*** Chapter Six: Moses Day 2 ***

“Did you hear that?” I asked David. In one swift motion I unstrapped the air rifle from my shoulder and used the scope to look around.

“Hear what?” David asked. He was using the binoculars my dad had given me for my birthday a couple of years ago. I used them whenever we went hunting, acting as my father’s spotter, today my cousin was taking that role since he didn’t like shooting animals.

Kawww…

It sounded louder this time and more pronounced, but it also sounded very far away.

“Did you hear it now?” I asked him. I shifted my site towards where I heard the sound project from. “I think it came from that way.”

“Isn’t that the direction Maira went in this morning?” David asked.

About an hour ago there had been a big deal made out of the fact that nobody could find Maira in the morning. There was a tally made, there were a few people currently not at the house, most of them though had informed someone of where they would be going, all except Maira and Santos.

My aunts had made a fuss about Santos being missing too, mostly because Maira was probably with him. Both David and I know that Maira probably followed him, but regardless it would be Santos getting chewed out in the end. He always got the short end of the stick.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Let’s check it out. Keep your eyes peeled so whatever made that sound doesn’t catch us by surprise.”

We started moving faster upstream of the river, our eyes kept constant vigilance of the forest and whatever may reside within it. As we got further and further up we started hearing noises, some of it was bird, but some of it sounded like people.

When we got close enough to see what was happening I immediately dropped to a knee and took aim with the air rifle. Ahead of us was Maira as well as two of my uncles and a cousin, they had set out to search for Maira and Santos as well. They weren’t the only group out looking for them, but they were probably the only ones that had come out this way excluding us. Well they found her and something else.

Maira was currently in the river swimming away from a very large ostrich like bird, only this one was more feathered, thicker, and looked more like a parakeet. My uncles and cousin were chucking rocks at it trying to discourage it from continuing its chase.

The bird was large and a very poor swimmer, but because of its size and legs it was still gaining on Maira. It avoided coming closer to our side of the river to avoid getting pelted and Maira was keeping herself in the river, which was pretty smart. As long as the bird remained interested in Maira it wouldn’t cross the river to our side where we would be at a huge disadvantage against this creature.

“Help me!” she desperately cried out. Her arms and legs were a blur as she fought to keep ahead of the bird.

Thunk!

Uncle Juan plays a lot of baseball, our family plays two sports that a lot of them participate in, that being baseball and volleyball. Right now his baseball skills were playing a major role in keeping the predatory bird away from Maira. Before it could lunge at her again it took a stone to the beak, stunning it for a moment, long enough for Maira to get a little bit more distance from it.

“We won’t let it get to you!” Uncle Juan reassured her as he scrambled for another good rock to throw at the bird.

When it hesitated it created the perfect timing for me, I squeezed the trigger and a small .22 mm arrowhead BB pellet popped out of the barrel and zipped straight at the bird. Without confirming the shot, I was already at work cracking open the rifle and loading the next round.

SQUA!

It cried out.

My scope was on it again in mere seconds searching for any weakness on the bird. The bird was thrashing around too much to get my sight focused on it, one of its eyes was closed shut and there was some blood there. It wasn’t a whole lot, due to the round being small and barely powerful, but there was a clearly visible mark of blood on its eye.

I went for it again.

Squawk!

It cried with less force, I wasn’t sure if I got it in the eye again, but it was on guard now. It stopped chasing Maira and fled for the shore on the other side.

Maira swam out of the river now that the bird was no longer after her.

“Come on Maira!” Uncle Juan urged, keeping a good sized rock clenched in his fist.

She splashed sporadically towards shore. Her body moved as if it did so only because it had to, her arms and legs barely appeared to have any strength in them. She did even bother getting her long black hair out of her eyes until she was a mere couple of feet from the shore.

“We have to find Santos!” she huffed, her voice unsteady. “He...he’s still in the forest!”

Squawk!

The bird reminded us of its presence. It prowled the other side of the shoreline as if considering crossing it or not.

“We can’t risk it,” uncle Juan said. He kept his eyes on the bird. “We don’t have guns and this bird can kill some of us if it crosses that river. We have to go back and get everyone up here to help him.”

“He’ll be dead by then!” she cried out. “Two showed up first, this is the third one!”

“All the more reason we have to go back,” our uncle insisted. “We can’t save him with what we’ve got.”

“He’s right Maira,” I said, keeping my eye on the other bird. It squawked a few times and looked to be retreating into the woods. “We can’t kill it with what we have. Santos will be alright, we just have to hurry and run back for help for now. The faster we can get back the better his chances.”

Maira looked like she wanted to run into the forest, but her body didn’t look like it had any strength left.

“Come on,” I placed my hand on her shoulder. “We have to go now.”

She looked at me, her eyes full of tears, “f-fine!”

*** The Family ***

“We can’t go out there,” Lucio said, holding his arms out to stop the few young men who had quickly gotten up to go search for Santos. They had all returned home a couple of hours ago having found nothing.

“Tio,” his nephew Michael spoke. “If we don’t go Santos might die, or if he is already dead we won’t be able to find his body.”

“Don’t say that!” Martha chastised him, her hands trembled over her lips. She couldn’t bear the idea of losing her eldest son.

“I’m sorry tia,” he apologized.

“Even if we go out there we might still not find him,” Lucio continued. “We don’t have the time to search for him, soon the sun will set and the things that were out there last night will be coming back. He is going to have to survive till morning.”

“But we still have some time!” Martha cried. She couldn’t contain her tears and was constantly wiping them away, but she did not allow her voice to waver.

“Lucio is right,” George said to Martha. “In the morning everyone will go out to find him, but we can’t risk everyone’s lives.”

“Are you hearing yourselves?” Maira spoke up. “We are abandoning someone of the family, not a stranger!”

“I’m sorry,” Luciano said. “But, we have to think about everyone else.”

“We have to get ready for tonight,” Rodrigo, the second oldest of the family, said. He turned towards his granddaughter and hugged her. “I’m sorry Maira.”

“But…,” she wanted to argue further, but even Santos’ mother had grown quiet sobbing in the arms of her husband, Raphael. He hadn’t spoken up to search for his own boy, but the gleaming of tears in his own eyes could be clearly seen.