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The two Jennifers fell back Jennifer B sank to her knees Her strength was gone She let the machete fall from her hand

"I," she said, but had no second word She tried to stand but couldn’t

"We have to get help," Jennifer L said But she too had sunk to her knees

Jennifer L tried to stand but sat down again Jennifer B crawled back to her room She wanted to help Jennifer L, she did But she couldn’t even help herself

Jennifer B struggled to push herself up and into her bed Need help, she thought Hospital Lana

So part of her delirious mind understood that the best she could hope to accomplish for noas to reach the sanctuary of her bed

But finally even that was tooup at her bed, at the th she pulled the mess of dirty sheets and blankets down on top of herself

She coughed into the once-soft quilt she’d taken fro on Hunter’s shoulder didn’t hurt But it did distract hi Old Lion

The mountain lion never bothered Hunter The mountain lion didn’t want to eat Hunter Or maybe it did, but it had never tried

But Hunter had to kill the mountain lion because Old Lion had stolen too many of Hunter’s own kills Old Lion crept around behind Hunter after he had taken a deer Hunter was off chasing other prey and Old Lion had snuck around and dragged off Hunter’s deer

Old Lion was just doing what he had to do It wasn’t personal Hunter didn’t hate Old Lion But just the sa off with the food for the kids

Hunter hunted for the kids That’s what he did That’s who he was He was Hunter the hunter For the kids

Old Lion was out of the woods now, over the hill, over where the dry lands started and the rocks grew big Old Lion was heading ho back to his lair He would spend the day lying out on the sun-baked rocks and toasting his bones

Hunter walked carefully, weight balanced, light on his feet, quick but not rushing Dangerous to rush about with nothing but ht to show the way

He had learned a lot about hunting The killing power froet close to make it work That meant he had to really concentrate, which was hard ever since his brain had gotten hurt He couldn’t concentrate enough to read or remember lots of words And words still came out of his mouth all messed up But he could concentrate on this: on swift and quiet walking, on weaving through the red rocks while keeping his eyes peeled for the cat’s faint star-silvered tracks in the little deposits of sand

And he had to look out for Old Lion changing hishe would like him a tasty boy after all Old Lion didn’t just steal food, he killed it, too Hunter had seen hi, quivering with anticipation as Old Lion watched a stray dog

Old Lion had exploded out of cover and crossed one hundred feet in about one second Like a bullet out of a gun His big paws had caught the dog before the dog could even flinch Long, curved claws, fur, blood, a desperate whine fro his ti bite to the back of the dog’s neck

Old Lion was already a hunter back when Hunter was just a regular kid sitting in class, raising his hand to answer questions and reading and understanding and being s But he didn’t know that Hunter was co after him

Hunter smelled the cat He was close He smelled of dead meat Dried blood

Hunter was below a tall boulder He froze, realizing suddenly that Old Lion was right above him He wanted to run, but he knew that if he backed up, the cat would drop on him He was safer closer to the rock Old Lion couldn’t drop straight down