COYOTE

She cried out in pain, an agonizing shrill, her vocal chords desperately trying to choke the panic they feared would call out…but its cry sounded in the desolate darkness of a crescent moon lit forest; louder than any cry the earth had ever heard…

She kept running on foot…as fast as her feet could carry her, gripping the wrestling womb in the palm of her trembling hands…

“Stay with me, stay inside, not now, please, not now…”

She kept on running, every branch crackling under her feet, giving way to her predator, she winced, knowing that its breath was closing in…she wanted to be fast enough, but she couldn’t…she just couldn’t…

No one was listening to her, not the beast trampling after her and not the beast in her womb…no one was listening…

Whatever it was that was growing inside her would not listen, it wanted out into the world now, not because it was ready or impatient but because it knew it needed to be free, right now, free to protect her, free to defend her and take its place in destiny…free to fight…free to feed…

The forest gave way to an open desert terrain, there was no where to hide, hysteria took its course through her veins, her legs were weighted down with helpless anxiety…she was breath taken with defeat…I am done, there is no way, death has come for me and the life inside me…it was all she could say, all she could think, no matter how much she didn’t want to think it or believe it…this was the moment she had been running from…

It stood over her, a strong legged, sculpted, flesh bleeding beast, it’s muscles raw and pulsating, bone marrow exposed, monstrous in a way she could not comprehend, rearing back on its hind legs, twelve feet maybe fifteen feet tall, blood filled saliva dripping from its barracuda teeth, rows and rows of decaying, piercing teeth, fire filled eyes, wet leathery wings…It was diabolic, a horrific demon and as it reached out its talon fingertips toward her womb she was paralyzed, fear cementing her feet into the ground.

She looked up, focusing her eyes on the crescent moon, she called on the light, with every breath she had left to give she called on the light, the power of the light of the moon, the power and belief in every tale, every myth, folklore, distorted theology, she cried out for a help that only a mother could call for…

And before her, in that instant, nature gave out a pack of wild ferocious creatures, smaller than wolves. They fled toward the beast with a ravenous hunger, in numbers she could never speak, they leaped toward it, with out an ounce of fear and they tore the beast apart, limb from limb and as they brought it to its knees…the ground opened up…and swallowed the beast whole…sparing the wild little monsters…

Before she could believe the demise of the beast, she heard the cry of the first child released from her womb, she reached for the warm heat between her legs, the wetness that was the cradle of life that had so ruthlessly fought to be free and as she lifted the infant to her chest, the creatures that had come to her aide, gathered around, her first instinct was to protect but something in her spirit told her to be still, they lowered their heads and brought their bodies to the ground, on all fours, bowing, giving honor and respect to the life she had brought forth into this world…

She took a breath, letting this inexplainable peace wash over her…then a pain like nothing she had ever felt ripped through her body and a second life broke through the surface…