Smoke billows out through broken windows as flames flicker higher into the sky.
An inferno is roaring, lashing itself against the heavens, and yet the night is silent.
He stands, impassive, the eloquent silhouette of a would-be hero against the blazing nightmare of his failure.
And he watches.
It's a faint cry, just a thin, high-pitched wail.
To her, it is a baby's scream of terror that cleaves the silent night in half.
She turns, rigid and alert, a fearsome shadow concealed within the inky gloom of darkness.
And she runs.
The plaintive mewls barely even register, just another background noise in the customary cacophony of night in a city.
The flash of ginger streaking out of an alley isn't noticed either, not with the flaming tongues leaping and twisting all around.
But the banshee's howl that echoes out barely a heartbeat later- he hears that.
He turns just in time to see a smallish blur of red-orange spring forward and leap directly into the fiery ruin.
More shrieks pierce the air, each one tearing at her heart with tiny, needle-sharp claws.
She bursts into the street, hair standing on end in fear and shock and appearing nearly twice her size.
The feral hysteria grips her and she lets out a screeching caterwaul.
She bounds forward without a thought and dives headlong towards her ignited home.
For a moment the feline shape is silhouetted perfectly against the blaze, and then the haze of stifling smoke swallows her whole.
Notes: Rorschach's line "Knew what cats know that makes them scream like babies in night" caught my attention when I first read it. It seems oddly specific and random, but it really conjures up a certain feeling. So the other day when I saw a cat crossing the street at night, a plot idea came to me. I really love cats, so I had to write it. The story then became inspired by a cat called Scarlett, who risked her life and got severely burned saving her kittens one by one from a burning building. I was also interested in playing with rich imagery and fancy thesaurus words, but I'm not sure how that worked out.
Thanks for reading, and please review!