30 Day Image Prompt Competition

Day 16 Prompt 2 - The Cat

         She didn’t know what made her freeze, facing the cold stone wall. Was it the faint, raspy breathing? The sensation of being watched? That feeling that she wasn’t alone in the disused work yard? Whatever it was, it had her frozen to the spot which wasn’t a good place to be, considering. She needed to find another shot of courage and face whatever it was so that she could get out of there, pronto.
         Taking a deep breath she turned slowly on the spot, her muscles tense, ready to flee should the need arise. Her grey eyes scanned the seemingly empty yard, looking for whoever it was who had discovered her. The yard appeared to be empty of anything living, just empty barrels, a couple of carts and … OMG, what was that?
         She tried to press herself into the stone, fear rising up inside her like in a bitter tasting wave. Christ, who were these guys that they couldn’t have ordinary guard dogs like everyone else but had to have a freaking puma in their yard? It was crazy!
         She watched as the cat jumped down from the cart he had been lying on with a lazy ease that belied the powerful muscles she knew lay beneath the golden fur. His eyes, a rich, deep tawny colour, never left her face as he moved towards her. She felt like a deer trapped in an approaching car’s headlights, powerless to move even though it would save your life.
         As the cat approached she wondered just what she had gotten herself into. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. She had an approaching puma out here in the yard whilst inside the old warehouse, her captors were about to discover any minute that she had managed to slip out of the part open window into the yard in a desperate bid for freedom. She didn’t know which of the two situations was the most favourable of all.
         The puma came to a halt a few feet before her, his eyes still locked on to her. The tip of his tongue just peeked out from between his whiskered lips. She could imagine the powerful teeth that lay behind those lips. Teeth strong enough to rip her flesh from her bones with little effort. Bones that his jaws could probably snap as though they were made of matchsticks not calcium and all the other stuff that made bones.
         Had she been at a zoo or safari park she would have said that he was a wonderful specimen of a big cat. Lean and muscular, with a golden pelt that, had circumstances been any different, she would have loved to sink in fingers into its lush softness. She had always had a soft spot for cats, big and small, and this one was magnificent. She wondered what he was doing here, in this abandoned yard on the edge of the small Wyoming town where she lived. She knew there were cats in the mountains, hidden in the vast forests that cloaked their slopes like a mantle, but had never known any to come down into the town.
         A door crashed somewhere in the building behind her, breaking her out of her reverie and reminding her of just why she was in the yard. The cat had heard the door crashing, looking towards the building and breaking eye contact with her for a few moments. She was surprised at how lost she felt in that brief instant of broken contact rather than relieved that the cat had turned his attentions somewhere else. This was not good, not good at all. She needed to get away from the building, its occupants and this strange cat before something happened.
         Another door crashed, much nearer this time, and she knew they were making their way to the room she had been held in. Her time was almost up and she had gotten nowhere. They would find her, capture her again and maybe punish her for escaping. She was not going to let that happen, somehow.
         “Christ, Jimmy. She’s gone. I thought you said you’d tied her up.” The voice belonged to the shorter, older of the two kidnappers. A man with a hard edge who was not against frightening her when he felt that she needed it.
         “I did, Tommy. Tied her good and tight. I don’t know how she got free.” Jimmy was the weaker member of the partnership, a tall man with a cruel streak running through him.
         “Well, it don’t matter how she got free, just that she did. The boss is going to be fuming when he finds out. C’mon, we’d best get looking for her before he comes.” Footsteps approached the window where she had escaped. Any minute now they would look out and see her stood there, frozen against the wall, easy prey.
         Out of the corner of her eye she saw the cat move, her heart stopping as she imagined those powerful jaws closing around her neck, piercing her jugular vein so that her life blood would flow out across the sandy floor. Paralysed with fear she saw him leap, great muscles propelling him forwards and upwards, over her head and through the open window. She heard the kidnappers cry out, first in surprise then in fear as the cat leapt at them.
         Against a back drop of terrified screams of her attackers mixing with the blood chilling cries of the panther she took advantage of the distraction and fled towards the broken fence, her final barrier to freedom. Scrabbling between the broken planks, she sent a silent message of thanks towards the mysterious cat before melting into the industrial district and freedom.
         The cat stood at the open window, blood dripping down from his muzzle on to the barren wood floor. Behind him, the two kidnappers stared sightlessly up at the rotten ceiling, the dried out wooden floor eagerly soaking up their life blood. As darkness fell down over the town, he would follow her trail and keep watch over her for those who pursued her meant her grave harm and that he would not allow.