{Chapter Fifty: Beast Of The Wild}
Meredith was running across the street to the next house when she heard the screams.
Next thing she knew, she'd been scooped up by Sasha as the brunette ran with eyes wide in horror.
"Wh-what is it?!" the young girl cried, clinging to the elder.
"S-something!" came the panicked answer.
Sasha wasn't sure what it was. All she knew was that it was a little shorter than her waist-height, had four legs, and wasn't happy. It'd sprung out of the barn while she and Connie were talking, raking long claws down her friend's arm and drawing blood. She'd lost Connie a while back, but the thing was still chasing her.
Everyone had pretty much regrouped in the square before the church when the screams reached their ears.
"What is it?!" Eren demanded.
"Nothing big— Rogues?!" Peregrine gasped.
Sasha barreled into the square, Meredith clinging to her, both wailing for all their worth. The young soldier plunged into the crowd of people, the stragglers lunging out of houses with weapons drawn. The creature chasing Sasha burst into the square with a snarl.
But then, as fast as it appeared, it vanished.
"What the hell?!" Levi yelled.
"I don't know, but if it's a threat to my people I'm gonna kill it!" Staghorn roared, drawing an axe out of nowhere and giving chase.
The children were ushered into the church with Theresa, Jean and Bluebell, and everyone else scattered throughout the town to find whatever monster had attacked Sasha, Connie and Meredith. They didn't go alone, by any means— That was far too risky. They went in pairs, trios and quartets, trying to hunt down this creature.
Ghoul, Zoë and Mike peered cautiously into one house.
"Anything?" Zoë whispered. Ghoul shook his head. Mike sniffed a few times, then mimicked the action. "What do you think it is?" the squad-leader asked as they began to meticulously search the house anyway.
"Male." Ghoul replied as he opened up a creaking closet. A small snake that'd hidden in there hissed indignantly, so he closed it again.
"How can you tell?" Mike asked curiously as Zoë began sneezing when she agitated a dust-cloud.
"Just a hunch. It's a feral animal. A female wouldn't give such a chase if she was alone, because that probably means she probably has infants if she's without a mate. If she did give chase, it'd've been long over before Sasha reached the square, because she'd return to her young and move them to a new location. A male will chase down intruders until he finds he's been beat— Like by our miniature army— or he's killed or evicted the prey. Since most carnivores around here aren't pack-animals, that's most likely a male animal we're chasing, and a grumpy one at that." Ghoul explained.
At this time, Levi and Erwin were searching one of the larger houses, towards the outer reaches of the town. They'd found nothing unusual in the previous two houses they'd searched, but there were what looked like paw-prints leading into this one.
"Did you actually see the thing?" Levi asked as Erwin moved cautiously up the creaking, rotting stairs.
"Not clearly. It moved too fast." the commander replied, one blade drawn as he scanned his surroundings. There was nothing there. That was somewhat odd— Unless the tracks were old, shouldn't the creature have been here? Were those not it's tracks outside?
Silently cursing, Erwin asked himself a question just about everyone else was too—
Where was it?!
In the abandoned church, Jean was standing guard at the door. It was the only entrance he could find, so if the beast made any attempts to attack the ones inside, it'd have to go through him first. Theresa and Meredith's mother sat with the children near where he and the amber-blonde had found the book. He wasn't too sure what they were doing, but it sounded like the two females were telling quiet stories to the shaken young ones.
Above everyone, there was a soft thump that no one heard, followed by a series of practically inaudible creaks.
The green-eyed feral beast glanced about the room it was in. It'd successfully gotten into the run-down church by climbing up a tree behind it, to the roof of a house next door, and jumping from there to a decaying sill. Hearing noises in the room below it, it padded almost silently to the opening in the floor where the stairs were. A furred face with twitching whiskers peered down at the noise-makers.
It was starving and they were defenseless. It could most likely take out at least one of the little ones and find a good hiding-place to eat at.
So it started down the dusty stairs.
The sensation of wrongness was what alerted Theresa to it's presence. The same feeling as she'd had back when she'd first met Ghoul, the one of being watched that prickles the back of the neck, had her slowly turning her head towards the stairs.
Forest green met jade.
"... Je..." she choked softly, no one but the cat noticing her fear.
It was a cat of some sort, of that she was certain. But it was as big as the dogs she normally saw, hunting hounds. It had tawny fur littered with darker spots, tufted ears, a stubby tail, wide, flat paws, and a white belly. It looked angry and hungry, ribs starting to show through the fur.
As it bared it's teeth, snarling, Theresa finally screamed, "Jean!"
The amber-blonde attempted to whip out her bow, but in such close quarters, the beast was on her in a second. Screams ruptured the air, but before more than a scratch could be dealt, the huge feline collapsed. Buried in the juncture where the spinal-cord met the skull was a dragon-hilted dagger. Theresa was pinned under the cat, her cheek bleeding from the superficial scratches dealt. The wailing children were clinging to Meredith's mother, who stood only a short distance away. Jean was frozen in shock near the doorway. The creaking door had been slammed open, the noise lost in the screams and snarls. Huffing and gasping, Ghoul stood in the rectangle of light that was now let in. Behind him stood Mike, Zoë and Lukas.
It was Lukas who broke the almost-silence, murmuring, "Lynxes don't get that big, do they?"
A soft, fearful sob left Theresa's throat, still buried under the now-dead wildcat.
OOOOooooOOOOooooOOOO
A/N: Okay now.
Lynxes don't get very big, but I figure that a hundred years or so of no humans would allow creatures to get bigger and meaner, which is why a huge lynx attacked everyone. A hundred years also allows slight time for evolution to advance more, so maybe bigger lynxes are the norm now. They don't attack humans in our world, but my jumbo-lynxes in this one might if they're starving and desperate like this one.
And I have no clue if any of what I said is two-hundred percent true, so don't go quoting me. I'm not a scientist, I'm a derpy high school student.
A reminder that there will be a two-day time-skip now, bringing us practically straight to Wall Maria! Thank you for reading this far into my story and I look forward to your continued support and feedback! I love seeing all the things you guys have to say about this story!
