Finding Darkness

Chapter 2 Cats and Dogs

Tamar heard the snap of metal on metal as each leash was opened, then the heavy thudding of clawed feet on asphalt. Seconds later, the first of the mutts poked its enormous snout over the rim of the hole and stopped to take a cautious sniff. The next behind it wasn't so wary and plowed into the first at full speed, sending the first over the rim and into the blackness below. With a loud huff followed by an expression that looked a lot like a shrug, the other two dogs leaped one after the other into the void.

Their snarls of eagerness morphed into howls of panic the instant they hit the bottom three stories down. Tamar had found and piled dozens of rotten human corpse at the very place she knew they were going to land upon entering her kill zone.

When the first canine hit the top of the pile, it sank deep, its entire body disappearing into the morass of decay and purification. A split second later, the second and third landed at almost the exact spot the first had. Almost half a ton of canine flesh drove the first hound back beneath the foul smelling mass, just as it had gotten its nose above it. Wiggling, writhing, the mass disgorged three four-legged piles of entrails, limbs and pale, shredded flesh.

While they struggled, trying to get free from her trap, Tamar had not been idle. Working her way around the huge cavern, she positioned herself behind the first of the dogs to get free. She was hanging from the side of the wall, from the protruding concrete pieces and jagged ends of broken re-bar. As soon as the dog was clear of the mess she'd made for it, she sprang.

Powerful legs propelled her like a bullet, so fast she became nothing but a black shadow, almost indistinguishable in the near blackness of the hole that surrounded her. When that shadow met flesh, there was a deep slashing sound, like that of a knife cleaving through steak. The dog died in a welter of blood, its throat ripped to shreds. A gurgle came from the mangled remains in place of a howl and it toppled onto its side, twitched once, and laid still.

Twin roars filled the cavern as the other dogs burst from the pile, snarling at the death of their companion. By the time they shook the gore from their eyes, Tamar was back in the shadows, where her fur color blended her with her surroundings to the point where she could not be seen.

Each dog lifted their noses high, trying to catch her scent. Gore clung to every inch of their bodies making smelling anything nearly impossible. That was what Tamar's trap had been for.

"You're going to have to come up with some other way to find me." Tamar snarled under her breath as she made her way into position for another attack.

The next dog died in a single snap. Tamar landed on the massive back, reached down to its chin, and heaved upwards. Its neck popped with the sound as loud as a shot guns roar within the near noiseless chamber, and the canine hit the ground with a solid thud.

Whirling to find the last of the three dogs, Tamar found she had used too much time on her latest victim when the muzzle of the last dog was within three feet of her as she turned.

She would have died then and there, and she knew it. Teeth the size of kitchen knives slammed shut a hair's breadth from where her head had been a split second before, as her muscle memory kicked in. Before she was even aware she was in motion, her body had moved her head away from the danger. Dropping to her knees, she lashed out, her razor-sharp claws leaving five deep slashes in its chest. The cuts didn't even slow it down. It carried its momentum forward, bowling her over and slamming her to the floor.

But the dog hadn't counted on the opponent it was up against. Dogs love to torment cats when they have the advantage. Most of the times the dog is many times the cats size. But what happens when the cat is large enough to fight back? Even though Tamar was not anywhere near, the dogs equal in size. She was more than its equal when it came to sheer strength, though. They had grown her for it.