A Dark Secret

Chapter 17

Kion waited in the den, cleaning his wounds. He winced, it hurt, bad. Fuli and Gozi were out with duties to serve Swift's Clan. Nine more days. Last night Fuli's father, along with four other cheetahs, forced him out of the den. They pinned him down and slowly but surely hurt him. They made it last hours, slowly running their claws down Kion's back, legs, side, and underbelly. Fuli's father even took one claw, and sliced it down Kion's scar. It hurt really bad. He told Kion that if he told anyone about it, he would do it again. So he didn't tell even Fuli.

His mind wandered. He had to come up with a plan. He had nine more days to do so. He let his thoughts drift into the never ending sea of the world, drifting, drifting...

Escape in the night to darkness will cover us...run as fast as we can...come up with a distraction... All common escape thoughts echoed in his mind.

Then, all of a sudden, everything came together.

Just then, Fuli walked back into the den. "Hi Kion," she greeted him. She looked exhausted.

Kion perked up his ears. "Hey Fuli. How was hunting?"

"Good and bad," she replied. "The good part is that we caught a nice sized prey animal. The bad news is I was forbidden to eat any or take any back to you. So, no dinner tonight."

Kion's ears fell flat. What was I expecting while being held prisoner? "That's okay Fuli. You tried your best," Kion tried to reassure her. Fuli gave him a grateful glance.

Just then, Gozi walked into the den, a look of annoyance on his face. "Ugh! I hate cave cleaning duty! And every time I finally get it clean, Mwepesi, his mate Endesha, and some other cheetahs purposely go in and mess it all up again! Like five times a day!" He slumped down, glowering.

Kion didn't know Gozi could ever snap like this. I would too if that happened to me every day. "Sounds tough," he sympathized.

"It is," Gozi said through a growl.

Kion then felt a sharp pain in his scar. He didn't want to accidentally say anything rude, so he tried to keep his mouth shut. His vision blurred for a moment, then went back to normal. He felt his heart quicken. He felt a sudden pain in his stomach.

"Um, Kion? Are you okay?" Fuli asked. Kion quickly nodded. He suddenly felt nauseous again. He started to feel dizzy. Must be another symptom of Ushari's bite, Kion thought to himself. He covered his head with his paws in an attempt to stop the dizziness. There was a muffled voice that Kion could barely detect. He felt a paw rest on his forehead. "Kion..." Fuli began but trailed off.

Kion opened his eyes, trying to shake off the dizziness by getting to his paws and walking. Trying to distract himself, he started talking, turning over thoughts in his mind. "F-Fuli? Do you think that somehow we can escape?" he asked out of nowhere.

Fuli nodded. "Well yes. What did you think I was going to do? Just sit here and do nothing?"

"No... it's just that I've been thinking, and I have a plan to escape," Kion told her.

Fuli perked up her ears. "What's the plan?" she asked quietly.

"The plan is that in the middle of the night, the night they will execute me, I'll run to the back of the cave and make a huge ruckus. Then while everyone is distracted, you and Gozi run and escape," Kion told her.

"What about you?" Fuli asked.

Kion looked at his paws. "This might be the only way, seeing as how much they want to hold on to you. Especially you, Fuli. And besides, you and Gozi will make it out of Swift's Clan."