The Last Lioness: As A Cub

Chapter 1: The Disappearance.

I will start from the beginning. When there was plenty of lions all around Mara. Before they all vanished....

It was a warm summer morning when I heard a loud bang as I was suckling from my mother....my mother was staring at a specific spot....she told me to run...run as fast as I could. I got up and stuttered. "B-but why?" My mother snarled at me. "Just go!" I didnt want to fight...so I ran...and ran....and ran....i kept running until I was no where near the Mara pride lands. I looked around and did a small squeal that my mother would normally run to.....no one came. I padded around for a few minutes, thoughts rushing through my head. I stepped on a metal chain. I followed the rusty old chain to where a trap was...there was blood all around it...my eyes shot open and I ran as fast as I could, I lost all sense of my direction, where was it safe? Where was it not? I kept running unknowingly....back to the Mara Pride lands. I skidded over to where my mother last was and let out a louder squeal...then I heard a bang and a low growl....and a thud....it was my mother....I raced up to where I heard the shot. I was so small, I hid in all the dried grass, my fur blending in perfectly. I looked and saw them dragging her into the back of their now bloodstained vehicle. She was gone. I looked around and let out a very loud squeal. For it not to be answered. I let out a long cry and started running around, panicking. I knew that there was no use. I had to stop. Be a lioness. I had grown up too soon. I was still on my diet of milk. I had to learn how to hunt. But for now, I would scavenged. Just like the jackals. My mother always told me to be aware of jackals. She said they would take any chance for a scrap of lifeless meat....or a young cub like me. But I was always fascinated by the creatures. I never showed it though. All I showed was hatred. But I actually would like to see what it would be like in the life of one. Nearly every dangerous predator in Africa hating them. How do they cope? How do they cope.....I then picked up my paw as I heard another shot...this time...it was nearer....I scattered across the dry grass into a blackberry bush. I noticed that the man that killed my mother....had come back for me... He was looking around. Seeing where I had went. He talked in a strange language....I could almost understand it but I give up too easily...i then heard him shouting some words and running in the direction where I found the metal chain. This was my chance. I bounded out of the bush and towards the vehicle. If they took me to another place, there would be lions. Maybe a lioness was kind enough to take me in....maybe even keep me as her own. I knew i wouldn't be able to survive without milk. I hopped on and hid under a sheet where the lions where. I saw the pride male lying next to my mother. Lifeless. Not breathing. Dead. I snuggled up to my mother as the man ran back and got in the vehicle. I stuck my head out of the sheet, enough to see where I would drop off. I knew my mother was dead. But I tried to suckle anyway. I sighed and then I had a idea. If I stayed, then I would be the last lioness. The roughest. The toughest. The one that everyone feared with envy. I hopped out the vehicle into the dry grass that crunched beneath my padded paws. I glared at the vehicle getting further and further away into the distance....until it was gone. I dipped my head in respect at the lifeless body's that were in the back of the vehicle, then trotted back to my once pride's territory. I lied down, my head up high, proud of all the landscape that my pride had accomplished and kept free of other prides for so long. Now it was just me. Me. Myself. And--Oh no! I heard the cackle of hyenas. Even a mighty cub like me wouldn't be able to fend off annoying hyenas like them. So I retreated to the blackberry bush. I was just small enough to squeeze into a spot with no thorns. I slowly closed my eyes and I heard a loud growl. My mother! I opened my eyes and nearly bounded out....when I noticed that it wasn't my mother at all....or the other pride mates.....it was a leopard. The leopard that kept coming into our territory and stealing our kills. He was fending off our kill from the hyenas. When the hyenas had gone with their cackling laugh, the leopard grabbed the kill and dragged it off to his tree. I finally dozed off. Ready to start a brand new day. And a brand new life as the last lioness.