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Aso terrible that it had been buried in my brain for thirteen years My aunt, Effie Reynolds, and her daughter, Lucy, were attacked by a pack of Russian boar when I was five years old The only reason they hadn’t attacked hs of a sturdy pine When she tried to push Lucy up, Aunt Effie was gored in the back I still reh her was ’s face

Lucy fell to the ground when her ored The boar killed her instantly I started screah for Aunt Effie to pull through She hung on to life and died three days later in the hospital That was the worst day of my life And the day I h my brain in less than a second I knew these animals They were the same type of creatures that had killedwas out of the question I needed to get away or be slaughtered

I dug round, crouched low, and prepared to leap The deep, gravelly growl of a big cat vibrated in the air and ers joined the circle of animals, two behind me and one in front They stood amidst the smaller animals and devoured me with their eyes The other animals, natural prey of theseEven the wolves no longer stood on their hind legs, but hunched low to the ground, groveling My storowing ser--at least I hoped I could But three? And what happened if one got in front of me while the other tere onCoers, I was scrawny as a chicken

The three tigers, as if of one mind, started slowly, silently, to close in on lossy coats, but I knew they were staring atWith every predatory step they took, ine being scratched to shreds, gnawed to pieces I was about to die

And, broken heart or not, I was not ready

Once again, round for purchase Muscles bunched and strained, and with every ounce of strength I possessed, I leaped, gliding in a giant, soaring arc past the perier had anticipatedat the exact same instant I had My body ca on stone Maybe it expected ain and ran into the trees, it didn’t follow

Faster than I’d ever run before, I sprinted down the clearest path, a forgotten, wind-rutted dirt road I heard no pursuit froainst it I had to run or die The road curved to the right, and I followed, though s with every inhale

In the shapeless shadow of an ancient pine, I paused and scanned s, desperate for a way to stay alive to see the sunrise Above a giant hill of dirt, a red flag flapped feebly I was in the wide juniper valley that stretched below Evening Hill--the place Bridger and I had had a picnic A burst of hope gave o on

I ran toward that hill, for I had a plan

At the top, the scent of Bridger beca and fresh, I actually feared for his life I would fight the tigers to keep hi Hill and awaitedthem toward me Like noiseless shadows they appeared at the foot of the hill, their dark eyes unnatural voids on theirup afterers were not chasing me--I mean, they were, but they had human minds

Just

Like

Me

Shock overwhel who could turn into an animal at will But that meant the boars that killed Aunt Effie and Lucy were not anis that possessed a conscience and the ability to know right fro Humans had murdered Aunt Effie and Lucy