The Prey

It was a silent dark and a stormy night. The lamps had long been put out by the wind. It howled through the trees moaning about the bad weather. The trees rustled in agreement to the winds rants. The moon too was covered in clouds and it was pitch dark. It had rained incessantly through the night and the blackness after sundown only added to the gloom. An owl hooted in the far distance. The light of the church could have afforded some visibility, but that too was broken when a branch of a nearby tree snapped and smashed into it. The earth was strewn with leaves, gnarled branches of tress, grass; and snakes. They had crawled out of their flooded holes into the open. An untrained eye would not last for more than a minute in this quagmire.

It was a challenging task for even Jacob to see. Gifted with a keen vision, his mates had joked that he could have spotted an ant crawling on sand, a mile off. He and his mates had decided to set out on this risky mission tonight. The weather would have provided excellent cover, and an attack under the cover of darkness would not have raised too much concern, since, no one would have been about, to witness the gory sight. The wind moaned louder as if premeditating what was to happen.

"It’s fate; somebody has to die here, tonight; So that my family may live.” Jacob steeled his heart with the thought.

Pushing images of a hungry Dora, Kim and Ian looking up to him to provide, he tried to focus his attention to the task at hand. The rain had tapered off into a slight drizzle and the moon broke thorough the clouds as if a curtain had risen. The wind died down and waited with bated breath. The drama was soon to begin. Jacob drew in a long breath and tried to bring about focus. He knew that the hour of action had drawn close. Years of hunting in the wilderness had attuned his senses to his surroundings. He had developed, what some had called, a sixth sense.

“The game is afoot!” his keen senses were telling Jacob.

The moon afforded some light that filtered through the thick tree cover and lent a deathly grey pallor to the earth below. The flints of broken jagged glass glinted dully on the wet earth. One of the glints was blotted out for a second and reappeared again.

Jacobs keen eyes immediately picked up movement to the south. His heightened senses knew that it was his target.

He gave a low hoot to signal to his mates.

They were far off but they would have known the unmistakable hunting signal.

"You are mine tonight..." Thought Jacob as he swung away from his perch high up on the tree branch.

His target heard the rustling and darted in mortal fear.  In one graceful glide all was over.

The mouse never stood a chance!