Burrow tripped over his feet, plummeting face forward into the dark, muddy soil.
Laying there, I had no choice but to listen to the sound of my weakened, short, struggling breaths, feeling all the pain in the world. Fighting to get up, I rose my head out of the soil, pushing off my feet to stand.
'' Come...on...Burrow. Just..a..few..more feet. Just a few more... A..few" I wobbled up on unsteady, shaking feet, panting like a dog that had no water for days.
The hole was below the wooden fence, just 20 paces in front of me. It stood there, an arched hole to the bottom of the fence, a bright, ethereal light shining out of it. When I looked closely, there were glimpses of the outside world.
It was amazing.
There were numerous towering trees like the one I fell out of, climbing up to the heavens and touching the sky, in all kinds of shapes, colors and variations. Some of them were studded with quartz pink flowers, but it was mostly bushes from the level that I was seeing.
A smooth, creme pavement was right outside of the hole; I could see wheels from carts passing, dogs braking here and there. It was a hustle out there, so many sounds and noises being made.
It all looked so exciting, and I couldn't wait to get out there.
"Almost there...al..most " I stood up, my shaking feet firmly planted in the cool soil.
For a moment, the pain from my wounds were nothing but a phantom in the back of my mind. The only thing that existed was that hole in its glimmering, white light. I was there, my freedom was there. Despite all the hassle with To-mas, despite all the fears within myself, all the struggle, all the pain, all of it was worth it.
A burst of energy drove through me just thinking about how good I would feel once I was through. I sprung up, swallowing the pain and standing on my legs.
"Yes!!" I exclaimed. After many attempts, I was finally on all fours, being able to walk. All I had to do was ignore the feeling of completely throwing up and take one step at a time.
Inhaling deeply and praying to God, I carefully placed one foot forward, pressing down on it gently, from the sole of my feet going down to the heel, firmly lodging it onto the soil.
"Step by step Burrow...step by step."I whispered through gritting teeth, trying my best to ignore the blatant shock of pain going up my leg. Pressing down on it was torture. Something along the string of my whole leg jerked, aching like a thousand stabs hit ting all at once.
A shuddering pain spread all over my body, going up and down between the nape of my neck and my back; I fell to the ground for the hundredth time.
I hagged and coughed away, gripping my chest from the blasting pangs that twisted inside me. After forever I stopped, I gave up, laying face forward in the soil, wheezing. The soil was blocking my nasal passage. I couldn't breathe, so I attempted turning over.
Right as I did the raptures in my back began to ache violently, reminding me that I had a fatal wound on my spine.
I cried out and slumped over to my side, whimpering like a child.
I really couldn't handle anymore setbacks. Not when I was this close to my goal. The fence. The hole beneath the fence....it was right there. Teary eyed I rose my head to look at it in it's glory but there was no light shining out of it. This time it was extremely dark around its crevices, and it was phasing in and out, moving from side to side like a reflection in water.
Swerving my head around my surroundings I noticed how dark everything else had become. The grass, the trees, my hands everything. It surely wasn't nighttime, which meant I was going in and out of consciousness. My body was shutting down.
"Shit!!! No no no...come on, not right now when we're so close. Me Mother Sharp and Cheesy, we're all so close..." I gasped, my breathing becoming breathy, and shallow.
This debilitating wound. The falls, the running. The loss of blood. All of it was catching up to me, and it was time for me to go.
But I couldn't go here. I refused to go now. Not while I'm still in this yard...
Twisting over onto my stomach I dug my paw into the soil, grabbing it and pushing my leg forward, slithering on my belly like a snake.
"I'm...free...almost...there..." I could see more of the outside, the closer I got to it.
There stood the door leading to Heaven, the way to my freedom.
I was just two paces away from it now. All I had to do was continue slithering.
But slithering was pitiful. Like a snake. I didn't want to be anything like that cat...and snakes reminded me of him.
I breathed, pushing up on my hands in a lunge position. I got on my knees, quivering the while I stepped onto the soil again; there was nothing but a million pins and needles sticking into my nervous system, aching at every breath, every movement, every flinch. I continued on, limping onto the next foot, ignoring the pain, keeping my eyes on the jagged outline of the medium sized hole a tail's whip in front of me.
"Freeeedommm. Freedom Mother. Here I come..." darkness danced around the corners of my eyes. Steeping one foot in front of the other, the needle shocking me at each step. Biting down on my lip I continued to endure the pain.
I was right in front of the hole now, and I could see everything. The trees way above, the houses, the bustling noises. I blinked in between darkness, seeing Mother's face right before me. She stretched her hand out to me from the other side, smiling warmly.
I stretched my hand out my hand and just when our fingertips were about to touch, my breath wisped itself out of my body, and I fell forward, collapsing to the ground.
"No...just one more ppush..." I cried, extending my trembling, shuddering hand between tears.
Mother leaned forward, unable to go any further. She frowned, the image of her disappearing into nothingness.
The darkness became more and more prevalent, covering over my eyelids. I fought with everything I had in me to keep my eyes open, gasping and pushing myself off the floor.
I felt something heavy push down on my back and dropped back onto the soil.
"Come...on...one...more..." I muttered, pushing up on my legs again, buckling to stand.
Gravity pushed me down to the ground, seeing that I was unable to keep the weight of my body. I laid there, breathless. I blinked in between, seeing something ominous in the darkness.
A pair of cold, callous eyes stared back at me; they stood out in the sea of black, roaming, floating over me. They were a brilliant color, a faded honey gold, two extended curved lines stretching from the top of the eye down to its end.
Suddenly an unsettling feeling came over me.
The warm, strangely comforting feeling that was ushering me into unconsciousness dispersed, calling me back to life.
I breathed in sharply, blinking my eyes wildly. There was something hot on top of my head, something like dense, congested air, blowing between my ears. I tried to move and quickly realized that I couldn't.
I tried again but failed.
That familiar voice of intuition told me to look up from the side and I did, only to see To-mas's malignant face, his fangs bared as he smiled evilly.
I hiked up instantly, frightened at the sight of him over me.
The weight on my back increased, pinning me down to the ground.
*********************************************************************************************
The rodent squirmed about in panic, desperately pushing off of his arms only to be pushed back to the ground.
To-mas smirked, pushing his paw down firmly on Burrow's busted, bloody back.
"Let's count the score together, Mr. Burrow" The cat moved, taking his paw off of me. He began to speak with so much detail, in a slow, careful manner, as if even one wrong word was uttered, it would cost him greatly.
"I trapped your mother in a cage, ripping and clawing at her while she begged for your lives. Your brother tried to fight me, in all his falsified ego and well...I sunk my teeth deeply into his throat. I watched your brainless, greedily imperceptive pig of a brother cross a bridge and risk his life, just for a piece of cheese. Well, I wouldn't consider that one my kill exactly but...I did watch him drown. So, I guess it still counts" To-mas was directly in front of me now. The dull brown that usually glinted in his eyes were now brighter than ever; I could feel the weight of his malignant stare, piercing into my soul. He sat down; two white paws neatly aligned to his front. To-mas mouth was plastered into a straight line, his expression cold and daunting. I could feel the anger emitting off him.
"Ever since, I, To-mas the cat, had stepped foot into that house. I truly made a purpose to destroy the lot of you in the most humiliating, debilitating way that any advanced creature knew how to. By exerting my nature over a species that is...'' my heart thudded erratically, the cat lowering his gaze to level with mine. I jumped back slightly, thrown off guard with his sudden action.
"Lesser and lower, than any other species" he pronounced his words meticulously, pushing his paw and propping it up against my forehead, to push me back.
I was tired of this egomaniacal, self-absorbed furball. Every time I saw the clear path to my freedom, he stood in front of it with his "I'm better than you" speech. I was this close to my goal, and no matter what nonsense he was chatting I wouldn't stop until I got there. Even if it took my last, dying breath!!!
With his paw positioned in the air, I jumped up and hashed my teeth into his paw, biting him.
"You scoundrel!!!" he cursed, rising his paw back. He leaned over his left to look at it, and with his back moved, I could see the hole in the wall. This was my chance.
I pushed off of my legs like a sprinter hearing the alarm go off. I dashed forward, keeping my eyes on the on the hole. As I sprinted, it was getting closer and closer. It was right there. Just tthree or four more sprints. I just had to keep going. Thomas's tail waved in front of my face.
"Out of my way!" I pushed myself off of my paws and leaped over it, landing perfectly on the ground. I was right by the hole now; I could see the sidewalk on the other end.
"Yes!!" with one last thrust I pushed myself through it, my head and front legs were on the border of grass that separated the yard from the sidewalk. I could see the sidewalk clearly, and the black, broad road that spanned into the stretch.
The area was still lush with shrubs to the side of the sidewalks, here and there, bushes scattered against fences of the other yards. I glimpsed to the left of me and saw the entrance to a forest, a dense canopy of greens.
I pounced off my feet heading to the left of the forest. To-mas pushed his paws through the hole, jabbing them into my wounds.
Hot, blistering spikes, dug into my lower back, hooking themselves into my flesh, reagitating the open wound that was already on my back. A seizure of convulsed stings shot up threw my waistline, the lower half of my body went numb. I cried out, my legs giving out from underneath me; Only my front hands were available, so I dug my nails into the tip of the sidewalk in a desperate attempt to pin myself to the ground.
To-mas drew me back through the hole, my claws latching on so hard onto the other side that it made indented lines on the pavement. The view of the sidewalk, trees, and houses got further and further away from me, even more remote while my head was swallowed back into the hole under the fence, back into the yard on the spikey grass with this doomed cat and his owner.
Unlatching his claws, he threw me out into the grass so forcefully, I flew and rolled over and over on the ground; my hands clutched the soil beneath me, using it as leverage to stop the flight. Finally, I stopped, the trumpet of my heart thudded in my eardrums, my breath coming out in shortened wheezes. A burning sensation reverberated along the lower part of my waist where he hooked his claws into, the wound on my back pulsating, a sequence of extreme itching and aching expanding across it; the pain seizing my entire body.
"I can't take this anymore" I mouthed with my head down into the soil. Sluggishly rising my head up, my vision caught a smoggy glimpse of the cat coming towards me. I looked up at the cat who was quickly encroaching on me, squeezing my eyes and trying extra hard to see if there were five cats, instead of one. His image phased like water, swaying from side to side. The darkness was coming back into my eyes.
I shook my head around vigorously, blinking until I could see To-mas clearly. Dark, slit pupils beamed their focus down on me, the frustrated feline glaring in all his anger.
"Stay down!!" hollering, he pushed his paw down on my head, burying my face in the dirt.
"You damned shit eating trench rat!! You're getting on my last nerve!!" he roared, outraged at my ridiculous tenacity in refusing to die. He pressed his paw down, applying even more pressure onto my head.\
I squirmed helplessly under him.
"If I didn't loathe your kind as much as I do, I might have even been impressed. But you've just continued to piss me off..." my hands were on his paw, fluttering in distress of how hard he was squeezing down on my head. My lungs were about to explode from the lack of air, I couldn't handle any more pressure, my head ached as if my skull was about to be cracked open. Muffled pleas of surrender sounded from under the cat's paw.
To-mas' eyes trailed down to the squirming rat underneath his head, gasping for air.
Feeling a drop of remorse, the cat lifted his paw off the rodent, stepping back.
Burrow rose his head out of the dirt, gasping for air as clumps of soil dropped off his face. The cat sat there calmly, thinly channeled serpentine shooting daggers at the puny, insignificant rat who refused to accept his fate. He sat there in all his glory, looking down at this pitiful rat wondering about in the dirt, like a worm.
The rodent rose its head, coughing and buckling to stand up, but failing miserably. After a minute he began rising again, staggering on his feet once more, but then falling to the ground. To-mas began to feel sorry for the tiny creature, but he reminded himself that he was just food, quickly snapping out of his empathy.
The cat was experiencing a range of emotions looking at Mr. Burrow, being absolutely confused but simultaneously, in awe. His body was riddled with injuries, Family all murdered in front of his face, he was flung about, thrown out of a tree from 300 ft up, and still, here he was, trying his best to get up!
He wondered if these new set of rats were eating something different from the previous generations...Perhaps they were genetically modified by the government? He would never know. But he knew this. He couldn't waste any more time with this rat, and as opposed to leaving him alone to die, he defiantly had to eat him. This lousy rodent had cost him way too much time and effort. He needed some sort of reward for his sufferings, and that, would be this rat's flesh.
"Mr. Burrow. The truth is "To-mas walked slowly around him, encircling him as he studied the bruised rat from head to toe.
"I made a mistake. Silly, silly me, thinking that a fall from that high could kill you. How you are still alive after falling from so high baffles me, but I'll chuck it up to you falling on a branch instead of the ground and crawling down the tree..." he stopped now, lining himself directly in front of Burrow, the rodent trembling as he dropped to the ground again, still stubbornly trying to stand on his feet. To-mas lowered himself to the ground, sitting down so low that his face was only an inch away from Burrows. The amber hue glowered of the evil intentions that were set in his eyes.
"The truth is Mr. Burrow; you have nothing left. No one to live for, your all alone in this dark, murderous world filled with predators that are bigger, faster, and stronger than you are. And even if you did manage to escape me just now, the wounds inflicted on your body alone will kill you. So, there is no more running from certain death, you see." Burrow took the innards of his elbow and rubbed it against his nose, quickly wiping the miniscule drops of tears leaking from his eyes. He swallowed, ignoring the pangs of needles sticking him in his throat, everything in him wanted to roll up into a ball and cry. He didn't know how much more torture and dismay he could handle in his life, since life was like death. All he faced was death, that was the only thing around him at all times since he became a young adult.
He took a good look around his surroundings. There was a huge, debilitating wound on his back that guaranteed had to be infected by now. The two that were at the nape of his neck from the cat almost biting his head off, the hundreds of others. He was riddled with holes like a water barrel shot up by a gun, and the blood loss he faced from running all the time was wearing him down. His vision was getting blurrier by the seconds....
Burrow thought of the hole below the wooden fence. His eyes shifted to the right, around the cat. It was more than a hundred feet away from him now, and they were close to the tree that he fell out of. He was back at square one.
How could he possibly run to that exit when his body was on the verge of shutting down?
It was over for him. Entirely, completely done and over with.
There was no fight left in him.
To-mas was right.
He lost.
"Just- tell me why. You've been beaten. Broken, scarred all over your body. For crying out loud the flesh on your back is showing and your bleeding out from every crevice, and you've fallen from a tree, Everyone you love is dead and your about to be eaten by me. There is absolutely no way you can survive this, Burrow. Wouldn't it be easier to give up? Wouldn't you be more...at peace? Fighting against destiny is chaotic" To-mas twisted his head to the side, examining the rodent's appearance, in a bewildered state.
''Destiny..." Burrow repeated after him, in a lowered tone.
"Yes Mr. Burrow. Destiny''
To-mas sighed, getting up off his stomach and rising back up to his height. His whiskers flickered, constricted eyes examining the fiend below him, who was shaking himself to even stay awake. Burrow peered up at him through blood-stained eyes, managing to hoist himself on his four slender, muddied, sticks for legs that were covered in blood.
Even if I die here today, because of this cat, I will die on my own two feet, he affirmed.
His fur was a dark wine brown, clamps of dirt mixed with blood and sweat clinging to him. There was blood seeping from scratches in his face, his sides, his underbelly. Not to mention the blood that was ozzing again from his back wound. And there he was, still standing.