Lumpy's Vision - A Halloween Short Story

♣╳Lumpy's Vision╳♣

Cream-colored mitts scrambled through the autumn leaves as a scrawny tom cat bolted through the half-bare trees of the forest. The freezing winds whipped his long-furred coat and his body visibly shuddered. Maybe the shutter wasn't just from the cold, but the tom-cat didn't know.
The hammering of paws behind him loudened as they neared, the tom cat's fear pushing him faster. The trees blurred around him and he knew that he was going as fast as he possibly could, meaning if they caught up to him now they would catch him for sure. No, he was faster than them, right? He wasn't sure, it's not like he had been chased by them before. But they were just felines, no, not just felines with there black, beady eyes and the way dark mist erupted from their mouths when they opened them. He violently shook his head from left to right to shake the thought. A loud and eerie yowl filled the cold-whipped air as he screwed his visuals shut. The thudding of paws filled his mind and he realized they were just behind him, catching up to him quickly. Without opening his visuals he pushed onward, panting heavily. The more tired be became the closer the mysterious felines got, the tom cat's fear was almost overwhelming at that point. He let out a final screech of terror before collapsing onto the dried leaves around him, dazing himself as the back of his head slammed against a tree root under the yellow and red leaves. His vision blurred as he saw the felines skid to a halt over top of him, unbearable horror building up inside of him. But he was unable to scream for help, no matter how hard he tried or wanted too, for he was far too petrified to even do a simple task like breathe or shut his eyes again.

The three mysterious felines gaped open their mouths, the dark mist flowed out and drifted through the air. The lager feline reached out a paw and took a pace forward, planting a powerful mitt on his forehead. When the substance filled his nose he could feel his lungs heaving in and out in a desperate gasp for clean air. The mist was toxic, or at least that's what the tom cat though. He couldn't breathe it, he just couldn't. He would fight for survival for however long it takes him. And that that thought in his head, he lifted his cranium forward and sucked in a final gulp of air before holding his breath.
But sure enough, the tom couldn't stand this way for long, and in instinct, he took a gasp of the contaminated air and felt his lungs burst into an unbearable, sharp pain to the point he thought they had set aflame.
He kept at his gasping and his felt the mist fill his mouth, choking on the substance, he violently shook his head from left to right in some sort of plea for mercy. But the plea did no good as he watched the felines stand with their mouths agape as if they had not seen the tom cat. As his visuals threatened to close forever he knew this was it, his final moments of life before he too would become one of them. A mindless feline without any mercy or sympathy for his victims he would become. A horrible feline that killed for the fun of it, killed for the joy, killed for the enjoyment of killing.
And with that, he almost accepted his death as he let his visuals flutter shut and he smiled. He had a good life, a good life indeed. Perhaps this was his destiny, perhaps this was the death meant to be, perhaps he was a demon all along. And his smile grew bigger.

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Lumpy awoke with a start, his cranium jolting straight up off of his moss bedding. He was still panting heavily and his eyesight was fuzzy as he gazed around the den with wide eyes. Isolate was crouching by is his side, the white and gray tom cat's smoke-smelling scent bathing his nose. Isolate didn't look nearly as fearful as he had last time this had happened, but yet he still was crouching close, huddled against the cream-colored tom. He drew in again the warm smoky scent of his friend, allowing his head to fall back against the moss bedding.