Chapter 22
Musa had joined the group and he had seen Snowman's and Mandora's point of view. His trusty battle ax was by his side. Snowman gave him a wink before he commanded Snowmeow to smell for their quarry. Ma-Mutt joined in and they were off following the two animals.
They moved through the Mutant Village and out into the Forest of Enchanted Unicorns, which Mandora noted would be quite ironic if they actually found it there. They moved on after Snowmeow's nose kept plowing through the grass and leaves, ignoring his surroundings. They moved toward the Forest of Gorgons and Manticores, at which point the former Evil Chaser almost laughed. There would be no way it would be that easy.
She was right, of course. Snowmeow kept moving and they exited the forest, onto the beach. Slythe gave Musa a look before cracking,
"Went for a beach vacation?" Musa laughed at his friend's comment. Even Ma-Mutt seemed to chuckle. Snowmeow stopped and sniffed the air. He had a look on his face that Lion-O couldn't place but Snowman could.
"What do you smell Snowmeow?" His old friend asked. The large cat's eyes narrowed and he put his nose into the sand. He snorted and stopped short.
"Has he lost the scent?" Lion-O asked.
"There is something else getting in his way," Snowman said.
"Ma-Mutt, see if you can help out," the King told the faithful former Hell hound. The dog quickly put his nose to the ground and sniffed. He scrunched up his nose. Whatever the scent was, it was pungent for the animal. Ma-Mutt shook his head and moved on. Snowmeow joined him and they went about trying to figure out where the Manticore's scent had gone to.
"Maybe we need to move back toward the forest. See if they can pick it up from there again," Mandora suggested.
"Yes. This seems to be a dead end," Lion-O agreed. They backtracked to the forest and again the two animals picked up the Manticore's scent. Ma-Mutt headed back toward the beach, but Snowmeow headed towards the Hunting Plains instead this time. Lion-O called Ma-Mutt to follow the large cat. The two started working their way into the large grassland field.
"The grass offers a good hiding place. Keep your heads on a swivel," Mandora told the group. She was right as the height of the grass was about five feet tall. It would lead to anything crouching in the grass somewhere to hide.
"I've seen this movie – it doesn't end well," Slythe gave her a look.
"We've probably seen the same movie then," she gave him a wink, trying to keep it light, despite the growing worry in the group. Snowmeow stopped and sniffed the air. Ma-Mutt howled. It was one that would have woken the dead if they had been buried there. Lion-O looked at Snowman. He'd never heard that noise from his dog.
"He's onto something," Musa said. That's when Ma-Mutt started running. Snowmeow gave chase and the group followed as quickly as they could.
Meanwhile, back at the Lair, Lea was calling down to the Med Bay. Pumyra picked up the phone and answered,
"Med Bay."
"Something is wrong. I need you," she said. The puma dropped the phone, shouted at Tygra, and hauled herself out of the Med Bay running at full speed down the hallway. She didn't even notice that Panthro came flying out of the hangar and joined her.
They practically entered the private quarters of Lea and Panthro at nearly the same time. Pumyra reached the right bedside and immediately took the lioness's vitals. They were good, though her pulse was a little quicker than the puma would have liked.
"What's wrong?" Pumyra asked as she caught her breath.
"Contractions. They're way too early," Lea was trying to calm her breathing. It was quite possible that the contractions were false. Given the lioness's age that wouldn't be unusual. The problem was, if they were real contractions, it would not be good for mother or baby.
"Babe, you're going to be fine," Panthro was on the left bedside, and he took her hand in his.
"We need to get you back to the Med Bay to run some tests," Pumyra told her.
"I can't go there. You've got sick people in there," Lea gave the puma a look like the medical woman was insane.
"Everything has been scrubbed and cleaned. The sick people are quarantined and you can't actually get what they have," Pumyra reassured her.
"Coming in!" Tygra and Refik were wheeling a gurney. Carefully the three cats and monkian got Lea out of bed and onto the gurney. Panthro was trying to hide his concern, but the three medical staff knew that he wasn't doing a good job of it. They rushed back down the hall toward the Med Bay, hoping their friend and her baby weren't in major trouble.
To Be Continued…