The Rising Dead by Stella Green Read Free Book Online Page B

people. It was enough.
    More animals joined in the calls. There was agitation in the trees. It seemed like the whole jungle was leaping from limb to limb and crying out in panic. Half a dozen different birds were all calling out frantically. The screeching was definitely monkeys. Above him, he could see them shaking branches like they were shaking their fists at someone. He wondered what was scaring them. Was it him? Were they so isolated that a human could cause this much fear? He stopped and stood still next to a tree. The terror above him seemed to settle down, but it didn’t stop. The scent of moldering plants that enveloped the jungle was stronger, seemingly increased by the commotion. He listened for trouble. Except for a fuzzy brown spider that had fallen onto his arm, he couldn’t hear or see anything to worry about. With a quick movement he sent the spider flying back to the trees.
    A few minutes after he returned to beating a path with his walking stick, a panicked mule deer nearly ran into him. Then he heard a human shrieking like thefishermen had. The Stranger ran toward the sound as fast as the jungle allowed, until he found the source—a jaguar dragging a boy. At first he thought the cat had the boy by the throat, but the animal’s teeth were sunk into the child’s shoulder next to the neck. When the jaguar saw the Stranger, it leapt eight feet onto a branch, still holding its prey, and began to climb up the tree, carrying the boy like he was a kitten. The big cat paused to growl down at the Stranger, then chewed the boy’s shoulder, causing fresh screaming. In Mexico, the Stranger had heard of these big cats, but it was rare to see one. He couldn’t help being awed by the beauty of its hypnotic spots and the power of its massive muscles.
    The cat crouched, preparing to leap to a higher branch, so the Stranger jumped up and poked the cat hard in the ribs with his walking stick. Pain and surprise caused it to let go of the boy, who tumbled down from the tree. In one motion, the Stranger caught him and tossed him gently to the side as the cat growled and leapt. While it was still in the air, the Stranger cracked it on its head. The jaguar changed direction, but not before catching the Stranger’s upper arm with its claws and leaving a long, bloody trail of scratches.
    Hitting the ground, the cat leapt a short distance away and turned to study the Stranger. Stunned and missing a tooth, it growled but seemed confused and hesitant to attack. Jaguars were kings here and the Stranger had upset the order of things. The cat snarled and growled again, but it was slowly backing up. Then it disappeared behind a wall of ferns and vines. There was no way to know if it was gone or just planning another attack.
    After quickly looking the boy over, he asked the child questions in Spanish, but he spoke only Mayan, a language the Stranger had not yet learned. The boy’s wounds were deep. Still, the Stranger believed the boy could survive. He pantomimed eating andsleeping, and when the boy pointed out a direction, the Stranger picked him up and began moving through the rainforest as fast as he could. A few hundred yards later he heard monkeys squealing overhead and stopped to look behind him for the jaguar. As the moments passed, the Stranger became impressed by the boy’s stillness and quiet. He was clearly a child of the jungle who understood how to hunt.
    Pink orchids swayed even though there was no breeze. Behind them he could see the cat’s yellow eyes. If it hadn’t moved, the Stranger wouldn’t have been able to see it, because its jungle camouflage was amazing. As if it knew it had been spotted, the cat climbed a huge cedar tree and crawled out on a limb to watch them.
    The Stranger knew the jaguar would continue to follow them and eventually attack from behind. With the child in his arms, the Stranger would not be able to fight. He had to end this now. He laid the boy on the ground and faced up to the big cat.