Silentpaw

Slowly it crept amongst the crumpled newspaper and burger wrappings as it peered inquisitively around the corner with dilated eyes, to see into the far reaches of the dark place before it. The Calico cat blinked once then slowly and meticulously began stepping around the litter with ears swiveled forward, focusing on a pinpoint of the last scuffle.

There! A scrabbling of naked claws skittered on the dented, tin side from within the trash can’s dark depths. Her eyes became half-lidded with pleasure, knowing her prey was cornered, and the natural smile her kind carried seemed to widen on her thin face. With her liquid muscles tensed, ready to pounce, she stepped forward.

A snuffling nose suddenly poked out at the edge and peered around the alley. Its eyes were wide and glassy and fearful as it slowly brought its head around, while the nose sniffed the air currents cautiously. The alley cat froze among the loose garbage, and carefully watched the rat with wide eyes, coiling in case it saw her and tried to make a break for it.

It noticeably relaxed and slowly inched its paw away from the edge. There was nothing out there. It thought it smelled a cat, but the alley stunk of their scent marks and it could not distinguish the age of the scent. It would just go back—

The queen pounced, silent as a wraith, when she let the pistons of her legs spring her forward with claws extended and her mouth opened in a threatening snarl. The rodent froze. Its demise was relatively painless as she landed with paws already grasping it before she bent down to snap its vertebrae with one, quick, and powerful bite.

She closed her eyes with gratification and purred contently for a moment before stepping over. Now, it was time for a meal and the first one in nearly two days. As she ate she purred loudly, feeling the warmth and content that comes with being full. An ear tilted lazily in one direction. Her heard jerked up when a clumsy clatter reached the one ear, and she jumped up with the fur already standing on end in preparation for an attacker. She stood stiffly for a moment, waiting for the culprit, then she saw it.

An upright trash can shook before whatever was in it toppled it over, and out rolled a scrawny tom cat, that was still bigger than her. Her eyes narrowed to slits as the cat struggled to get on his paws then finally managed. The gray cat groomed his fur as though he were trying to wash away the embarrassment that accompanied the ungraceful arrival, and then he looked at her with a less than kind expression.

“Silentpaw? How are you, Silentpaw? My, my, you don’t look very good. Have you been eating alright?” The tom finished in a snarl as he slowly, and with a deadly expression began creeping her way.

“Get back, Mangefur,” Silentpaw hissed, using the insulting name and brought her head up to try and make him below her. But Fishhook was still taller and brought his head up to challenge back and a deep rumbling grow issued in a warning wave. “I finally caught this and I will share it with no cat!”

“Is that so, Brokepaw? Well, we’ll see if you can hold true to what you say,” Fishhook growled back with his own fur standing up, making him appear twice her size despite his originally lean appearance. They stood there for a moment, as big as they could be, then Fishhook jumped.

Silentpaw’s hazel eyes widened at the sight and she screamed as she swung a paw at his huge form, trying to bat him down, but his weight carried him and he rammed into her. Snarling, she turned to bat him with her claws extended, but he twisted out from under them, leaving her only a few clumps of fur she’d raked off him. As she struggled to find the direction he’d gone, he came up on her side and jumped on her shoulders with his own claws extended, screaming threats in her ear.

The reason for his name was all too apparent as Silentpaw felt his claws, unnaturally sharper claws, dig in to her flesh, drawing blood. She tried to do the same as he did earlier, twisting and shaking her thin shoulders to tear the claws free, and they were, but left a long bloody streak on her shoulder. Dazed with pain she turned to try and scratch him in return when one of his bloody paws came down on her forehead, but this time they did not latch, but streaked across it, leaving four more pronounced bloody cuts. Howling, Silent paw backed away, conceding him the rat she’d only half finished, but Fishhook continued following her.

This time she snarled in fear rather than anger, threatening to do more harm on him if he continued, but the cry felt hollow even to her. “Stop, Fishhook. Stop, you win! Take it! Take the nakedtail! Leave me,” she finally said as she stumbled away but he charged her once more, and his bowed head connected solidly with her ribs, sending her flying back a few paces and rolling once until she stopped, laying on the ground at the mouth of the alley unable to get up. Silentpaw breathed shallowly as she stared into the overcast light of the day, where the cars passed by without stopping, but just silently treading by.

“Now, Brokecat, you will remember to share your food with me should you ever catch anything again,” Fishhook snarled to her from the depths of the alley, hidden in the darkness behind her. Silentpaw blinked slowly, still staring. Her senses were already fading for she did not hear Fishhook take the rat, but she dimly heard his fleeing paws slightly crumple a trashcan in the back before he was gone.

And there she lay, without a hope in the world, for the dim blackness to gather around her and take her away. She’d seen other cats like her meet their end similarly, having been unlucky enough to end up a corpse in a fight for a meal. It happened everyday, and this day was hers. Now, all she had to do was wait.

Suddenly, Silentpaw heard voices on the sidewalk steadily approaching her direction. The pair of animals that walked on two paws seemed to be in a deep conversation and when they were at the mouth of the alley they stopped. A voice, one of a higher pitch said, “Look at that, Brandon. Is that a cat in the alley?”

“Looks like it. And it looks dead,” Brandon responded with a little more than unbelievable hesitation. Silentpaw could not see any of the details in the two creatures, but knew they were blocking the light. “Hey, what are you doing?!” The deeper voiced creature said as the shorter of the two darted forward.

Silentpaw quivered as the creature bent down close to her, sure that nothing good would come out of meeting this horrible animal. Every since she was a kitten she’d been told to run from these noisy creatures, for nothing good could come out of a relationship with one. However, she could do little more than bleat pitifully at the creature as she crouched over her, trying to warn her away but the Calico was too weak.

“Brandon, go back to your apartment and get a blanket. I will not let this poor animal suffer any longer,” the shorter creature said with urgency filling her voice. Silentpaw closed her eyes in silent agony—the voice was so loud to her ears! There was a pitter patter of feet at the mouth of the alley, and Silentpaw rightly assumed the taller creature had gone. Still quivering Silentpaw tried to look at the human still squatting over her, but could not lift her head and only lied there, hoping nothing untoward or more painful would happen to her. The cat moaned once more when she felt slim fingers caress her back, away from her injuries, but relaxed when she heard the creature’s soothing coos. Her eyes flickered once and then she allowed the swarming blackness to wash over her.

When Silentpaw awoke next, her eyes took some time to adjust for she awoke in darkness, but this wasn’t the darkness of the alley. No, this was something else. Bringing her head up caused a dull throb to pound in her shoulder, but she did not lay back down. Bars faced her eyes when she looked out, but this was different. She was lying on something warm and soft, like her mother’s fur. The cat felt herself begin to purr again, and relaxed back into the stretched position she was in, ready to drift back into another long doze.

But before she faded into the prancing dream world of cats, she could not help think that her hunting days were not over as Fishhook had said they would be. No, they were far from over. Instead she was safe in a way few cats were and many cats weren’t.