Baptized in Fire

The cold morning forces me out of my tent,I throw my hands over the glowing coals of my campfire. The forest is quiet, no animal sounds, no wildlife giving proof it is still alive. My girls are sleeping still. They are scared, hungry and cold. Our city has been burned to ash along with society as we know. The blood and soot still burns my eyes. Exhausted from the battle, I managed to get my wife and newborn daughter out of harm’s way. Yet, the cost has been great. Unknown entities, came down from the sky. Alien creatures emerging themselves into the human livestock and went into a full feeding frenzy. Unfortunately for others, I was more prepared than my peers. So many good people gone, so many innocent souls have departed from the land of the living. The weight of this loss is heavy enough to break and shatter anyone’s spirit. As a man, I have a duty, an obligation to my girls. Hopelessness and despair are not luxuries I am allowed to experience.

My preparedness got us out alive, but it is not enough to sustain the three of us. The newborn needs to feed constantly putting a strain on my wife’s body. They need to eat. I hear rustling from the tent, no doubt an empty growling stomach has them awake. I have dreamt of such dire situations, but this time I cannot simply open my eyes and escape it. My wife emerges from the tent, clutching our daughter, Lana. My wife, Athena is wrapped up tight in a wool blanket. I see her eyes, they drive me to embrace my savage spirit and venture out on a hunt.

Pounding hooves catch my attention. I grab my rifle, my own creation. Through the thick tropical brush, an masculine Stag comes forth. He stands in front of me with pure nobility and honor. His antlers immaculate and proud. They curve and climb toward the skies. I take aim through my scope. Yet, I cannot pull the trigger. I lower my gun, and he approaches slowly. He slightly bows his head. I reach out with my shivering hand and touch the tip of his snout. I gently rub up to his forehead. He pushes into my hand and for a second our heartbeats unify. A whine sounds out. A young fawn follows into its fathers hoof prints. I know now why the universe has put our paths together. The bold stag looks at me, with scars around his neck and torso. He is a warrior, like me, he is fighting for what he loves, surviving for what he has been given, a beautiful life. This story book interaction gives me deeper hope, a purpose to keep on fighting for life. Athena watches the pair continue gracefully into the dark forest. She is perplexed on why I did not seize such an easy opportunity for meat. It is a notion I cannot explain. We men are savage, brutal, but the real of us have honor, a universal code that we dare not breach for the sake of our survival.

Branches crunching draw my attention to the opposite side of camp. A panther wanders into our humble abode. The second red flag of this morning. Whatever hit the city, must be in the woods now. The golden cat walks to the fire pit, unbothered by human presence. I can tell when it lays down it is another male beast. It lets off a heavy sigh and stares at me with despair, with hunger.

“I feel you brother.” I whisper to myself.

I grab my rifle and head west. There is a small lake, a pond at best, only a few minutes of walking distance. I call to the panther with a dry raspy whistle which is all that my beaten body could muster. Like an obedient dog he follows me. We reach the lake quickly, with its murky waters and thick vegetation making fishing a waste of time. I could spend all day fishing for half a meal for one. But in these swampy landscapes I am after something more viable. The panther growls and shows his fangs.

“I see it to my friend.” I say to him as if he understands me. The ripples and wake like waves giveaway the dinosaur’s intent. Gator tail, chicken of the swamp, will be a nice meal for days. The gator dives deep out of my sight. However, my feline hunter, never loses it. The panther creeps along the shoreline, stalking it. It begins to paw and swat, letting me know the gator is surfacing. I aim my rifle knowing I may only have one shot. The hard leather skin breaches the surface. The yellow ancient eye sees the light and open air. Crack! My rifle rips through with true aim. The gator rolls over on its back. The panther dives in and grabs the beast by its tail, pulling it onto shore. He tries to bite into it. I shoo him off. I cannot risk his overindulgence to ruin my meal. I pull my knife from the safety of its sheath and slice into the gator. I harvest the tail as the panther paces and growls like a hungry pup. I retrieve what I want and walk away. I hear the crunching as the big cat dives into his breakfast, possibly the first in weeks.

I head back to camp with my prize. Athena smiles as she sees I am carrying food.

“I knew you would get something.” She proclaims her confidence in me. Obligation, duty, “being a man”. Things I have heard my whole life. They called it toxic before the sky fell. Toxic, what a shame to call generations of success. We are wretched things, but into our barbarism is where we are forged into the men who rush into burning buildings, step in front of a hail of bullets, rush into foreign lands for the sake of freedom, fighting wars that most lack the understanding of what they are about. We are raised by the brutality of challenging one another, not for some mental insanity, but to battle harden ourselves, so that we may be the best we can become, so that our ancestors may lay to rest with pride knowing we have taken their torch to new light. Men, barbaric fools, but it is our foolishness that drives our creations, our innovations. We come from ancestors that survived the plague, the wars, that stood on the edge of the cliffs shouting at the darkest storms, “I will not bow to you, you will bow to me!” We fail and fail, with the hope of only needing to succeed once in our lives. We are savage, beautifully flawed, and when the dire situations arise like this current one, we recognize that the universe has failed in challenging us, that it is now the galaxy’s turn. The galaxy will learn as this universe has, we were born for this, we were bred for survival, and we will die on our feet in the fires of hell before we allow harm to come to our families. We do not complain or forsaken this duty, this oath we take at birth, but we are emboldened by it, it is the blood in our veins.

The sizzling from the gator tail in oil, brings my wife out to the fire. The panther returns with dead dinosaur on his face. His tongue whips around cleaning the savory flesh from his whiskers. He growls, startling a shriek from wife. I stand up. I know what he sees, what he hears, what he smells. I put the remainder of food in a sack and throw the pack over my wife’s back. I hand her my rifle and we say our goodbyes. I keep it light as my heart beats like the war drums from times of old. I have no need for my gun, as I have limited ammo, using the bulk of it to escape the city. The last of it will get my wife a good head start.

I grab my ax and machete. The panther paces, growling begging for the beasts that have trespassed into his forest to come forth.

I grunt, amping up my testosterone to max levels. I see the drooling alien fangs peeking through the dim brush. Appearing as big wolves wrapped in alligator hides, they circle us. The panther roars what it can.

“Yes, that’s it brother, let them know we are here, let them come.” I say loudly to him. The aliens seem reluctant, they seem too patient. What are they waiting for? One approaches slowly, mouth closed as if he is more curious than hungry. The panther slashes it in the face, sending it back in retreat. There is no treaty here. The panther and I are brothers, born from the same mother of our planet. These invaders will feel our grit. More time passes as we remain surrounded. This is good. The more time my girls have to escape, the better. Battle hardened, forged in in this world we men stand our ground. The aliens remain at bay. I have grown impatient, tired of the wait. I yell out a battle cry and charge forward. This startles the panther but he recovers and sprints forward. The alien creatures turn and run back. They are powerful, fast, and disappear from my sight. The panther stops and returns to our sanctuary. What happened? They were ferocious, merciless when they first hit the ground. These beasts were different, skittish, passive compared to the city invasion. No matter, I have survived another day. I pack up my camp and head toward my girls, my family. The panther takes one look back, his head held high as he has proven to himself he is not afraid. We have proven we will not depart this world on our knees. We have claimed, “We are the emperors of our domains!”