It was about that time of day again. When the slab of meat lowered itself from the sky and into my enclosure. My sister and I circled the area looking up and anticipating our meal. I flexed my claws and growled. My sister circled across from me, walking on four legs. Our eyes met.
We both growled at each other. We continued circling. We had been on good terms until awhile ago. I rub the small scar on my nose and she lashes her tail. The bite marks on the base of her tail had just recently scabbed over. The hum that signaled that the food was coming made us both look up. I churred and she tossed up dirt with her front claws.
Our squabbles over food had been getting more and more serious, more and more violent. The slab of meat hovered over us and then began to lower itself. When it was close enough my sister reared up, reaching out with her claws. I wasn't letting her get it first.
I rushed her, head butting her in the chest. Something inside me told me head-butting had been the best attack at the moment. She fell back and writhed. I snatched the meat in my jaws and tugged at it. My sister joins next to me, grasping the meat and shaking her head violently. The meat falls off its line and we both go tumbling backwards. We recover and savagely attack the meat.
I rip off a piece and gulp it down, trying to eat as much as I could. But the sight of my sister doing the same made something inside me yell, "Mine!". I charge her and give a satisfied huff when she backs off with a screech. I go back to eating.
I wasn't expecting such immediate retaliation. She tackles me and bites down on my neck. I mildly struggle, we've bitten each other on the necks before but we always let go. But her bite doesn't loosen and she only bites down harder. She was trying to end me...
The sudden thought of death makes me fight back, kicking and scratching. My claw catches in her eye and she jumps back screaming. I push her down before she can do anything else. I hold her head down and growl at her. I wouldn't be the one dying today. I roar in her face and then bite down on her neck. She struggles and I use my foot to maul her face, raking off flesh with each stroke.
I only let go once she stops putting up a fight. She was dead. I pant heavily. My sister. My first kill. My sister. My first kill. My sister. My first kill. My first kill. My first kill. My sister. My first kill... It took me awhile to realize that an opening was starting to form in the walls of my enclosure.
A group of small fleshy animals came in. They wore colored skins over themselves and they held metallic sticks. I watched them slowly come towards me. They were only slightly taller than me. But where were their teeth? Their claws? Their thick tough skin? Frenzied by the thought of an easy kill I rushed them.
The first one zapped me on the nose with the stick. I reared and quickly ran away into the trees. They formed a circle around my sister. Some facing her, some facing away holding their zapping sticks at attention. I watched them as some crouched over her. I stalked out of the trees, slowly walking towards them on all fours. They communicated to each other and they grouped together and went out through the same opening they came into.
I went back to my dead sister. I bite down on her underbelly and rip her open. The warm taste of blood touches my tongue, totally different from the already killed corpse that floated down to us everyday. I looked down at the mangled corpse that was my sister. No one to bicker with. No one to fight over food with. I was the ruler of this territory. I was queen.
Something inside me told me to find my sister. To call out to her. To escape the loneliness and find my companion. I walked laps around my enclosure, hugging the walls and rubbing the skin on my side raw. I tried to track her. Following her scent all throughout the enclosure. I'd follow it until I'd reach the clearing in the trees to where we fought. To where I killed her. To where I ate her. And yet, I continued my search.