He'd thought he'd had her and then all he'd seen were stars and then a crashing darkness. He'd awoken to his men all dead and the sounds of the chopper being started. In a way they'd done him a service by eliminating everyone else. Now only he could get the credit and the reward for taking them out.
He aligned the crosshairs squarely on the back of the man slumped forward against the woman. The power of the rifle would carry the bullet on through the man and take out the witch too. With those two out of the way he'd wing the old man, who had kept the other two alive and free over the past month or so.
The old man had caused no end of discomfort and aggravation and Chatta intended to see him suffer; only coming to the peace of death after much pain. It had been a thing of luck that he had, even caught them now. Fortunately for him he had remembered this place from a time years earlier, when he had successfully caught and killed a beautiful specimen of a Siberian Tiger.
There had been a cub, which had escaped him at the time, but he'd come back later for it. He hadn't gotten it though, because of the meddlesome efforts of a hill miner in the area. He may not have gotten the cub, before he'd left the second time, but he'd made sure that he'd fixed the miner up with a nice going away present.
Chatta let his breath exhale out, as he sighted down on the young couple. His finger had begun to pull the trigger, when he heard the snow shift close by. Not wanting to break his concentration on targeting the couple, but his instinct as a hunter demanding so of him, he glanced off to the side and saw orange striping right beside his head!
A drop of saliva splattered down upon his cheek and in dawning horror he twisted to stare up into the face of savagery at its finest. The awful husky roar of a tiger ushered forth drowning out the high pitched scream of fright emanating from Chatta's lips. The massive canine tipped jaws spread wide and descended in a vicious chomp onto Chatta's head. Some things are never forgotten, even by animals.