Chapter 7 7: The reward is life

[1st POV] "Leo!!" The concerned call from my mother brought me out of my stupor. I was but a living statue, barely conscious. My body was locked in its upright position, like my body knew I would never fall, so it just used that position to rest. My mother, not knowing the state I was in, came like a storm. Luckily, I had recovered some energy during the wait so I did not fall when she softly knocked against me. The action was akin to a mother hugging her child. "Are you alive? Can you breathe, Leo?" She was both hurried and gentle in her behaviour. She pranced around me and surveyed my entire body for injuries. The sight must not have been too pretty in her eyes, as she released soft growls mixed with whining sounds. "My poor baby, I'm so sorry," she said and licked me on my head to clean the blood. Her rough tongue against my fresh wound should have been painful, but it brought me a strange sense of ease. It was comforting. "I won," I choked out. Even my voice sounded exhausted. "I'll survive." This time, my mother was not the only one who reacted. The other lions, who were also present but surveying the surroundings to track the leopard, also paused and looked towards me in a mix of disbelief. "You won a fight for survival," Sarabi said. "I'm proud of you." That felt good to hear. I'm so proud of me too. "Now let's get you home," she said and was about to pick me up by the scruff. She stopped. My scruff was nothing more than torn skin at the moment. The leopard was not as gentle as my mother when he bit me there. "I can walk," I said and then moved using all my effort. My body felt like it weighed a ton, and I moved like I was in a dream. My mother immediately came beside me so that I could lean on her. She matched my movement, and with her help, I was able to take small steps towards Pride Rock. There were three other lionesses beside my mother. They didn't come too close to me, knowing that they couldn't be of much help since my mother was already beside me. They would just rob the oxygen from my surrounding air. They were also cold-hearted predators, so they found it hard to be too sympathetic towards me. I had to remind myself that one out of eight cubs reached adulthood, so losing a cub was all too common for them. After we walked for a few minutes, my nose caught the scent of new blood. I looked around for a bit, and then I saw the corpse of Jua in the clearing. His body lay on the ground, and behind him was a trail of blood which indicated that he had crawled away until he died from his wound. The leopard had inflicted a fatal wound, and he didn't survive. However, he didn't die immediately either. I could imagine the regret, the horror, and the helplessness he must've felt right before his death. I felt something familiar until I started fighting back. I stopped in my tracks and stared for a bit. That could've been me if I were not strong enough. That could've been me if I were not braver. That could've been me if I had wasted even one opportunity. Survival of the fittest. The saying had never been more true and meaningful to me. I swore once more in my heart to be the fittest in the world. I swore I was going to die of old age in this life. "Come on, his mother will deal with his corpse," Sarabi said with barely any emotion in her voice. Her heart was only big enough to care for her own cubs. The loss of a cub was bad for the pride, but that was it for her. We continued walking for some time before we eventually devised a new way for her to carry me. I climbed on her back, and the rest of the way was much easier. After we reached home, I finally allowed my consciousness to slip away while my mother nursed my wounds. .. .. ///////////// (Two weeks later) My time during the recovery phase was quite enjoyable, to say the least, except for the early days. The first and second days after my fight, the world was literally burning down for me. My wounds started swelling up and bruising, making even the simplest act of breathing painful. I couldn't sleep, as every way I lay would irritate my wounds. I almost wished I had died right then and there, because the agony was that unbearable. But on the third day, things got better, and then it improved as more days passed. My mother became my nurse while I recovered. She would lick my wounds to stop any infection, and she would share her body heat so that I didn't have to waste energy staying warm on my own. She even started feeding me her milk again due to my injuries. Not only that, the pride also shared with me more meat than I could eat while I recovered. During the two weeks, my life was filled with eating and sleeping, just like how it was when I was an infant. And today, most of my flesh wounds have healed. The only pain was in my bones, but that too was fading rather quickly. "Leo, Leo, Leo!! Tell that story again." Simba relentlessly nudged me to my side while I was trying to sleep peacefully on top of a rock. He was not alone in annoying me, as other cubs were right behind him. I had become some type of war hero among the cubs after my fight with the leopard. They would keep bothering me to tell the story of my fight; I've repeated the same story more than five times at this point. "Just let me sleep peacefully," I said and knocked Simba down from the rock. "Come on, just a little bit," Simba insisted while getting up. In the end, it was much easier to tell the story and tell them to fuck off for the rest of the day instead of waiting for them to tire out. I sighed and sat upright. I looked at the five cubs on the ground beneath me. Simba, Zuri, Nala, and two other cubs whose names I could not recall easily. The pride had seven cubs originally, but now it was only five that remained. Jua was killed by a leopard, and I think the other one was killed by a stampede when he went to see the adults hunt buffaloes. "Okay, but this will be the last time I tell this story," I said, and the cubs shouted hurray before huddling up in front of me. And so I began my tale. I was reluctant to begin but when it did, I quickly lost myself just like the other cubs. It was quite enjoyable since it was about how awesome I am. Everyone loves boasting in the end. I added some exaggeration here and there. "The wind carried Jua's final screams to my ears. In that moment, it settled in me that the situation was truly life or death and my dear friend was killed just like that," I said, and then a sober mood came over us. Some ears dropped at the mention of the dead cub. "The fear I had in my heart was replaced with anger. It was rage unlike anything I've ever felt before. I looked at Nala and Zuri, who ran in front of me and I imagined the same fate for them. I couldn't forgive myself if I let them die just like Jua, so I decided to fight the leopard. I turned around and stared death in the eyes... and it blinked first," I said. The cubs oohed and ahhed while Zuri and Nala looked at me with round, shining eyes like I was their hero. Which I did to be fair, saving them was just not the main reason why I fought. I continued the story, the cubs paid attention like I was breathing fire. "In the end, the Leopard ran away. He might have been bigger and faster, but I was more courageous. We both gave each other permanent marks to remember the brutal battle. I took his eye, and he took..." I said, turning around to show the stump at my rear. There was no tail, only a small stump. "He took my tail," I said. "Wowww~" "So cool!!" "I wish I was brave enough to fight leopards too." In their amazement, they were getting too close to my butt so I quickly turned around to stop them. "That's it, now leave me alone." This time, the other cubs listened to my words. They left one by one to do their own things, most of them would probably do something stupid as is the nature of the cub. "Thanks for the story Leo!!" Simba said and jumped away on the rocks. He looked like he was playing 'The floor is lava' with how he refused to touch the ground. Nala was the last to leave. She stared at me for a little bit, wanting to say thank you even though she had said it countless times already. "Nala, hurry up!!" Simba called her and she finally turned away. "Coming." I watched the four of them leave. Then my eyes went to Zuri who was laying down on the ground slightly below me. "You're not going? Again?" I asked. "Yes, I prefer staying right here with you," she said while getting more comfortable on the ground. "I'll only be sleeping so it will be pretty boring to hang around me," I said. "I know that, and it's alright, I need some sleep as well. The newborns were so loud last night I could barely sleep," she said. That reminds me, there were newborns two days ago. One of the lionesses gave birth to three new babies. Which means that now the pride consists of Mufasa, nine lionesses, five cubs and three newborns. "Do whatever you want to do," I said and lay down on the hard rock. It felt oddly good to press my aching bones lightly on the hard surface. With Zuri's gaze on my form, I went to sleep. I've healed, and now it's time to grow once more .. .. [IMAGE] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------