My breathing was shallow.
Closing my eyes, I attempted to draw air into my lungs. When I did fill them up with fresh air, the passage of it stopped to a certain point, hitting a wall and not going any further down my throat.
"Ss...sssttttuuu...sssttupid....puss..." I was wheezing, hunched over on the cool, earthy soil in the garden.
I managed to crawl through the hole below the window, darting down the wall and diving into the bushes of the garden.
I laid out on the soil, gasping for air and hot bloodied. Turning to look back I saw four lengthy, jagged scars stretched down my back, harsh flaps of skin peeping open to show, white, raw flesh. I felt how wet the soil beneath me was. The blood coming from my wounds soaked through it, the flow refusing to stop no matter how much I applied pressure to it.
But my mind wasn't on my injuries. My mind was on my survival. And on the crafty, tricky ways of To-mas.
First off, I was fully expecting him to know where we lived in the holdings. It was ridiculous to think that he would never know. Four rodents, one hungry, murder driven cat bumping into each other in a confined space all the time. He must have followed us one of those times we escaped him and dratted into the peephole.
But..for him to show the Giant our holdings??To get him to destroy what was once our home, with me in it???
That took strategy. Strategy, persuasion and time. This was something To-mas was thinking about doing for a while.
It was one thing to chase after me because of some messed up law of nature that said I was on the lower food chain.
But to bring he Giant into this??? That was a whole different story.
I considered it a very specific form of torture.
"That damned puss..." I cursed, having finally felt the breath coming back to me. To-mas was getting more and more creative in his ways of destruction, and he was enjoying every bit of it. But I've got a plan for him and his bone headed Giant.
I bet their asses weren't expecting me to evade them like that. Biting his owner's hand?? Running through his legs and biting him as well?? They were furious at how I managed to escape the attacks. And I was here for it.
"I'm gonna make them even madder..." I said mischievously, a smirk slowly spreading across my face.
As I chuckled a jolt of pain jerked across my back, a hot, burning sensation shooting down my spine. I spasmed, twisting over onto my back.
When the open wound touched the soil, a shock went through my body; a chilling, shivering convulsion jerking through my back, the pain so intensified that I was about to scream out; then, I saw something.
Two vigilant, black slitted eyes gazed atop of me, beaming down into the garden.
"Shit..." I covered my mouth, swallowing whatever sound my body needed to make.
It was To-mas.
The orange cat stood there on the wooden railing, looking out into the garden like a beacon shining light on the silent darkened sea at night, his eyes scanning down into the flower bed for even the slightest sign of movement.
Quickly I rolled over under a fully shielded area where there were no spaces for the sun to shine through. To-mas couldn't gain the upper hand of knowing where I was. This was all about stealth. And that meant I had to stay here until I figured a swift, efficient path to getting away before I was found.
How long could I Iast?? Everything was unbearable.
The heat from the sun. The thorns and bristles scratching my back. My bleeding wounds...
I stood there, body grueling in excruciating pain, unable to move or scream to the slightest.
A droplet of sweat crawled down my back, into my wound. The salt burned it all over and I bite my lip to bear the pain. I grabbed the soil so hard that it formed a shape into my fist, clumps of soil shapes in my hands. My feet tapped away.
I was losing my mind sitting here, and something told me if I sat here any longer, I wouldn't live to tell this tale.
Ducking to the corner I rose my head, peeking through the bushes.
The furry feline stood proudly on his paws, an orange, smoothed tail waving about leisurely, he blinked like he was ready to take a nap; strengthened with the inner knowing that he would see me somewhere, somehow, at some point in time.
"Come on Burrow. Think...'' I began weighing my options. What was the quickest, cleanest way to escape????
If I ran to the wall and moved up the wire now, To-mas can get to me with a few strides. He's quick and bigger...but the distance from the wall to here is too far. But I'm quick.. Can I climb up fast enough before he even reaches? or maybe I should make a run for it into the forest. No...the field was way too open, and he would gain on me too quickly, plus I had this back wound. I'd open myself up to flying predators...
But what if he's seen me and he's just waiting to pounce out at me?? What if he's just pretending to look right now, but he actually knows where I am???
A million doubts swarmed through my mind. Only one of them made sense.
The best option I had was the wall.
I looked to the north, further out to the wall by the window that not moments ago I crawled out of.
There was a thick line of wire attached to it. It streamed all the way up to the shingled rooftop.
"Hmm...slowly...just...move...slow..." I was at the edge of the garden, just three or four steps from crossing the rocks that bordered it to go out into the wide field. The wall was just a few paces behind me, and I all I needed to do was slither my way across the compact distance, moving as quietly as possible.
I breathed, gradually rising on my feet, biting my lip. As I took one step forward, the wounds tingled, the pain pricking at it. I took another step and the wounds continued in their pain. I bite my lip, focusing on the fleet of curses floating around in my head.
Slipping through the window and climbing down the wall was cake.
But now I had to run back to said wall, climbing up on it even further until I reached the ceiling??? With this wound???
It was a daunting task to get back to the wall, but it had to be done.
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To-mas eyes were stapled to the garden.
"Senseless, rabid rat. Thinking he can just bite my human's hand like that..." The cat stood on the railing; his head dipped low as he continued to scan the garden, thinking deeply.
That rat won't get out of this yard alive, even if it takes me the whole damn day. I will find him. He isn't bound to have reached far, To-mas growled, squinting his eyes to see the tiny, in between spaces of the flowered filled garden below him.
Meanwhile Burrow crawled ever so slightly in the garden, slithering across his belly like a snake in the grass.
He rose his head up, keeping his eyes fixed on the cat above him through the tight spaces of the green ceiling. The rodent sat in the same spot, waiting patiently for the Cat to turn his head or get distracted.
As the waiting rodent watched, he saw To-mas gear his head to the right, looking out into the open field.
There was his opportunity.
Burrow zoomed across the soil, scurrying through the open space revealed by the hole in the flower ceiling, hiding before To-mas looked back.
Immediately To-mas' head swerved down to the spot.
The Cat stayed there, staring at the open space the sun shone through in the soil. He sensed that something had passed there, from the corner of his eye. He continued looking through the patch in the garden ceiling. There was nothing there but dark, brown soil.
"I know I just saw something move...." the suspecting feline walked to the end of the railing, peering down at the array of flowers. There was one flower that blew over a hole in the canopy of flowers when he turned his head just now. His eyes zoned onto a red flower that had rested over a hole in the colorful ceiling; To-mas inspected it, curiously.
Burrow stood there, frozen under the same Hibiscus flower.
If that flower hadn't blown over the hole in the ceiling To-mas would've spotted me. I need to get out of here, Burrow strategized. The rodent looked up into the ceiling inching closer to another unsuspecting space where the sun shone through, to peep up at To-mas.
Two focused eyes stared straight into the garden. Burrow ducked back, frightened that the cat would see him.
He's not losing his focus anytime soon. What the hell am I gonna do now...Burrow looked straight ahead of him, seeing multiple spaces where the sun shone through in the garden. He swallowed nervously,
"I've gotta risk it" he whispered.
Burrow started, trotting lightly on the soil. His body moved from side to side, him walking around the bright light patches in the soil, avoiding them entirely. Streaks of blood dripped down his sides as he did, the wounds burning and stinging even more as he moved back and forth.
"It's just a little pain...a little pain to live to see tomorrow..." he kept encouraging himself.
To-mas peered down intensely, frustrated at not seeing even a brush of a leaf move. He crouched down on his feet to sit, sighing.
"I'm hungry. I wonder if the human left anything in my bowl. Hmmm...this rat may evade me after all. I can't sit here all day. And I refuse to jump into that garden. I hate thorns" To-mas began to get up and move, striding to the edge of the railing to jump down to the paio.
At that moment a strong whiff of wind came, blowing a couple petals off of the garden. To-mas saw something grey scamper quickly through the soil. The cat stopped.
Just then, the rodent looked up.
Burrow locked eyes with To-mas.
Both of them stood still, not making any sudden movements.
Like a runner that waited for the signal to go, they watched each other to see who would set off first. Not even blinking for a second, Burrow vibrated, his heart beating out of its chest, the cat narrowing its eyes to its target.
The gun went off.
Burrow clambered up the wire on the wall at lightning speed. The cat dived into the garden and landed perfectly on his feet; he ran to the wall and clawed at Burrow, catching the edge of his tail by a breeze.
"Quick bastard!!!!" he cursed, the bitter cat watched Burrow advance the thick wire, passing the windowpane and climbing up on the shingles of the roof.
"You can't stay up there forever!!" the cat meowed insults at Burrow who plopped onto the shingle, exhausted. Sighing heavily, he gasped, catching his breath as he looked down at the determined cat.
To-mas rose his head, shooting Burrow a menacing glare. He walked around the garden and into the grass, swinging his tail in that cocky, egotistical fashion of his.
The audacity of that freaking rat!!!!Ohhh I can't wait to just- ugghhh!!! To-mas fumed in his bitterness at this stubborn rodent who refused to be caught, who refused to die.
"I ate everyone that he loved. Everyone!! Isn't that enough motivation to give up??? Or is there more of them in the house....."he wondered aloud.
Burrow sat on the smooth material of the roof, steadying himself in one place to gain his composure. His visions blurred in and out from all the running and climbing. Patting his side he felt the wet, warm blood run down his side, oozing out of his cut.
"Shit...If I don't find somewhere and rest, I'll bleed out and die" He muttered.
He looked down at the cat, laughing to himself at what he was afraid of. The cat looked so measly from up here.
To-mas scowled.
"All it would take was one slip up for him, just one mishap. I know he's feeling dizzy from all that blood loss and sweating and running....he's just got to be. Fall you rat bastard...." To-mas jeered meanly, walking around in circles on the lawn, looking up to the roof at the rat.
"He's so stubborn. He sees that I'm not giving up so easily and yet here he still is" Burrow shook his head, surprised that a cat stuck to something for so long. Mother told him about the nature of those creatures, and typically cats gave up on things that they viewed as too much of a hassle.
Not To-mas though.
For once, Burrow patted himself on that back for how quickly he managed to escape the Giant and To-mas, thankful for his mothers' spirit of quickness.
He was also glad it was still a little early in the morning and the sun hadn't come out to its full blast yet, else the glare would've caused his open back wound so much more pain. Burrow looked towards the sun, that wasn't even in the middle of the sky. Then, he got up deciding to see off on his way.
There was a very tall tree to the far-left side of the house, a branch from it touched the roof.
"I'll climb up that tree and hid somewhere, waiting it out until he decides to give up and go inside." He said to himself. He looked on at the space, making a rough estimation.
"Hmm..from here to there measures roughly the same length from his peephole to the living room." he reasoned.
Not wasting anymore time, Burrow began running across the shingles, his feet touching and bouncing while he went. Stepping on each of them he could see the bark of the tree in front of him and the branches that reached up from it, getting a better look at it the closer and closer he got.
Halfway from reaching his point he stepped on a loosened shingle that had been slowly detaching itself from the roof (due to rain and rust) and as he jogged on it, it slid off; sailing over the others with him on it, going off the edge of the roof.
Thinking quickly, he clawed onto the roof's edge and hung on, the shingle dropping down into the air, making its way until it landed on the soft soil below, where the cat was.
Burrow hooked his claws into the hard concrete, his injured body swung loosely off the edge of the shingled rooftop.
"Yes!!!" To-mas raised up his head so quickly and swung his tail in bliss, glad that he may have a great breakfast after all. He wiggled his whiskers and moved around in circles, trying to stay at the exact point the rat would tumble and hopefully break his back at.
That would be an extra bonus for him, on top of a great meal he didn't have to run him down, since he'd be incapable of moving the malicious Cat thought to himself.
"It's breakfast time!!!" To-mas said excitedly.
Burrow could feel his heartbeat thumping in his chest now. He could feel the pricks sticking in his white exposed flesh. He clawed desperately onto the roof, but he could feel his claws slipping.
"Fall little mousey fall!!Accept your fate!!Don't you want to be with your Mother and loved ones again???They miss you after all and your being selfish!!" To-mas shouted, licking the dried-up blood off of his paws from scraping the mouse earlier, reminding himself of how tasty he would be.
Burrow crawed and crawed to pull himself up, but he kept going back.
Folding his lips, his pulled his arms up, the veins in his head popping out as he did.
One of his claws broke off in the concrete and he slipped back, losing his grip.
"Drats!" he cursed.
He clung on desperately with one paw, the blood dripping down to the soil as his tattered body dangled from the roof. The Cat dipped his head and licked the droplets of blood as it trickled down, his serpent eyes in laser focus on the swinging piece of meat that was above him.
Burrow let out a pained screech as he felt his claws slip away from the edge of the roof top, scrapping to cling to it with his dear life.
If he didn't pull himself up and get his shit together, all this suffering was for nothing but falling off a roof and being eaten.
He would fail Cheesy. He would fail Sharp.
He remembered the look in the cat's eyes when he saw Mother's body being eaten from the side of the bed. Goosebumps spread over him like wildfire thinking about it; He never forgot how wet and sticky the blood in his hands felt from holding Sharp's bloody head in his lap.
Flickering through all these brutal, gruesome images, a great resentment settled in his heart. He began to feel a warmness in his chest, a heat coming up from his toes to the top of his head. Burrow glanced down at the waiting cat To-mas, him sitting there patiently, a swinging tail and his fierce eyes just glowing with joy.
After all this torture, the rodent didn't want to give the feline the satisfaction of winning. If he were to fall, all the enduring would have been for nothing. His Mother and his brothers would die for nothing.
"We are rodents Burrow. We do not give up!!!" he could hear Mother Mince's voice in the background, echoing in the space of his subliminal.
''I won't give up mother. I won't give that rascal the satisfaction of my flesh, or my blood. He'll take from us no more'' Burrow affirmed himself, sinking a single claw into the cement sledge of rooftop and it bent back, blood spurting from around the claw. He pulled himself up with all his strength and eased back on top of the roof, putting his feet over and climbing up. He breathed harder than ever, his heart about to jump out of his chest, but he could feel his mother's will within him, pushing him to go on. Pushing him not to stop.
To-mas' excited tail slowed down, straightening into a frigid line.
'' This one like to play hardball. We will see about that'' the cat walked off disappointed, going to the left.
Burrow laid on his back that was blasting in pain, too tired to roll over. He looked up into the deep blue sky, feeling how raspy and short his breaths were getting and how beaten up his body was; he couldn't feel a thing but a slipping consciousness. The sky doubled before him; his eyelids feeling tired. He struggled to turn over.
"I can't stop going now. I have to get to the tree at the side of the house." he affirmed, staggering to his feet.
Having finally gotten to his feet, the exhausted rodent placed one foot in front of the other, barely limping his way across the shingles.
Drops of blood followed behind him. His vision blurred from left to right, the entirety of the roof swaying underneath. He stopped, pausing in one spot to anchor his senses.
"Come on Burrow..your so close. Don't let a little dizziness stop you" He shook his head out of it, squinting his eyes and focusing on the outline of something vague in front of him.
For a moment it was the face of his Mother showing up, standing there innocently with her hands clasped, a worried look in her eyes.
''Oh no..I'm hallucinating again.." he could see her clearly before him.
Her huge, unmistakable eyes. They were always filled with some story to tell. Always carrying care for someone else, that Mother of mine.
"No need to worry Mother....I'll make it out of here alive. That stupid puss can't stop me" I shook my hand, stumbling forward.
Looking up again, Mother's appearance began to change.
Her eyes popped out, growing much bigger.
The colors of her eyes changed from a rich, chestnut honey to a orange yellow glow. But it was a darker shade, emitting an eerie color that phased in and out.
Suddenly, two black, obsidian lines went down into the middle of them, horizontally.
Something shifted within me. I felt a sense of uneasiness. Of danger.
My vision was still blurred.
Unable to see, I rubbed my eyes, blinking them to get clarity.
A tall figure streamed over me with deadened, gazing eyes. Two ears protruding out, whiskers flaring.
"You can't make it out alive. I won't let you..." the voice sounded darker, devious.
Devoid of all the love and hope it had previously.
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