Chapter 2

We soon crossed US 80 and, a while later, the divided four lane that was GA 96. We stopped there as we saw the first casualty in this situation.

At the far edge of Georgia 96, a deer lay. It had obviously fallen and broke a leg coming off the pavement. The surprising part was that it had been partially eaten. We suspected that there were bears or big cats involved in this pack, but this was the first indication that meat eaters would eat meat from their own group. We were all surprised. The body was barely a day old suggesting that the pack had laid up somewhere ahead of us but not far.

Before the Day, this area had been prime farmland though had gone wild. We could see where it appeared to have been harvested much like Dan's farm. My question was "why come so far up to Dan's?" There were other places closer with acceptable pickings.

I didn't realize that I had said it loud enough to be heard. Ted responded, "It's not the amount of corn but the type. This is different from what Dan's growing and maybe they needed that type for whatever they consider proper nutrition."

Just a few miles later, the track began to bend west. I got out my maps. I told our point persons by radio, "It looks like they might be headed for Lake Eufaula on the old state line. There's nothing else close to their track."

Bennie came on and said, "We agree. We are continuing to follow the track unless you say differently."

"Roger." I replied. "Keep going."

I sent a two-man party directly west to the Chattahoochee River and told them to report to me when they reached the river and then head south. I received a double click from Bennie's radio in acknowledgment when I made the announcement. An hour and a half later, Tim reported that he and Ed had reached the Chattahoochee and were proceeding south along the bank cautiously. Bennie double clicked again.

Another hour passed and Ted came on the air whispering, "We have found their stopping point and they are still here. Janice and Bennie are on watch right now. I am going up the trail to either leave a sign for you to stop or meet you. Tim, Ed, come very slowly and cautiously. These are animals and not men. Their senses are much more acute. If we alert you, head north fast and keep going until someone tells you it's okay to stop."

Half an hour later, Ted came on and said, "Tim, Ed, stop there. You're close enough. Stay close to your horses. A couple of heads raised up just a minute ago in your direction."

"Roger."

An hour went by and it was starting to get dark. We had long since found the marked stopping point. Bennie came on whispering, "Tim, Ed, on my mark, mount up and head north fast and noisy. We want to gauge their reactions." A minute passed. "Ready, go!"

Fifteen long minutes went by with nothing happening. Tim came on and said, "What should we do?"

I waited a moment and heard nothing. I said, "Come to the camp round-about by going to north and back tracking west and then south on our trail. We didn't go that far after you guys split off. So, retrace and then come on down."

"Roger."

We waited impatiently for events. Almost an hour later, Tim and Ed joined us. About ten or twenty minutes later, Janice, Bennie, and Ted came in. Ted came to me, "Jack, don't put out guards. Keep everyone close to the fires. Be watchful. I really don't think there will be an attack but, better safe than sorry."

He gave me time to handle that and the three of them had some supper. As they were finishing, we talked. "Okay," I said, "tell me what's happening."

Janice started, after receiving nods from her husband and Ted, "We could see fairly well. This is a strange group. The leaders, if that's the right term, seem to be a tiger, bear, and a stag. However, that's the biggest deer I've ever seen or heard of." I looked over at Ted.

He said, "It's a deer but bigger and heavier than any I've ever seen or heard of by half again. It seems to be the overall leader. I can't figure out how they communicate with each other across species lines though." He looked back at Janice.

She picked up, "Ted's right, Poppa. The stag seems to be the leader of the leaders. All three of the leaders seem to be larger than usual but it's the exception by far. Most of the animals are deer and a few cattle and a bull. The stag will come up to one and push them with his nose and they do what he seems to want. There are at least four or five bears. It's hard to tell since they stay at the woods' edge as do the big cats and, again, there seem to be four or five of those, too."

"What's strange, Jack," Bennie added, "is that the deer provide food for the meat eaters. The stag picked one out and it went slowly over toward the bears and cats. They killed it quickly and then ate it. It was like the deer knew what was going to happen to it but did the stag's bidding anyway. It was scary to watch it happen."

"The tiger then came to the stag and they touched noses." Janice picked up. "We left then but I think the stag sent the tiger out to scout. That's why we suggest that everyone stay close with no sentries out from camp. We aren't worried about men sneaking up but the animals are different."

"What do you think we should do?" Shirley asked.

Bennie jumped in, "We need to do one of two things. Either we kill the stag or get across to it that raiding our farms is not a good idea. I think the stag is the leader. Without him, the pack will probably fall apart. On the other hand, if we can get across the idea that raiding our farms is not good, we can take the chance that we can coexist."

I said, "I would like to try talking first. We can always kill if we have to do that."

We all slept close to our fires with the sentries keeping in close. As the sky brightened with sunrise, I woke up to feel a strange compulsion that I knew wasn't normal because the feeling had nothing in it of Shirley. It also felt hot in temperature. I wanted to walk into the area where the pack was located with no protection. I looked around and saw others rising and moving in a wooden manner. I didn't know what was wrong but something was very, very, wrong. Shirley was beside me snuggled in tight. I eased her away from me to look at her and the compulsion went away. I saw some of the others continue to move in the direction of the place that Janice and Bennie had described. I was now worried. I woke Shirley with a kiss. I wanted her mind full when she woke. She smiled and then her eyes opened wide. "I was having a dream that I should go to the lake," she whispered.

"I know. Be quiet, but look around. It's stronger in others."

"What do we do?"