Bring Me Back A Tiger
"When a man wants to murder a tiger, he calls it sport; when the tiger wants to murder him, he calls it ferocity." George Bernard Shaw
Chapter Two: Sebastian Moran is a Hunter
Warning: Super violent like whoa. It's Sebastian Moran trying to impress Jim Moriarty, so that should give you a clue. Not too detailed, but still fairly gruesome. Also my favorite chapter.
Jim was, apparently, serious about trimming his work force down. Sebastian watched him send out a single text and only a half hour later, he followed the short man out into the middle of nowhere. He liked his building, though. It was abandoned and dark, but not completely dark. There were plenty of places for him to hop onto and hide in. An urban jungle by all means and it was filled with a dozen people.
"These are my workers, I suppose you'd call them," Jim murmured. Sebastian followed him curiously, not completely sure what he was supposed to be doing. That and Jim clearly liked having all of his pet's attention. The group of men watched him with mixed emotions. They all clearly knew what he was even if none of them had actually seen one up close before. They all looked the same; disposable.
"What is that?" one of them finally demanded in what could only be distrust and paranoia. Sebastian was too used to it to be offended.
"You're fired," Jim hummed instead of an answer and curtly sprayed the man in the face with a spray bottle. He sputtered and backed away, but didn't dare retaliate. The rest of the group suddenly went on the defensive, prepared to save themselves and their jobs. Sebastian had lost his train of thought, however. He didn't know what was in the bottle, but he wanted it and he wanted it now. He adjusted himself to pounce on the scented man, pupils blown wide and his whiskers twitched with hypersensitivity.
"Wait," Jim ordered and Sebastian reluctantly waited. "You. What do you do?" The man in question quickly rattled off his job in as few words as possible. It was still too many and their boss waved him silent.
"Ah, boring. You're fired." Again, the dismissed worker was sprayed heavily with the unknown liquid. While it remained a mystery to the healthy humans, it drove Sebastian absolutely wild. His tail lashed around wildly as he did his best to focus on Jim and what he was doing. It was getting difficult.
"You're the-" Jim wasn't nearly as good as keeping track of them as they were themselves. He hired people to do stuff like that, after all.
"Accountant! Just the accountant."
"Accountant. Can you account, Sebastian?" He sniffed curiously. Sebastian didn't dare remove his eyes from his target and the man was becoming unsettled by it. He should. Sebastian wanted it rightnow. He was still sober enough to answer a direct question, more or less.
"Nineteen," the tiger huffed.
"Fired." Jim continued around the little group and when he was finished, he returned to his tiger. He scratched Sebastian's neck and ears, earning a loud, over excited purr from the beast. He could jump soon, he just knew it.
"Everyone who's not fired can leave. You're safe for today." Out of the fourteen people, three of them left. They didn't know how lucky they were right then. The remaining eleven stood uneasily. Jim was not someone you wanted to have 'fire' you. Jim yanked his pet down a little and Sebastian more or less followed the motion, still antsy to get to that scent. The little man pulled a band over his forehead, tucking it out of the way of his round ears and Sebastian glanced cross-eyed up at it momentarily. He didn't currently care what it was, however.
"As for the rest of you." Jim patted the tiger heavily on the back. "If you live, you win and you may keep your job. If you die, you lose and I'll let Sebastian into your homes."
"O-our homes?"
"Your friends. Your family. Everyone you're close to. I'll let Sebastian here slaughter them. Just because he hates you so much. Hates what you are. Who you are. What you did to him." Jim laughed, scratching the creature down his back and earning a small shake of the tail.
"I didn't do anything to him!" one of them objected. Sebastian changed targets. That one first.
"Oh, but you did. Not logically, sure. But Sebby's a little stupid. He's just an animal, after all. Besides, it's fun for me. How long? Five seconds?"
"Ten," Sebastian answered. Jim shrugged his sleeve back a little to view his watch.
"Risky. I like it. Ten. Nine. Eight." He began counting down and the little group lunged into action to escape. Sebastian could smell them all and hear everything. He had the clear advantage of being bigger and trained better plus the lighting and urban setting made him the clear winner. He gave them the advantage of a head start and whatever weapons they happened to be carrying. It wouldn't be enough.
"Go," Jim purred low and slow.
Sebastian was off like a greyhound out of the gates. He had no strategy, another advantage he was giving the stupid little group and lunged at the slowest, weakest little man. The tiger pinned him to the floor with a heavy thump. He parted his lips ever so slightly, taking in the wonderfully stimulating scent. Sebastian's tail fluffed out. He was high as fuck.
The tiger let the little mousy man go and he scrambled away desperately. Then, Sebastian darted off in front of him, playing with him; pulling him by the metaphorical tail. One heavy slash of the paw torn the man's chest wide open with a series of perpendicular cuts. This one was boring. Sebastian killed him quickly and abandoned the body to go after the other ten.
A loud thud echoed through the warehouse and light shone in through it. A little bit of light? That wasn't going to help them. In fact, it made it so much easier for him. Sebastian took off after the noise, stripping from his suit as he went. The bloody tatters were left for rubbish and he found it so much easier to move. They were waiting for him at the top of the stairs. A group of three was smarter than one, he supposed. Sebastian snuck under the light, under the stairs and around the outer wall. It was too bad he was just as smart as he was big. He found a rusted support and threw himself against it with a heavy 'thud'. The support creaked and moaned. He did it again and again until it broke and then he worked on the third and the fourth support beam.
"What's it doing?" Ha! Whispering. Funny little pristies.
"Come out! Come out! I can smell you! I can hear you! I will kill you!" Sebastian cried loudly, watching the figures move and scramble to locate him in the alternating streams of light and dark. They were only disorienting themselves and he knew it. He dashed up the stairs and they shot blindly at his form. His stripes made it impossible for them to tell him from the dancing light. He pounced forward and the structure creaked again, louder. Then he dashed off again, into the dark. The stairs crumpled down slowly at first, then came crashing down in a heap of metal and bodies. Sebastian casually approached them, wounded and disoriented.
"Poor little Pristies. Look what you did." He went about disarming them, unloading their weapons and throwing them skillfully out the window they'd broken.
"Try again." Sebastian tore one of them from the wreckage and threw him viciously against the brick wall.
"Run," he roared excitedly. "Run, run, run! Never stop running! Never catch your breath! Never rest!" The other two took off, limping away on wounded legs and tripping over their own feet. Sebastian threw his new toy against the wall again, amused by how light he really was. The man only lasted one more throw before Sebastian realized he was dead and became bored.
The next one was hiding. Smart except for the small fact that Sebastian could smell him. He ripped the metal door clean off its rusty hinges, exposing the man cowering inside. The tiger tore him out of his hiding spot and onto the ground where he skidded on his stomach and tried to scramble to his feet. Sebastian hopped onto his back with a purposeful force, crushing his chest with all of his weight.
"The lung's the best part, you know. I wonder if it's considered cannibalism when they don't consider me human." This one was boring now. Sebastian left him to blubber on his own blood and suffocate on his crushed lungs. That was three down and eight to go. He returned to the wounded pair, following the open wounds and the lovely scent that drove him to continue the chase. He wanted to play! It stimulates his senses and drove him wild and he didn't know why.
He found them in a tight spot between two empty silos, attempting to tend to their wounds. Sebastian knew he wouldn't fit between the opening and temporarily abandoned them in search for something to run them out with. Or through. Through worked too. He returned to the wreckage and picked up a good sized piece of railing. That worked. He returned and as he guessed, they thought they were safe. Sebastian jammed the post into the opening, catchin a limb and earning a cry of pain.
"And I gave you such a good chance, too. If I'm an animal, you're a maggot." He jammed it in again, this time catching the unfortunate man in the face.
"Survived two of three, maybe you'll 'win'," Sebastian teased the live man as he yanked his dead friend through the gap with an awkward movement.
"You'll bleed to death soon." He laughed, stalking away again and giving him just the smallest bit of hope. Not too much. Too much was overkill.
"Seven! Seven left!" he heard Jim sing from the front door. "Who's lucky enough to slay the mighty tiger! Slower, Mr. Bengal Tiger! It's no fun if you kill them all within the hour!"
"Sorry!" Sebastian called back as he prowled off after his next victim. "I keep forgetting you Pristies are so fragile!"
He started down the hall of the building, dragging his nose over the machinery. The scent was fainter now, but not by much. They were trying to wash it off. Good strategy, but clearly they didn't know anything about the Infected.
"Over here! Here kitty, kitty, kitty!" The voice made Sebastian's ears prick and he glanced toward the man. A trap, clearly. He ignored him and continued after another target.
"Got your balls over here, kitty! Come on ya big pussy!" The man tried to goad him on, but his attempts were feeble. Sebastian was goaded everyday in the military by his Trainers. This wasn't going to work on him.
"Shit! He's going the other way." He listened to the group rustle around in confusion before he was being yelled at again.
"Come here, Sebby! Come on! Smell that? Smell that fresh, fresh blood? Come here and you can have all you want!" Well now they were just desperate. Still, he continued along to the offices. A lone man hid under one of the desks. Sebastian kicked it over and the man surprised him in the leg with a knife. It didn't hurt nearly as much as the human thought it would. It was also stupidly tiny. Sebastian yanked it free and threw it with an incredible force through the drywall. Then he roared ferociously and the man took off.
Sebastian dashed after him into the hall and chased him down straight down the way he came. Now he'd show them how to disarm a trap with skill.
"He's coming! Shit!" The healthy human on the other end of the wall tried desperately to motioned the one being chased out of the way. Sebastian made sure he had nowhere else to go, though, and ran him straight into their trap. To their benefit of a doubt, it was a well laid trap. The healthy tripped the wire and the heavy tarp of bricks crashed down in a massive heap. He might not have been dead, but he would be out for a while. It would have given them long enough to kill him if Sebastian had been stupid enough to walk into it.
"Anthony tripped it! He's coming!" The healthy human couldn't run faster than him, but Sebastian allowed him to go ahead. He could at least make it a little fair. They packed into a room; five of them. He listened outside the door and they made it clear they were armed. If he went in the door, he'd quickly become a target. It was best to bottleneck them. Sebastian darted past the door swiftly, making them uneasy and anxious. He beat on the wall a few times and rushed past again. Then he paused. They were anxious, trying to decipher what he was going to do. Sebastian dashes past a third time and one of them finally jumped the trigger.
He roared loudly, mimicking agony and pain. Sebastian didn't wait in the hall, though. He slipped into one of the other rooms and continued to fake the noises of a wounded man-beast. They whispered under him.
"I think I got him."
"Go check."
"I'm not going out there!"
"He's wounded, moron. Just go and put a bullet in his brain." Finally, one of them came to check. The nervous one. Sebastian was waiting, though, and when the man shoved his gun into the open door, the tiger grabbed it and yanked him in. He wrapped his teeth around the tender throat and sharply tore it out. He disassembled his gun and dragged the body out, leaving a trail of blood. He tossed the body into the room with his buddies.
"How long do you think you can stay in that room?" Sebastian purred, giving them room to make a new plan. He slipped back onto the floor to check the bloody one. He'd worked himself out of the spot and past his dead friend. Sebastian scented him out into the loading docks. He was hiding but in a much better spot. Sebastian clawed at the back of the old truck, but it was built tough and heavy. He wouldn't be able to get into it like this.
"You'll still bleed to death! But I like the challenge." Sebastian dug around the mess of broken metal, old rubbish, and some broken bottles. He found a toolbox, rusted but usable. He pulled up a crate before the back of the truck and had himself a seat while he began to work at the lock. It didn't take him long to break it off from the outside. Sebastian pulled the door up and open and crawled inside to the man staring at him angrily. He was already pale and his leg twisted at an angle. Sebastian grabbed the wounded limb between his bloody maw and dragged him out weakly struggling. The man was pulled through the mess and back out into the open warehouse floor. The tiger threw him down lightly and held him down at the shoulder with a heavy paw. The healthy human screamed as Sebastian tore at his leg, dislocating it first, then tearing it off completely. He was unconscious in seconds and then left to die.
Sebastian returned to the little group of four. They'd split up by the sound of it. They had no sense of loyalty. Together they had twice the chance of survival than before. Now they were going to die little meek deaths. Two had stupidly remained in the offices, making very easy targets of them. Unfortunately, they were unarmed and the office held few items for them to use as weapons. The tiger prowled along the hall, ear to the wall.
"Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck. Come on, think, think, think. What do we know about those things? Anything. Do we know anything at all?"
"We're going to die. That's what I know. We're going to die and then they're going after my wife. My wife doesn't even know I do this shit. We're gonna die."
"Not helpful! He's just a man."
"Fuck you 'he's just a man'! Have you seen him!"
"Keep your bloody voice down."
"He's a monster. That's what he is. And he's not going to stop until we're dead. That's what they do. They train them to kill and not stop killing until the order is given. And Moriarty isn't going to give that order. Give it up. Maybe if we play dead, he'll leave us alone."
"I wouldn't count on it," Sebastian purred into the door. The two scrambled for cover, ducking behind an overturned desk as if it would help. The tiger hopped over them easily and was faced with two marred and dusty men. He slashed the man the left with a row of claws, tearing his face open with four clean cuts. The healthy gripped his face but didn't make a noise. Boring. Sebastian took care of him quickly and broke his neck against the edge of the table he was hiding behind. The other made a mad dash for the door and Sebastian launched after him. The man cracked his forehead on the floor and the tiger finished the job by sinking teeth into the back of his neck and crushing it with thousand pound bite.
Then there was two.
He found the last pair in the manager's office. It was made mostly of windows and they seemed to have gotten the lights working enough for them to see. From the window he could see they had blocked the door with everything they could find. Sebastian didn't bother finding another door into the office, though. There were windows and he could see his prey quivering in the cold of the abandoned warehouse draft. One of them had twisted his ankle, but Sebastian already knew neither of them would be escaping.
The tiger banged his fist on the window and a low 'thump' echoed around them. Safety glass. Smart. Sebastian thumped away a few more times, more to scare them than to break it. He dragged his claws over it and sniffed it loudly.
"Let me in," he growled lowly. The man laughed.
"So you can kill us? I think not."
"I'll get in anyways," Sebastian purred, throwing himself against the glass again. "I'll get in and I'll break your bloody legs. Horaincerta, morscerta." The tiger curled his lips up infectiously, doing his deed of making them nervous.
"W-what does that mean?" the wounded one questioned reluctantly. Human curiosity was such a wonderful thing.
"Hour uncertain, death certain," teased the animal to the caged men. The wounded one was quick to point his gun, but his 'friend' stopped him.
"Don't! Shoot and you'll break the glass. That's what he wants."
"You have to come out. You know that. I'm stronger than you. I'm bigger than you. I can stay awake longer than you and keep warmer better than you. How long can you stay in that box, Pristies? One day? Two? I'll just wait here, feeding on your co-workers. Playing with what I don't eat. You don't have to shoot me. Shoot yourself. Shoot your friend. It'll be mercy. I'll break your legs. Chew on your arm, your side, yourface. I'm very good at keeping you alive." Sebastian scrapped his claws against the window again, leaving a streak of blood on the window and letting them see the sharp talons and the thirty teeth, bloody and ready for more work.
"Don't listen to him. He's trying to get in your head. He's a sick fuck just like Moriarty. No wonder we're being replaced."
"Then I'll go to your homes. Your wife, or husband, and daughters and sons. Maybe your brother's staying with you. Or your aunt. Or maybe you're taking care of your grandparents. I won't kill them as quickly as I did you. I got a little frisky with you. I'll have my beastly way with your lovers first. Make them nice and round. Praegnans. Pregnant. Maybe make them bare me a child first. I hear that's how you Pristies pass on your genes. Then I'll slit her throat." Sebastian drew a horizontal line with the remaining blood. The two men were already pale, but he continued.
"All four point seven liters of it right into the bathtub. Then I'll drown your children in it. Do you think I care that they're children?" The tiger smacked the glass, making them both jump. "That they're small? Fragile? Idon't. I don't care if you're a man, or a woman, or a child, or an elder, or pregnant, or wounded, or Pristy or Infected. Indiscriminate. I guess that makes me better than you. So. I'll tell you one more time. Let me in and I'll make sure your families don't suffer."
"He's lying."
"Yeah. I was," Sebastian huffed back. He touched a claw to his tongue momentarily before taking it to the edge of the window. The old seal that held it in place peeled away slowly and easily. Their plan hadn't exactly been bullet proof before this, but they were so close. He grasped either side of the glass with his claws and removed it from the fame, giving himself a clear view to his prey. He cleared the half-wall with a single bound and the wounded man hastily fired at him. Sebastian laughed.
"You picked up an empty gun? You stupid cunt." He snatched the weapon away from him, ignoring the escapee for the time being. Sebastian hit the healthy in the face with it. He went down instantly and attempted to play dead. The tiger nearly laughed again. That never actually worked. It was too bad they wouldn't be able to spread the word. Sebastian pretended, though. He turned back to the window he'd 'opened' and picked up the thick piece of glass again. He heard the man's breath hitch. The tiger carried it back and with a single heave, slammed it down cleanly on the man, decapitating him without any effort whatsoever.
So there was one.
Sebastian exited the manager's room and his lovely wreckage and followed after the man. It was easy when he was the only one left. The warehouse door was open now and artificial light shone in. He could tell it was from the car's headlights and the shadow proved that his last man was outside.
"I made it! I got out alive!" The man breathed in relief. "I'm alive! You keep him away from my family, you little bastard!" And Jim was still here by the sound of it.
"Oh. I didn't say 'if you got out alive'," Jim giggled loudly. He was clearly having himself a good time. That was great, because so was Sebastian.
"What?" the man demanded loudly. The tiger waited just inside the door, tail swishing around in anticipation.
"Do you think he'll stop just because you're outside?"
"You said if I live, I keep my job and my family!"
"Yes. I did. The brilliant thing about Infected is, they won't stop. We can't have two winners can we now?" Jim assured him. Sebastian pounced out from the warehouse, catching his prey around the shoulder with heavy fangs and bringing them both to the ground. He stopped himself, though, looking up to the short man watched him amusedly.
"Would you care for the last?"
"So thoughtful. But that would be letting you off easy. Ten fairly unique killings. Running out, aren't you?" His new owner mused casually. Sebastian whipped his tail around. He wanted unique. He picked himself up and the dazed man by his shoulders. He threw the man's face into the car window and he bounced off forcefully. The tiger wandered back inside and after a few minutes, located what he was looking for. He returned with his rope and gave it a few pulls to make sure it would stand up to the test. The tiger tied a noose in the end and snagged it around the remaining healthy's neck. Sebastian tossed the other end over the signpost. A firm pull hoisted the man up by the neck and another knot kept him there where he could slowly suffocate.
"Now that's lovely," Jim complimented. Sebastian huffed slightly, but pleased. This was fun. He liked this. It was so much better than the restrictions of the military. He'd probably have been scolded for playing with them.
"What was that stuff?" the tiger questioned, approaching the smaller man.
"Catnip." The simple answer came back. Sebastian pricked his ears instantly. Catnip? On second thought, he was essentially a huge cat. That was a little ego damaging. The tiger shrugged a little but nodded.
"I like it," he admitted. Jim grabbed a handful of the fur on his chest and yanked him forward. Sebastian lowered his ears a little. He wasn't sure if he liked that, though. Jim examined his bloody teeth and smiled a toothy smile of his own. Then, he startled the tiger, far more than any of the others could, with a very simple, very forceful kiss. Sebastian had no idea what to do.
"You've never been kissed before," Jim noted teasingly.
"Not willingly," the Infected grunted back.
"Willingly?" he answered in an amused fashion. The Bengal Tiger wasn't sure how that was amusing.
"She gave me mixed signals."
"I guess I have to teach you something. I can't expect you to be perfect right off the bat. Well, I can, but when am I going to find another nearly perfect Bengal Tiger sniper like you?"
"Never," Sebastian assured him.
"You've earned yourself a meal."
"Good. I fucking hate kibble."
o-o-o
Vocabulary;
Pristy/Pristies: A degrading term for healthy humans coming from the Latin word 'prist' meaning 'his former'.
Latin: The language the Infected are taught to speak all over the word. It's considered a common language of the military and opens the gates to wider communication between allies.
