Maybe Tomorrow

Opening

Five generations of lawman blood ran through Core's veins and now that same blood was soaking into the hot desert sand.

Despite the high noon sun hanging overhead, all Core could feel was cold. Pain and cold as the bobcat female was trying to hold her stomach together. Her prosthetic hand had wadded her shirt and vest in a vain attempt to stop the blood from blooming further onto the fabric but it was little use. The pain in her back told her the bullet ripped right through her.

Rolling from her side to her back, her eyes tried to focus on the sky but even that was starting to fade away from her, the blue and white running together like running water colored paint.

'Wonder where I'll go...' A fleeting thought passed through her mind before it was replaced with another. A far off voice that spoke to her from her memories.

'There is only one way to die in this world Kid.' Her grandfather spoke to her when she was just a cub. 'You die with your boots on and your last thoughts of home.'

The memory gave Core a brief moment of lucidity, she could feel her tight laced boots still on her pawed feet so she had that going for her.

But home, she couldn't even think of home then. Something else was pressing her mind as the sounds of wind and a voice screaming her name sounded a million miles away. A smile tugged to her lips as she remembered the smell of lanolin and blueberries, the feeling petal soft skin pressed against her fur, the sound of that light, lute like voice with a smile she could hear every time she spoke Core's name.

Yes, that's what she would remember.

Her.