DISCLAIMERS:

Violent Content Warning: This story contains scenes of a violent nature.

Alternative Content Warning: This story also contains scenes of a loving nature between two women. This story is not for those under the age of eighteen.

Uber Warning: This story is an uber. The two characters are based off of the leading ladies of XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS.

Author’s Notes: This is my fourth and final installment to ‘The Hunt’ Sorry it took so long. All POSITIVE comments are welcome. Negatives I will simply ignore. Send your thoughts to startrek@ellijay.com.

The Hunt

Part 4

By: Teagen2

I was frozen. I couldn’t move. With anger or with fear, I couldn’t be sure. I used my arm to put May behind me. In all my glory, I stood in front of the beast who was still staring into my window. The murmurs and cries of my love was the only sound being made. My face was stone. The creature continued to press her face to the glass, unmoving. What was it thinking? She saw the protective gesture I did. To her, I am protecting my mate. Maybe she was confused at the fact a female was protecting another female. Being naked, there was no denying our sex. I stiffened as I watched her face move away from the glass. She made no effort to step back. My hands curled into fists. I was going to protect my mate and my territory. She knew this. It was the reason for her inaction. I took a step forward. "Baby." I heard from behind.

"Shhh. Its okay, May." I take another step forward, keeping eye contact with the creature. Either she will see me as a challenge and attack or she will see me as a threat and run. Another step forward. I smile as the creature backs away. I watch as she turns around, walking back towards the woods.

I quickly turn around and embrace my lover. "May, its all right. She’s gone." She cries, hugging me tight. She was hysterical with fear and I couldn’t blame her. "Its okay." I whisper. I reach down. Picking her up, I carry her to the bed. Laying her down, I cover us up with a warm quilt. "Shhhh." I wrap my arms around her. "I’m right here." It wasn’t long before her cries stopped and she fell asleep. I stroked her as my mind raced. This is not going to go on. I am going to beat this creature anyway I have to. I will not allow it to hurt May anymore. "Love, you may hate me before this is through." I whisper, knowing she will not hear me.

She awoke alone, as I knew she would. She found me in the living room. She looks so cute in the morning when she first wakes up. May rubbed her eyes with her hand as she entered. She stops when she sees me. "What are you doing, Jody?" I snap the barrel back in place. "What’s the gun for?"

"Hunting." I say softly, not taking my eyes from the weapon I’m cleaning.

"Jody, no."

"No?" I look up into her eyes and see genuine emotion. "I thought you were scared of it."

"I am, Jody. I don’t want you to kill her."

"May, I’m not gonna let it hurt you. You are the most important thing in my life. I’m not going to let some.....animal scare you away from me."

"Scare me away? Are you kidding me? I’m not leaving you, Jody. I love you, but will you listen to yourself?.....You’re the one that said that they’re not animals, they’re smart. Now your wanting to go out and blast it off the face of the Earth."

"There’s more than one." I say quietly as I lay the rifle on the table in front of me.

"I can’t believe you’re being so cold."

"Its an outcast, May. Its capable of anything. It tried to kill us."

I grab the rifle and walk to my gun closet. Grabbing a box of ammunition, I move to the door. "Jody, please don’t go."

"I have to, Love."

"I’m going with you."

"No your not. You are staying here."

"I’m going, Jody." I sighed heavily. I know I can’t argue with her. I gesture for her to hurry.

I stopped my snowmobile and took my shades off. May pulled up parallel with me. "See anything?" May asks.

"I thought I saw some broken twigs back there, but I don’t think it was a Bigfoot."

"Now what?"

"Let’s check up that hill." We move up the hill in front of us. I spot an impression in the snow. Stopping my machine, I get off and move towards the impression. May moves towards me. She strokes my shoulder as I squat to get a closer look.

"Is it a print?"

"I think so, partial one anyway." I look around for signs of a trail. I listen for any wildlife. I hear something, something odd. "I’m going to check out that stand of trees. Get your shotgun ready."

"Okay." she says quietly as she walks behind me. As we move closer, I see two small black shadows.

"Might be a bear." I whisper. "Let’s circle around and get a closer look." We moved almost silently through the snow to get a look at what was in the small valley below. When she sees me duck suddenly, she does the same, moving up next to me.

"What is it, Jody?"

"Its not a bear." I whisper. "Look." She follows my finger to an interesting sight. We see a small Sasquatch, a child. "He’s digging into that dead log for grubs I guess."

"Wow." she smiles. I smile, too. "He’s a cute little thing isn’t he?"

"Its not him I’m worried about." I whisper. "Its Mommy or Daddy that concerns me." I scan the area, but hear nothing, but its not likely they would let the little guy wander too far away.

"Think we should go?"

"We’ll sit tight for now. Don’t want to startle him." He was the size of a four or five year old child, whether he was that age or not, I don’t know. "How old do you think he is, May?"

"At least a year or two. No one really knows the growth rate on them."

"So, this means that their breeding.....right here on my land." May looks at me and matches my smile.

"Its great. We’re so lucky, Jody."

"Yeah.....except for one thing....this outcast that keeps causing trouble."

"Jody, I don’t like her anymore than you do, but I feel....."

"Shhhh." I interrupt her as a noise from the child’s left gets my attention. The animal we must have been tracking appeared, a bear......and headed straight for the boy. "Stay here, May!"

I leap from our hiding space. "HEY!!!" I yelled, making noise, hoping to scare the beast away. "Get away!" I fired a shot in the air. The bear continued straight for the little Bigfoot. I ran as fast I could through the snow to get between the bear and the Bigfoot. I made it. The boy cowered as I blocked the path of the bear to him. I didn’t have time to raise my rifle before the bear collided with me, knocking me onto my back. I raised the gun to keep the beast at bay. He was small, but still could kill me. He tried clawing me. I was lucky enough to dodge all of the attempts, but I felt his claws scratch at my shoulder.

"JODY!!" A hear a shot. I shoved at the bear, knocking it backwards off of me. Another shot rang out from her spot. I watched the bear fall over, dead. I breathed a sigh of relief and dropped my head back down to rest. "Jody! Move it. Hurry, Baby." I look up and see two Sasquatch moving down to meet the child. I shot up from the ground and ran for my love, grabbing my rifle from the snow. I turn and look over my shoulder. They’re not pursuing me. One picks up the child, the other continues to watch me run to my love. Not

taking any chances, May keeps her gun at the ready, but not up.

"Let’s get outta here." I breathed. "Enough close calls for me." I huffed, trying to catch my breath. I bent down, resting my hands on my knees. "Are they behind us?"

"Nope." May caresses my back. "That was a brave thing you did. I’m sure they’re

grateful."

"You think?" I breath.

"Yeah, but let’s get home...just in case."

As we sat on the couch in front of the fire, May patched up the scratches I received from wrestling the bear. "There you go."

"Thanks." I slip a tanktop on over my wounds carefully.

"Jody?"

"Mmmm."

"I’m sorry for being so moody before. You’re right. If that Bigfoot poses a threat to our safety, then it’ll have to be destroyed. I mean, we can’t very well relocate it or anything. Its just....."

"Just what?"

"I feel a lot like her I guess...an outcast. Not having a real home with others, a loner."

"You do have a home, May. Here...with me."

"Yeah, now. There was a time I wasn’t so lucky and I was just feeling like you condemned her for it."

"No, May. That’s not it at all. I said she’ll have to be killed if she continues to try and hurt us......Think about it. There must be a reason that she is away from the others, why she was cast out of the group. She’s dangerous to not just us, but them as well. I feel it."

After laying for several hours in bed trying to keep my scratches comfortable, I get up. I slip out of bed, not making a sound. I move to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate. After doing so, I walked to the window seat and sat. It was a calm, quiet night. Snow was falling in a light powder. I took a sip of my cocoa. Saving that boy from being killed will make the group curious of us again. I’m sure of it. I’m not very well liked, but this may be a turning point, good or bad. Leaving the bear behind might have given them a meal also. What was I waiting for? The outcast? Seems she doesn’t want to be found in the daytime, but has no problem terrorizing us at night. Glancing at the clock, it was about the same time the last attack was. I took another sip. Over the top of the mug, I see something move in the trees. Putting the mug down, I strain to listen. Hearing nothing other than the ticking of the clock and sound of the refrigerator. I focused on the woods, the movement has gone.

Taking my mug, I move back into the bedroom. I smile as I see my love is still sound asleep. I took my seat at our window. The smudges are still there that the creature made the previous night. I reached up and placed my large hand into a much larger print. I hadn’t even noticed last night or tonight the hand prints, meaning that the creature put her hands on the window. "Wait a minute." I said to myself. "She didn’t......Oh shit." The creature was here! She had looked into the window! I turn and look to May. My breath becoming faster as the realization sunk in. She had been staring at my mate when I was in the living room, this time putting her hands up to the glass. I looked out into the darkness. She was nowhere to be seen. Taking no chances, I load my nine millimeter, leaving it on the nightstand as I crawl back into bed. I did not sleep anymore.

May stirred early. As she sits up, she sees the weapon that was not there before. "Jody, what happened?"

"She came back."

"How do you know?" I pointed to the window. The morning sun cast rays into our room, making the hand prints visible.

"Oh gosh." was all she said as she looked at the prints. We both dressed and ate a meager breakfast, May barely touching hers.

"What are thinking about?" I ask.

"What do you think?"

"Wanna go hunting? I think there are some deer close by. I’ve been craving deer jerky myself." I smile, trying to keep the mood light. "We used your last kill for steaks."

"I don’t feel like it." she sighed. "Besides, I don’t think its safe. Do you?"

"I’m not going to stop living my life because of it and neither should you. I’ll be packing plenty of ammo." I assured her.

"I do wanna go hunting." she said.

"I’ll watch your back. I promise."

"And I’ll watch yours." she adds.

Soon, we were packing our skids for a trip. I watched her as she scanned the woods with every trip she made outside. "Are you sure you want to go?" I ask.

"Yeah, sure. Let’s go." She starts her snowmobile. She was scared. I could tell. I don’t blame her. I am too. Unknowing to my love, I hope its not a deer we bring back, but something bigger. I set us up in an area I know that they pass through frequently as they search for food, both deer....and Sasquatch.

This time, no deer stand. We place ourselves in a stand of small evergreens. The leaves provide enough coverage with our camo. With small cloth folding chairs, we sat down to await our prey. "Jody?"

"Huh?"

"Would you still live out here if your mom was still alive?"

"Yeah, I guess. Why do you ask?"

"I don’t know. I’m just thinking about fate and how lucky I was....If that guy had put me out further up the road, I would have driven right by you."

"Maybe.....but you would have found me eventually." She chuckles and we make eye contact.

"You’re so sure about that are you?"

"Yep." I say without hesitation. "we were meant to be together. You know that, don’t you?"

"I do. I love you, Jody." My eyes focus on something other than my love. Her content look fades when I don’t reply. "Something behind me?" she whispers.

"Yeah." I whisper.

"What is it?" I don’t answer. "Deer?"

"Maybe......Turn around and look towards that large stump." I do and see nothing.

"I don’t....."

"Through your scope, Baby." I raise my rifle, looking through my scope. "See it?"

"I see.....a squirrel." I chuckle. "Damn it, Jody." She turns and pushes against my shoulder. I laugh loudly.

"I didn’t say it was a deer." I chuckled.

Suddenly, we both heard a wailing cry. "What was that, Jody?"

"Sasquatch."

"Are you sure?"

"Do you know any animal that sounds like that?"

"You’ve got a point......Its sounds hurt....Jody."

"Come on. Let’s check it out. Stay close, Love."

We made our way through the snow, moving closer towards the sounds. It did sound like it was in pain. We were careful to stay hidden as best we could. The closer we got, the more uneasy I became. I began to scan the woods as best I could, while still watching May. "We’re not alone, are we?" she asks.

"Nope. Keep moving. We can’t turn back now."

"There it is." she said as she crouched down. I moved beside her. "Looks like something tore into it." We saw a large male lying on his back, grabbing his side.

"I think you’re right."

"Another bear maybe."

"Could be......May, you got the kit in your backpack?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Give it to me."

"Baby, no. You can’t go near him. He could kill you. Remember what they say about wounded animals."

"I’m going to try." I reach for the pocket of her backpack and unzip it, removing the kit.

"I’m going with you."

"No, Love. You need to cover me." I look around. "I feel it and I know you do, too.

We’re surrounded."

"Go, but hurry."

"Don’t worry. I will."

I shoulder my rifle and stand. I carefully move towards him, stopping a few feet away. He sees me and turns his head. His eyes are beady and dark brown, almost hypnotizing.

"Easy big fella.....I’m here to help." I was not exaggerating. This creature is easily nine feet tall. He makes no aggressive movements. He simply stared at me. Doing something I knew shouldn’t, I stroked his coat near the shoulder. It was coarse, almost like a horse. He flinched slightly, but did not pull away. "Okay, let me take a look." I grabbed his hand, that was almost three times larger than mine, and moved it away from the wound. Very little blood was on the wound. "Wait a second......No bear did this." I squeezed a small amount of ointment onto a gauze pad, pressing it to his side.

"Grrrrrr!!!!" He made a noise similar to a panther or a bear, causing me to jump.

"I know it hurts, but I guarantee you this will make you feel better." He was bruised more than cut. I look around and spot a tree branch, almost resembling a club. Picking it up, I see hair on one end. "Something.....hit you with this." He watched as I threw it as far as I could, showing him it won’t hurt him anymore.

"JODY!!!!!!! Look out!!!" I turned in time to see the branch, strike me across the face. A hear a shot ring out as May fired. On my back, I look up. The branch hits me again as an animal growl pierces the silence. Another shot, this one closer. May was moving in. I tried to grab my rifle. "THEY’RE COMING!!!" I was hit again.

"May!" I scream. The beast’s smell invades my nostrils as it picks me up off the ground and lifts me into the air, throwing me. As I am in the air, I see May several feet away, firing again. Three more adult Bigfoot and the boy are moving towards us. I landed face first into the snow. I feel myself being pulled. A massive hand grabs my left ankle and begins dragging me back. I turn on my back and kick the beast in the face. It lets go.

I am stunned as a large, black object steps over me and charges my attacker. "Jody!" I see two more grab it. "Get out of there!.....Now!" I stand. My ankle felt bruised. I limp away as fast I can. May reaches out her hand and I take it. She pulls me behind her and keeps her rifle on them as she backs away with me.

"Wait." I breath. "Stop." We both stop and look at the event unfolding in front of us. Half

a dozen Sasquatch were beating on one, the one that attacked me. The male was now on his feet. "What’s going on?"

"When you were hit, they just started coming out of the woods, almost from nowhere." she breathed. "I kept firing, but it didn’t do any good."

"I didn’t think it would."

"Jody, its the outcast that attacked you."

"You sure?"

"I’m positive."

"Let’s go.......Seems they have their own revenge to carry out." I watch as the injured male moves to the child, picking him up. I smile. He turns his head to us before moving up the hill away from the rest.

Leaning on May, I limped back the way we had come. We didn’t get very far before the cries stopped. The silence of the snow was back. "Oh gods." I hissed and sat back on my butt in the snow. "I think its broken."

"Can you make it back to your machine?"

"I’ll have to."

"I can run ahead and get it."

"No, we can’t separate. Its too dangerous."

"But....."

"I can make it." She helps me up. I wrap my arm around her and begin again. Exhaustion will take its toll on both of us. We came face-to-face with black fur. Looking up, we see the male. "Oh shit." I say. "Relax, May. Don’t make any sudden moves.

"Okay." He reaches down, turning me. "Jody....."

"Don’t move, May. He hasn’t hurt me." He lifts me off the ground with ease, as if I weighed nothing at all. He hooks his arm under my knees. "Oh man." I gasp.

"May, walk ahead of him."

"But Jody."

"Do it, May." She walks around us and begins walking. He begins to follow. "I can’t believe this." I say to myself. His odor was not pleasant, but his touch was gentle. It seemed like hours before we reached our machines. When May stopped, he stopped. He lowers me to the ground. I reach and stroke his coat. "Thanks, Big Guy. I owe ya." He did not acknowledge my touch, but simply turned and walked back into the woods.

"If I didn’t see it myself, I wouldn’t believe it. He carried you."

"Yes, I realize that, May."

"What did it feel like?" she smiled.

"It felt like being carried." She huffs. "Everything’s going to be okay."

"I think so, too. I think he understood you were trying to help him.....and his son. He

figured he owed you one."

"Guess so."

"Come on. I got to drive you into town to have that looked at."

We drove our snowmobiles to the house, then took the jeep into town to the ER. All the time I was thinking about the strangest encounter that we’ve had to date. Before May came, I rarely even saw these wonderful creatures. It took the jealous actions of an outcast to bring out the human side to the animals. There is no doubt in my mind that the Saquatch are our closet relative. On one hand, its sad that science will probably never know these creatures. Then again, I’m glad that they won’t. They need to be left alone. Its not some beast living in my woods. Its another part of the woods, a part of nature. Being a hunter, I will respect its territory and privacy.

I look to my soulmate. She is beautiful. So beautiful, she invoked jealousy into another species. Then again, we’re only human.

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