No sooner did Kitty stick her head into the hole, then a furry monster with huge teeth jumped at her. She fell back out of the hole, with the enraged rabbit biting and kicking at her.
Tumbling around, she finally managed to land a bite of her own, which caused the rabbit to fall back spasming and twitching. Breathing hard, and bleeding in several different places, she could only lay there and watch as it began foaming at the mouth and finally died. Moving slowly, she pulled her wings in, and evaluated her injuries. There was so much blood and pain, she started to cry. Whimpers spilled out of her mouth as tears trailed down her face.
She licked her hands, and saw that all her fingers were still accounted for, before checking her wings and legs. One wing hurt to move, and she was terrified it may be broken. Images of her mother and sisters came to mind as she pulled the aching wing as close to her body as she could. Huddling in a ball for a long while, she let the pain wash over her, until a noise to her left brought her out of the stupor.
The dog was coming to check on the noise they must have been making. Fear of impending death brought her to her senses. Grabbing up her squirrel, and the dead rabbit, she slowly inched into the burrow. Everything hurt, and she had to stop several times when a back leg gave out, or a wing got caught on the wall of the hole. Thankfully, he stopped to smell something before arriving, and she was able to get everything down out of sight or reach.
Once she was certain the dog couldn't reach the rabbit to snatch it away from her, she collapsed into a fitful sleep.
Something nuzzling her side, woke her. She was in a lot of pain, and the movement caused her hurt wing to move. Hissing in pain, she turned to see that it was a tiny baby rabbit. It was probably hungry, and she smelled like its mother after the fight. Not in the mood to see its cuteness, she chomped it in two and quickly swallowed it down.
Her stomach decided that wasn't enough, so she slowly moved further into the nest, to find three more. Because their mother was already dead, she didn't feel any qualms about ending them. Their eyes weren't even open yet, which meant their chances of surviving were nonexistent. Not like hers had been, when her mother died. After all, she was here, eating them.
The burrow itself, had opened up to give her quite a bit of room to move around, and she was grateful. Her wing hurt the most of all her aches and pains, and it was nice to be able to stretch it out a bit. She fell into a deeper sleep, after her snack and a more comfortable position.
Kitty wasn't sure how long she stayed in the hole. She found that there was a short tunnel she could go down to relieve herself, and the rabbit and squirrel were there for her to eat when she got hungry. It was her thirst that finally convinced her to leave.
As she poked her head out of the hole, she sniffed the air. It was cool and crisp. Moisture in the air made her stick her head out and look around. The ground was wet from a recent rain storm and she could see drops of water on all the leaves.
Licking the ones closest to her, helped the dryness in her mouth, but it barely touched her thirst. Moving slowly as she finally stepped out of the protection of the bush's branches, she headed to the distant sound of running water. The stream that she remembered from near her original home, had grown, assuming this was the same stream. She watched it warily, unsure about approaching it as it swirled downstream in a mad rush. With her hurt wing, she would be helpless if something came to attack her.
Her thirst convinced her, once again, and she limped close enough to drink. It tasted slightly muddy due to its raised state, but she didn't care. Once her belly was full, she turned to head back to the hole she had been staying in for the past couple of days.
Before she made it, a giant hand snaked out and picked her up. It was so sudden, she didn't know how to respond. The red-haired creature from before cradled her in his arms and examined her carefully.
"Now, what do we have here? Awfully small, must still be young. And you're hurt. Poor thing. Let me take you back to the house and see if I can make you feel better."
Kitty had wanted to struggle and bite the creature that dared to pick her up, but his hands were gentle and his voice was soothing. Warmth radiated from the hands that held her, and she found herself dozing as he headed back to the structure that had light.
She looked around, as he set her down on his table, and saw that the inside was much nicer than the barn, where the animals stayed. The fire, intrigued her, as she had never seen that before. Watching him carefully as he gathered several things and sat back down, she moved her hurt wing into a more comfortable position.
"What did you find, daddy?" asked a voice from another room.
"Now, you go back to sleep and I'll let you see in the morning. It's late and your mother is coming to get you tomorrow."
"Promise you'll let me see before I have to go, please?"
"Alright, I promise, but you can't tell anyone. You have to promise."
"I promise daddy!"
"Goodnight, Kitty," he said, before turning back to her.
Hearing her name, she perked up. He noticed her gaze and chuckled.
"Has someone else called you, Kitty? While I've never seen anything like you before, I can definitely see the cat in you."
He petted her head gently and she closed her eyes. It felt so good, almost like when her mother cleaned her after she had played with her sisters.
"Let's take a look at that wing, shall we?" he whispered gently.
She stiffened in imagined pain, but he was incredibly gentle. There was pain, but it wasn't anything new, so she let him see the wound. Turning her head, she took a look at it herself. A nasty looking gash went from her shoulder, on the underside, all along the main bone, to the first joint, and stopped.
"Oh, good. It doesn't look broken. Pretty sore though, I imagine. Looks like it could use some cleaning, so it doesn't get infected. I'm not sure how you'll like the medicine though. It can sting a bit." He looked at it for a moment longer, before gently letting it go.
Kitty wasn't sure she wanted the pain to get worse, but he seemed to know what he was doing, and she obviously had no clue. She could vaguely remember her mother cleaning a cut, and it hurt worse while she was cleaning it, but it seemed to get better much faster afterwards, so she gritted her teeth and prepared to let him clean it no matter how much it hurt.
He took a white ball of fluff, hopefully not from the dog, and wet it with a nasty smelling liquid that stung her eyes and nose. As he went to rub and pat the wound with the nasty stuff, she scrunched her eyes closed and held her breath. As the expected sting exploded, and became a whole new level of agony, her eyes burst open.
"OWWWW!!!!" she screamed.