Random T-Storms volume 1

I. Random Thunderstorms

         Ritico didn’t like to travel just after a rainstorm, especially under a full moon. As a cat, his senses of sight and hearing were phenomenal, but many predators chose to hunt just after bad weather. Ritico felt somewhat relieved that his fur was soaked to the bone and covered with debris from the storm. It almost made him feel dry and gave a bit of a camouflage through the tall grass.

         Siiva licked the top of her muzzle when the western breeze caught her sensitive nose. No life was particularly indigenous to this grassy field, Siiva knew, so a lost animal wandering about was easy prey. Siiva glanced at the moon and silently thanked her family for her good fortune. A single tear formed in her left eye as she commenced pursuit of the animal. Siiva inhaled slowly, gathering all the data she could. She estimated the animal to be just over seventy-five yards away, so she slowly closed the gap, keeping a marginally good distance, as her uncle had once taught her.

“You don’t need eyes.” He would say.

         She knew the scent; it was unmistakable. Feline mutts had a unique aroma. Their flavor was exotic, she remembered… a mix of tastes and blood in a single flesh. But the she-wolf wasn’t looking for dinner…

         Cats have the reputation of having nine lives because of their ability to walk into trouble and somehow get out of it unscathed. Unfortunately for Ritico, he lacked the latter of these abilities, as evident by the numerous scars and bruises covering his body. As Ritico passed a shallow lake his ribs began to ache. The feline stopped for a moment and looked around, wondering if he was being followed.

         Sixty yards…forty five….thirty two yards… Siiva closed the gap, almost to her twenty yard limit, in which she would have to chase down the cat. She could sense the feline stop by the stream, though she knew he wasn’t getting a drink. Siiva paused a bit and waited for the cat to change directions. If he did, he was onto her. Then she could pursue faster. As expected he changed course, heading northeast. Siiva instinctively sped up, teeth showing with approval. It wouldn’t be long now.

         Ritico’s receptors noticed a faint flash of white reflecting upon the moon. It was uncanny. He sniffed the air but could only detect the wet grass caging him. Ritico instinctively quickened his pace and lightened his step, looking at the puddles of water on the dirt. The ripples in the water became consistently bigger and faster and it wasn’t because he had sped up. Ritico could feel a stiff vibration in the ground. It made him breath faster and sped his heart rate up. That’s when he heard it. A snort; grinding of teeth… BANG BANG BANG BANG. That was a tail. A big tail.

         As soon as she sensed the panic in her quarry, Siiva felt a rush of excitement as she hurried to keep up. Siiva grinned as she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Her father had been an expert at scent-pouncing, using only the nose to detect the prey’s intended direction and intercepting it with a single lunge. A diminutive feline could out maneuver a large canine in the tall grass any day, so every step Siiva made was essential. Her brother had trusted his life into making his prey ominously aware of his presence so they would make a mistake. It was a risky method, but he always caught them. But Siiva wasn’t Movoi. She had been the runt, the omega. Every step was essential. Siiva looked forward and noticed that the cat was almost directly in front of her. It was trying desperately to conserve energy for the pursuit. The she-wolf began to salivate when she noticed the cat’s fur sticking up as it hurried along. Grey fur with tan spots throughout. A wild tomcat. A rare find indeed. Siiva closed her eyes again, trusting her nose to guide her. The two walked for a moment in silence. One of them stepped on a twig, which triggered the sprint.

         Ritico automatically began at a full sprint, without finding what was after him. He kept the pace up for half mile before he sacrificed speed for maneuvering around the woods, trying to confuse whoever was chasing him. Whatever it was matched his stride and slowly sped up, he could hear its footsteps…it was waiting for him to make a mistake. Ritico gritted his teeth and trudged on.

         It was almost time. Siiva resisted the urge to let the chase continue any longer. She didn’t want to make a mistake trying to exhaust the cat and lose him. The cat changed directions once more and Siiva seized the opportunity to capitalize on the momentum tripling her stride. She saw the fallen tree branch the cat tripped on before he hit it and pounced right before he landed, knocking the wind out of the cat. Siiva sniffed the air. They had made a circle and her lair was close.

“Bad luck, little guy.” she thought.

         Ritico hit the mud hard, chin first. His lunge had been anticipated by his subjugator. Instead of panicking, Ritico remembered to breathe slowly through his nose, lest he have the chance to escape. To his surprise, he felt his aggressor brush away the debris covering his back. It felt almost like a massage. Forgetting his predicament for a moment, Ritico began to purr.

“Well, you’re pretty relaxed.”

         Ritico’s ears perked. It was a she. Ritico allowed his assailant to turn him on his back with no resistance. The cat’s pleasure turned to horror when he saw the she-wolf’s face. He glanced around. Lone wolves play by a different set of rules. The canine’s saliva dripped onto Ritico’s chest as he tried to break eye contact. As the wolf closed her mouth she knelt closer, touching Ritico’s forehead with her nose. Before he could react, the she-wolf began licking his face- slowly and deliberately.
“Polishing her trophy.” Ritico thought.

         Ritico noticed the wolf’s body. She was large, but also lean. She had long scratches on her shoulders and an old scar on her throat, almost like him.
Siiva noticed the cat smiling when she finished washing his face. She started to grin back before she noticed that he wasn’t looking her in the eyes, he was looking at her scars. She slapped him across the face, drawing blood with her claws. The cat turned his attention to her face once again, barely noticing the wound. Siiva looked at her prey’s body and noticed the series of scars that covered his chest. Nosily, she turned him on his side and found more scars and patches where fur didn’t grow anymore. Suddenly, the prize seemed tarnished. She couldn’t smell any poison or disease on him. He was relatively healthy so he’d have to do. Siiva collected him by his torso and trotted off to her lair.

         A strong, sharp odor hit Ritico’s nostrils as they entered the damp, narrow cave. The she-wolf felt him wince at the stench and bit down, drawing blood. She carried him deeper into the cave, taking special precaution to use as many tunnels as possible, lest Ritico make a run for it. The she-wolf dropped Ritico on the floor of the cave and sat in front of him, watching Ritico struggle to stand up. The she-wolf looked at the blood that spilled on the floor and shoved Ritico aside, licking it up as if it were expensive wine.

“Your blood is delicious,” Siiva knelt close to his left ear. “But you’re hardly a meal.” she whispered.

         Ritico’s mind began to race. If the wolf didn’t want to eat him, why had she taken him here? He cringed as the she-wolf pushed him against the cave floor on his back and stood over him, grinning. Her teeth were now a deep crimson, stained with his blood. Ritico closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing. He felt the she-wolf’s tail brush against his stomach. He twitched at the discomfort and opened his eyes when she felt her paws push against his stomach.

         Siiva squeezed the cat’s chest until she could almost see his heart pumping. She then placed her paws above his heart and slammed down, temporarily paralyzing the cat. She noticed his pupils dilate and the shocked expression on his face, before turning his on his back.

“You’ll thank me for that soon,” she said, positioning her tail on the cat’s back.
Ritico felt a thick liquid ooze onto his back. As it seeped into his cuts, it began to burn, and Ritico winced, though he was unable to move to a more comfortable position.

         Siiva watched the cat twitch slightly as she marked him with the gland on the tip of her tail. She imagined it must have burnt as it covered his scars, but his discomfort was a necessity.

“Calm down, there.” She said, removing her tail. The paralysis wore and the cat grabbed his back trying to wipe the musk off of him. Siiva watched this for a bit, then rolled him onto his chest and knelt down, placing her ear on the cat’s chest.
“You’re heart’s going to give out if you don’t calm down, kitty.” Siiva let the cat up, but kept a paw on his tail.

         Ritico looked around the cave for an escape route. He wasn’t sure where he was. The wolf was smiling at him and warning him to calm down. Why didn’t she kill him? Ritico decided not to stick around to find out. Leaping back, he hoped to free himself from her grip and darted backwards. The she-wolf allowed this, but smirked as Ritico backed into a wall.

“You just went from bad to worse, huh?”

         Ritico gritted his teeth. She was probably toying with him, trying to work up an appetite.

         Siiva noticed the cat’s expression change to rage as he locked eyes with her once more. She smirked and thrust her paw at his face, connecting. The cat fell on his face and stayed down, afraid to use any more energy.
Ritico sucked the blood flowing from his teeth and turned over to find the she-wolf looking at him again.

“You didn’t have to make it so difficult, ya know.” Siiva looked at the now injured cat, hacking and wheezing, as the musk was unfamiliar to his nose.

“Don’t go anywhere, okay? I can smell you a mile away and I won’t be so gentle if I have to hunt you down next time.” Siiva winked as she made her way to another end of the cave to curl up. Moments later, she was asleep.

         Ritico looked at the she-wolf and then at the bloodstains on the cave grounds. An hour earlier, he was a free cat in the wild, scrapping to survive each night, lucky to have a meal every other day. Now he was the property of a she-wolf, who apparently had no intentions of eating him and would not explain what she wanted with him because she was asleep a few feet from him. Though it didn’t make sense, Ritico decided to take his chances and run away. Anything was better than waiting in anticipation. It had started to rain again and the she-wolf would be hard-pressed to track anyone’s scent in a storm. Ritico ran into a tunnel and hobbled in every direction until he made it out of the cave.

         When the cat was out of sight, Siiva licked her chops.

“He’s already ready….” She thought, slowly following the scent.

         Ritico looked around. The rain made visibility difficult for him, but he had to get a good start on his escape. He decided to head east. Ritico tried his very best to keep from limping. He was in unfamiliar territory with blurred vision, a dulled sense of smell and a strong odor. If any other predators were out there in this storm, he was a walking hors d’oeuvre. Ritico looked at a nearby tree. It would be too risky to try and climb, so he decided to run through the brush, making sure he missed any common trails an opportunistic predator might lie in ambush at.

         Magenta smelled a familiar scent, but couldn’t place what it was. Even though she was a cougar, she could track an animal by scent alone even in unfavorable conditions. The suspect was traveling relatively quickly, but not fast enough to outrun her. Magenta decided to sprint around the side and have the suspect run into her.

“What is that smell?” she thought.

         Ritico’s pace slowed a bit as he lost his adrenaline. He looked back and estimated himself covering at least three miles. No one was behind him, he could tell. He’d escaped the wolf’s nose.

         Magenta hit the intercept point and lay in pouncing position. Pregnancy had not been good to her pounce, taking off a few feet. She looked to see what she was stalking, surprised to find a limping cat struggling along. He’d been marked by something. A wolf or wild dog, perhaps. Magenta let her instincts take over and shot out as soon as the cat was within range. Collecting the cat in her mouth, she decided to take him back home. A live educational toy for her young.

“Mom! It’s moving!”

         Ritico opened his eyes to find a young cougar sniffing his side, investigating his latest find. Without regard to the repercussions of his actions, Ritico instinctively brushed the cub away, and felt the pain in his side after moving so suddenly. There were tooth marks on his stomach that weren’t there last time he checked. Before long, Ritico saw a large shadow cast above him and looked up to find a female cougar staring him down.

“Don’t you touch my babies.” The mother cougar hissed, swiping Ritico across the face.

         Ritico backed into a wall. Another cave wall. He looked around to find five cougar cubs lined up a few feet from him, standing near a scratched out ‘x’ mark. Ritico knew the drill; he’d been taught to pounce in a similar fashion. He’d remembered the terrified unfortunate fox cub that served her purpose as his educational toy. The mother cougar leaned in and spoke the words Ritico’s own mother had said to the fox cub.

“Submit or else.”

“Or else, what?” Ritico wanted to say. He was as good as dead anyway.
Magenta suspected the cat would try something funny. She saw the rage in his eyes. Not suitable prey for her young. She reached in and grabbed the cat’s lower right limb. Without a word, she yanked outward quickly, pulling the cat’s joint out of its socket. Turning her attention to her young, she began her lecture.

“You remember that wail,” Magenta began. “That’s the sound they make when you break a leg. Now he’s not going to be able to run away.” Magenta smiled, seeing her cubs absorb her tactics.

“Goji!” the mother cougar called to one of her cubs. The baby stepped on the ‘x’ and looked at Ritico with determined eyes.

“Recite the creed.” The mother instructed. Ritico watched as the cub sat up, beaming with pride.

“The prey is my victim. It is my right and responsibility to feed upon those weaker than I. I should end its suffering as soon as possible, but should let my prey know who’s boss before they die.” Goji said.

“And your target points?”

“Neck, throat, stomach, liver.”

“Choose one and take aim.”

“Ready!”

         Ritico wanted to dodge at the last second, but the cub had looked like it had a good pounce and it would kill him to not land on Ritico. The feline mutt braced himself for impact, blocking the pain out and caught the cougar in mid pounce and threw him aside.

“I said don’t touch them!” Magenta slashed Ritico across the face again. Ritico could feel the blood flow.

“At least it wasn’t that crazy wolf…” he thought as Magenta stepped on his tail. Ritico thrust his limbs in the air, temporarily holding the Cougar’s muzzle from biting his neck. Before long, though Magenta pinned Ritico’s upper limbs to the floor and was right over him, nose to nose. Magenta sniffed Ritico for a second a cocked her head.

“You don’t smell like you should.” Magenta began.

“No he doesn’t. But this smells like a baby cougar.”

         Magenta turned around to find Siiva holding one of her cubs in her paws.

“…You!” Magenta snarled, tossing Ritico aside.

         Siiva smiled and began to stroke the cub’s head.

“I need a small feline. I could use this one, or the mutt on the ground’ll do.”
Ritico tried to crawl backwards. He still wasn’t sure what the wolf wanted from him but she could track his scent… why? Magenta grabbed his tail before he could make it any further and tossed him in the direction of the she-wolf. Siiva dropped the cougar and wrapped an arm around Ritico, as if she were happy to see him.

“Sorry for the trouble!” Siiva called as she left.

         Ritico was too afraid to struggle on the way to the she-wolf’s cave. She remained silent, not looking at him. When they made it to the cave again, the predator tossed Ritico down and sat on his tail.

“Where did you think you were going, anyway?” the she-wolf mused, examining the fresh scratches on Ritico’s face. Ritico looked away.

“Whatddaya want from me?!” Ritico managed, reaching the limits of his fear and patience.

         Siiva grabbed Ritico’s right leg and began to massage it.

“Magenta has this thing about incapacitating. Looks like she tried to cripple you. Good thing I came in time.”

         Surprisingly, the massage felt good. Ritico looked at the she-wolf and noticed her eyes were watering. She looked away and stopped massaging him.

“You know what the best thing is about being the omega? You never have to worry about losing your place.” Siiva smiled and stood up. She began circling Ritico again, for no reason. “But the worst thing? It’s not having an alpha.”

         Ritico almost understood. She was alone, like him.

         Siiva stopped pacing and lay down a few feet from Ritico facing another direction. Ritico began to clean himself as Siiva told her story.

“When I was a puppy, pappi taught me how to hunt. But not like most puppies learn to hunt. He taught me like he was passing on his legacy because he was about to die or something. I learned all of his techniques and every survival skill he’d used to run with the pack as the runt. I learned the hierarchy, the submission structure and all the traditions before I turned three. I remember all of them.”

         Siiva stopped and looked over at Ritico to see his reaction. Ritico had ceased cleaning himself and was sitting thoughtfully, listening.

“So we grew up in the forest a few miles from here, but at the time, it was overpopulated by predators. Packs were hot-headed, there was a drought, and anyone that tried to migrate to another forest was kept out by the packs that took care of the boundaries. I guess war was inevitable…” Siiva chuckled a bit. Ritico looked at her face for a moment but said nothing.

“Anyways, it was during the winter of my fifth birthday. There were about fifteen of us, a relatively small pack and food was really scarce. I mean those of us on the lower end of the totem pole were lucky to get a single bite every two days. That’s when Movoi decided we needed to get out and get our own food for the winter. He was my big brother. He said we’d be less of a burden on the pack if there were fewer mouths to feed. As luck would have it, the night we chose to leave it got really ugly for the pack. The grizzlies came from the south side, and the gray wolves came from the north.”

         Siiva’s voice became weak. “I didn’t actually see what happened, but I’ll never forget what I heard. Movoi took me to the border that night, and we made it to another forest, by some chance miracle. We managed to scrimp off of eating berries and bird eggs for the rest of the winter. Eventually, we made it to the spring. But our chances for a fair shake were cut pretty short one night. You know how some snakes only need to feed once or twice a year?” Siiva’s voice trailed off. She fell asleep once more much to Ritico’s dismay.

         Ritico looked around the cave. He was tired as well, and in no condition to run away again. He curled into a ball and closed his eyes, hoping tomorrow might be a better day.

         It wasn’t. Thunder shook the foundation of the cave and a bolt of lightening illuminated the two despite them being so far deep in it. Ritico awoke with a pain in his leg and a throbbing side. Not that he wasn’t used to it… The cat’s nostrils burned as well, still not used to the she-wolf’s scent on his fur.

“Those grizzlies that took out my pack used to chase after me after Movoi died.”

         Ritico looked over to find the thunder had waken the she-wolf as well, and she acted as if they never paused in the conversation to sleep. Ritico was still frightened of the beast, but her speaking so informally made him feel a bit better.

“They’ve got this crazy attraction to my scent. They caught up with me a couple of winters ago a long ways away from here.” Siiva pointed to the jagged edged indentions on her belly.

“But I got lucky.” Siiva smiled, crawling closer to the cat.

“But what am I doing here?” Ritico asked, not backing away from the she-wolf this time. The she-wolf grinned and licked Ritico’s face.

“Bait.” She responded matter-of-factly. “You’re going to lure them out one by one, so I can have my revenge.”

         Okay, so the she-wolf was insane.

         Siiva noticed the cat’s perplexed look and grinned widely.

“Not just you. I’ll get others as well. You’re just the first. I can track you, and they’ll hunt you. I’ll catch them from behind and make them pay. Anyway, what do they call you?”

“Ritico. You’re pretty small for a wolf. How do you plan on taking out bears?”

“I’ll manage. My name’s Siiva. Thanks for asking.”

-end part one