The Beginning

Chapter 2

"Well, that was unsettling," Riley said from one of the bean bags. "What type of animal-or creature-is able to make an imprint that large?"
Carlos shrugged. "I don't know, but it seemed too...too perfect. If a human made it, it would be jagged and uneven. This is smooth, perfectly symmetrical and it has a round edge." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess you could say that I pay attention to that sort of stuff."
Sam nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. What could have made that? It had to be gigantic, as the footprint is, once again, the size of a garbage truck. Why, though?"
Riley frowned, confused. "Why what?"
"Why in my backyard? It could have been in any of your backyards," she said, pointing to Riley and Carlos.
Riley shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps the creature decided to annoy you," she joked.

"Also..."
Riley looked at Carlos. "What?"
"There was a, um... trail mark, the ones that lizards have whenever they walk."
"That can't be right. It was only one footprint. I didn't see any tail trail mark," Sam said, almost laughing at the unintentional rhyme.
"Uh, actually, it was-"
Another roar shook the air, except this one was louder than the last one. Riley crouched under the tree house window and peeked out, and she couldn't even decipher what she saw.
Three large, shadowy figures were slithering in the field below the tree house, snorting and sniffing at the air. One of them growled at another one, and the other one growled back. The first one shook its head and disappeared into the darkness. The third figure sighed and growled at the second figure. Riley could glimpse the second figure shrugging, and she was shocked to see some creatures do something familiar looking.

The second figure stomped off to where the first figure went. The third figure looked around and sighed again. It slithered off into the woods, where it completely disappeared. 

Riley looked over her shoulder at Sam and Carlos. "Did you guys see that?"
Sam nodded. "What were those things? They're unlike anything I've seen before. They were BIG, too. Bigger than an elephant, in fact."
Carlos shivered. "They seemed almost...cat-like, didn't they? They were moving just like cats would in the dark: quiet, being stealthy, and hunting for their prey."
Riley nodded. "That's true. One question though."
"What's up?"
"What-or who-is their prey?"
Carlos and Sam glanced at each other. Riley felt a cold claw climbing up her spine. She was pretty sure she knew what they were thinking.
"You don't think it's... us, right?"
Sam shrugged. "I honestly don't know. But, I can't think of anything else. They conveniently showed up right after we climbed into the tree house.
Night fell upon them like a dark blanket with white specks of light. They decided to sleep in the treehouse on the beds and blankets that they had up there.
While they were sleeping, the same creatures-well, one of them-stood a few feet away from the treehouse, staring at them with eerie blue eyes. It tilted its head, and meowed softly, rousing Riley. She rubbed her eyes and crept down the ladder, and she saw blue eyes staring at her. She hesitated. She wanted to go and see what it was, but something about the blue eyes unsettled her. She slowly walked to the creature, and it darted away. It stopped, and kept looking at her. Finally it closed its eyes and turned away. Riley was about to go back to the treehouse when it suddenly lunged at her, and she screamed. The only thing she could see was those eerie blue eyes and a wide, shiny smile. She could see the teeth that were in front of her, shining and sharp, a few inches from her.
It towered over her, and its teeth zoomed in, right in front of her nose. Her scream woke up Sam and Carlos, who climbed down the ladder and came running, their eyes wide. Riley glanced at them helplessly, trembling. "Don't...move," she whispered. Carlos slowly walked toward her. "Hey, I'm here. Everything's okay."
As he said this, Sam crept to Riley's other side. "Okay, so. We can try to run for it and go back to our homes."
Riley slowly nodded. "That sounds like a good idea, considering that there is some sort of... thing right in front of me."
Sam turned around and bolted, but a large figure blocked her way and caused her to fall to the ground. She screamed as green eyes started moving towards her. Another pair of eyes- orange-amber this time-appeared behind Carlos. The one in front of Riley stepped forward, and Riley could see a silhouette outlined in the dim streetlight. It was indeed a cat, a huge one, much bigger than a tiger or lion. It had what looked like fur that stuck out on its back, and it had two shiny, sharp things on its head, probably its ears.
With a gulp, Riley realized that the paws were the same size as the pawprint in Sam's backyard. Could this creature be the thing that was there, watching Sam?
Having cats, Riley could immediately tell that this one was male. He turned toward the amber eyes and used a long whip behind him to beckon it forward. The amber eyes stepped forward, and it was another male. This male turned toward the green eyes, and to Riley's surprise, it was a female. She growled at the orange-eyed male, pointing to Riley. He shook his head and pointed to Sam, then to the blue-eyed male. The blue-eyed male rolled his eyes. Riley was incredibly shocked, seeing these non-human creatures do something so familiar. He sighed and looked at Riley. He lashed out a paw and grabbed her. She struggled and kicked the paw, but he only frowned at her. He turned around and growled at the other ones. Over the paw, she could see that the orange-eyed one grabbed Carlos. He flew toward Riley's captor and jerked his shadowy head toward the female, who grabbed Sam and growled at Carlos's captor. He shook his head and shook Carlos, hissing at her. Without another growl, Carlos's captor whirled around and leapt into the air. Riley struggled for air as a blast of hot air hit her in the face, slowly fading away as the orange-eyed male seemingly flew away. The green-eyed one glanced at Riley's captor, sighing. Riley's captor rested his whip on her shoulder, meowing softly. Sam's captor nodded and took off after the other male. Riley tried her best to look up, and saw those eerie blue eyes staring after the female. He sighed and looked down at Riley, narrowing his eyes at her. For a moment, Riley was scared that he was going to eat her, when he started squeezing her. She gasped as the air was squeezed out of her lungs, and she started feeling light-headed. The last thing she saw was her captor flying into the sky and to an unknown location. Her eyes started to close, and she could only see darkness.