Teeth »ᴄɵᴍᴘᴌᴇтᴇ«

TWENTY-FIVE

TWENTY-FIVE

As light rose over the horizon in a range of reds, pinks, and oranges, I nudged Rowan who slept next to the bear. I wondered whether he realised he'd moved over to the bear when I'd left to check the area to see if we were being followed.

As his eyes opened and looked at me standing above him, he froze. "If your there... Then who?"

With a girly shriek, he leapt away from the bear who woke and looked at him. After a growl, the bear curled up again to sleep.

Nudging Rowan again, I suddenly had a finger pointed at my nose. "Don't you ever do that to me again!"

If I were in human form, I would have raised an eyebrow. In this form, all I managed was laying my ears flat against the back of my head and growl. Rowan paled then and dropped his hand.

Feeling for a mental link to Rowan as we were connected, I was surprised that I couldn't find one. But weren't we connected? I blinked while laying my front half down, gesturing for Rowan to mount me. Why didn't we have a connection?

Mumbling an apology, he climbed onto my back. Standing, I glanced at the bear and left his cave. Grabbing the fish I'd caught earlier, I walked back to the bear who woke up at the scent of food. Dropping it at the bears paws, I left, and continued for the village.

As I walked, I focused on Rowan. The more I focused, the more I could feel what he was thinking, but I couldn't find a connection so that I could talk to him. Strange.

He was thinking about me, however. I caught a glimpse of what I looked like. I looked like a liger, but with more of a bear build. My fur was tawny with a mix of jet black and deep red tiger-like stripes, and my underbelly was a snowy white. As my tail was in human form, it was short also in this form. And then there were my teeth. I could understand what Zane had said about tusks. They were, if I had to guess, about fifteen centimetres long, and they weren't small width-wise either. Personally, I thought they looked pretty cool.

Hours past with Rowan asleep on my back. He'd fallen asleep the moment we'd left the bear in his cave. Scenting the air, I smelt gasoline. Moving as quietly as possible, I moved closer to the smell. I stopped when I was close enough to see but not be seen.

The first thing I saw was a petrol station. Then I saw who were walking around as though they owned the place: nīeten, and I was guessing that the they were Tri-moons as they were sitting on cases of human weapons in bulk. Listening for a few moments, I was able to discover that they had stole the weapons from the Claw-Cutter's and that I was a five minute car drive away from the village.

Thirty minutes later of careful walking and hiding, I approached the village's border, and that was also when Rowan woke.

"Where are we?" he asked, by the feel of his muscles moving, I guessed he was stretching. Glancing over my shoulder proved me right.

I growled in answer to his question. How was I supposed to answer while I was in this form? He seemed to come to the same conclusion then as he apologised. I sighed at him. He apologised too much.

Coming to a halt, I looked at the street that I could see. I didn't know the village that well. But then I saw something familiar, the bakery that I ran to every morning was tucked away and the front window and sign were broken. I growled at the sight. She'd made damn good éclairs in there!

Hearing a vehicle come to pass, I silenced my growl and sunk to the ground, Rowan pressed down over me as well. Watching, I saw humans with guns, Claw-Cutter's was my guess. Were they searching for their lost weapons? Either way, I wasn't about to show them where the weapons were.

Once the vehicle was a safe distance away, I stood, turning for the direction of where I knew the school would be. Although, I did debate, running through the village would be faster, but then they would see me. I knew that the Claw-Cutter's would freak at seeing a sabre-tooth cat with a puma shield on the cats back. But then, the Tri-moons probably would as well. Had any ever seen a sabre-tooth in these modern times?

Pausing as I came to the section of the darkening forest that was bare because a road past through, I looked and listened. Seeing and hearing no-one, I bounded across.

I heard a shout of shock behind me, minutes up the road, as I entered the forest on the opposite side. They'd seen me! But how? I'd checked the roads! Hearing engines rev, I knew that they would probably follow me through the forest. So far, all I'd seen were tank 4X4s from both the Tri-moon's and Claw-Cutter's.

I heard a vehicle pass me and immediately heard the difference, dirt bikes! As I ran, the bike that had past me, spun into my path, breaking, blocking me. I heard him curse as I leapt over him, but low enough for him to fear. He leapt off his bike to get out of my way, shock, fear, and surprise pouring off him in waves.

Slowing, only for a moment, hearing bikes and cars behind me, seeing the headlights, I looked over at the road and knew that if I continued onto my path, I would reach the school.

The school was my aim. Dropping Rowan off at the school for safety was my goal. Fighting those following me was a must once I'd reached my aim and goal.

I heard them get closer, some returned to the road. They knew exactly where I was heading now. This road only went to the school. But I stayed in the trees for cover from guns.

As soon as I reached the school and shocked faces. I knelt, and Rowan quickly understood, climbing off my back, he ran for the students and teachers that stood around, mouths dropped at the sight of me as I turned to face those who had trailed me here.

I let a snarl ripple out my throat, as I arched my back in a defensive position. Shouts came from everywhere then. Including inside my head.

Val?!

Zane? I called back, just as a bullet whizzed through the air and hit the edge of my tail. Snarling, I dropped the link I had with Zane.

If Zane could talk to me, it meant that he was in the school still. Which meant that I couldn't let these humans in. Not with guns. Not as Claw-Cutter's who killed nīeten just because they weren't "human".

Counting, I counted ten humans, male and female dressed in uniformed gear with guns at their hips as secondary weapons, and other filled pouches on their belts. Then they held a range of guns in their hands, ready to shoot anything nīeten. As they stood with confidence by three tank 4X4s and four dirt bikes, I heard them question what I was. Just as those behind me were. But I sighed in relief when I heard one of the Claw-Cutter's radios say kill me first, ignore the others.

With a snarl, I leapt forward onto the closest Claw-Cutter. The humans eyes widened in complete terror at my fangs being so close to their head. And that was when I paused.

In all my life, I'd only ever killed two people. My father, and my mother. Could I kill more?

   

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