Their Call, Calico: The Series
Part Nine
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Based on Original Published Work by Author
☯ Legend on reading Calico’s Life:
☴ Indicator for dialogue: “ ”
☶ Indicator for thought, and lyrics: Italic Font
☱ Indicator for action: Bold Font or wording with quotations.
☳ Poems and Songs [ are indicated ]
☷ Names : Bold Italics
☵ Setting set inside: Brackets: {SETTING}/{BOLD}
Calico fades in. { His eyes are aching to open up. Suddenly a boom is heard which sends a flock of red-eyed black crowned night heron throughout the air above the bamboozled panda bear. A gust passes in the moonlit silence. A rifle goes off in the distance.} Calico tries to shake the chain but it won’t budge.
Is this how I die? My love could be dead for all I know. No, she would want to me to carry on.
Calico stands up, but closer to the gate, and presents his loudest roar. Startlingly, he is at his weakest. His body collapses against the gate.
Calico:
“ It’s no use. I feel I know how Komiak felt.”
{A scuffle appears from behind the gate. The tone gets louder, and suddenly Calico hears a faint crying.}
Lemur:
“ My… my head where my eyes eye. Family has saved me. I am Lemur, and I am found.”
Calico:
“ Lemur?…Lemur! My family, I am here! I am here! ”
Lemur:
“ I will find you, Calico. You saved me. I will find you. ”
Lemur walks into view and her skin is fairly burned from the sun. She eyes Calico’s blood dripping through the gate.
Lemur:
“ Don’t leave me, too, Calico. My old maffa had so much red water on her from clannars. New maffa said he saved me from clannars, but he put me in the room. I was trapped for two antiwonians until you came. ”
Calico:
“ I don’t want to leave you. The maffa you speak of is called Rendemra, he wants to turn you… into red water like your old maffa. He’s … so bad. But… you Lemur are a true pure kind. ”
Lemur:
“ What is purr ken? ”
Calico:
“ Pur-uh Ki-nduh. It means you are true to your heart, and you have ancestors who were forced and beaten to shed their red water, for so many antiwonians that you lose count over time. But you stand up and keep fighting to live… to help others… to save others…. like I did… for…. you- ( Calico whimpers ).”
Lemur nudges open the gate and sees Calico’s chained leash and Calico’s body. Lemur goes up and immediately starts licking Calico’s wounds and his face.
Lemur:
“ Don’t you die in red water, too. Live for me, because I will save you, Calico. ”
Calico:
“ This forest has so much death. You deserve to have a better life, your families have been slaughtered by Rendemra… And he keeps getting away with it. ”
Lemur:
“ Let us worry about this now… not the past now, not my death… and no, not yours Calico. What do you have that makes you save me? ”
Calico:
“ I… have the two most beautiful bears in the entire brother planet … I… have ”
Lemur:
“ What is ‘beautiful’, Calico ? ”
Calico:
“ It’s what you call someone or a thing, like a tree, that saves you in a moment like you said: this now, and you don’t want to leave them, you want them to know it, you want them to always remember… remember what they did for you in that moment even when everything is just red water… you tell them… you love them…because…. ”
Lemur:
“ Calico! ”
Calico‘s eyes roll back, and his head goes down.
Lemur nudges Calico’s body to wake him up, she goes over his body and licks his wounds again. She falls down and begins to weep on Calico’s side.
Lemur:
“ Oh, Calico. You are beauti… beautiful. I love Calico… you are my family. ”
{ Twenty five yards ahead of the tragedy, the one remaining survivor of Team Bravo lunges over the wall. Yuze Shi a.k.a. “Yurry”, lands over gasping for air and holding his hands to his legs. He is wearing a similar uniform to Kenneth’s, except his left trouser knee is torn open and he has a bruise next to his eye.}
Yurry:
“There must be over a hundred tigers, here! Mā de! Oh my God! (Yurry looks back at the wall to make sure the tigers didn’t follow.) Jasmine, Arthur, his neck was all torn open.”
Yurry looks around with his rifle light, and turns on his walkie talkie.
Yurry:
“ Team Alpha, this is Yurry, Team Bravo, do you read me? Do you read me? We’ve been ambushed by tigers. Team Bravo is dead. I am the last survivor. Over. ”
Yurry waits a few seconds for a response, and only hears static. He repeats again.
{ Yurry realizes this now might be a solo mission. He takes deep breaths while looking around, and wipes a tear from his eye, and considers that he might not be going home to see his wife, two sons and daughter.
This is a lot to take in. As the realization of physically being a part of the descent of a falling plane, the sorrow hits. He falls to his knees, and yells ferociously to the ephemeral moon. }
Yurry pushes up, and looks around, and begins to move forward.
He sees some of the village buildings and peers into each. There are painted symbols in each, and mounds of fur, and rotting persimmons.
Yurry:
“ Are these human? What is this place? Who inhabits this town, or all these for the homeless? ”
Yurry walks ahead and hears the weeping of Lemur, and heads that way carefully.
Yurry:
“ It looks like the tigers injured another animal…”
Yurry shines a light on the scene, and quickly takes the safety off his gun.
Lemur gets up and starts to growl, but the flashlight freaks her out and she backs up while shivering and growling.
Yurry:
“ It’s okay, I just want to see what animal it is. Who am I talking to? ”
He illuminates Calico’s body.
Yurry:
“ A Panda! You’re a long way from home. Wait you have red like that cub… you’re its parent.”
Lemur gets closer and starts whimpering.
Yurry:
“ Those monsters! Why are you chained? The homeless might have locked you up.
If I do one thing tonight from all the blood loss, and rampage that has gone on here… ”
Yurry observes the chain in the gate. He carefully aims, and fires. Lemur scampers into the darkness in fear. The chain leash breaks apart.
Yurry:
“ Oh, if my little Jilpa was here… and she is… and I will be back to her. Now, your cuffs. The metal is very rusty… I got it.”
Yurry takes out his bayonet blade, and success!
He starts to unscrew the screws holding the cuffs together. Another gust sweeps into the field, and helps him cool for a second in the immense humidity.
{ The cuff on Calico’s left paw unhooks, and his paw falls back to the beautiful planet. }
Yurry:
“ One more paw, so at least you can be free. No more chains.”
Lemur sniffs the air and walks forward. She goes closer to the two.
Yurry looks back with a calming glance to Lemur.
Yurry:
“ It’s okay, child. Your parent will be oka-”
Lemur witnessing that Calico’s other paw is now free, goes around and starts sniffing his paw. Yurry eyes Lemur for a bit, and trusts his instinct that she trusts him. He proceeds to finish undoing the screws in his cuff.
Calico is just laying there.
Lemur, then goes around to Yurry, so close in fact that Yurry doesn’t know if this is where his life ends. Suddenly, Lemur moves forward and puts her head on his shoulder. He drops his knife to the ground and reaches over to pat her shoulder.
Tears begin dripping out of Yurry’s eyes, this is one of the most beautiful experiences in his life.
Lemur, carefully backs up and sits down just like Yurry. They are facing one another.
Yurry:
“ I just made my first bear friend. Let me see if I can help your… your father. ”
Yurry takes a deep breath, as he knows how dangerous this situation could turn out. The panda could easily kill him, as could the Manchurian bear cub. He feels Calico’s chest, to feel any heartbeat; his belly is really warm to the touch. The cub’s skin wasn’t this warm.
Yurry then feels Calico’s paws, and they are very warm to the touch as well, and also bleeding.
He has an idea. Yurry goes and pulls out his canteen of water, of which is still mostly chilled. He remembers a documentary which he saw with his family that demonstrated the kangaroo’s ability to lick itself to cool down.
Pouring ample amounts into his other hand, which he shapes to that of a scoop, Yurry takes the water and rubs it on Calico’s chest and paws, and also Calico’s ears. He then holds the metal bottle to his chest and face.
Calico remains motionless.
Yurry debates in his mind about what to do.
Lemur, gets up. Yurry eyes her and backs up a bit. She sniffs Calico’s stomach and starts licking the cold water.
Yurry, gets it.
He slowly, pours a bit into Calico’s mouth.
Again: motionless.
Yurry closes Calico’s jaw.
Calico’s eyes widen.
Yurry gets back to his feet in amazement.
Calico begins to choke on the water and shakes his head, and rolls to his side. His eyes are somewhat blurry and he cries aloud.
Calico:
“ Gammina! ”
Yurry:
“ It looks like your daddy is awake, I will leave you two. Thank you, bear cub — my friend. ”
Lemur goes to Yurry, and immediately, he bends to his knee. However, to his surprise, she bites into his shirt and gives him a tug forward to come back.
Yurry:
“ I can’t be with you two, I have a mission. ”
Calico becomes more coherent, and looks at Yurry and Lemur’s jaw closed on his shirt.
Lemur:
“ You saved my family, you are part of my family! ”
Calico:
“ Lemur, this gorilla…human saved me? ”
Lemur:
“ Yes, Calico. Yes, Calico. ”
Calico begins panting, and looks up at Yurry. He thinks about the good humans at his time at the zoo, before he heard the pure kind tales, before he witnessed Komiak’s death, before Hilly Dallia’s, and he walks forward to greet Yurry.
Lemur lets go.
Calico puts his head against Yurry’s leg. Yurry pets Calico’s head.
Oh, how I’ve missed being petted by a human.
Calico starts rubbing Yurry’s leg back, with his head.
Yurry:
“(chuckling) Okay, bear. Thank you, too. ”
Calico turns back to Lemur:
Calico:
“ I love you, too. Should we keep him? ”
Yurry is so taken aback with the moment, that he has to hold onto himself to realize that there is still a mission to get back to.
The three, Lemur, Calico and Yurry walk together towards the front main gate of the village.
END OF PART NINE
Including Content from the original story published in the author’s work
The Trails To Attrition © 2007, Wasteland Press, Inc.
ISBN-13: 9781600471520© 2024, Their Call, Calico: the Series
Wasteland PressAdam Mullin (a.k.a. Good Day, Adam)
