearest village for supplies and company. Being able to speak with animals is all fine and good, but being around people is something that she truly needs sometimes.

She spotted the smoke from some distance away as she walked back, but imagined it to be a brush fire or something similar - natural - like so much has been around here lately. Peaceful. Poachers fear her, and rightfully so.

It rapidly became clear that the fire was no normal fire, though. As she started off at a run, she begged some creature to help her get closer. They were afraid, understandably. In the end, she convinced a zebra to take her within a mile before she allowed it to flee back to its herd.

Almost breathless, she stumbles into her home. It's nothing, really - a flat expanse of savanna with a small natural cave where she can stay during the cold nights. Dee thought of this pride as her family - her friends. Her protectors. Now, they're all gone.

She hopes Yossarian had the foresight to hide. She should hide, too, before they see her, but the bodies, and the staring eyes of those who still have their heads…

And the leader of the pride, the king, dead and being loaded onto a truck is just too much for her to take.

Please, she offers silently to the ones who managed to hide. Help me.

It would be easy to command them; the tempation is definitely there. But the fact of the matter is, more of them would die, and in the end, that's exactly what she wants to avoid. The only weapon she has is a machete strapped to her side, but it'll have to do. Unsheathing it, she takes a deep breath, then charges.

Many of the family and friends lay dead, but there are those that managed to get away. One voice in particular calls out. The vultures respond to the call first, landing not too far from her, but tilting their heads as if to ask where the food is. There's no food here. There is food not far. Just wait til danger loud noise makers leave. Once they realize food isn't going to come to them, they take off once again, gliding from overhead. Danger not gone yet. Will get food before the hyenas.

There are hyenas. Ones that make their way closer. If they help, they may be allowed to eat.

There is one voice that's exceptionally familiar. Bad men. Set fires and killed the king.

It's a tiny voice, coming closer, hiding in what remains of the brush. So small that the hunters probably gave no mind to it. After all, how much money would a little meerkat fetch, anyway? Not much. Same thing that protects the vultures.

A snake slithers close, hissing at the meerkat, but otherwise ignoring it.

It sounds corny, but Daphne understands the 'circle of life' made popular by the Lion King. She's not going to begrudge the vultures their need to eat, though she certainly wishes it wasn't the pride they were after.

It's okay, she tells Yossarian. It's not, but she doesn't want to scare him anymore than he already is.

Before the poachers see her, she senses the presense of the hyenas. They aren't the bad animals that Hollywood makes them out to be; in fact, they're sweet, family-oriented, intelligent, and playful. They also hunt more and steal less than lions - point of fact - but no animal is going to pass up the chance for a free meal. She can't hold that against them anymore than she can hold it against the vultures.

Crouching down in a patch of long grass that isn't yet burned, she contemplates her options. Charge in alone, or ask the hyenas to help. Can you get behind them?" she asks.

The hyena, a mother of a group, in fact, gives a small reply telepathically, agreeing to the situation. She makes a half barking sound that seems to call out to them, but it attracts some of the attention of the pouchers, as they drop the male lion into the truck bed. "< We have everything we need. We should get out of here and let the scavangers have the place. >" the leader says, spitting a bit at the dirt as the fire continues to spread. The fire had been set to scar the animals off, but there were other reasons as well. Terror. It's not just the animals they were after.

"< The lady won't like this. >"

"< If the lady shows up, she'll be killed. No one will mourn for her. >"

No one, that is, except those who would miss her. But this man seems to believe none of those exist. A shot is fired into the air, aiming towards the sound of the hyena, but it doesn't hit, throwing up some dirt, but harming no one. The meerkat shivers, crowering in close, wanting to bolt under ground at the noise.

The hyena moves, staying close to the ground, and gets joined by an older daughter, and another, and then a son. Some are visibly younger, but they respect the lady. And they wish to serve as they move around to get to the other side.

There would be a lot who would be upset if Daphne suddenly died, among which are a whole bunch of animals.

She's dealt with this before, so it should be easy, right? Sure, there were o fires, no dead lions, but it can't be that much different than usual.

Resting close to the ground, she lets go of the machete long enough to mop one arm across her forehead. The jog in the hot African sun, whether or not it's close to nightfall, was enough to completely wear her out. Maybe she should just accept her losses, find another pride, start over.

Her fingers curl around the handle of the blade again. Everything is screaming at her that this is a bad idea, but all her thoughts on the matter are jumbled together so much so that any rational thought is pushed to the side. Her feet are moving before she realises it, carrying her toward the poachers. Adrenaline aids her sprint.

The truck starts up, while the hyenas continue to move around, to get into a flanking position. The men haven't all piled in, in fact most of them still stand around, assessing the situation. One asks the other a question about a female that's been left mostly intact.

"< Shouldn't we take that one? >"

The dark skinned man who seems to be in charge doesn't notice the approaching hyena, using the fire they set to mask his approach, answering in a thick voice, "< Don't bother. That one was pregnant. It wouldn't be worth stuffing. >" He even goes as far as to kick the dead female in the stomach, as if her state of pregnancy had ruined her value.

Suddenly, the hyena leaps out of the smoke and fire, jumping on one of the paler men with a gun. The rifle fires, alerting the group and drawing eyes— drawing them away from the sprinting lady of the wilds.

Powerful teeth rip into skin on the man's arm, as a sister sprints up and leaps at the feet, trying to hamstring.

The man in charge yells, trying to give orders, and then raises his rifle to fire at the nearest hyena. Not seeing Dee as she closes in.

It's hard to imagine what the lions went through before they were so brutally slaughtered. They could have run away… why didn't they? Was the attack too quick? Did they take Dee's request as an order?

There are tears in her eyes, though none of this will really hit her until later, she thinks, when she has some time to go over what went wrong. She had to leave, had to be around people for a little while, unable to choose one over the other…

The hyenas are a distraction, and a good, well-coordinated one at that. It gives the woman enough time to bring her machete down onto the first man she reaches, cutting through skin, muscle, and bone. The slice is deep, but whether or not it's survivable is up in the air; Daphne's got her eyes on the man calling the shots, and raises the blade again.

Speed might have had a lot to do with it. But it could have been a telepathic missunderstanding. A decision to defend their home and stay where they were because of things said by the lady that they respect and cared for. Who knows what long term effect her ability could have on these animals. Everything she says could have been taken as an order, after a time.

The man she reaches yells, cut deep, but not fatal if he manages to get to a hospital quickly. A third hyena leaps out to support, distracting the downed man and keeping him from drawing his rifle upon the woman.

A shot fires.

The female hyena that tried to hamstring one of the men goes down, twitching with a bullet in her head. She won't be alive much longer. The hyenas hesitate, some considering retreat, but fighting their own instincts and continuing the attack.

The man calling the shots yells out, "< Shoot her! >" as he sees Dee approaching, trying to reload his rifle in time— she's going to reach him first.

And the other men suddenly find themselves with quite a distraction, in the form of snakes that answered her call, striking at ankles and knees, and the rest of the family oriented hyenas, avenging the death of their sister.

A red splash flies through the air as the machete slashes across the chest of the leader. It was powerful enough to incapacitate him, but balance quickly becomes an issue for Dee. Placing one hand on the ground to steady herself, she turns around in time to see one of the hyenas being fatally shot.

If she can help it, Daphne doesn't kill. She doesn't like it. It's been inevitable, though, while she's been here, always passing it off as a necessity. When it comes right down to it, though, it's hard to rationalise taking a life, no matter how many times she does it. Most would consider that a good thing, because it means she's still got a conscience. She can't finish off the wounded man.

With animals to fight for her, she's also not much of a combat expert. Being in the middle of things as she currently is, she's out of her element. When she turns to face another man with a rifle pointed at her, she doesn't even consider the fact that the leader would still have enough in him to—

Well, she's not sure what happens, but one moment, she can hear the roar of fires, the growl of the hyenas, the angry hissing of snakes… And then, a sharp pain through the back of her skull, the grass coming up to meet her face, and darkness.

TO BE CONTINUED??

dee
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