Lyssa
Once Upon a Malady…
Moonpaw bounded after Meadowpaw along the stream, wetting her paws as she ran. Her fluffy silver tail was raised high in the air and her green eyes were mirthful. Meadowpaw was no different with a loud purr rumbling deep in her throat that was hard to miss.
"I'm gonna get you, Meadowpaw!" The apprentice bellowed, pushing herself as hard as she could without stumbling on the smooth stones.
"No you're not! I run like a rabbit!" Meadowpaw boasted, "You've never even caught a rabbit before!"
"Liar!" Moonpaw yowled playfully as she steadily gained on her friend.
Neither she-cat was aware of the threat that lurked on the sidelines of their game. The creature was stiff, her movements forced and choppy, but driven by a terrifying energy as she trotted through the bracken with a badger's elegance as she traced the young cats' figures with and unnaturally rapt, feral attention. A long pink tongue swiped over her muzzle; unlike those apprentices, she'd caught rabbits before.
"Na-uh!" Meadowpaw shrilly replied, shooting further forwards until Moonpaw could only hear the obnoxious snapping of sticks and the shuffling of bracken up ahead.
Moonpaw huffed at her pathetically slow running, but figured that Meadowpaw could only go so fast for so long and kept her pace. While she was never considered swift, Moonpaw had excellent endurance, which she found to be more useful in these sorts of situations; speed could only get a cat so far.
The predator knew it too even in her addled, hazy state of mind. Through her bloodlust, she managed to keep herself from immediately surging through the woods and seizing their throats into her eager jaws. Her tongue lapped at empty air and her breathing sounded labored, pained even, but she continued forward with deadly intent. As she clumsily stalked the oblivious apprentices, it became harder for her to swallow and most of her saliva came in thick, foamy strings down her mouth, flying back with her movements and matting into her ratty gray chest fur. She also stumbled from time to time during the chase, not that it put much distance between the cats and herself.
Moonpaw narrowed her eyes at Meadowpaw's distant form and decided to cut her off up ahead. She veered right, away from the predator, into the brambles, whipping through the thorny plants despite the tugging at her fur. Meadowpaw noticed as soon as she'd done it and slowed to a stop, panting and purring in satisfaction: she'd lost Moonpaw.
Meadowpaw shook out her fur from stray bracken and bramble tendrils that gripped her fur during the chase. A loud crunch and snap from the left grabbed Meadowpaw's attention, but she didn't seem concerned. She looked wryly in the direction of the noises. "I won already, Moonpaw. You can come out, I promise I won't make fun of how sluggish you are! Honestly, though, a RiverClan cat could outrun you, you ought to run more often." She said, casually sitting down to lick her paw, swiping it across her forehead to get a stubborn burr from her milky-white fur.
When Moonpaw didn't respond, Meadowpaw stopped cleaning herself and looked again in the direction of the noise. "Moonpaw? You there?" Meadowpaw asked, scenting the air for a trace of her friend.
Meadowpaw gagged, looking anxiously where she'd heard the sounds. She smelled something, but it wasn't Moonpaw, it was far fouler, like a dog, but different. She tensed and watched, her fur unconsciously fluffing out so she was nearly twice her size.
Though Meadowpaw knew the beast was there, the thing that was like a dog, but not, she still didn't, couldn't, anticipate its consequences.
It was a single, swift but uncoordinated bite to her hind leg.
Hi guys!First part of 'Lyssa' down!I know it's absurdly short, but it is the introduction.Normal chapters are usually around ten pages typed on Word, sometimes a little more or less.At some point, I'd like to make them fifteen-twenty pages a chapter, but I'm just going to take things slow and try to gradually work my way to that.
Thanks for giving 'Lyssa' a chance, I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the story and give me feedback along the way!See you next time!