Writetober 2019

October 28-Ride

A knock at the door woke Caitlyn up. "Huh. What?" She croaked, brain still swimming in the remnants of some dream.

"Caitlyn?" A voice outside my apartment called.

"Yeah?" She yelled back. They had poor hearing. Probably John or Everett. She stumbled out of bed and shuffled to her front door. Her dogs were already there, dancing in place. Caitlyn yawned as she cracked the door open. "What?"

It was Everett. "Hey, uh, I think you have a friend outside wanting to see you." He gave me a strained smile.

Caitlyn flinched as a wave of nervousness hit her. She slammed up mental walls and rubbed one temple. Then she stretched her perception out to the area around the apartment building. Oh.

She was wide awake now. "I'll be out in ten minutes. She won't cause any trouble. Just keep the others away from her.

"Hehe. No worries there. They're too scared to leave their apartments," Everett said, scratching his beard.

Caitlyn ducked back into her apartment and changed into jeans and a t-shirt while holding a mental conversation with her guest. She slipped on hiking boots and started stuffing supplies in her backpack.

Everett was outside waiting for her, watching as a full-grown cougar paced along the patio. Caitlyn stepped up next to him and asked, "Can you let the dogs out after I'm gone and feed them? I might be back this afternoon, tonight at the latest."

"Where are you going exactly?" He asked without taking his eyes off the great cat that was now watching them in turn.

"Her den. One of her cubs is stuck. I'll take longer if he's hurt. Don't worry; she won't let anything happen to me." The cougar yawned as if to show off all the reasons why.

"She better not, or I'll be making room for a new rug in my living room," He grumbled. "Check in once you know how long you'll be?"

"Sure. Provided I have cell service."

Everett reluctantly nodded. "Just be careful out there."

"Promise."

Everett muttered something under his breath and headed back inside.

"Hey girl," Caitlyn whispered, walking over to the cougar. She held still for a polite sniff, then grinned and ran a hand along the cougars back as she rubbed against her pant leg. The cougar then trotted toward the tree line, forcing Caitlyn to jog to keep up. They wound their way further east and uphill.

After a few hours, the cougar started to get more agitated. Her babies would need to nurse soon, and the two of them were still a long ways off. Caitlyn didn't even mean to think it, but the moment she did, the cougar was aware of it too. Drawbacks to sliding inside an animal's mind. The cougar spat at the idea and lashed her tail before proposing she drag Caitlyn along by her neck like a kill. Caitlyn pointed out that healing afterward would be a big drain on her powers, and they dropped the subject.

Until they reached a small cliff. The cougar could clear it with ease, but Caitlyn was no rock climber. The cougar hissed and paced. Connected as they were at the moment, she knew Caitlyn was quite likely to fall if she tried climbing. She grumbled and shook before stalking over to where Caitlyn rested on a rock, debating what to try. The cougar nudged her elbow with her head, deciding to give Caitlyn's idea a chance, as idiotic as it was.

"Don't worry, girl. I won't tell anyone. I promise."

That was how Caitlyn found herself riding a big cat, clinging to her back as the cougar raced through the forest and over rock piles. Keeping her balance without hindering her friend's movements took all her concentration. The cougar was much more focused on the ground they were covering, pleased to be moving faster now. Her cubs were worth more than her dignity.

They finally slowed to a stop, and the cougar chuffed at Caitlyn to let her know they'd arrived. Caitlyn pried cramped fingers from the cougar's scruff and rolled off her to lie on the rock ledge they'd stopped on. Caitlyn blinked at the sky for a minute. She was pretty sure she'd overdone it mentally. Concentrating didn't seem worth the monumental effort just now. She vaguely sensed the cougar's amusement as she padded into the shallow cave that was her den.

Caitlyn closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again to find the sun had moved across the sky. An adult cougar was sprawled against her side, and a pair of young cubs were curled on her stomach.

The cougar stretched and prodded at her mind, sensing her wakefulness. "I'm okay," She assured her friend, gently scratching one of the cubs behind their ears when they stirred. "Where's your third troublemaker?"

The cougar stood and picked up one mewling cub, letting Caitlyn lift the other and follow her into the cave. They settled the sleepy pair in their nest; then the cougar led her back outside. Just to one side of the entrance was a crevice. Several feet down the narrow crevice was a very stuck cub. Someone had gotten too adventurous for their own good. And the poor thing had missed a few meals. He barely responded to Caitlyn's mental nudge.

Caitlyn frowned and wished she had an IV fluid kit she could have brought. She slipped off her backpack and pulled a coil of thin rope out. There wasn't a good place to tie an anchor up here. So, she put the cougar in charge of one end of the rope and looped the other several times around her booted ankle.

"Pull me out once I have him," Caitlyn told the cougar. Then she slid hands first down the crevice. The cougar stopped her short of crashing on top of the youngster. She set to work freeing the sluggish cub. One paw was caught further down, and the cougar had to lower her a bit further to get him free.

Then the cougar was pulling them both up and out. Caitlyn came out with a few scrapes, and the cub was hypothermic and dehydrated. Caitlyn was so intent on checking the little guy for other injuries that she didn't notice at first when they were back up on the ledge. Once satisfied she blinked and looked around for her backpack. She pulled out a bottle of water and carefully coaxed the cub to drink.

The cougar settled down almost on top of Caitlyn, pinning the cub between them for warmth. Once his temperature was better he could nurse. In the meantime, his mom was intent on giving him a tongue bath.

Caitlyn smiled and took her phone from her backpack to snap a picture of the three of them. She leaned against the contentedly purring mother and texted the picture and a quick update to her friends back at HCS. "I'll be back tonight. Gotta get this little guy eating on his own first."