Upstart : continued # 3

All the warriors gather around the hog, drooling, but wait for Poppo to take the first bite.  Nobody picks before Poppo. As Poppo starts digging in for a choice piece of meat,  Booka, still frustrated from being cheated out of the kill,  kicks dirt on Poppo's meat.

Poppo is tired and his knee hurts badly but is aware that all the warriors wait for him to punish this insult. Poppo rushes at Booka but he is bluffing and it shows. Booka, sensing that Poppo is not at full strength stands his ground. He has seen Poppo attack and kill many young males that dared to challenge him. Yet, Booka knows Poppo is weaker now, old and ready to be taken.

Poppo hesitates,his bluff has been called.He has seen that Booka is strong and brave but now Poppo must kill this mutineer, there is no other choice, this insubordination, in front of the other warriors, cannot go unpunished.

Poppo springs at Booka, sinking his fangs into his neck. Booka manages to twist out of Poppo's grasp before his bite could sink deeper and breaks away. With blood coming from his neck, Booka rushes at Poppo and manages to get his forearm around Poppo's throat. Poppo twists his body to escape as he has done hundreds of times in the past with similar attacks, but again his knee gives away and he loses balance ,which enables Booka to bite deep into Poppo's throat and  Poppo falls dead. Booka rises up and with blood dripping from his mouth and the wound in his neck, pounds his chest in victory.

The other warriors hesitate, not expecting this upstart, this barely full grown entity, could overcome Poppo. Booka, feeling a rush of power, goes to the pig and rips out a choice piece of meat from the thigh. The other warriors make a dash for the meat but Booka growls and they stop, waiting for their new leader to give them permission.

The Upstart: continued #2

Poppo and his warriors enter the encampment, followed by Booka and the young warriors.. The females , young, old and sick howl in agony. Their mouths watered when they thought the hunt would lead to a kill and their hunger, which they feel in the pit of their stomachs, would be satisfied. But again they must suffer. The mothers frantically gather up their young in fear that a starving warrior would attempt to snatch a young and eat it.

Poppo and his warriors give a warning growl as many, in the tribe , spit at him and throw dirt as he passes. Which is the custom,.if the hunters come back empty handed.  Trailing them are Booka and the other young warriors, who receive the same treatment. Booka does not walk in shame as the other warriors because he knows the truth.  He could have killed the deer .

Booka goes to his mother, who had always protected him as he grew. He reaches out to her for comfort  but she slaps him away. An empty handed hunter is of no use.

Before sunrise the tribe gathers themselves to go on the move. They have to follow the herd   or die from hunger.

Under the rising sun the tribe sets out after the herd. Suddenly, a wild boar wonders into view on a ridge. The warriors immediately spring into action,. now they are a hunting party. They spread out to surround the pig. Each member of the party knows his task.

The younger warriors are to  sneak around the opposite side of the ridge and jump out from there. If all goes right, the pig will run the other way and into the hand axes of Poppo and his older warriors. Booka and the young hunters, move quietly through the bushes, as they have been taught as soon as they could walk.

The young of the tribe have to learn fast or die from starvation as food was not shared with the weak. There is no mercy for those that can not hunt. The old and injured that lag behind on a move are easy prey for predators that follow the tribe, looking for an easy meal.

Booka leads his group and  sees the hog grazing in the grass. It is lean but full grown with plenty of meat. Booka and his group spring out of the bushes and the pig screaming from freight , runs downhill toward Poppo, and his group, followed close behind by Booka. As the pig comes closer, Poppo jumps out and swings his club at the pigs back leg.

The pig goes down and struggles to get back on his feet. Poppo,  moves in to finish the pig off when his knee buckles and he falls. The pig, now on all fours, limps away.  Booka ,following close behind, hits the other leg and it goes down again. Before the pig can regain it's footing, Booka moves in and hits the pig hard on the head.

A loud crack echoes off the hillside as the pig goes down quivering but immobile. Booka moves in for the kill but Poppo snarls at him and brushes him aside and kills the pig himself. As Poppo stands over the kill ,pounding his chest in victory. Booka feels an impulse to attack Poppo but restrains himself for he has seen Poppo kill many that had dared to oppose him.

to be continued

Chapter 1: The Upstart # 1

The tribe is hungry and game is scarce. They have been chasing the herd for 4 days with no success. Finally a  deer is cornered  but the warriors,led by Poppo the leader of the tribe are too slow and the prey escapes. Poppo, the leader of the tribe, has had pain in his knees and hips He has been the lead warrior of the tribe for many years but time and past injuries have begun to overtake him, slowing him down in the chase. Poppo ,tries to keep hidden that he can not move with his old speed and agility. He knows that one of the younger warriors would challenge him for the lead, as he had done to the tribe's former leader who Poppo killed  and took over the tribe. Poppo is determined not to suffer the same fate, he does not want to give up the privileges that goes with being the leader, the choices cuts of meat and the best of the females.

Booka, one of the younger warriors, is growing impatient. He knows he could have jumped on the back of the deer and clubbed it with the stone that he has chiseled to a point . It would have been his first kill which would have given him high esteem within the tribe, but Poppo  pushed him aside ..Unfortunately Poppo is too slow and stumbles ,permitting the deer to escape. The tribe sees what would have eased their hunger, scream and stomp their feet, as they saw, what they thought was a sure meal, sprint away. Booka is hungry, his mother is hungry. His father is Poppo.


To be continued