The Stray Cat, Ch. 3
#3 of The Stray Cat Saga
The third chapter of my fursona's backstory. I did a little revising here and there, seeing as my writing two years ago wasn't quite the caliber it is now.
The windows of the casino flew by faster and faster as I hurtled down toward the dark alley below. I tumbled end over end in a disorienting, nauseating spin. The wind whistled in my ears and made my eyes water. Every second I got closer to the ground I thought of how much of a failure this whole plan, my whole life had been. At the climax of my existence, everything fell apart, and now my last chance for having a significant life was gone.
But life has a strange way of turning your world upside down. Anyone else in the city would have died from that fall. But that strange quality that all felines possess, the ability to always land on their feet, spared me.
My limbs slammed into the concrete ground with a sharp, sickening crack. My body followed them to the ground, knocking the air out of me as I landed in a small, muddy puddle. I was incredibly dizzy, from both the sudden end of movement and pain. I laid there in the perfect silence and stillness of the night for what seemed like ages. With an effort, I drew in a deep, ragged breath. I never thought I would hear that sound again. Lying there, I felt more than I had ever felt before then. Exhilaration, excruciating pain, dizziness, fear, coldness. But for the first time in my life, I also felt pride in my heritage. The swirling cloud of emotion and sensation was so much, tears streamed down my furred cheeks and added to the puddle, which was quickly growing a cloudy red.
I don't know how long I had laid like that, but it must have been long enough for the Boss to call some of his goons to clean up the mess. One of the back doors of the casino opened up into the alley and two thugs stepped out into the darkness from the smoky interior. For a moment they stared at my still, crumpled form on the ground.
"Damn shame," one said to the other in a deep, husky voice.
"Don't pity him," the other replied. "You be glad it was him, not us. The boss has been getting even more short-tempered lately."
"You're right, you're right. Where we gonna dump him?" the first one asked.
"The Boss is gonna want us to clean this one up good. Wherever we do it, we gotta have it in smaller pieces first."
One of the thugs bent down and started lifting up my body. I heard a switchblade flick open nearby.
It was right about then that some part of me decided that I didn't like the idea of being cut up and put in a dumpster, and that life was a more preferable option. In a sudden burst of adrenaline and fight-or-flight energy, I twisted out of the thug's grip, put my feet on the ground, and started running. My only regret is that I couldn't see the look on their faces. They were shocked into silence for a moment before realizing the thing they were supposed to dispose of was now escaping. They barked their anger and gave chase.
I had no idea where I was going. The shadows of the dark alleys blurred together in a never-ending labyrinth of dingy brick walls. I heard the thugs' pounding feet behind me, echoing off the walls, but I never looked back. Somehow I knew that if I looked back I would meet my death. I ran faster than I ever thought possible, trying to escape the inevitable. I heard the thugs yell for backup, and I soon heard another set of feet pounding after me, then another.
I saw a smaller alley branching off from this one. A rain gutter pipe ran along the corner of the wall. I tried to grab onto it to use my momentum to fling myself around the corner, but as I grabbed on and started turning, my arm felt as if it caught fire. Piercing needles stabbed at my arm, making me let go of the pipe prematurely. I slammed into the wall of the new alley, and fell to the ground. My vision almost blacked out, but I forced myself to get up and keep running.
The thugs seemed closer than ever. I felt light-headed from the loss of blood, and my vision swam as the alleys twisted and turned. I ran so hard my feet, my legs, everywhere hurt, but I knew that the more I made my legs hurt, the better chance I would have of getting away. I pushed myself to keep going. Just one more alley, I told myself, now another. Once more, and you'll be safe. Just keep running. Just one more.
I saw a light at the end of an alley to my right. I skidded to a halt and took off down this new direction. The light grew closer and closer until finally I shot out of the alleyway and found myself running in the street.
The light suddenly intensified, and grew exponentially brighter. I looked to my left.
The last thing I remember was a dark shape with two eyes giving off blinding light, growing rapidly closer. I heard the screeching of tires, and felt something collide with my side.
Then everything went dark.