The Predator

The days seem endless now. I watch my people dying and I realize that I am helpless to stop it. Those who don't die from the Invisible Predator fall victim to starvation. All of our hunters have finally succumbed, and there is no one left to provide food for us. No one to protect us.



I was always left behind, considered to be the weakest. Funny that I would be the last man standing. The only reason I can think of is that I was not taken out and exposed to the Predator's wrath. We still don't know where he comes from, or how his poison enters the body, but every few days another member of the tribe begins to deteriorate. It is usually the ones taking care of the dying that become sick, but we have also lost the children. The poor children.



I don't know how, but I am going to beat this Predator. I have never been much use with the weapons that the tribe create, but they are of no use against an enemy that you can't see anyway. What I need is to find out how he is killing us. Then maybe I can fight back. I have studied the bodies of our dead for years. Being the weakest, my only use was disposing of the bodies of the strong. I spent much of that time examining mortal wounds that the hunters suffered. I have spent countless days dissecting the bodies of the old who died for no apparent reason. After all of that study, I have gained a pretty deep knowledge of the body.



But now the bodies are different. The insides are no longer colorful and beautiful. No, now everything is dark and shriveled. The Predator seems to be killing us by rotting our bodies. I have never seen anything like this. One of the tribe dogs began to show the signs of the Predator two days ago. I was going to put him down to examine him, but when I took him out in the wilderness where I work, I noticed the dog eating a bush that I had never noticed before. I have never seen the tribe dogs eat plants before. For some reason I decided to watch him for a while to figure out why he was acting this way. Amazingly he didn't die. This death that takes us in a matter of days seemed to be stopped in that dog. I decided that if the animals could beat the Predator, then so could we.



I went out and gathered the plant's leaves and took them to the caretakers. They didn't want to listen to me. But I would show them. I sat with the dying. That is where the Predator always seems to strike. I sat there for days. Finally I began to feel it. The Predator had come. I never saw him, I didn't even feel him until the coughing started. Now was the time. As the last man in my tribe, I would stop the Predator and save my people. I ate the leaves. After a short time, I was convinced that I was right. All of the pain stopped. I felt great. The others saw what was happening too. They all ate the leaves that I had gathered. We were celebrating an end to the Predator's reign.



Suddenly I began to feel very odd. My vision became blurred, and I began to see two of everything. I turned to go to my wigwam when I saw it. The dog lie dead at the edge of the forest. Scavengers that had began to tear down its body lay dead all around it. As I turned back to my people, my legs folded under me. I lost the use of my limbs. I could see that the others were the same. As my vision grew dim, the horrible truth flooded my mind. I was never meant to save my people. In beating the Predator, I poisoned my own tribe. We were doomed to the same fate either way. I had become the Predator. My pride killed my people.