The Beast
There they sat all together as one family even though there were many different families they all lived together as one. The youngest played together, the elders shared wisdom and the adults showed their crafts to the next generation.
“It is coming!” someone shouted from over a hill. The family of families looked in that direction to see the great beast of the Artic closing in on them. The brave messenger, who had brought the news, was close to exhaustion. His breathing became heavier and more labored with every step, sweat poured off him even in this frigid climate. The family scatted every which way to avoid their looming destruction. It was too late for the messenger he collapsed from the strain as the Artic monster closed in on his last moments of life.
“Father!” cried a girl running towards him. “Don’t leave me,” she pleaded.
“Do not come near, myyoung one, or the beast will get you as well,” the messenger hardly managed to say before a loud blast ended his life, and the horrid beast dragged away his body as a trophy. Tears streamed down the girl’s face. Her father was gone now and all she could do was run with her tail between her legs as far and fast as possible.
Many years later:
Gallkin stared out the airplane window at the snow. His mother, father, himself, and, of course, the pilot were the only ones on the small airplane. Gallkin usually did not mind the yearly Artic travels his family took, however this year he was very exicted to be going for his father had promised him that, this year, he could hunt with him. From his seat he could hear his father talking to the pilot, no doubt another hunting story. His mother was next to him reading a book, so he continued to stare. Suddenly he noticed the snowflakes were moving faster and smoke came into his vision.
“Skybeast to mission control,” Gallkin heard the pilot call into the radio receiver. “We are experiencing partial engine failure. I repeat, partial engine failure, over.” Nothing. “Come in mission control, over,” he shouted as he desperately tried to pull up the airplane. As the airplane grew closer and closer to the ground there was a tense silence no one, save the pilot, dared break. However, the silence was broken, sharply, by the sound of metal bending from a hard impact. The family of three struggled their way far from the airplane. They managed to turn around towards the airplane just in time to see it burst into flames.
This can’t be, thought Gallkin. That plane, if it's gone so is our hope. We’ll be trapped here, in this frozen waste land. Gallkin tried to stop his own negativity but hisway thinking would not let him. As the light from the flames danced across their faces the family stood staring , as if to be sure what had just happened so quickly had really happened.
After accepting the fact that they would be staying, they gathered their bearings. The lack of storage room they had complained about earlier turned out to be a blessing, for they had brought all of their clothes and some other supplies with them.
A few minutes later, Gallkin shuffled through the deep snow. With his father’s hunting rifle on his back, he searched to find something for food while his parents set up a camp. At first their decision pricked at his logic. However he knew his mother could never hunt, and only his father could correctly set up for the frigid conditions, so he could walk with his mind at ease.
Gallkin looked over the endless hills of freshly blown snow, glistening in the few rays of sun. The storm had already past and they were safe, for now. “What was that?” Gallkin asked himself. He had though he had hear something behind him but he could see nothing and since he could not answer the question, he continued on. He saw some snow hares and even shot at them on his short journey but either they were to fast or he was just to slow. This is it. He thought as he aimed at an unsuspecting lemming as it scurried back in forth in the snow. He steadied himself, not used to being around so much snow, aimed again just to be certain, and quckly pulled the trigger. He stepped out of his hiding place, walked over to the deceased creature and picked up its limp body, blood slowly trickling from the fatal wound and stained the snow. Gallkin had always wanted to be a great hunter and he could not help but feel proud of himself, as he started but to were his parents had started to setup a camp.
Gallkin looked up from his thoughts and noticed what he had heard before, someone was watching him. It was a short girl who looked about his age, she had long black hair streaked brown here and there, that stood out sharply for the snow, and the sharpest emerald green eyes Gallkin had ever seen. She was wearing what appeared to be the pelt of a caribou and was obviously native to the area.
“Hello,” said Gallkin. “Can you help me? You see the airplane me and my family was riding in crashed and now we can’t leave, but we can‘t stay either,” Gallkin ended there. He wished he had said more, maybe added his name, but the situation was first, and had never been much good with new people. The girl stared for a long time, she looked scared and a little confused.
"No one like you has been here in while,” she began very slowly, the words sounding awkward. “What are you called?”
“My name is Gallkin,” said Gallkin hoping she would not leave.
“I am Akneka."she paused, then eyeing the lemming, said,"Your aim finally was true. Have you not hunted before?”
“Not very much,” admitted Gallkin reluctantly.
“That is as I thought, most hunters, when they come, hit everything they see,” said Akneka, becoming more talkative.
“Well, I'm going to be a great hunter just like all of them one day. This was jsut practice.” Gallkin motioned to the lemming.
“I'm sure yu will get your wish one day,” said Akneka relucktantly. “I must be leaving,” she said quickly and with that she did.
When Gallkin had returned, he found a makeshift igloo with smoke rising from inside, he returned the gun to his father and gave the lemming to his mother. “Good job, Gallkin,” said his father smiling. Gallkin nodded with a large grin then walked away and looked through the suitcase of his things that had been saved. He found the remainder of his clothes and an old camera. He smiled when he saw it, he had used it for as long as he could remember.It was very old, different from other cameras, the pictures came out from the front and then developed, it even still had film. “What’s that?” asked Gallkin’s father as he heard a sound from outside and left to see what was there, Gallkin followed. He saw Akneka standing with a young, bloodycaribou.
When she saw Gallkin’s father and his gun she turned and quickly left. “That’s right, stay away from here!” shouted Gallkin’s father shooting twice at her heels.
“Are you insane?” asked Gallkin as he left to see that his friend was not hurt, camera still in hand. “Are you alright?” asked Gallkin when he caught up to Akneka.
“Yes,” she said nodding. “You may keep the caribou, a gift of food, from my family to yours.”
“Please excuse my father.”
“Do not be troubled, most people are like that.”
“Where is your family?” asked Gallkin. “I haven’t seen anyone else here.”
“They are all near but my father, he has gone to the great spirit.”
“I see, I’m sorry.”
“What is in you hand?” asked Akneka noticing the camera.
“It is a camera,” said Gallkin thinking of a way to word what it does. “It-freezes the moment. So you can see it again.” Akneka looked at him inquisitively. He held up the camera and took a picture of Akneka to show her. Its flash scared her and she left at a run. Gallkin walked back holding the picture as it developed. When he returned to his parents he was just going to tell about the caribou when he looked down at the finished picture and could not believe his eyes. What he saw was a small black wolf, with the greenest eyes he had ever seen.
(I'm sure your confused about the first part, if I'm right, look up "alaskan land and shot policy" on google or something. )
