Hunted- Old and unedited!

Eight

Kayan was chained to the bench again. A man wearing a white lab coat approached him holding a sharp metal stick. He held Kayan still and drove the stick into Kayan’s front leg. Kayan felt the stinging pain instantly and struggled against the man’s hold. After a moment he withdrew the stick and pulled up Kayan’s lips to examine the teeth. He wrote something down on a clipboard and continued to prod Kayan in various places. The man took a shallow bucket of water and a piece of cloth. He forced Kayan down and began to rub the wound with the soaked cloth. Kayan hissed, growled and struggled against the strong hand which held him down. Great pain struck him like a rock and he lay paralysed by it. The man stopped rubbing and took a piece of linen. He then wrapped the linen around the scratch. The man stood up and placed the clipboard on the counter before he left the small tiger alone.

Soon after, another man came and picked up the clipboard. He read it and smiled. “Well it looks like we have ourselves a very good arena tiger.” He muttered with interest. He looked at Kayan and pulled him onto the counter. He rechained the cub to the wall on the counter and began to write some more on the clipboard. Kayan looked at the counter behind him and became much more interested with that. Bell lay on the table with two of the white coated men on either side of her. She was covered in blood as they worked. They washed her and dressed her wound in a similar way they had with Kayan except her eyes were closed and she lay unconscious.

Kayan watched intently as the red vanished and bell was left to wake up. She opened her eyes and turned over onto her side. She gained her feet unsteadily and looked at Kayan with admiration. Kayan mouthed the words, ‘I’m sorry,’ to her and she replied with, ‘it’s okay.’ Kayan felt a flood of relief when she muttered those words. He had feared he may have very badly hurt her. She became blocked from his view by the same man who had removed him from his cage. He was picked up by the scruff and returned to the cage.

Shadow paced back and forth in his cramped space. He had been waiting for Kayan to return. He spun round when he heard someone coming in and felt his heart leap when he saw Kayan. He waited for the man to leave before he turned to Kayan. “Well?” he inquired in an even tone to hide his emotions. “I beat Bell and Star and then I was put into a room.” The leopard was relieved and glad for the cub. “Do you know your rating?” The tiger looked at him curiously, “What’s that?” he asked with interest. “Every animal receives a fighter rating, the higher the rating the better you’ll be treated. My rating was nine out of ten when I was evaluated, which is why I wasn’t killed when I became too old to fight.” Kayan nodded quickly and looked at the leopard with interest. “How old are you?” He said as soon as the question appeared in his head. “I am fourteen, I came here when I was only a year old. But you’re even younger aren’t you?” he said with a small sad smile.

Kayan was a little taken aback by the leopard’s answer. He’s been here for thirteen years and hasn’t worked out a way to escape. He thought despairingly. “Did you ever try to escape?” Kayan asked ignoring the leopard’s question. The leopard looked at him for a long while and then some more. “Of course I tried to escape. Every animal here has.” Kayan’s head dropped and his tail drooped down. He had hoped for a different answer even though he’d known what the answer would be. Feeling defeated he lay down and buried his head into his paws.