TAWOG: Instinct

The Hunt

The Hunt 

Penny, along with all of her friends, could only stare in equal parts dumbstruck amazement and unfathomable horror at what had just played out before them. Mr. Rex, father of the toughest girl in school and ruthless overseer of Elmore Wrecking Yard, had been practically beaten to a bloody pulp, all in a matter of seconds. By this…large cat!

What even was it anyway?

Like all residents of Elmore, Penny and the others were no strangers to how wide the variety of individuals could be in this town, but this creature possessed traits that threw even their expansive expectations off kilter. Apart from the bizarre coloring of its fur; navy blue, with occasional red streaks, this thing was so much larger than any known species of big cat. Any species in general actually.

Very few people ever got this big, depending on their lineage.

And this thing had just taken down such an individual, who even outclassed it in the size department actually.

The group of children were finally broken from their stupor when a scream of terror shattered the night, but it came from none of them. At the door of the mall, Larry, the box headed guy who wears several hats throughout Elmore had walked out of the mall; most likely having gotten off of one of the shifts from his many numerous jobs, and had just seen the carnage wrought in the parking lot.

“MONSTER! IT'S A MONSTER!” he shouted backwards into the mall. “EVERYONE RUN! IT'S A MONSTER!”

His frantic words had the proverbial effect of opening the floodgates on a dam. Unlike Penny and the others, all the other patrons of the mall had lost interest when they saw it was Mr. Rex who was in the parking lot, most of them used to his rampages at this point, but at Larry's words and more people started to notice the bloody and beaten Mr. Rex lying motionless beneath the largest and most ferocious cat any of them had ever seen, it was like Larry was the match and the shoppers were gasoline.

Fear and panic erupted throughout the mall, the first screams drawing even more attention, which, in turn, caused more people to bear witness to the gruesome scene in the parking lot. Several people stampeded out of the mall, running for their cars, and those that couldn't, either because they were destroyed in the devastation or the proximity of the monster, just took off in a random direction.

And this didn't go unnoticed.

The sound drew the attention of the abyssalis cat, who looked up from his vanquished rival to the many individuals fleeing the mall. The sound instilled another instinct within him, an instinct far different from what had driven his actions prior.

Sounds of fear. Prey. Hunt. Kill. Eat.

The abyssalis cat let out another feral call and he made to move towards the source of all the sounds of terror, but as he leapt off the still Mr. Rex; who proceeded to bleed all over the asphalt, a car impacted his right forepaw, the colorful individuals, Jackie and Harold Wilson, in the passenger and drivers seat respectively. 

“Ah! " screamed Jakie in fear as the abyssalis cat leaned down and leered at them through the windshield, his luminous pupils shrinking in the light of the headlights. “Harold! Do something!”

“Don't worry, honey. I'll deal with this,” said Harold nonchalantly before exiting the car and running away. Again.

Jackie huffed in annoyance and took out her phone, frantically dialing a number. “Hello, pest control! I need help! What does it look like? Like a big cat…” Jackie's words were cut off as the abyssalis cat gripped the front bumper of the car in his jaws with the sound of grinding metal, effortlessly lifted it up and began twirling it around. “A REALLY REALLY BIG CAAAAT…!” Jackie screamed as the abyssalis cat released his hold on the car, sending it and Jackie flying into the distance, where they hit the ground with a loud explosion.