Monster (Cartoon Cat x Reader)

Two Down

It took only a few seconds. You screamed, watching as the tall lanky creature slammed open the last set of cabinet doors. You saw two pairs of terrified eyes, heard the gleeful laughter, memories of claws tearing into your flesh making your scars itch. You had crammed yourself underneath a low cot that had been in the room, and now you were stuck. Still, you grasped desperately at the dusty floor and tried to pull yourself to freedom.

The girl, Jamie, struggled little even as the Dog dragged her from the cupboard by the hair. Her eyes were glassy and blank with apparent resignation. Her body was limp and unresisting. You couldn't tell if it was shock or sheer hopelessness. Jack struggled vainly against the hand that forced him from the safety of the small space. His hands and feet flailed against the sleek black body of their assailant. The Dog didn't even blink at the blatant attacks against it.

You squirmed all the harder, freeing your shoulders and arms from the claustrophobic hold the cot's frame had on you. The Dog's tail wagged, the delightful display somehow making the situation worse. It's eyes - so like Cartoon Cat's that it stopped your heart for a brief moment - turned and caught your own. The dust being kicked up was invading your nose and making breathing difficult. Jamie was heedless to the tears that streamed unchecked down her cheeks as she stared into nothingness. The two teens were jerked upright and Cartoon Dog turned around fully. Your hips were still stuck under the cot, leaving you vulnerable. Still you struggled. Jack yelled something you couldn't understand, you weren't even sure those were proper words.

The horrible smile stretched wider. Staring you in the eyes, it lifted Jamie fully off the ground. Jack's hair audibly tore as he thrashed more violently against the hold that thing had on him. For a moment, the blonde hung like a ragdoll in the Dog's hand. You felt yourself moving, millimeter by painful millimeter, and grabbed uselessly at the girl's dangling ankles. You were still too far away and too low to the ground to do anything, and yet you tried.

You popped free from your hiding place a second too late. With an unnatural ease, the Dog jerked its hand. Something snapped loudly and Jamie's body swayed violently in response. Her head remained perfectly steady. Jack had stopped struggling in the same instant, staring in horror at the corpse.

You reached out, catching hold of the young man's shirt and pulling. The sound of more of his hair being ripped from his head filled your ears. Having torn him from the creature, you proceeded to drag him from the room. Where were you going? It didn't matter. Anywhere away from the new threat would work. In the few moments it took to leave the room, Jack's legs began to work again.

The pair of you raced down the brightly lit hallway. Doors blurred past without registering in either of your minds. Jack's scalp was bleeding some, but he didn't seem to notice. Your legs burned. The echoes of the Dog's laugh followed you, even though the monster itself did not.

The scars on your arms felt like they were burning into your flesh. The blinding lights, your own panicked breaths, the adrenaline thrumming through your veins and keeping you moving. It was all far too familiar. You had dropped your hold on Jack's shirt when he'd started running with you. That lack of contact only fueled the flashbulb memories invading your mind. You were going to be caught. It was inevitable. You were going to be dragged kicking and screaming back to that stupid attic prison for another indeterminate amount of time. Or maybe not. Maybe you would be tortured to the point of passing out again before you were taken back. Had you even made any progress this time around? You had survived longer, but only at the expense of others. You had even worked your way to a new threat and gotten someone killed. At least, you assumed the dog was a new threat. It certainly seemed like a separate entity from the Cartoon Cat, given what it had said earlier. But it could just as easily be him in a different form. Couldn't it? Did you even want to know for certain if there was more than one entity prowling these twisted halls?

Again, you stumbled forward as you legs finally gave out beneath you. The rough carpet burned your scarred knees, the phantom feeling of rough concrete making the pain worse. Your palms hit the floor next, helping your shaking arms support a body you couldn't even properly feel. You gasped like a fish out of water as your lungs tried desperately to pull in sufficient oxygen. You were uncomfortably warm from the unwilling exercise and your clothes were damp with your sweat. Tears pricked your eyes, making your vision blurry.

"n).... (Y/.... (Y/n)!" Jack's voice pulled you back to reality, just enough that you looked up at him from your position on the floor. There was a mixture of expressions on both of his faces as disembodied hands tugged at your arm. Fear, concern, pain... "Get up, we have-" He became more clear as you blinked uncertainly and tried to understand him through his ragged breathing. "We have to keep moving. Before-" Another pause as he sucked in the stale air. Your vision cleared further, the double vision and blurriness now completely gone. "Before one of those two things finds us again!"

"Can't..." You muttered through your own desperate panting. "I can't... go further..." With an unsteady hand, you pulled out the compass and shoved it towards him. "Go... on... ahead..." The adrenaline rush was already wearing off and exhaustion was rapidly taking it's place. You'd pushed off a rest too long already and everything that had happened with in the past several minutes had stolen what remaining energy you had.

"But..." He looked as if he were about to protest.

"No..." You shook your head, pressing the compass towards him all the more urgently. "I really... can't go further..."

"So you want me to leave you alone?! After what happened to Jamie?!" You flinched. "No... no no no no no..." He tugged your arm with increasing frustration at how little you were moving. "F*** that sh**. You said when we confronted the cat bastard that you'd go along with what decision I made. And I'm deciding not to leave you behind!"

You remained quiet. You had said that, hadn't you? An intense guilt washes over you, making your eyes sting and your expression fall farther. Jamie... she would have lived if you'd been the one caught. Cartoon Cat had made it plenty clear that you wouldn't die in these games of his. You would never make it out unscathed, but you'd be alive. Would things have been different if you'd hid in a more obvious spot? If you had been found first, would she have been given the window of opportunity to escape? With her boyfriend? And speaking of Jack... why on Earth should he insist so hard on bringing you with him? It's not like your presence would make his chance of survival any higher. In fact, since there was only the two of you now, he'd probably be more likely to die than if he'd been on his own. Because you were the priority target, the favorite toy... the one special rat in the maze. A second wave of guilt slammed into you.

"Why..." you muttered in a hollow voice, "why do you want me to come with you so badly? I seem to be the one attracting danger to you, so why...?"

Brown eyes met yours, flashing with determination despite the fearful pallor on that young face. "You tried to help us... as much at a cost to yourself as anything else. I don't want to just leave you to die before repaying that debt..."

"I wouldn't di-"

"Besides..." You didn't have the energy to even feel annoyed at yet another interruption. "Jamie wouldn't have wanted to leave someone behind either..." He looked away, hands trembling. You frowned, then pushed yourself up off the hallway's floor. Your legs shook and ached, your body still cried for rest. But... who were you to deny the wishes of someone so recently deceased?

"Okay then... let's keep going...."

Slowly and steadily, the pair of you continued on your way. There was no conversation, nor was there much in the way of comfort. Just an urge to stop thinking and press forward...

...if only to find whoever was still missing and keep the pain at bay until it was safe to grieve.