Second Nature

Chapter 23

23 

Gen could not believe the beauty of the snow leopards. The female dozed beside a pool of water, her noble head resting on crossed front legs. The bigger male paced nearby, tail twitching, wary of the spectators beyond the fence of his kingdom. He sniffed the air and kept his great yellow eyes fixed on Gen. 

To Gen, the pair were like creatures from mythology. Looking at Medusa could turn a person into stone; gazing at the snow leopards had turned Gen to warm butter. She ached from head to toe with a deep longing to touch them. 

The fence around the pen stood a dozen feet tall and a deep trench lined the animal side of the enclosure. Even if she managed to get in, how would she get out? 

Haven read aloud from a sign: The snow leopards had been bred from a pair trapped in Tibet in the 1960s. Few, if any snow leopards remained in the wild, and this pair was one of only a dozen kept in breeding programs at zoos. 

Gen watched the male leopard pacing protectively near his mate while she slept, and her heart flooded with overwhelming love and sorrow.  

Suddenly Gen felt the frantic drive of a mother trying to save her child in danger. I mustn't allow them to become extinct! The thought was utterly compelling.  

How can I get over to them? I've got to touch them. 

Before she knew what she was doing she had leapt up and pulled herself onto the low branch of a magnolia tree that overhung the leopard pen. 

"No!" Cade shouted. "Gen, stop." 

She knew she should stop. What she was doing was wrong. Posted signs warned, DON'T TOUCH FENCE, DON'T LEAN ON RAILING. Well, at least she wasn't going to touch the fence or lean on the railing.  

She scooted along the thick branch until she was over the pen and beyond the pit. Cade was yelling behind her.  

She jumped to the ground. 

Almost as she hit, the male leopard leaped upon her, sending her flying backward. The leopard followed her to the ground, ripping at her throat with its fangs. She hit the sand with a thud that knocked the air from her lungs. Whites showed around the big cat's glaring yellow eyes. Its huffing breath smelled dark and meaty. It cocked its muscular forelegs and swiped three-inch claws across her chest, back and forth, like a boxer with a blurring fast combination punch, tearing her cotton T-shirt and the flesh beneath it to tatters. Blood sprayed and the leopard's snowy fur turned a soggy crimson. 

Then the leopard straddled her torso and clamped its wide-open jaws down on her head. The upper fangs punched through the roof of her skull, the lower fangs caught hold through her eye sockets. The leopard picked Gen up in its mouth and dragged her, between its legs, back toward its concrete den. 

People outside the pen screamed and shouted. But as the essence of the snow leopard passed into her bloodstream and into the genetic archives of the Abundance, Gen felt only the quenching of a dire thirst-and the gratification came as a gush of pure pleasure. 

* * * 

"No!" Cade shouted. "Gen, stop!" She had scampered up the magnolia tree so fast he hadn't had time to react. Now she was standing on a branch that extended over the leopard cage. My God, what's she going to do? 

He grabbed the keys to the Land Rover from his pants pocket and knelt so that he came eye-to-eye with Haven. "Take these!" He stuffed the keys in her small hand. 

"Daddy, I'm scared." 

"Go get in the car in the parking lot. Wait for us there." 

"I'm scared." 

"Get to the car and wait. Hear me?" 

She gulped and nodded. 

"Good girl." Cade turned his back on her and shimmied up the magnolia tree after Gen.  

She was already scooting crabwise along a thick branch that extended over the leopard pen. "Gen! Don't do it. You'll be killed." 

People in the crowd below were shouting. A woman screamed. "Hey, you two!" a male voiced barked, "Get the hell down from there!"  

The male leopard watched Gen approach on the branch above. He padded toward her, fur bristling, fangs bared, snarling. Cade hurried behind Gen.  

"Gen, no!" he yelled. 

She jumped down. Cade gasped. The leopard pounced and knocked her down and tore into her. Blood sprayed his white fur. Christ! Cade's gut coiled into a knot.  

He scurried to the open space over the pen and jumped to the ground after her.