A Darker Leopard

Chapter twenty: I guess this is goodbye?

My life is full of consequences, the danger is the fun part. The way I see it, everyone is born to die. The part in the middle is called life where you make sure that you get remembered after your last breath.

The voices I hear in my head are an awful whispering I can only recognise as my own. Tonight I hear something I haven't heard since I was a tiny, weak cub; Run.

Although my pads were cut, my pelt was battered and my vision blurred, I ran. Each step caused more pain than the last. My laboured breathing and my painful grunts could hardly be heard over the crumbling concrete and scraping metal.

More of the building collapsed, sealing my tomb.

Desperately scratching at the rubble blocking my exit, my entire body quivered with pain and adrenaline. I tore down bricks and steel, choking on the foul air until I saw a glimmer of light... man-made light. I hauled myself out of the building through the titchy gap and gasped for clean air. My vision had barely cleared when I was suddenly thrown to one side.

Now I could breathe, I could smell. I could smell so many leopards surrounding me, all angry. I killed their friends, I slaughtered their familys, I killed just so I could see through another day and look what's come back to haunt me! Judge if you want, we are all going to die. I intend to deserve it.

Blinking a few times, I picked myself up from the dusty ground barely able to see the paw coming towards my head. The impact of this paw had put a deep gash in the bridge of my nose where the claws had cut through my skin and I was knocked to the ground once more, but this time hitting my head on an unhelpfully placed brick. As if on a silent signal, the rest of them lunged for me. The agony that followed was all deserved, in fact, I should've been put through worse as a result of my actions. They ripped my fur apart and tore off pieces of flesh.

This is when I feel someone's jaw clutch my neck. A deep, rich, red blood rose in my throat burning like acid. A desperate scream of fury erupted from me, then broke off with a ghastly choking sound. My body convulsed, limbs jerking and tail flailing.

The pain ebbed away with a simple, soothing lick. I had been waiting for death for so long. Standing above me, for my eyes only, was the leopardess that had helped me so greatly. Her motherly behaviour to me made me feel so small... in a good way. Everything going on around me seemed to become a separate world I wasn't paying attention to. She licked my head as she had done when I was a mere cub which drowned me in grief as the aching memories came flooding back of her death. She had given me the warmth and security I needed when I was at my most vulnerable, she cared for me in a way that my real mother never would. I was so glad to see her again. I am just a cub that has seen things and done things no cat should ever have to do.

The life began to drain from my eyes as a stillness swept over my body. I guess this is goodbye?

THE END