Hunting Prey: A Gozzara & Silver Adventure

By S.J. Shores

Gozzara lived for the hunt. His latest was one made of legend. Before joining his clan, he lands on whats supposed to be an uninhabited planet. There, to his surprise, he finds Silver. She helps to heal his battle wounds there by earning her place with him. Together they proceed to train the clans up-and-coming juveniles to become hunters. Things change when a flying saucer crashes on their training ground. Then things really get out of control when the hunt becomes a life and death situation with very human problems for the big alien.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Jul 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466945364

S.J. Shores

S. J. SHORES sat as a child listening to her Cherokee grandmother tell stories of the old days. Being an avid reader and a fan of science fiction, she thought to spin a different yarn. She is a member of a rural fire department. She is a wife and mother of ex-soldiers.

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Copyright 2012 S.J.Shores.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

isbn: 978-1-4669-4537-1 (sc)

isbn: 978-1-4669-4536-4 (e)

Trafford rev. 07/09/2012

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Contents

Tenke Cat

Silver

Training

Invaders

Survival

Chaos

Home

Chapter I

Tenke Cat

From space the green planet looked ordinary. A ship was in orbit around it; suddenly a small bullet shaped object shot out from the side of the larger ship, and plummeted toward the planet. The drop ship didn’t slow until it reached the equator, then when it reached the steaming jungle it hovered and slowly it sank into the tree canopy. Within hours the thick jungle growth swallowed the small ship making it invisible.

The night air was so thick it was hard to breathe as dawn approached the mist enveloped the jungle like a shroud. The heat of the day would soon drive the planet’s inhabitants to the underground. Life teemed in these jungles and maybe at last he would find what he had been searching for. He had scanned what seemed like hundreds of planets before he found one with all the features that he required.

The predator moved like a ghost through the predawn mist. He was following the trace scent of the illusive deer. It had taken most of the night to find and track his prey he could almost taste the succulent meat as he followed the scent. Tirelessly he tracked his prey, the strong scent he’d encountered weeks ago still haunted him. The predator had changed his hunting habits and times, to avoid the unusual scent. It still lingered.

This time he was close to the kill he’d waited for too long to back away now. He pressed on through the jungle ignoring his primal instinct. He could sense the smell of the creature off in the distance, the roar of the river that was growing closer with every step, but at last he knew where the deer was headed. He quickened his pace for the noise of the river would camouflage any sound he made. He could smell the deer’s blood he was close as another scent became stronger and he realized the scent was that of a potent female.

The predator was torn between the two scents he was drawn to both the blood and the female scent. As luck would have it they were both headed toward the rushing water. He followed, hoping to make the kill first he became reckless in his haste.

He made his way quickly down the ancient trails the jungle became thicker and grew very dense closer to the water. He could no longer trust his vision. The wind and mist became heavier as he drew closer to the river. He could no longer hear the deer’s movement, the female scent became lighter, but he pressed onward. He swiveled his ears listening for his prey, any kind of movement but still no sound. Then the alien scent became strong, he froze but could not see or hear anything, but he knew something was lurking around him. He flicked his tail in hopes of luring his prey out from hiding.

TeTe Gozzara could already taste victory. Using stories and legends he had hunted the tenke cat for months, although one had ever been killed. His great-grandfather had the trophies to prove that it could be done. Some said they were extinct. Gozz now knew they were wrong. In the months he had hunted the cat he came to respect it.

The cat had proven itself a worthy opponent. It could sense more than most prey, he had ever hunted, and to make the hunt more of a challenge Gozz had used only his own intelligence. He used female cat scent to hide his own scent and to confuse his opponent. When he encountered the cat it smelled him, so he discarded his armor and other weapons. He only kept his gauntlets, which held his blades that would make the enviable fight more even. He kept his visor to record the hunt and ensuing fight. He wanted all to know that he, TeTe Gozzara had hunted and found this cat, no matter who won the fight.

The tenke cat watched as the huge alien approached, and it was then when he realized it had been the prey not the predator. He had no escape now, the deer and female forgotten as he prepared for the death match. Gozzara extended his blades and carefully approached the cat. Alien and cat were matched in size and speed.

Predator and prey circled, each watching for a weakness in the other. The cat leaped at Gozzara who sidestepped the cat, landed and turned and growled. The cat leaped at him and then again, Gozzara was ready this time. He sidestepped and swung the blades as the cat passed him. Gozzara felt more than heard the rip of skin, he was satisfied that he had drawn first blood; the cat jumped again catching him by surprise. Gozzara turned as the cat rolled in midair, knocking him off his feet, drawing lines of green blood across his back.

Gozzara rolled away from the cat that had landed on his feet they circled again both bleeding. Gozzara roared then swung his blades, the cat rolled back into the brush, the blades just missing their mark. This time the cat had to regain his footing, the cat screamed and jumped at Gozzara who had backed away but as the cat passed him it kicked out one hind foot and caught him in the chest, the force knocking him to the ground, he rolled away from the cat that had landed on his feet. Gozzara roared and leaped from a crouching position at the cat. The cat was taken by surprise and didn’t move fast enough he took most of the attack in the chest, the reflexes of the cat ripped flesh from both of Gozzara’s shoulders.

Gozzara was bleeding badly his opponent was wheezing as one of Gozzara’s blades had found its mark and punctured a lung. The cat lunged at and took a great leap at Gozzara who rolled under the huge beast, as soon as its feet touched the ground he pivoted and leaped again, quickly to catch him off guard, but Gozzara was ready, he kneeled and plunged his blades in its under belly and disemboweled the cat as he passed over.

The cat fell in a heap and kicked and twitched in all attempts to rise again.

TeTe Gozzara knelt over the body of his trophy and prayed to his God, then rose and roared his victory, the fight had been all the challenge he had hoped it would be.

Gozzara finished gutting and cleaning the body, and then he skinned the animal very carefully, taking care not to add anymore nicks or holes in the hide. The fur was tawny and gold, over the head was a very thick black stripe all the way down to the black and gold striped tail. He cut the head off and burned the flesh off the dark skull.

Gozzara retrieved his drop ship and then dressed his shoulder wounds and set up a secure camp around the area. He slept soundly for the first time in months. It was daylight again when he finally awoke, he felt rested though his shoulders were filled with pain.

Gozzara loaded his trophies and deer meat on board the ship and returned to the stars.

Once onboard his ship he polished the onyx skull until it shone in glistening darkness. He then sent images to the other hunter ships. He carefully omitted the planets location to ensure that no one would know where he had found this species and that no one could trespass on his hunting grounds.

Gozzara placed the tenke cat skull in a place of honor on his trophy wall and sat back and admired it as it gleamed in dark contrast to the hundreds of stark white trophies.

He tanned and finished the pelt; laid it over his sleeping berth it covered the bed.

He deliberately did not check the incoming messages he preferred to hunt alone. Gozzara knew it was his turn to train the juveniles and he didn’t want to be saddled with a bunch of half grown pups. He knew he would never have gotten close enough to have smelled a tenke cat with that kind of brood under his wing. Let the elders train them; they are the ones who deem it such an honor.

Chapter II

Silver

On a very different planet not far away, awareness came slowly. She was floating in blackness the pain told her she was still alive. There was no past, nothing to remember. She didn’t know whom or where she was; only garbled voices and foggy images of aliens with large almond shaped eyes.

Gathering her courage she opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was a purple sky. She was lying on a branch full of brown leaves; a blowing wind and the limb supporting her caused the floating sensation.

When she tried raising her body her every muscle felt bruised, her bones were like rubber, she moved slowly down to the larger limbs, making her way to the base of the tree, here she could rest comfortably.

The leaves of the huge tree were vibrant in colors, the limbs and the body of the tree was a splendid hews of pearls. When she looked down the hundreds of feet to the ground there was a burgundy carpet of soft moss and grass that covered the plain below. The only sounds she could hear were that of the wind and the water. She watched a gray river a few miles from her lofty perch.

Her stomach began to rumble, she was hungry and thirsty. Her perch seemed to reach all the way to the river she walked out onto the limb, toward the water. The further out she walked onto the limb the more