I'm Not an Animal (Slow Updates)

Chapter 15

This chapter wasn't going to have any deaths, but my friend changed that. You know who you are! Hope you like your death, Mads.
~*~

"She says there's a river about ten, twenty minutes away. You can drink the rest of your water because we'll be there soon!" Marion yelled, conveying Ruby's message. Ruby screeched from the sky and flew forward towards where she had said the river was. Suddenly Zaki stopped.

"What's wrong?" I asked, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"I guess it'll take longer to get there than we thought. The trees are so thick I can barely get through." He turned around and hollered to everyone else, "You'll have to come through in human form! Unless you're really tiny, nobody's getting through here as an animal."

"Zaki?"

"Yeah?" We turned to a small, red-haired girl.

"I'm a Red Panda... I could go ahead and scout out the path."

"Sure, thanks Madison." She smiled and shifted into her animal form, then climbed through the trees. We let her get a little ahead of us, then climbed through after her. Madison's constant clacking and chattering alerted us as to which way we should go to get through.

After nearly an hour, Madi's chittering stopped. We stood in silence, a tiny group, and waited. Then, suddenly, we heard an ear-piercing scream.

"Madison!" Zaki yelled, forcing his way through the trees. We ran as fast as we could and emerged in a small clearing. Alyssa stood, Madison pulled to her chest, a knife at the girl's throat. She whimpered slightly and Alyssa grinned madly.

"Just let her go," Zaki said slowly. Alyssa shook her head, then five more Leopards slowly made their way into the clearing. One, the largest, walked to stand in front of us. The other four stood around Alyssa and Madison. They each had a rope in their mouth.

"I want all the Big Cats to come with me. If you don't, I'll kill the girl, then kill another and another until no one is left."

"Zaki, don't do it! Save yourself!" She struggled against Alyssa's grip, but the Leopard only tightened her arms round Madi. When we did nothing, Alyssa smiled.

"If that's how you want it to be, you can watch her die." Alyssa threw Madi to the ground so that she landed on her stomach. She went to scramble away but Alyssa slammed her foot down onto Madison's back. She screamed louder than I had ever heard anyone scream and I heard a crack. Tears spilled from her eyes and I realised Alyssa had broken her spine.

She then flipped Madison onto her back and spun her knife around. She loomed over Madison, then plunged the knife into the young girl's arm. Madi screamed again and sobbed loudly. Blood flowed freely from her arm. Alyssa then ripped the knife out and did the same to the other arm. Again, the red haired girl screamed and yelled, begging for her life.

One of the girl behind me fell to her knees and threw up into a bush. She took a swig of water and threw up again when Alyssa plunged the knife into Madison's leg. She repeated the process with the other leg but, mercifully, the broken spine had removed almost all feeling from everywhere below the break.

When she had removed the knife again, Alyssa motioned to the other Leopards. They moved forward and she tied each piece of rope around one of Madison's limbs. Then the Leopards took a rope end in their mouths and turned around. Then they crouched and leapt forward.

It was like a movie.

The birds from the trees launched themselves into the air as Madison screamed. Her ear-piercing cry must have reached the next town, and the birds all screeched and screamed as they fled. She bawled, and her next cry, although softer, was still extremely loud. She sobbed and wailed, her flame red hair matted with blood and tears.

I gagged and forced back the bile that threatened to rise. Some of the others weren't wrong enough and they, too, threw up. Even Madison threw up a little, when she wasn't screaming. Her sobs were getting weaker and the Leopards pulled again, forcing a massive scream from her. She whimpered into the ground and I gritted my teeth.

She was shaking, her whole body wracking. Her movements were getting smaller, her skin getting paler, the pool of blood around her larger. Her breathing was laboured and ragged. Weak.

There was the sound of skin, bone and tendon tearing as the Leopards once again sipped her apart, then she screamed silently and choked on her own blood. Alyssa motioned for the Leopards to stop, then she stood over Madison. With her dying breath, the girl saw Alyssa raise the knife and plunged it into the poor girl's heart.

I double over and threw up, then Zaki's arm was around my shoulders. He squeezed me to him, and I clutched him tightly. "Now," Alyssa asked, turning to us. Blood splattered her clothes and her hair was a tangled mess, but a wicked smile had spread across her face. "Who's next?"

"You are!" A voice cried from above. We all turned our heads to the sky in time to see Ruby, massive rainbow wings sprouting from her back, lunge forward. Her legs were out in front of her and she kicked Alyssa around the head. She fell to the ground and Ruby opened her wings, swooping up. She spun backwards in a circle and dove towards the Leopard guarding us.

There was a sudden group understanding, and we all changed into our animal forms as one. A massive roar filled the sky and we each lunged at the closest Leopard. I swatted the face of a female and she yelled, scratching at me. My claws found her eyes and she howled in rage, her eyes glazing over slowly as the wounded eye went blind.

Ruby hovered above her and closed her wings over, slamming down on her back. She fell beneath Ruby's weight and her jaw slammed into the hard ground. I put my paws on her throat and she looked up at me, pain filling her eyes. I gritted my teeth and chocked her long enough that she fell into unconsciousness, but nothing more.

I looked up to see Alyssa run off, her tail between her legs, and the other four Leopards all dead. We all studied each other and then ran off in the direction of the river.

~*~
Sorry for the shortness of the chapter. I just really wanted to get that up. How do you like me now, Madi? How do you like me now!?