Monster (Cartoon Cat x Reader)

Search and Rescue

How much of your head start did you have left? You weren't sure. It couldn't be much longer, you'd already been walking for a while.

You hadn't really spoken much since you had left Cartoon Cat, keeping your focus on the compass as you navigated the various rooms and corridors. Your feet seemed to move on their own, deadened to the dull ache in your bones and the weariness of your muscles. Slick sweat coated your face and back, but you ignored that too.

The two teens had been following you in similar silence. The girl would sniffle from time to time as she tried to fight back tears. The boy would sometimes whisper comforting words of encouragement to her. But that was all. The oppressive feeling of urgency had settled as heavily over them as it had you, removing the desire to speak or do anything but keep moving.

Finally, just to break the silence, you asked a question that had been bothering you. "How did you guys end up in this place anyway? I thought the locals didn't come here."

"We're YouTubers from out of town..." the brunette explained, a hint of muted pride in his tone. "My brother and I are the faces of the channel, Jamie and Maria pull backstage crew, and our chaperone Markus is the cameraman. We make ghost-hunting videos."

You pursed your lips as he continued his story. "We were on a cross-country trip, filming videos in various 'haunted' places. This was the second stop... the first being in our home state of California. We thought we would do our normal thing, you know? Film for two or three days, pack up, head out. But... when we got here..." He fell quiet and the girl's stifled cries started up again.

You turned your head to look at them. They both stared at the floor, a familiar kind of despair on their faces. You had seen that same expression on your own face the few times you'd gotten a glimpse of your reflection in your cell's window. Seeing it on these two, not even out of high school yet... it sent a fresh wave of gloom over you. "You got caught... didn't you...?"

The boy nodded silently. "We didn't have a choice but to come up into this maze when the doors locked. At some point, we ended up separated. As far as I'm aware, only Jamie and I stuck together."

You nodded, turning your attention to the compass again. It had begun to shift from it's mostly straight ahead position towards the left. You'd have to redirect yourself at the next turn or connection room.

"What about you?"

You glanced over to meet the boy's eyes, a tad perplexed. "What?"

"How did you get stuck in here?"

You flinched, looking back to the compass. "I... I was a paranormal enthusiast. Even did a bit of paranormal investigation. I came here hoping to get photographs of the inside of this place and maybe figure out what resided here." A bitter chuckle escaped you before you could stop it. When it died, you continued. "I accomplished the second part of that goal when I got dragged into this hellhole. Now I'm that sadist's entertainment."

"F***... I'm so sorry..." You shook your head, brushing off his shocked concern with a forced smile.

"Don't be. No one's at fault but the creature keeping us here." After a second's hesitation, you set a hand on his shoulder. "Let's just focus on getting you two back with your group."

The brunette mirrored your forced smile before looking to the ground again. You slipped back into your position ahead of them, intent on formulating the best pathway through the second floor. The need for silence smothered any further conversation. It allowed you to notice once again the pain and weariness of your own body. Your legs still ached, but they felt far away and outside of your control. Hunger pangs attacked your stomach in slow throbs. The adrenaline levels in your blood had stabilized, leaving you feeling weak and tired. Your body was screaming for a respite from the constant movement. Still, you kept going.

You had no other choice if you wanted to succeed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, they'd made it. Gabe had passed this room a short while ago and had been positive he remembered where it was. Luckily, he had been correct. The small nurse's station was bright after the dim hallway, though not quite bright enough to hinder his eyesight. "Alright, there should be bandages and antiseptic of some kind in here."

Maria limped in, collapsing onto a plastic chair and clutching her side. Drying blood had stained that hand red and she had gone exceptionally pale. The injuries on her leg hadn't scabbed over yet either, though they'd at least stopped bleeding. Without a moment's hesitation, the brunette got to work tearing through cupboards. He managed to find some ointment, some hydrogen peroxide, some clean rags, medical tape, and plenty of bandages. No painkillers, though, and no way to stitch some of those injuries closed so they could heal. He'd have to get creative about this.

Gabe took a rag and began running it under warm water. "Alright, I'm going to start cleaning your side. I'll try to be careful, but it's probably going to hurt." The young woman nodded shakily and slowly pulled her shirt up to expose the injuries. The monster's claws had left deep cuts in her flesh, exposing the red muscle underneath. Just seeing it made his stomach flip in uncomfortable ways. But he had to care for it, otherwise infection and further blood loss would be the result.

He applied some of the nearby soap to the rag and took a deep breath. With shaking hands, the brunette carefully pressed the rag to the injury, flinching when Maria hissed in pain. Despite this, he pressed onward.

Slowly, the blood around the cuts disappeared and the injury itself looked much cleaner. The rag would almost certainly never be rid of the stains, but that was fine. Using several adhesive bandages and an unnecessary amount of medical tape, he managed to close up the injuries and keep them closed. After that, it was a simple matter of wrapping clean, normal bandages around them "just in case" and taking care of the more minor cuts and scrapes she'd suffered.

"Okay, you should be in a stable condition now. We'll stay here until you can muster up the energy to move again."

The blonde nodded. She was still alarmingly pale, but she was sitting up a little straighter than before. "I'll be fine in a minute or two..." Her voice was weak, but she still attempted a smile. "First that table downstairs, now a demon cat on the second floor. I imagine we'll be facing a giant conglomeration of flesh and eyes next."

Gabe couldn't resist a small snort. "At this point, I wouldn't be surprised." They lapsed into silence for another minute before he spoke again. "You stole that idea from Little Nightmares, didn't you?"

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooo...." Marie looked away, a slightly large smile tugging at her lips. "Where would you get that idea? I've never referenced anything ever in my life."

He laughed again, the smile staying on his face this time. "You almost died and now you're making jokes?"

"Something wrong with that?"

"No, no... I appreciate it."

"Good... because I'm going to continue using my brilliant sense of humor until we get out of here and I can have a crisis in peace."

They both laughed, enjoying the brief moment of peace. Sure, they were in a scary place with a scary creature. But they had each other and they were somewhat safe. That would be enough for the moment.

A cheerful voice echoed through the silent corridors. It was nonchalant and cheerful, contrasting vastly to the dark and abandoned setting. "Run, rabbit. Run rabbit. Run, run, run. Don't give the farmer his fun, fun, fun. Bang, bang, bang, goes the farmer's gun." A pair of white and black eyes flashed in the dim lighting, black ears twitching as they picked up a sound. "So run, rabbit. Run, rabbit." The creature changed direction, moving now towards the faint voices several yards away. "Run."

"Run."

"Run~"