My mother taught me to fear the animals that walk on two legs. I found it odd when she first mentioned them, she had never advised me on the lions or the buffalo, so why were these hairless apes any different? I thought it could be because of their use of tools and how they could make things that our claws couldnt, but when I asked, she told me that wasnt the reason. We walked in the hot sun as she told me that the 2 legged animals were nothing like the lions or the buffalo or even us. I listened closely as I copied her walk, going forward 2 legs at a time.

“The lions are the royality of the savannah,” she said, “And monarchs fear none but their own. The buffalo are strong as one, and brave alone, and us, we are tactical.”

She stopped and suddenly pounced on me. I laughed as I played with her hairy chin while she threatened me with harmless bites.

“And we are sneaky,” she explained, “But the ones who have no fur are none of those things. They’re not at the top of the food chain and the fact that they wouldnt last a second in our world scares them. This is why I tell you to stay away.”

She put a paw on my head and made me promise to never go near them. I did, but I was confused, I asked her why I should be scared of them if they were scared of us. I thought it was a good thing but she thought otherwise.

“When you begin to hunt, you’ll understand.” She turned to look over our territory and I rubbed my paw against the scar she had trailing down her neck as she kept her voice steady.

“A lesson I learned on my first hunt was that a scared animal is a scary animal because they want to live, and to make sure they live, they’ll risk everything. Always remember that. A soul will do anything out of fear, and sometimes will power is all they need.”