Ernie's Path

Submitted into Contest #281 in response to: Write a story from the POV of a non-human character.... view prompt

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Fiction

He had never seen so many people before. Dozens upon dozens of them noisily walking through the underbrush, loudly talking to each other. He was used to seeing a few people. There was a flat stretch of land in the midst of all the trees and they seemed to like coming down it, instead of between the trees. It took longer that way, but he supposed it was easier for them. 


Ernie, a name that some of the locals had taken to call him, crept down from his perch to get a better look at the procession. He had discovered that he could get quite close to larger groups of people without anyone even noticing him. They were much too preoccupied with the colorful birds and whatever was on the shiny rocks they always had near their faces. As long as he moved slowly and stayed low among the dense vegetation, he was all but invisible. That was certainly not the case with some of the locals. They seemed to be able to see him wherever he was, and this was not necessarily a good thing. Ernie prided himself on being difficult to see, until it was too late. 


He had learned that when humans were around in large numbers, there was little purpose in hunting. The loud, chaotic procession scared off any decent prey for about a half mile. Besides, he had eaten well only two days ago.  

Soft padded paws enabled him to silently glide along the forest floor until he was within a hundred yards of the group. This was a good distance. He was unlikely to be seen but could see and smell each individual human with ease. Of course, he would not dare get this close to most of the locals. They were much more cunning, and sometimes dangerous.  


He had learned that lesson the hard way when he was younger. Back then, Ernie was much more daring, arrogant even. He often made his presence known to anyone passing through what he thought of as his territory, which was quite expansive. This method worked well to drive off any competition, but with the humans, it had provoked a quite different response. 


Even back then, he had known better to confront a group of humans, often carrying pointy things with them. He had seen them kill groups of full-grown boars at a time, a creature that he would only dare to hunt if it was isolated, and he could surprise it. He was intelligent enough to understand that they could do the same thing to him if he was not careful. 


He had not seen the danger in confronting one of the smaller humans, with no pointy thing. Ernie had never meant to hurt it, just to show that this area belonged to him. Of course, had he been hungry, that may have changed things. He had successfully stalked the human and managed to get up right behind him and let out a single warning roar. It had been terribly effective, and the little human had screamed and ran. Satisfied that his territory was safe, Ernie had climbed a nearby tree to rest.  


That same evening, a large group of humans had come out into his territory, carrying pointy things, sticks with fire, and other things he did not understand. That was Ernie's first experience with humans carrying fire. The only other time he had encountered it was the time when it raged uncontrollably through the forest, consuming everything in its path with terrible heat and sound. It was the thing that killed his mother and at least one of his siblings. The idea that these creatures could control that made Ernie flee from the group with abandon. That had proven to be a bad plan. 


Immediately the group gave chase. They were coming for him. Ernie had never been hunted before. He was always the hunter and did so on his terms. Now he was running for his life. He heard some of the pointy things cutting through the air in his direction and felt the air of one pass close by his face. He abruptly changed course and headed deeper into the forest, hoping to lose the group. The humans were all yelling, and the fires were moving from seemingly everywhere, heading his way. No matter how fast he ran, or what maneuvers he used, the humans kept on his trail.  

Ernie could not understand how they were still following him. 


They were not fast enough to catch him or keep up with him, but he was exhausted, and they were not. He knew he could not keep running for much longer. He broke out of the jungle onto the riverbank and plunged in immediately to swim across. Normally, he would have watched for a while to make sure there were no crocodiles waiting, but there was no time. The crocodiles might kill him, but the humans definitely would. 


He somehow made it across the river unmolested. On the other riverbank, he collapsed on the ground panting heavily. He could see the fires nearing the bank on the other side, especially since it was getting darker by the minute. The humans gathered together on the other bank, and he could hear their voices speaking quickly and angrily.  Could they make it across?  


Ernie knew at that moment that he had severely underestimated the humans. That little one must have been a cub. Of course they would protect their cubs. His mother had fought time and time again to keep him and his sisters safe. He vowed that he would never make that mistake again, if he managed to live through the night, that is.  


The light from the fire revealed a multitude of glowing eyes in the river. The river was lousy with crocodiles. Ernie had no idea how he had managed to make it across unharmed. He could see some humans pointing at the water and shaking their heads. They must have seen the crocodiles as well. After a tense few moments, the fires started heading back in the other direction. Ernie waited motionless for a long time to ensure that they were not following him.  


Eventually, Ernie cautiously made his way up into the jungle away from the river. He had been thrown out of his own territory and would have to find a way to acquire a new one, but not back across the river. He would never cross that river again. 

After several months of working his way deeper into the forest, being run off countless times by bigger, more ferocious cats, and being reduced to hunting small creatures that were barely more than a mouthful, Ernie finally found a small area where there were no discernible territorial markings. It was a much smaller area than he was accustomed to, but it had a decent amount of prey and access to a small stream. It would have to do, for now. 


Less than a week later, Ernie found out why the area was not claimed. There was a flat piece of land that ran through the middle of the jungle. It was about as wide as he was and no trees or bushes grew in the path, only a small number of grasses and flowers. After the experiences of the last few months, Ernie treated everything new with a high level of suspicion. When he was not actively hunting or resting, Ernie kept a vigil on the path from the safety of a tree hidden deep in the foliage to one side. 

It was on one such watch that Ernie first encountered one of what he later would identify as the locals. When he first caught the unmistakable scent of humans, he had almost bolted but decided that it would be better to remain hidden.  


When the humans came around the bend in the path, Ernie doubted that these were the same creatures as the ones that had nearly killed him. Where the humans from across the river wore skins of animals and had markings on their faces, these humans were covered by some material that he did not recognize and had no smell. The humans from across the river had toes on their feet, but these had feet more like deer. They carried no pointy things that he could see, but he was certain they had some somewhere, and if they discovered him, they would bring more humans again, with fire.  


There were three of them that came down the path, which was honestly three more than Ernie was comfortable with at this point. When they reached the point of the path that was nearest to his tree, they stopped and looked around in all directions. One of them, the tallest one with hair on his face, gazed intently in his direction, and Ernie crouched down as far as he could to blend in with the environment. The one looking called out to the others and pointed at the very tree Ernie was in. Perhaps the humans could see better than he thought also. The human reached into his strange coverings and pulled out a flat, shiny rock. He lifted the rock up and faced Ernie for a few moments. One of the other humans, much smaller with no hair on his face or head, placed a smooth black object up to his eyes, and stared as well.  


Just as Ernie was preparing to run and potentially be chased by humans with fire again, the trio turned and continued down the path, not looking back even once. Over the next several months, he continued to survey the path, each time from a different location. Each time a group came down the path, Ernie lay quietly. Some times they spotted him, other times they did not. Except for the man with the hair on his face. He saw Ernie every time he came down the path. Ernie began to believe that this human had better senses than he did, and started thinking of him as an eagle, which his mother had told him had the sharpest vision of all the animals, able to see small creatures like mice from great heights in the air.  


One day, Ernie was stalking a particularly oblivious monkey. Like most of his hunting, Ernie had been able to get almost within striking distance undetected, when suddenly, something had grabbed his back leg tightly and pulled him up. He immediately spun around, claws and teeth ready to viciously attack whatever had grabbed him, but there was nothing there. There was only a strong dead vine wrapped around his leg leading up to a high branch. No matter how he struggled and gnawed at the vine, it would not release him.  


After a few hours, Ernie was exhausted. His front paws could touch the ground, but he was hanging from the tree, and completely unable to free himself. His caught leg was bleeding where the skin had been scraped off and was causing him a lot of pain. Ernie knew that he was at the mercy of whatever animal came along. He would be unable to effectively defend himself for long.  


At that moment, Ernie saw the eagle man and a small group of humans standing just outside his reach. Using what little strength he had left, Ernie lunged at them, only to be pulled back violently to the tree, sending another jolt of pain through him. He growled and hissed at the group, determined not to let them have him without a fight. 


Instead of charging at him or producing pointy things, the humans talked among themselves for a bit. Eagleman said “Looks like we caught Ernie. He doesn’t look too good.” The others nodded in agreement. 0


One of the humans left the group and returned with a long stick, that was not a stick. It was not the right color, smooth and shiny. The man pointer the stick at Ernie. He heard a click and then felt a pain in his right shoulder. Immediately, he felt all of his muscles relax and his vision faded. 

Ernie awoke on a hard surface he had never seen before. It was a bright cave, with light coming from the top of it. He could not move, but he could feel something on his injured leg. It was coarse and irritating, and he hissed in protest, but he was unable to swipe at it. A new human saw him moving and pressed something on the wall of the not-cave, and Ernie fell back into unconsciousness. 


The next time Ernie woke up, he was outside again. The irritating thing on his leg was gone, and his wound was closing and was almost pain free. He gingerly got up, shaking off the sleepiness he still felt.  He quickly realized that there was a tall barrier preventing him from returning home. He gave it a tentative bite and determined that he would not be able to break it down. Nor could he climb it. Even if he could, the barrier extended above him as well, but at least it let in the real sunlight, warm and bright, unlike the not-cave light.  


“Good. You are awake, Ernie.” said Eagleman, as he dropped in some pieces of meat. Ernie did not recognize the scent of this meat, but it was decidedly meat. He cautiously sniffed at the offering, wary of a trap. A couple of licks was all it took for hunger to override any remaining caution. Eagleman threw in a few more sizable pieces which Ernie attended to with great speed. After finishing his meal, Ernie looked around for a stream to drink from, but there was none in this enclosure. He did find some water in a strange container, like a rock with a depression in it that traps water when the rivers rise and fall (and sometimes fish, although it had only happened once). 


“It looks like there isn’t anything wrong with your appetite. Don’t worry Ernie. We will get you home in a few days. Just have to make sure your leg isn’t infected.” said Eagleman before he walked away. Ernie did not understand anything Eagleman said, but he did realize that Ernie was the sound that Eagleman used for him.  

True to his word, three days later, Eagleman and a small group of humans opened a hole in the barrier and coaxed Ernie through it into a smaller version of it, which was not something that Ernie particularly wanted to do. A few hours later after being jostled in the back of some monstrosity that moved at great speeds and roared almost the entire time, Ernie recognized that they were on the path in his territory. The beast stopped near the tree where Eagleman had first spotted Ernie and finally stopped growling at him.  


Ernie’s enclosure was placed on the ground, and a few moments later he heard a loud click, the front opened, and his freedom was there for the taking. Ernie was very confused. Why had the humans taken him and fed him, only to bring him back home and let him go? For a moment, he considered that this was the moment that they would stab him with their pointy things and finish what they had started so long ago.  

He slowly crept out into the open, expecting pain to strike at any moment, but it never did. The humans were both inside that beast which had brought him back. Ernie supposed that the beast had to eat as well. Maybe that is why it finally stopped growling. He would miss Eagleman a little bit. When nothing happened, he took a few more steps until he was well clear of the beast, turned around and looked at Eagleman again, who was now outside of the beast again. Good for him. 


“Goodbye Ernie! I will see you soon. Try to stay away from any more boar snares. We may not always be around to save you.”


After helping the other human put the enclosure back in place, Eagleman got back into the beast. It roared to life and disappeared around the curve of the path. Ernie sprinted into the safety of the jungle before anything else could happen. 


Since then, he routinely saw Eagleman and his friends. They waved their arms at him when they noticed him, and he didn’t try to hide every time. He sensed that they did not intend to hurt him. After all, if they had wanted to kill him, they could have done so easily. 


The large group in front of him had even more ridiculous things covering them, and when he stood up to announce his presence, the humans all pointed their shiny rocks at him and oohed and ahhed at him. These humans were strange, but safe. 

“Good morning, Ernie!” exclaimed Eagleman as he waved his arms at him. Ernie grunted back at him and walked casually back into the jungle.  

December 16, 2024 19:19

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1 comment

David Sweet
16:04 Dec 21, 2024

I'm glad this ended well. I didn't expect it to end so. I am curious about the name, Ernie. An interesting choice. Always fun to see the world from an animal's perspective.

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