Lost
by Kate Rowe

The tigress looked at her cubs and sighed. They were still only young. There were three cubs. Saraabi was the only female of the three tiger cubs. Saracad and Coda were the other two. Coda and Saracad stopped playing just long enough for Coda to glance out of their cave. Coda's father was missing for two days, and the family of tigers were worried. The tigress fought a swift, silent battle with herself. She'd better not leave the cubs alone, just in case, well........
“ Who wants to come hunting with me?” the tigress asked. Her name was Tails, because the tip of her tail was cut in half in a fight with a beast. To give them their real name, tigers called them humans.
“ ME! ME! ME!” came the reply. The cubs were at the entrance of the cave faster than a cheetah.
“ All right now, guys, quiet. These oxen are owned by the beasts in the village. Look for a small, weak one,” Tails whispered. A small herd of little oxen were grazing, their tails swishing to get rid of pestering flies. Coda spotted one that walked funny, and......
“ I FOUND ONE!” Coda screamed excitedly. The oxen scattered.
“ Way to go, Coda! Now we have no dinner!” groaned Saracad. But he was wrong. Saraabi and Tails had caught a small ox while the two cubs were squabbling.
“ All right!” the cubs screamed in unison. The tigers dragged the carcass to a nearby clearing, and savaged the meat.
“ Rest up now, girlies, we'll do the rest,” joked Coda.
BANG.
“ RUN AWAY!” roared Tails. The tigers started running, but......
BANG.
A dull thud could be heard all over the jungle. Coda stopped running and looked over his shoulder. Tails was lying on the ground. “Mum? MUM?” Coda started crying, and lay down beside the dead Tails.
Suddenly, a sack was thrown over Coda! “HELP ME!!!” squealed Coda.
Then he was hit over the head and tasted blood in his mouth and then blacked out, with tears still streaming down his striped face.
The men brought the crate Coda was in onto a small pickup truck. It trundled along until it came to a zoo. The sign said
Coda woke up suddenly, and realised he was in a crate. Little did he know he was in a zoo? An enclosure was set up, and a crowd had gathered around it.
“ Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming to the grand opening of our tiger exhibit” A cheer erupted from the crowd, “Thanks, folks! And now, please welcome our newly captured arrival, SINDO THE TIGER!”
Nearly seconds after, the crate was carried into the enclosure. A hush fell on the crowd. Then the front of the crate was ripped harshly off.
Coda sprang out. He ran to the artificial cave, sobbing, thinking “How did this happen? Doesn't anybody care?”
Coda crawled into the cave, and fell into an uneasy, dream infested sleep.
He dreamt about pleading Tails to wake up, to not be dead...... Someone was shouting his name....... He was being ripped apart.......... He was going to die......
“ Coda!” The dream Tails was huge...... “Am I dead?” Coda whispered. The dream Tails just shook her magnificent head and said “Be strong. Coda, you are going to survive. Just be strong. Be strong.............”
“ Wait! Don't leave! Help...” Coda said. But the dream Tails was already walking away...
Coda woke up abruptly. He looked around himself franticly. What ever caused him to jerk awake, he never knew. Coda rolled over and went back to sleep, and forgot about the dream.
Coda woke up early next morning. He heard the caw of a lonely crow. And then Coda went out and looked around the spacious area. He didn't like the enclosure though...
A zoo keeper came in cautiously, ran to the meat trough, and ran out, glancing over his shoulder. Coda sighed.
“ Why am I the only tiger in this place? I am so bored,” Coda said to himself.
“ Hey! Watcha doing?”
Coda jumped in fright. A large hippopotamus was eyeing him up and down from the next pen, grinning.
“ Why are ya so sad?” the hippo asked.
“ Because I'm so lonely, I hate this place,” Coda sobbed, and he flopped down on the gritty sand, crying.
“ Quit that. It's okay. Stop it, you're breaking my heart. Anyway, change of subject. My name is Scrad. What's your name?” Scrad enquired.
“ I'm Coda,” answered Coda. “I am going to go to bed now, so I might see you later Scrad.”
Coda walked slowly to the cave and fell asleep.
He dreamt about his dad, with his scar in his cheek.....
“ CODA! WAKE UP!” Coda shifted and stirred. Another tiger was standing above him. He had a scar on his cheek, his left cheek.......
“ DAD!!!” Coda bellowed, delighted. The other tiger grinned broadly, showing enormous teeth.
“ Oh Coda, I cannot believe its you! I've missed you so much. Where are Tails and the rest off my cubs?” the tiger asked. His name was Sorrel. Grey lined his anxious face.
“ Dad,” Coda began, wondering how to say this, “ Mum was killed, and I don't know what happened to the other two.”
Sorrels face crumpled. A tear slid down his face.
“ Why? Why, Lord, why me?” he murmured to himself.
“ I'm sorry,” Coda mumbled, shifting from one front paw to the other.
“ Its not your fault, son. Its my fault. I shouldn't have left, I mean, if we weren't so damn close to that village, we wouldn't be in this stupid mess.
“ I was caught by the villagers, and they called a man to come and take me to this place, but we were delayed by storms. Oh, enough of sad talk lets have some dinner. I hope they have some for us,” said Sorrel. He went over to the trough and snorted. “Bah! This is a disgrace!” Sorrel snorted again. Coda looked into the trough, and gasped. There was a leaf of rotting lettuce in the trough. Nothing else. Just a dirty, rotting leaf of lettuce.
“ How are we going to live without food, Dad?” Coda asked in a small voice.
Sorrel didn't answer, but walked away and went into the cave. Coda heard cheers in the small pub across the road, and sighed. He went over to the cave and went inside. All was quiet now, and Coda fell asleep listening to his fathers' snores.
“ CODA! WAKE UP! WILL YA GET UP?! GET UP!”
Coda woke up with a startled yelp. Smoke was everywhere. His eyes stung and smarted, and his lungs screamed in protest for air.
“ DAD! GET UP! FIRE!” Coda screamed, but his words were lost in the screams and shouts of animals and people alike.
“ Dad... Help me,” Coda whispered, before falling to the ground.

Then Coda was aware of someone picking him up. Fire surrounded the enclosure. He looked up. A man with a wicked grin was holding onto the back of his neck, a small, pointy knife in his other hand. It glinted in the light of the fire. “DAD!” Coda roared one last time. Sorrel came out of nowhere, snarling. The man held the knife to the cub's throat. Sorrel stopped suddenly. The man grinned, and pushed the knife harder against Coda. Coda couldn't cry any longer. He started choking, his eyes watering.
Sorrel didn't know what to do. He needn't have worried.
Scrad, the hippo, had crept up behind the drunken man. With an almighty roar, Scrad pushed the man to the ground, and Coda managed to struggle free.
“ Thanks, Scrad! Do you need any help,” shouted Sorrel. Scrad yelled back “No, just go! Nice knowing you! Bye!”
The fire had spread rapidly all around them without them noticing. Coda was choking with all the smoke surrounding him, and fainted.
Sorrel groped in the darkness frantically, and with a sigh of relief, caught him by the scruff of the neck.
The flames had him surrounded, their orange glow terrifying.
Sorrel had only one choice. With an almighty roar, he leaped over the huge flames.
He landed safely on the other side and ran as fast as his powerful legs would carry him.Sorrel pounded across a small village, with Coda still hanging from his mouth. In the distance, he could see a large forest. People screamed as he ran passed, and fled.
Every step seemed like a mile. Sorrel collapsed at the edge of the forest and blacked out.
What seemed like centuries later, Coda awoke with a start. Sorrel was breathing quietly beside him, and smiled when Coda looked at him.
“ How are you?” he asked quietly, as so not to startle the other animals resting in their homes.
“ Fine,” replied Coda. He got up and stretched, showing small, white teeth. “What will we do now, Dad? Will we stay, or go?” questioned Coda.
“ Well, I think we will explore first, and then have some food,” replied Sorrel.
They both got up and started to sniff the air. They then started to follow a track, leading to God knows where.
There was a fork in the track, one part of it going left, the other, right. Sorrel went on the right track, which went even deeper into this forest. Coda bounced down the left trail, humming to himself.
“ How are ya, mate?”
Coda jumped in fright, and without hesitating, screamed for Sorrel.
The older tiger came racing down the track, snarling.
A small kangaroo stood by a tree, laughing fit to burst.
“ What's so funny?” demanded Coda indignantly.
Sorrel didn't say anything.
The kangaroo stopped laughing suddenly, and apologised.
“ Sorry. My name is Joey,” he said.
Joey looked at the tigers more closely, his face etched with concern.
“ Both of you must be starving. I know where a nice stream is, and you can catch a fish,” said Joey.
Sorrel and Coda glanced at each other, but decided against it. They had to find a way home.
“ No thanks, but do you know a place where loads of tigers live? The place is called Aracillo Island,” asked Sorrel.
“ Do I ever!” exclaimed Joey.
“ I know where a ship is which is leaving for the isle you speak of! Come on,” urged Joey.
“ OK,” said Coda and Sorrel.
A few hours later they were walking in a village. It was dusk, and the tigers and Joey were talking about these things animals dream of.
At dawn, Coda and Sorrel saw the great ship looming in the distance.
“ Fare well, my friends. I will miss you both,” Joey said tearfully, and gave them both a big hug.
“ Thank you, Joey, for everything you did for us,” whispered Coda.
“ Joey, I cannot thank you enough,” Sorrel said.
Joey looked at his new friends, and then at the ship. “Go, before the ship leaves,” said Joey.
The tigers leaped onto the ship, and Joey waved until they were tiny black dots in the distance.

The End