Ruby's Island (Watty awards 2011) (complete)

The Hunt

I couldn't hurt this pig, or boar as Kade called it, it was just a poor defenceless animal. I would never forgive myself.

I fought a silent battle with my emotions as we stared at each other, me and Kade against the boar, which was was grunting and snorting back at us, its nose raised in the air, seemingly sniffing us out.

Suddenly it raised a loud squeal, then barged towards us. I yelped as Kade flung us behind the tree, causing the boar to charge straight into the tree and not into us.

The tree shook violently as the boars head made contact with it, and I couldn't help but gasp when all the boar did was shake it's head then lunge for us again.

Kade flicked us round so we came up behind the boar. “Climb,” he whisper yelled, his eyes looking at the tree.

Who was I to argue, I climbed as fast as I could, scurrying up the tree until I was about half way up.

I looked down at Kade, who was busily trying to dodge the boar as it stampeded towards him again. This time Kade wasn't quite so lucky as he slipped and fell over a branch, causing me to scream out as the boar charged at his head. Kade flicked his body to the side, the boar narrowly missing him by millimetres.

It was then I noticed the coco-nuts up the tree I was in. I began to pull at one, tugging and yanking hard, but it didn't budge, instead I lost my grip, my body swinging round by my legs, so I was now hanging underneath the branch, my legs the only thing holding me in the tree.

My heart jolted violently, as I tightened my knees together, gripping harder to the branch. If I was to fall now, I would land on my head, and I knew it wouldn't be a very pretty sight.

Working my body round, I managed to climb back on top of the branch, so I was now facing the right way, and began again to tug at the coco-nut. This time I gave a flick of my wrist and twisted at the same time. The coco-nut came away in my hand.

I squealed with delight, then took aim.

Kade side stepped the boar as it charged again, it's head crashing into the tree I was up. The tree shook hard, causing me to almost lose my balance again. “Damn”, I yelped almost dropping the nut to the floor.

“Concentrate,” I whispered through gritted teeth. Knowing that my chance would soon be gone, I needed to do this right.

I took aim, then flung with all my might, throwing the nut straight at the boar. It smacked it straight on the snout.

The boar screamed in shock, then ran.

“Quick,” Kade yelled, beckoning me down from the tree. “We cant let it get away.

I was down the tree like a shot, scraping my legs as I slid down the bark. But not daring to stop, I followed Kade, the pair of us crashing through the trees in pursuit of the boar.

I no longer felt as if the boar was a defenceless animal............... This pig was lunch. It had not shown us any mercy when it had attacked us, so I was not going to show it any mercy when or if we caught it.

I was surprised to find that the boar darted through the trees with the greatest of ease, never once faltering, or slowing down, weaving expertly around the trees as if it knew exactly how many steps it needed to take to dodge around