Broken Wings by Alexandrea Weis Read Free Book Online Page A

keys. After she had secured her rifle, she started the vehicle and headed for the woods.
    A few feet into the thick brush around her property, she found the old trail she used to travel to the feeders that sustained the released animals throughout the cold winters. Normally the feeders would be empty this time of year, but because of the unusually cold winter Louisiana had just endured, Pamela had opted to stock the feeders for another month until spring was firmly entrenched. As she maneuvered the ATV through the high shrubs and around the low tree limbs covering the trail, she continually checked for her rifle. No one should ever be caught out in the thick brush without a weapon. Most animals would run from the approaching sounds and smells of a human, but wild boar, indigenous to the area, were especially aggressive in the spring. Mothers had baby piglets to protect from predators, and they could badly maim, or even kill, when encountered.
    After ten minutes of negotiating through the dense vegetation, Pamela came upon a small clearing and the first of four feeders located on her property. The feeder was nothing more than an empty metal barrel with large holes drilled into the sides along the bottom. A mixture of corn, seeds, and nuts would be poured into the top of the barrel and as the animals removed the food from around the bottom of the barrel, more food would filter out through the holes.
    Pamela pulled her vehicle up next to the feeder and left the motor running as she climbed off the ATV and went over to the barrel. Lifting the heavy top of the barrel and looking inside, she could see that the barrel was still full of food. Pamela let the lid drop with a bang and then stepped back to her vehicle.
    A loud rustling from the bushes off to her left distracted her. Instinctively, Pamela reached for her gun on the back of the ATV and stood watching the brush where the noise had emanated from. Then a long angry grunt came from inside the dense foliage in front of her. As her body tensed, she lifted the rifle and aimed in the direction of the noise. Seconds later, a huge black ball of fur came barreling out of the brush directly toward her. She fired one shot above the creature’s head and saw the animal immediately halt. It was a large black bear, probably female, Pamela surmised. Black bears were common in Louisiana, but they usually never ventured this far south. The animal stared at her, rocking back and forth on its front feet, as if debating the prudence of pursuing an attack. Then from the brush behind the bear, a small black face emerged, and then a second face popped out next to the first. Pamela stood motionless while keeping her eyes peeled on the mother black bear. The stand off seemed to go on for several agonizing minutes, until the bear emitted a low, deep growl. Pamela raised the barrel of her rifle and fired.
    *  *  *  *
    “Pamela!” Daniel’s frantic scream pieced through the woods.
    He ran toward the sound of the gunshots and called out again and again for the woman.
    “Pamela, can you hear me?” he shouted and would stop running only long enough to listen for a reply. But there was none.
    He ran on, figuring he must be coming closer to the origin of the two shots he had heard. But as he fought his way through the brush, he could feel that familiar pang of dread start to tangle his gut. His heart was racing and his breath seemed to burn like fire in his chest. The panic, God the panic ! he thought to himself. It was eating him up. He tried to think of the techniques he had been taught to control the powerful flood of adrenalin in his veins, but no peaceful thoughts of sandy beaches or cool ocean breezes were going to allay the absolute terror that was raging through his body. What if he couldn’t find her? What if she was wounded, or worse? Frightful scenarios, with the force of a tsunami, began to slam, one after the other, into his mind. Then, he heard the sound of an engine idling close by.