Belonging Chapter 32
Chapter 32
Callix
Day 35
** ** How the fuck did the Kreq find a place to hide all the way up there?
_ _ We sat at the bottom of a tall foothill, which could have been considered a small mountain, I guess. The Kreq warriors felt that we were far enough from the Kyan to stop for a break. While we rested our aching paws, the sun was now almost completely hidden by the horizon and streamed rays of fiery orange across the ever-growing darkness that crept around us.
Regardless of the aching soreness in my paws, I was sure that Isabel's pain was worse. I had never been personally shot, but I couldn't imagine that it tickled very much. I wanted to check her leg a couple of times while we were walking, but the Kreq probably wouldn't have enjoyed being slowed down. Now that we were resting, though, it would probably be okay to take a quick look at it.
Before I could stand and walk over to where Isabel sat next to Weko, Stara rose and Hzuk followed their example.
With his tiny gun in hand, Hzuk stepped over to me. "Get up," He didn't even need to point the gun at me.
After giving a long sigh, I got up and began walking up the colossal foothill, as rest of the group followed closely behind.
"Do you think we'll reach top before sunset?" Weko asked aloud for either one of his tribe mates to answer.
Stara answered him. "Probably not. But we can't waste anymore time. So no resting until we get back,"
Damn. It was going to be a long night. I began hoping that Isabel fell asleep on Weko's shoulder so that she wouldn't have to endure the pain in her leg any longer.
By the time we loomed near the top of the steep foothill-mountain, the sun had vanished from the sky and we stumbled in the darkness. No wonder we didn't look up here. Who thinks that this would be a great place to live?
Finally, we came to a point were the ground became level beneath us. We passed trees that stretched out their limbs to mockingly wave at me as we walked by, almost as if they knew what was waiting for Isabel and I at Kreq's camp. With all the trees around us, I almost thought that we were still in the forest down below us. Then again, maybe it was just because it was dark and I was exhausted from all of the walking. I could even tell that the Kreq were tired, based on how far they lagged behind me.
I was about to ask if we were almost there, even though I had promised to keep my mouth shut. That's when I saw it. A wall of frosted rock loomed over me, which must have run high enough to touch the sky above us. No ledges stuck out of it, as far as I could see. Other than the snow, it was smooth as water. I then noticed the cave entrance that was in the middle of the wall, just twenty steps in front of me.
Stara's voice broke me out of my disbelief. "I'll go get Riter,"
She walked forward and was consumed by the dark mouth of the cave.
After turning my head to see that Hzuk and Weko were standing idly behind me while we waited from Stara to come back, I sat down in the snow and tried to keep my tail from nervously twitching.
Pawsteps approached from behind me. A gun was pressed against the back of my skull. "Get up," It was Hzuk. Figures.
My first instinct was to not say anything, since I promised them that I wouldn't. Then, I remembered that I only said I'd be quiet until we arrived at the Kreq camp.
As I stood up, I balanced myself with one hand on the ground. "Fine, if you're gonna be a dick about it,"
Hzuk kept his gun pressed against my head, but didn't pull the trigger.
I looked over at Isabel, who was still draped over Weko's shoulder. Even though he had carried Isabel the entire way, Weko's posture showed no sign of exhaustion. I had to admit, he probably could have kicked my ass in fight. The thought made my tail flick, uneasily.
Isabel, on the other hand, quivered on Weko's shoulder. Probably from the cold. Under normal circumstances, I would have gone over to check and see how she was holding up, but I had a gun pointed at my head. So I stood there, waiting.
What if I tried to run away right now?
And leave Isabel all by herself? No. Taiya knows what would happen to her if I tried anything, especially escaping. I also wouldn't be able to run very fast, since my legs probably had eight or nine different cramps from all of the walking we did that day. I wouldn't even be able to turn around before Hzuk pulled the trigger on his gun. He was probably just waiting for a reason to shoot me. Damn it.
_ _ Pawsteps approached and I looked back up at the cave entrance. Two Kreq emerged from the inside the darkness and marched towards us. Stara was one of them and the other was a female snow leopard that carried a small gun in her hand. Riter.
_ _ Meelo never liked talking about his family life much. I'd always imagined it was the type of stuff that would fuck any normal person up for the rest of their life. Just look at what happened to Meelo. But the resemblance between Meelo and his mother was very unsettling. I hadn't gotten a good look at her when she came into our camp almost two moons ago because she was far away from me. Now that I was closer, though, I would swear that Meelo had just grown boobs. Both of them even had the same cold blue eyes.
Stara and Riter stopped five paces away, close enough to put me on edge. Shit. This was bad.
Riter's eyes fell upon me and then discovered Isabel, who as still on Weko's shoulder. "So, it seems we have guests,"
I snorted and held my head up high to try and hide the growing fear in my stomach. "Depends on what you mean by 'guests',"
Riter opened her mouth, which I assumed was going to give the order for Hzuk to blow my head off. It wasn't. What came out instead made my fur bristle, my ears fold to the sides and my heart sink inside my chest.
Riter began to laugh.
I glanced over at Stara, who was also giving Riter a questioning look. Good. At least the Kreq seemed as unsettled as I was. That was at least good sign. Right?
The leopardess was holding her sides from laughing so hard. She hadn't stopped yet. Still, she managed to speak. "True. True. You aren't our guests! Actually you're... You're..."
The smile from Riter's face faded almost instantly and her eyes grew blazed with alarm. She had even let go of her still waist. The Kreq leader kept looking at me, though, with those eyes of hers that seemed to make me feel no bigger than a snowflake. "In fact, I don't know why you're even here,"
Riter gave a swift turn and faced Stara. "Stara! Why did you bring Kyan into our own camp?"
From even where I stood, I could see Stara's fur prickle a little. "I thought... I thought that we could-"
"What?" Riter interrupted her and took a step closer to the cheetah. "You thought what? Did you want to give them a tour of our home? Here, this is where we eat, sleep and live with our children. Come on in! Does that sound like a good plan to you?"
"I thought that-"
"How is showing two Kyan where our a home is a good fucking idea?" Riter screeched.
Both Stara's ears and tail flicked simultaneously. She obviously didn't like being talked to that way, but, since Riter was the leader, she had to put up with it. "I thought that we could use them as hostages,"
Riter seemed only to grow even more furious. "One of them would get away and tell the others where we're hiding,"
Stara took a step closer towards Riter. She clearly wasn't backing down. "Not if we watched them! We could even tie them up with some of the rope the traders gave us,"
While I wondered what "rope" was, Riter raised her voice and got even more in Stara's face. "Somehow, they would escape,"
Riter, with her small gun in hand, turned to walk towards me. "We have to kill them now,"
Stara followed Riter at a brisk pace, still trying tor reason with her. "Riter, we could use them to our advantage. All the fighting could stop!"
"We can't take that risk," Riter brushed the cheetah off.
Riter stopped about two arm lengths away from me with her gun now raised. "Hold him,"
Before I could react, Hzuk wrapped both of his arms around me and held my own arms down at my sides. Shit, he was strong.
I turned my head and saw Weko put down Isabel, just before he joined Hzuk in securing me. Hzuk shifted and made room for Weko. They both now held my chest and arms tightly, so that there was no hope of me escaping. That didn't keep me from trying, though. I squirmed, twisted and turned every possible way, yet both of the Kreq showed no sign of loosening their hold on me.
My hope quickly fading, I looked over Riter's shoulder at Stara, who now stood quietly by. I searched every part of her face, looking for some sign that she was going to stop Riter from pulling the trigger. Maybe she had something else to say, something much more convincing than what she had already told Riter. Or, maybe she was going to try and wrestle the gun from Riter. But, after gazing helplessly at the cheetah, I saw that her eyes were filled with despair. She didn't move or even try to speak up. There would be no help from her.
Riter gently placed it against my forehead.
I closed my eyes out of pure despair. This was how I was going to die, held down like some kind of prey and murdered by those fucking cats. Cats for Taiya's sake! Of all the ways to go, that was the worst.
There had been so many things I had never done yet. I had never kissed anybody, which was mostly because I had been too nervous ask. I had never even had sex, for Taiya's sake! Fuck me. I was going to die a virgin. I didn't even think that I had ever seen a girl naked before, or even just a pair of tits! I had heard a couple of guys brag about how sexy their girlfriends looked naked before, but I didn't think I had ever actually seen any boobs myself. Oh sweet Taiya, don't let me die now. There was so much I hadn't even done and so much living that I hadn't even experienced. I hadn't even told Isabel how I felt about her.
Isabel.
_ _ Isabel was awake when Weko had set her down before he walked over to restrain me. Taiya, don't let her see this. Turn her head away or something. I didn't want her last memory of me to be so horrible. Why didn't I just tell her how I felt before? How could I have been such a pussy? She and I had been close since we were little and I was sure that she had probably thought about asking me out once or twice. Now, I'd never know. I would never know if Isabel felt the same way as I did or if she would agree to date me. We could have taken long walks together, had deep conversations, lay in each others arms as we drifted off to sleep, become mates, had a kid or two and grown old together. So much for that now. The only future we had together now were the next couple of moments before pieces of my head were torn apart by Riter's gun. In my mind, I could imagine her crying as my limp body fell to the ground, just before Hzuk and Weko held her down for Riter to shoot, too. Oh please, Taiya. Let her live. If you have to kill somebody, kill me. Let Isabel have a normal life. Just let her be okay!
My hands began shaking at my sides. How long had it been, a moment, a moon or a day? Just do it already. Get it over with. Do it, you bitch. Do it. Come on. Do it. JUST FUCKING DO IT!
_ Click._
_ Huh?_ I opened my eyes and saw that Riter was just as surprised as I was.
Stara stepped a little towards Riter. "What's wrong? Is it even loaded?'
Riter pointed her pistol away from me and held it up to examine. "Yes. I think it's just jammed,"
Stara stood at Riter's side and held out an open hand. "Here, let me see,"
Riter held the weapon out towards the cheetah with one careless hand.
Stara never even touched it.
BANG!
_ _ Blood sprayed against my face, staining my fur as the shot left a ringing in my ears. If Riter had cussed, there was no way that I could have heard her.
Stara's body fell onto the ground. A single hole on her neck was now pouring blood onto the snow around her. She tried speaking, but all that came out was airy gasps. Stara lifted her right hand and covered the wound in an effort to stop the bleeding. Blood still seeped out between her fingers, staining her fur with red. Only after a few moments, since she had been shot, Stara began to spasm violently. Her eyes had grown dim, almost as if she had lost control of her entire body. Then, she grew still while blood continued to exit her open neck.
"Damn," Riter muttered, as she looked down at her fallen tribesmen in disgust. Just like me, Riter had been splashed with blood. Although, Riter certainly got the worst of it. The fur on her face was now clumped together in wet bundles and her clothes clung to her body, completely stained with red. If I had thought that Riter couldn't be more terrifying than before, I was wrong. All it took was river of blood to show that she was more frightening than anything that I could have ever imagined.
"Hzuk!" Riter snarled and turned to look over me at the jaguar.
He was just as scared as I was. "Y-Yeah, Riter?"
"Clean up this mess. Drag her body off and bury all this blood with snow,"
As Hzuk did as he was told and set his gun in the snow, I looked over and saw Isabel sprawled on her back, watching us. I gave a reassuring wink, which actually didn't seem to make her any less worried. Oh well. At least I wasn't dead.
I turned and looked up at Riter, who now looked down at me with her chilled eyes. A grin came across her face. "You like her, don't you?"
I said nothing and only stared back as chills ran down my spine.
Riter gave a laugh. "Please, it's so obvious that you'd have to be blind not to see it. Well, at least I know you wouldn't risk her life to run,"
She drew in close to me and lowered her voice, all while keeping her grin. "Tell me, have you fucked her yet?"
I remained silent and listened to the increasing volume of my heartbeat.
"No? That's a shame. Now, you're probably thinking that you'll get away, tell all your friends where we are, come with your weapons and make her fall in love with you. Right? But let me tell you what will really happen,"
Riter leaned in and whispered even quieter. "If you run, we'll catch you. Then, we're going to bring you back and hold you down as we slowly bleed that little husky of yours to death. Oh, I'll make sure I take my time carving off that pretty face of hers and, if I'm feeling particularly naughty, I'll let you suck on her tits after I've cut them off. Once she's dead, I'll begin to cut you open, too. I think I'll start with your stomach. Perhaps I'll even reach in and swirl your insides around with my hand. And then..."
Riter's hand reached down and grabbed my balls. I let out a small squeal as Riter began applying pressure. She started squeezing so hard that I thought or sure that I was going to pass out. Her claws were even unsheathed and poked against me. "I'll make sure to give you a happy ending,"
She let go of my balls and began laughing once again, only harder now than she did earlier. "Take them away, Weko!"
Weko picked up Hzuk's gun and stuck it in the middle of my back. He then guided me over to Isabel and picked her up, just before directing me towards the cave.
Shit. We were really fucked now. Riter didn't even show any emotion when she shot Stara. If she cared that little about shooting her own tribesmen, she would probably make killing Isabel and I a game. At least Isabel had been too far away to hear what Riter told me. I wish I hadn't either, for that matter. I hoped that someone find us soon, before it was too late.
_ _ As we entered the dark entrance of the cave and began making or way further inside, Riter's laughter roared behind us.