Survivor

Chapter 4

It felt like time had stopped as they stared at each other.

Ruby looked into those honey-colored eyes and lost herself in them. She couldn't look away. The depth of those golden galaxies held her captive, hypnotized her. The jaguar had stopped growling, as their eyes locked. The moment seemed to stretch infinite, neither of them moving.

But then the jaguar looked to the side, her nose twitching when she seemed to notice the smell of charred plastic. The acrid stench was blown in their direction, and the jaguar cocked her head, peering at the control panel. Then she eyed the handle of the gate. For a long minute, she stood still, hesitating, almost as if she was unsure what to do.

Suddenly, she turned back to Ruby and lunged forward. Her jaws closed around her ankle, teeth digging into her bones. Ruby screamed and instinctively pulled her leg back. Her panic came back with full force, the fascination from just moments ago, fleeing in an instant. Due to the jerky movement, Ruby lost her balance and fell backwards into the wet grass. Hot tears blurred her vision, chest heaving with panicked sobs. The jaguar hadn't moved, only tightened her grip around Ruby's leg. But she didn't bite down. She just held her in place.

Another thunder roared through the black sky, closely followed by lightning. Taking a step backwards, the jaguar suddenly dragged Ruby with her. Yelping, Ruby dug her fingers into the muddy ground, writhing, trying to somehow save herself from certain death. She cried out, panic clawing into her body. Lifting her free leg, she pulled it back and kicked the jaguar in the face as hard as she could muster. It was a pathetic attempt to free herself.

The jaguar growled angrily when the shoe hit her in the muzzle. The loud rain and thunder drowned out the terrifying sound, but Ruby could feel the vibration on her leg. With a jerk backwards, Ruby was dragged another couple of few meters. The light of her headlamp flickered over the grass as the jaguar dragged her through the enclosure. Ruby desperately tried to hold onto something. Her throat felt raw from screaming for help, but the storm swallowed her cries completely.

Her leg fell to the ground with a dull thud as the jaguar let go of it. Before she could even attempt to get up and run the jaguar was behind her and she felt her bite into the raincoat. Ruby's breath hitched with a sob. The light of her headlamp slithered over wood, and she realized that the jaguar had dragged her to the shelter in the far end of the enclosure. The box stood on short stilts so it wouldn't get flooded in the rain. Inside, it was pitch black. It looked like the gateway to hell as the jaguar pressed her muzzle into Rubys back, causing her to nearly fall over. In her panic, Ruby tried to jump up. Hissing, the jaguar pushed her again and she barely caught herself before crashing against the floor of the box.

She laid on the straw for a moment, disoriented as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Then she felt the jaguar jump into the box behind her and she sucked in a startled breath, before instantly crawling as far away as possible. An anxious sob coming teared from her throat. The box wasn't big enough for a human to stand in, so Ruby huddled on the straw. Her headlamp was the only source of light in the windowless box, while the storm raged on outside.

The jaguar stood still as she was watched Ruby, who was trembling with fear, eyes wide and her face wet from the rain and her tears. Then, with a heavy sigh, the jaguar dropped in front of the entrance, blocking the only way out and turned her attention to her soaked fur. A few minutes passed in which the jaguar didn't move at all, busy with licking her body dry. She didn't even glance in Ruby's direction. After a couple of moments of being completely ignored by the jaguar, Ruby dared to examine her leg, which pulsed painfully. With shaking hands, she looked down and shone her headlight onto her ankle. The teeth of the jaguar had left bruises and in some places her skin was scraped, but there was no blood.

Furrowing her eyebrows she gently brushed over one of the abrasions, quietly sucking in a breath, before throwing a quick glance at the jaguar. If she had considered Ruby as prey, there wouldn't be much left of her ankle. She hadn't seriously bit down on her leg, just hard enough to be able to drag her. Almost as if she didn't intent to hurt her. The minutes ticked by and the jaguar still hadn't even looked at her. Confusion rose in Ruby as she shivered in the corner, pulling the raincoat tighter around her. Why had the jaguar dragged her the box just to ignore her?

She watched as the jaguar twisted around to get to all the wet spots in her fur. As if she had felt Ruby's gaze, she stopped and lifted her head. The two looked at each other and Ruby tensed up. Then the jaguar chuffed. The sound was totally unexpected, and Ruby's eyes widened in surprise. Chuffing was the big cat equivalent of purring, and it was definitely the last thing she would have thought to hear in this moment. A dull cough followed when the jaguar noticed her expression. It almost sounded like a distorted laugh. Staring at the jaguar, the sudden realization of this unimaginable situation in which she found herself in, hit her like a train.

Pressing her hands against her face, she shook her head, unable to comprehend all of this. Not only was she trapped with a badly abused jaguar that had killed just mere hours ago, but she had been bit and dragged by it without suffering serious injuries or being dead, for fucks sake.

Grunting, the jaguar rolled onto her side with her back against the entrance. She glanced at Ruby and then closed her eyes, yawning. Ruby watched as her muscles relaxed after some time, her chest rising and falling slowly. She was asleep. Another rumble of thunder made Ruby flinch, but it didn't sound quite as loud as the ones before. It seemed like the storm was slowly moving on. The rain, however, remained and pattered against the roof of the box. Hours passed as the jaguar dreamed with twitching paws and Ruby got lost in her own thoughts, strangely comforted by the steady breaths of the killer next to her.