Cory reappeared as she was packing up the sample phials into her kit. "I'm done," she said. "Now we need to scan them."
"Scanner's all set up."
"Good. Let's get them into it." She bent and picked up the nearest cub. They were about three months old. They'd already acquired the black back stripe, but they still had some of the fluffy grey hair cubs grew on their necks when young to disguise themselves from predators.
The little body in her arms seemed so fragile. Its amber eyes, glassy and unfocused, stared out at her like an accusation. You failed me, they said.
Cory walked beside her, carrying the other two cubs. As Ren came into the reserve's yard the sunlight assaulted her senses. She narrowed her eyes against its glare and tried not to sneeze as pollen motes swirled in the golden light and floated into her nose.
She reached the vet block and opened the door, tucking the cub under her arm as she held it open for Cory.
"In the big exam room," he said as he joined her. She nodded and turned to her left, entering the room at the end of the corridor.
Ren laid her cub down on its right side on the scan platform and moved to the console. She set the scan in motion. Half an hour later all three had been completed.
Panthera : Death Spiral is available as an ebook and in paperback from Amazon.
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