Josh's dad cursed the darkness and all the creatures that performed their sly, evil deeds under its cover - as if God couldn't see them slinking around in hiding. Dawn had arrived late behind a heavy, monsoonal rain. The cave had provided shelter from it, but now random leaks joined ranks and formed a shallow, miniature river along its floor. All night he had remained paralyzed, afraid his moving would be a mistake. The squeaking of his leather belt rubbing against the holstered Colt .45 frustrated him. It was like an itch you couldn't get to, having this powerful sidearm with the sole purpose of protection and conquering, but unable to take a wise shot without the possibility of Josh being in the line of fire or even the fact that he couldn't see his target.The grey light revealed a dungeon-like cave in the shape of a tee - the intersection twenty feet in front of him and slightly uphill. He recognized his body proceeding forward without actually feeling it. The adrenaline numbed with a dull burn as his stiff limbs moved automatically for the first time in ten hours. He stopped his progress to control the hyperventilation coming on. A bounding pulse pierced his temples and stung his sand-wearied eyes. He fought to focus on something other than what was in front of him. He closed his swollen eyes, dirt from wiping sleep away scratching his corneas.His heart cried out, silent in this world, but a thunderous roar in the spiritual realm."Lord, you alone are God. Apart from you I can do nothing. Look upon my sin no more and see me as a new man - the warrior you called to be your own."Suddenly the fear gave way to a fierce anger backed by determination. He reached to his side to pull his .45. Looking up to advance, his eyes were the only part of him that saw it coming to react only to brace for impact by wincing. Still on his hands and knees wih his head forward, he was freight-trained head to head by the huge mountain lion at full speed.The impact was the only pain he felt as his eyes rolled back in his head, but his ears could still hear the long incisors crushing his skull and other bones being exposed as flesh was avulsed in strips by razor sharp claws. On his back, he suddenly awoke to look into a pair of eyes hovering over him. Before blacking out again, he recognized something different about these eyes. They didn't look like the same slanted cat eyes with diamond-shaped pupils. They were more. They were a lot more.To be continued...
