Chapter 8: Fresh Meat

Kael looked at the brown rat that screeched and scratched beneath him.

How was he supposed to kill this thing, he wondered to himself. He recalled how lions killed their prey but it was different when he was to do the same in person.

The first thing that came to his mind was to go for the neck. 'Should I just press its neck till it suffocates?'

The other cubs were closing in fast. They had already seen the rat trapped under Kael and were eager to play with this rodent in the most malicious and violent way possible.

Seeing the cubs approaching, Kael instinctively tried to protect his prey. This was his catch, it was his to devour.

But the cubs could barely understand a threat coming from another cub that was pretty much their equal in size.

One cub in particular, a male, came too close. He stretched out his paw to try and grab the rat. It was comical but Kael wasn't laughing.

Lightning fast, Kael slapped the male cub on its face. The slap was unexpected and explosive, it practically sent the cub's head swinging to the side.

The male cub scurried away, it didn't like that pain at all.

Kael began to let out growls, baring his tiny developing teeth at his siblings and cousins. He didn't want to share a prey that he also didn't know how to kill.

With no other choice, Kael opened his mouth gently and bit down on the rat's neck. The rat was just big enough to have its neck fit perfectly into Kael's mouth. It was a big rat alright.

Kael could taste the fur of the rat, he could feel the muscles moving inside his mouth. The more the brown rat moved, the harder he began to calm down, not willing to let it escape.

But there was a problem, Kael was still a three-week-old cub. His jaw strength was okay but not enough. The way he positioned his mouth over the rat's neck, would only cause it discomfort and not suffocate it.

Minutes passed with Kael trying to bite the rat to death to no avail. What was even worse was that the cubs were getting bolder, even his siblings were attempting to play with the rat's tail.

Kael got an idea, he could not pick up the big rat fully as it was almost half his size if not more than, he could only try dragging it.

And so he dragged it away while it was screeching and trashing. Kael did not let go, he might not be strong enough to crush the neck but he was strong enough to keep it in place.

The rat was suffering, as Kael dragged it over the grass and dirt ground, the other cubs would scratch at it or nibble on its tail. It was a pitiable sight for the rat.

Eventually, Kael reached his destination, his mother. Most of the cubs did not follow him to this point. Each cub knew their mother and even Kael's mother wouldn't be so kind to these cubs, even if they shared the same father with her children.

Kael's mother looked down lazily at what her son had dragged to her. He was accompanied by his siblings who were also excited, jumping around and playing with the brown rat.

Kael looked at his mother, she may not speak but he knew she understood his intent. Lions may not be as intelligent as humans but they were definitely not dumb, mostly just lazy but definitely not dumb.

As Kael brought the squirming rat before her, she stretched out her large front paw and placed it gently on the rat. Her paw covered the body of the entire rat, leaving its head and neck -which was still in Kael's mouth- out.

Kael slowly released his mouth grip on the rat and then took some steps back, waiting in anticipation. His siblings also looked on.

The mother looked at her children's expectant gaze, especially Kael's.

*SPLAT!*

The mother pressed down on the rodent ruthlessly. The full weight of the lioness easily crushed the rat to a flat mess. Its bones, not able to withstand the pressure, shattered within its body.

Its lungs were forcefully emptied as the rat's mouth let out a short jet stream of air. Blood shot out of its eyes, nose, mouth, fingers, and anus.

The blood splashed everywhere, even on Kael who stood too close at that time.

His eyes were opened wide in shock. He was expecting some kind of delicate process to kill a prey, maybe she would have shown him how to kill a thing or two.

He didn't expect her to so brutally end the rat's life. The manner in which she attended to the rat was like she really didn't consider this rat a prey or source of food at all.

Kael kicked the blood that splashed close to his mouth, 'This…doesn't…taste bad,' He mused.

After his mother removed her paw, all that was left was a flat piece of meat and crushed bones.

Kael approached the kill, he stared in amazement at the graphic sight. One minute, the rat was alive, the next it was squashed to death. He bet that the rat hadn't woken up today to expect itself to die in this manner.

After some hesitation, Kael lowered his head, opened his mouth, and licked a bit. As a former civilized human, Kael found it hard to accept the idea of eating raw meat.

But he was a lion now, in the wild, with no civilization or stove nearby. If he didn't adapt, he might as well try to survive on his mother's milk.

It didn't taste bad in his mouth, the meat. As a matter of fact, it tasted great. This little run had come to an end and Kael discovered that raw meat actually tasted fine.

His two sisters and brother, seeing Kael take the meat into his mouth and chew it without trying to spit it out. They also approached the splattered meat.

They licked off the blood and nibbled on the body's flesh.

At the same time, their mother watched over them curiously. The smell of blood reached her nose and the other lionesses, but looking at the small prey, all of them instantly lost interest.