A Tail and Chains

Chapter 1: Shula

       Shula's bare feet pounded against the dirt. He was gaining. The lose chain around her right ankle jingled and clanked as it hit against rocks and the ground. Her ears layed flat against her head and she felt dirt and twigs getting caught in her fur. The simple necklace her mother had given her matched the beating of her heart as it pounded against her neck. Shula's plain, brown dress was torn and she was covered with gashes and bruises from her last beating. She had to get away. Shula cursed as she fell; she rolled over to see that the chain around her leg was tangled in the branches of a small shrub. As she tugged against the chain she felt the metal cutting into her ankle.She gritted her teeth and jerked her leg away from the bush. The branch broke with a snap. 

      Shula got up shakily, she had been running for hours. She had thought that after the first mile or so the Slaver would have given up, but she could still hear his pounding footsteps gaining on her. She didn't know how much longer she could run. She glanced around trying to find somewhere to hide on the barren terrain. Nothing. She kept running. In every direction there was nothing but dirt, shrubs, and more dirt. The sun beat down, heating up the terrain and making Shula pant. With every step she lost a little more hope. She felt her strength faltering; she couldn't run for much longer. Then if by some miracle she saw it; a cave! She made her way towards it her breath starting to come in gasps. She was almost there. Then she heard it, the cocking of a gun. Her ears perked and revolved like satellite disks, trying to find the location of the Slaver. A bullet barely missed her right  ear. She was getting closer to the cave, just a few more steps. She dove into the cave as a second shot rang out. The bullet would've hit her between her shoulder blades if she hadn't moved in time. Instead the bullet grazed her left arm right above her elbow. 

     Shula let out a yowl of surprise as she tumbled into the darkness and started to fall. The cave entrance had opened onto a steep incline which was impossible to notice until you were falling down it. Shula tumbled head over heals, rocks scratching every part of her body. She felt tears of pain filling her eyes. Finally the descent stopped and Shula let out a sob of relief. She weakly stood up; shaking from hunger and weakness. She knew she had to keep moving so she limped slowly forward. Every step was agony. 

     "I've got to keep going. What's the point of running away if I'm just going to let them take me back?" Shula set her jaw and kept walking.

     Shula wandered aimlessly through the labyrinth of tunnels and caverns. Her eyes had quickly adjusted, but she still found it hard to tell where she was going.  Her heart was still racing and at every noise she jumped with fright. She started to imagine that she heard footsteps behind her. She crept along; fingering her necklace. That necklace was her only possession, her mother had given to her before they had been taken as slaves. 

     The day that her family had been separated was worse then anything else that she had been through. It had been her fourth birthday, her mother was cleaning up after the party while her father headed out to work in the garden. Shula had stayed in the living room with her two siblings; her older brother and sister, Aquifer and Meeko. Shula was admiring the necklace her mother had given her when they heard a scream from outside. Aquifer ran outside to see what was happening and that was the last time Shula ever saw her brother. Her mother had pulled Meeko and Shula away from the doors and windows and into the basement. But hiding was no use, they were quickly found. Her mother had tried to defend them, she hissed, bearing her fangs, and slashed at the Catchers with her claws. When they couldn't get around her, the Catchers shot her, right through the heart. 

    With not so much as a glance they stepped over her mothers body and dragged Shula and Meeko away towards the center of the town. The Catchers started burning houses. Soon the town was reduced to nothing but ash and all the survivors had been bound. The Catchers led Meeko, Shula, and the rest of the captives away, to be sold at different slave markets across the country. Her father was sold at their first stop. Meeko and Shula were sold to the same master and for six years they were together. One day Meeko got sick; so sick that she needed a doctor. Instead of wasting money on a doctor for a replaceable slave, their master sent her to fend for herself out in the wilderness. Shula never saw Meeko again and could only assume that Meeko had died in the wilderness. Shula had cried herself to sleep every night after her mother had died, but after a week of grieving for Meeko something happened to Shula. Her heart became stone. She became rebellious and rash, headless of the consequences. If she hadn't been such a hard and valuable worker, she would've been killed long ago. She had also grown determine to avenge her family.

     Shula closed her eyes and shook her head to clear it. Now was not the time to be reliving the past. She'd been working on getting away for over ten years. If she wanted to avenge her family first she would have to succeed in escaping. Shula hissed in pain as her knee hit a sharp rock. She felt the rock cut deep into her flesh. Blood ran down her leg, mixing with dirt and older blood.  She groaned and sat down on a nearby rock, putting pressure on the gash in her knee. She couldn't lose any more blood; she had barely recovered from her last beating before running away. She couldn't be taken back, especially after all the trouble she had just caused. It wouldn't matter that she was a "good" slave, after pulling a stunt like this the only possible punishment was execution.

     Shula's ears perked, was that footsteps she heard? Her tail bushed up in fear. She jumped up ignoring the pain in her knee. She pushed forward hoping that she would find somewhere to hide. The  footsteps seemed to be getting louder and there was definitely more than one pair of feet. The fur along Shula's back began to rise. She had hit a dead end, with no where to turn and no way to escape. She was doomed.