Cat & Mouse

Journey to the Past

A small girl was trembling and hunkering down with a group of other children. Masked men with weapons all around them sneering. Flicking still burning cigarettes at them, some even hitting and burning their bare skin. Kicking any that let so much as a sniffle escape as their eyes swelled with stinging tears. The children listened as the men talked about slaves and how much they'd earn by selling each child. Not really sure what a slave was, but knowing what selling meant. The leader of the bad men soon emerged, instructing the rest to begin loading the children into their cargo bays. The children trembled more as their tears began to spill over if they hadn't already. But none dared to audibly sob afraid of any more abuse it'd earn them.

A piercing roar cut through the night of the dense back-water jungle of a planet. The children immediately pressed tighter together. "What the hell was that!?" one of the armed men yelled. The leader snapped him a sharp glare "Forget it and get those brats into the cargo hold you fool!" The man stiffened but did as instructed under the leaders scrutiny. "You heard him, move it!" he seethed as he roughly shoved the small girl forward with enough force to cause her to fall. Landing hard on her hands and knees, she could feel the sting at the now damaged flesh. She could feel the blood starting to seep from the injuries. The cries she had been holding in so well all this time finally burst from her. Her sobs as she stayed frozen on the ground only served to further anger the man.

With a white rage the man began his vicious assault kicking the girl, sobs turning to wails. Another roar rang out into the air; now closer, louder, and angrier. The man ceased his attack, as he and many other armed men all readied their weapons. Trying to find the source of the monstrous roar, and fully intending to end it. There was a metallic swish, as if a sword had been unsheathed. Quicker than anyone could comprehend, the man flew backwards and was pinned against a tree. His chest impaled by some unseen object. Blood trickling out of his mouth as wide, dead eyes stared ahead at nothing.

The armed men in a blind panic began firing round after round into the seemingly empty jungle. The children all pushed together more as their hands covered their ears in hopes to muffle the uncontrolled gunfire. After what seemed like hours the leader bellowed "HOLD YOUR FIRE YOU FOOLS!" Immediately the men stopped. "Stop wasting your damn ammo! Shits expensive you morons!" he continued angrily. The children took this opportunity and they scattered running in all directions into the forest. The small girl was still in pain from her beating, so while slower, she still urged herself forward and into what she hoped was safer darkness.

Fear gripped her, overshadowing the pain, as some sort of snarling, glowing eyed creature chased her through the forest. Her small legs trying to clear as much ground as possible. But these fallen trees, these roots, and these rocks were quite the hurdles. Blinded by the darkness, lost, and fearful beyond all comprehension, the small girl inevitably tripped over a rock. Landing once again on her already damaged hands and knees. By the time she got her barings and twisted around it was too late and the creature was upon her. Dried tears stained her dirtied cheeks, and fresh tears left even more trails to follow. Staring wide eyed into the jaws and glowing eyes of certain death, the girl only thought of her mother. Her smiles, warm hugs and kisses, her homemade sweets, lullabies and bedtime fairy tales. She hoped she wouldn't be sad for long.

She tensed and squeezed her hazel eyes shut just as the creature snarled and seemed to lunge in for the kill. The pain of its deadly jaws and razor sharp teeth never came. Very similar to what happened to the man, an unseen object impaled the creature. Though this time it pierced through its skull and pinned it to the ground instead of to a tree. For some odd moments the girl dared not open her eyes for fear it was toying with her. A clicking growl is what made her reluctantly open one eye and then the other. She saw the dead beast and let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She looked towards the clicking growl but nothing was there.