A dark mist surrounded Shenzi, making it impossible to see anything more than two tail lengths in front of her. She looked around in confusion, squinting her eyes as she tried to peer through the void. Where am I? How did I get here? she thought, completely baffled. All was ominously silent for several heartbeats, and even though she couldn't see or hear anyone, she felt as if she were being watched by a million different pairs of eyes. Something in the back of her mind told her to run, but when she attempted to do so her paws were glued to the ground. This caused the Siamese she-cat to panic and as she opened her jaws to call for help, no words would come out no matter how hard she tried. What's going on?
Suddenly out of the silence a shrill, single shriek was heard. Followed by it was the sound of a loud rumbling, causing the ground beneath Shenzi's paws to tremble. It got louder and shook the ground harder as it got closer. However, despite feeling as if someone or something was right next to her, she couldn't see anything. Shenzi felt chills go down her spine. She felt tormented, terrified, and haunted by this strange presence. Her paws still refused to move and her voice remained silenced.
Somebody, please, help! Shenzi pleaded in her mind as she felt the presence get closer to her. Her eyes widened and her jaws gaped in a silent wail of pain as she heard a loud bam followed by a hole in her flank, blood pouring out. The pain was indescribable, nothing she had ever felt before, and it made her entire body ache. She felt herself begin to slip into unconsciousness as she lost blood from the strange wound and soon after her eyes fell upon complete darkness.
"Shenzi! Shenzi!" A voice sounded in the she-cat's ears and she felt something press down on where her wound had been, causing Shenzi to wail in agony. Suddenly, she was confused. She had managed to get a sound out of her, but how? Slowly, she opened her eyes to reveal her two brothers looking down at her, their eyes wide with concern. Turning her head, it had been Rapida's paw that was pressed on the wound, nudging her to try to get her to awaken.
"Are you okay? You were kicking and screaming in your sleep—you woke us all up," Rapida explained, beckoning with her tail to the other trainees.
"Must've been a rough dream," Banzai murmured, giving his sister a gentle lick on the ear in comfort.
Shenzi found herself panting heavily. A dream? Looking around, it was still very dark outside, nowhere close to dawn. She saw the eyes of many cats around her, all staring at her. It had been a moon since their first day of training, and somehow the quad had made it through every challenge that their leader had thrown at the group. Now the tent that was once filled with outsiders had only about twelve left. They huddled closer together now to stay warm, so any slight movements made by any cat could be heard easily inside the nearly hollow tent. "S-Sorry. I didn't mean to wake everyone, especially so late," she apologized, her voice still shaky from her nightmare.
"Then quit it with these panic attacks every night. Just because you're sleep deprived doesn't mean you should make the rest of us lose sleep too," a grouchy tom muttered from the outer rim of the huddled cats, burying his head in his nest and curling his tail over his ears.
Rapida shot a glare at the tom before gazing at her friend gently. "Are you sure you're okay? If you want to talk about it, we can always go out for a little midnight walk," she offered with a small smile.
Shenzi shook her head but gave the grey she-cat a grateful look. "No, I'm fine, really. You don't have to worry. If I do want to talk to you about it I will though," she promised before turning away and shutting her eyes, laying her head back down in her nest.
The truth was these dreams were becoming a real problem. It had started long ago back in Witch's den when she was recovering from her leg injury. Back then, they were just strange dreams Shenzi couldn't interpret, but recently they had become more violent and dark. The dark presence was frightening, and this last dream was the first time she had received an injury that made her feel real pain. She never told anyone about what happened in these nightmares, but the others were seeing the effects. She would be awoken by Rapida or her brothers just as the terror got to its peak. Once everything settled down, it would be a long time before Shenzi could fall asleep again since she was paranoid about having the dream again. This caused her to lose sleep, making her fall behind in her training. How long will it be before Hunter notices and tells me I can't participate in the dog fight?
Shenzi blinked rapidly, her vision blurred. Suddenly she felt the weight of a cat pin her down, a paw on her neck. Once her vision cleared from the blow she had received to the side of the head, it revealed Hunter standing on her, his eyes narrowed.
"What's the matter with you today? Your senses are dull and you could've easily avoided that hit," the leader snorted, retreating to let the she-cat up. Hunter had stopped giving the trainees random challenges and had finally started showing them battle moves in the main alleyway the past few days. Each day they would get paired up at random with someone else in the group and would practice the different techniques Hunter had demonstrated until he told them to stop. This included him and Killer also practicing, since they too would need to sharpen their skills for the fight.
Shenzi rose to her paws, shaking her head to clear it. "I'm sorry, I just had trouble sleeping last night and I can't seem to be quick because of that," she answered, her head bowed so she wouldn't have to meet the tom's disapproving eyes.
Hunter let out a sigh and sat where he was, curling his tail over his paws. Behind him were all the remaining trainees and Killer, also practicing combat moves. Of all the days, she had been paired up with her leader. "I know just the other day I had said that you last couple would be the ones to fight the strays, but if you don't pick it up I'm going to have to remove you from training, and I don't want to do that. You did excellent on the challenges you were faced with, and never once did you slip up like this. Stay focused Shenzi; we're almost done here. Now up, let's do that again," he ordered with a flick of his tail.
Shenzi let out a small sigh and nodded. "Yes sir."
"Now, I'm a rabid dog hungry for cat meat. But being as boneheaded as I am, I just charge blindly at you, thinking of you as some stick laying on the side of the road. What do you do?" Hunter asked, rising to his paws and flexing his claws.
"I slide in between your front legs and claw at your belly as I go," Shenzi answered with a twitch of her whiskers. At least I can answer him properly.
"Show me," Hunter growled and suddenly backed up a few tail lengths. Then without warning he charged right towards the Siamese she-cat, paws outstretched.
Shenzi slipped underneath her leader's charging body, but was slow on her paws. She clawed at his belly, claws sheathed, as she slid, but didn't give herself enough of a boost. She remained under him when she was supposed to have slid far enough to be behind him and ready to claw at his hindquarters. This gave Hunter the chance to drop down onto her, crushing the she-cat under his weight.
After a moment Hunter finally got off Shenzi, his expression disappointed. As she rose to her paws, her lungs taking in lots of air after not being able to breathe, Shenzi caught her leader give a small shake of his head. With that, he turned to face the other training cats. "Alright everyone, good work today! The hunting cats should be back soon, so relax until they get here and then you can feast," he smiled at them before beckoning his second-in-command to the side and heading off towards the Bonehill.
While all the other trainees slumped down onto the ground and began speaking to each excitedly, Rapida immediately trotted over Shenzi, looking exhilarated. "Oh, I can't wait to use these moves out on those vermin! They won't mess with outsiders anymore once I'm through with them," she smirked, puffing out her chest in pride.
"Neither can I," Shenzi yawned, trying to share her friend's excitement. She slumped onto the ground, feeling more exhausted than she had been the last couple of days. Sure, fighting all day was tiring, but she had never been this tired. She glanced at her flank where the wound from the dream had been. She could still feel a faint trace of soreness there, despite it only being a dream.
Rapida sat down next to the she-cat, resting her tail over Shenzi's shoulders. "Hey, you okay?" she whispered. "You look a little beat down. If Hunter was being too hard on you, I can make sure he doesn't do it again," she meowed, smiling a bit.
Shenzi's whiskers twitched as she glanced at her friend. Something else that had started happening in the past moon was that Rapida and Hunter had become very friendly with one another, and Shenzi hadn't seen Hunter be friendly with anyone. Every other day Rapida would even go and share a meal with him and Killer, leaving Shenzi and Glaze to have small conversations while eating. The strangest part of it all was that half a moon ago, Rapida had starting showing signs of sickness. When Shenzi had managed to get good nights of sleep, she would on occasion feel her friend get out of bed in the middle of the night to go vomit or make dirt more than she used to. Despite Shenzi's insisting to go and see Witch, Rapida simply stated it was a bad rat she must've eaten and made her stomach upset. She had been also eating a lot more, even though all the remaining trainees did to build up their strength; Rapida ate more than the rest of them. It had caught up to her though; her usual small figure was now plumper.
"No, it's nothing really. I was just a bit slower in training today because of lack of sleep," Shenzi insisted, feeling her eyelids shut on their own out of exhaustion. However the moment she heard someone talking to her they swiftly opened again.
Rapida was silent for a moment before nodding. "If you say so. Either way, I'll be here if you need me," she promised before beginning to groom her pelt, drawing her paw over her ears.
Shenzi flicked her tail to show she had heard before her eyes shut and she felt herself drift into a light snooze. It felt as if not a heartbeat later the yowl sounded at the steel gates, signaling the return of the hunting parties. However, the change in the sun's positioning proved that she had been asleep longer than that. Letting out a yawn, she stretched and rose to her paws. Since now the trainees were already waiting when the hunters came back, it became a routine for them to take as much prey as they wanted before the hunting cats could pick something themselves. It was almost like being treated like royalty. Sitting down next to Rapida, who hadn't moved since Shenzi had fallen asleep, the two along with the other trainees watched as the now larger hunting group brought prey inside the alleyway and placed it onto the spot where the pile always was. Among the many cats were Beast and Glaze, though it was hard to find them since every single one of the cats had the same basic pelt colors and body structure. Once all the hunters had placed their catch on the pile, they stepped to the side, allowing the trainees to come and get their fill.
Rapida led the way towards it, Shenzi following close behind. Tonight was a night she would be eating with her brother and friend instead of Hunter. Together the two she-cats grabbed a large rat like they always did to share before carrying it over to their spot where they always ate. They began to dig in while they waited for the other trainees to get their food.
Banzai and Ed once again, like they did every day, waited for Beast before they began eating. The other trainees grabbed their own prey and went to their daily spots like Rapida and Shenzi did. Once they had all grabbed what they wanted, the hunters began to get into the pile themselves. Despite the trainees eating a bit more than usual to build up their strength, there was still plenty of prey for everyone. After several heartbeats, Glaze finally headed over to the two, a squirrel in his jaws.
"How was today's hunt? Looked successful yet again as far as I could see," Rapida remarked, gulping down a mouthful and touching her nose to her brother's in greeting.
"Great, it's a good thing it's summer. Otherwise I don't think we'd be able to gather as much prey as we do now," Glaze replied and stretched his neck out to greet his sister in the same gesture. With that he settled down and took a bite out of his food. Gulping it down, he asked, "So how was training today?"
"It was fine; we practiced battle moves again in pairs like we did for the last couple of days. I think Hunter is trying to get us to perfect all the techniques before he sends us all into battle," Rapida replied, licking her lips after taking another bite.
Shenzi simply gave a small nod of agreement, taking small bites out of her meal. Something about the way Hunter had looked before he ended training for the day gave her a sickly feel in her stomach. She didn't pay attention to the small talk Rapida and Glaze made as she continued eating small bites of the rat. She stared off into the distance, her mind wandering far from the alleyway. Shenzi didn't remember what she even thought about, but she was jolted out of her trance when she felt a large paw nudge her. Blinking in confusion, she turned her head to see Hunter standing behind her. She scrambled to her paws so she could stand and face her leader, but when she wanted to greet him no words would come out.
"I need to talk to you. I know this is going to be hard for you to take, but I think it'd be best for you to be moved to the hunting group. If we had been fighting the dogs today, you would've been killed. I can't risk putting a cat in such a dangerous situation. I know it surely isn't your fault you've been losing sleep, but the fact that it's something you can't control is why we can't risk putting you in battle. I'm sorry," Hunter explained slowly and only loud enough for the group of three to hear.
Rapida immediately rose to her paws, her pelt bristling in fury. "What? Shenzi's been doing excellent in all your challenges and training yet she makes one mistake and you kick her out?! How dare you? I demand you take back what you said this instant!" she snapped at him, padding up so she was nose to nose with the tom.
Hunter glared back at her sternly and snorted. "My decision is final. Now pipe down. I was trying to keep this quiet yet with your yowling the entire Twolegplace will hear now," he growled and turned away back towards the Bonehill before the she-cat could respond.
Shenzi quickly placed her tail in front of Rapida. "Don't. It's fine, really. Hunter…just wants to protect me. Besides, I wouldn't want you getting in trouble because you were trying to help me," she insisted, blocking out any sadness she felt within. Hunter's just making a choice based on safety…, she thought, trying to convince herself this was for the best.
Rapida sniffed and pushed past Shenzi. Looking over her shoulder, she meowed, "Trust me; I won't," she sounded sure of herself as she stomped towards the Bonehill after their leader.
Shenzi stared after her friend in confusion. How could she be so certain? Letting out a sigh, she turned and caught Glaze gazing at her sympathetically. She tore her gaze away from the tom and padded quickly towards the tent, mentally kicking herself for letting a dream make her so fearful and insomniac. Looks like my training days are…over.
