Prologue- Night stalkers
The howls of a wild beast echo throughout the taiga forest of the planet that I call home. I listen carefully and I can hear the creature panting and growling as it pursues me through the trees. My blood red mane whips around my face as I run. The muscles in my arms, legs and abdomen are sore from running and falling over in the darkness. My fur is sticky with blood. I'm sure it's my own. I think that it happened when I fell the first time. I tripped over a fallen tree branch and it caught my waist, tearing my groin open before getting lodged in my flesh. Every time I move whilst running, it digs further into me. I have to rest. I stop and lean backwards whilst I pull the fragment of wood from my abdomen. I can clearly see that it is red with blood. Suddenly, I tense. I can smell the creature that is chasing me. It must really hate cats to relentlessly pursue me. I flatten myself against a tree as I hear the creature approaching. I peer round the tree, and I see it.
Its fur glows silver in the light of the full moon. It lifts its head as it catches my scent. Heart pounding in my chest, I run on. It barks, and then charges at me again. I can feel its hot breath on my back. I turn my head to look at it. It's a wolf. The creature's eyes glow red like hot coals. It looks at me then leaps. I duck underneath it and run on, panting heavily. It's claws rake across my back, ripping my shirt and tearing into my flesh. I grunt as blood begins to dribble down my back. The scent of blood sends the wolf into a frenzy. The wild animal runs round again then gets into position to attack me. It leaps at me again, but I jump over it then grab an overhanging branch. I hoist myself up, but the wolf stands up on its hind legs and begins to jump up at me, snapping at my ankles. The branch is slippery with moss so I dig my claws into the bark in attempt to not slip. The demonic creature growls in frustration as it looks at me, then walks off, around the tree.
"Lion-O!" I hear a familiar voice shout. I look up and see Wilykat landing his spaceboard a few 100 yards away from me. I swing my legs down to get back onto the ground. Almost instantly, the wolf jumps from the shadows then sinks its fangs into my leg, tearing muscle and rupturing arteries. I roar in agony then let go of the branch. As soon as my feet touch the ground, I try to run but the wolf is on top of me within moments. I struggle against the horrific creature, but it holds me down. My leg hurts like hell. I'm sure that the flesh is torn down to the bone. Everything seems to slow down as the wolf bites into my shoulder. I can feel the blood streaming down my shoulder as my vision slowly blurs. The blackness is slowly creeping in to the corners of my vision, then everything goes black.
...BORDER...
I watch as the wolf mauls Lion-O. He's bleeding badly, I can tell. I run towards them and start throwing rocks at the wolf. It growls, then retreats. I run over to Lion-O and look at his injuries. They're bad. He's rapidly losing blood. I press my hands over his wound on his leg, which is oozing the warm liquid at a worrying rate. He's barely even conscious. I take my lariat out of my pocket then tie it around Lion-O's right thigh as an improvised tourniquet. Without hesitating, I rip my shirt off then press it onto Lion-O's leg to staunch the blood loss. That's when I spot the wound on his abdomen. The smell is making me feel sick. It's so overpowering.
I run over to my spaceboard and grab the communicator. "Cat's lair! Come in! Tygra? Pumyra? Do you hear me?" I half ask, half shout into the microphone as I drag Lion-O onto the back of my spaceboard then get on it myself. "Cat's lair. Reading you loud and clear, Wilykat," I hear Tygra say "What's the problem?" I look back at Lion-O as I say "You need to get the infirmary ready. I've found Lion-O, but he's in a very bad way. He's been mauled by a wolf." I kick off of the ground and the spaceboard rises into the air. I've got to get back as quickly as I can. I can't confirm that the wolf didn't have rabies. It was hard to tell in the dark. I stay low to the ground as not to get too high. Lion-O is just slung over the back of the board. The forest flies by and I begin to see the skyline of New Thundera appearing on the horizon. I look back at Lion-O. He's extremely pale. How much blood has he lost? Cat's lair slowly comes into view. I look behind me again to make sure that Lion-O is still breathing. He is, so I land in the courtyard. As soon as the board touches the ground, I get off then grab Lion-O under his shoulders and drag him towards the steps. He's so heavy. "Lion-O, hold on. We're home." I grunt as I proceed up the steps. The main door opens so I drag my unconscious lord into the main hall, leaving streaks of scarlet blood on the floor. "For Jaga's sake, Wilykat! I've JUST mopped up in…" I hear Snarf shout angrily as he walks in, but he stops mid-sentence as he spots me dragging Lion-O along then screams "LION-O!" His scream must have alerted the other Thundercats because Pumyra, Tygra, Panthro and Cheetara come running in, then also stop dead at the sight of our badly wounded leader. "FUCKING HELL! I didn't know that he'd be this bad!" Pumyra cries as she runs towards us. She steadies her shaking hands just enough to check Lion-O's pulse. "His pulse is weak. He's going into shock. We need to operate NOW if we're to have a chance of saving him!" she says. "You can save him, can't you?" I ask nervously. The reply is simple. "I hope so, but I can't promise anything. He's badly wounded."
