Bravery

It was morning, the birds were singing, the sun was shining, I was full for the first time in a month and I was slowly wakening, curled up beneath a tree. A stick snapped beneath a booted foot and I jolted awake, straining to hear where the sound had come from. The bushes to my left rustled and I shot up the nearest tree. Yes I'm a scaredy-cat but I'm a live scaredy-cat. I crouched in the braches, looking down at the clearing and just waiting for something to appear.

Suddenly I realised my backpack was lying unattended by a tree and I groaned. That was bad. That was very bad, if the Erasers knew I was around they'd blanket the whole area and I'd never be able to sneak down. A kid walked into the clearing, well I say kid, he was probably a few years older than me, maybe as much as sixteen but I've never seen a child Eraser so I relaxed slightly, maybe if I stayed quiet he would just wander off and if I was very lucky he may even miss my backpack.

Not a chance, my luck ran out a month ago anyway. I saw him frown as he spotted my rucksack and look around. I didn't move, I hardly breathed. What would I do if he saw me; maybe I was high enough that he'd just mistake me for a regular person.

"Hello up there!" he yelled and I jumped and grabbed my tail, stuffing it into my shirt in an attempt to look more normal. Okay so I just had to get him to go away, no problem, hopefully he couldn't tell how weird I was from down there.

"You okay?" he asked, well nothing for it now.

"Yes!" I called back, hoping that my voice still at least sounded human and I didn't growl too much.

"You sure?" he asked, apparently not noticing that I was talking through a muzzle. "There are big cat tracks all over this place and there's a deer carcass back there." He pointed over his shoulder and I groaned again, I so should have been more discrete.

"Oh, is that why you're up there?" he said sudden realisation spreading across his face.

"No I…" I began and desperately tried to come up with a reason I might be up a tree at seven in the morning. "Like. Climbing. Trees…?" I said petering out. As you can see I failed miserably. What the hell was wrong with me? I get crossed with a tiger and suddenly lose the ability to talk. Actually that's not that surprising; but still annoying.

"Like climbing trees," he echoed sceptically. "You're stuck aren't you?"

"No!"

"It's nothing to be ashamed of; lots of people are scared of heights."

"I'm not scared!" I protested. My strategy of getting him to go away quietly was failing spectacularly but at least it couldn't get any worse.

"Besides," he continued. "If you were hiding from that cat then you should know that they can easily climb trees." You know, I may well have known that.

"Actually," he said, stepping closer to the tree and running a hand down it. "It looks like something has climbed this tree." I winced, regretting digging in my claws so deep. That was it; the game was up, unless of course there was some massive distraction.

An Eraser walked into the clearing beneath the tree. Fate hates me, that's it isn't it? And I'm pretty sure I said I couldn't get any worse a few moments ago as well.

"What's going on here lad?" the Eraser asked walking up to the kid, he was trying to sound placating but it didn't fool me, I could hear the growled undertone.

"Oh, just some crazy girl stuck in a tree," the kid muttered to the Eraser. The Eraser looked up, looking right at and grinned viciously.

"Any idea who she is?" the Eraser asked pulling out a gun from a holster at his waist. I leapt to my feet, digging in my claws to keep my balance, I could reach some of the other trees from here if I jumped or maybe I could hide behind the trunk and make a dash for the ground, either way I was not dieing huddled in a tree. It never occurred to me to warn the kid.

"Not a clue," the kid said resignedly, oblivious to the Eraser raising a gun to his head. "I just found her like this."

The Eraser cocked the gun and I leapt out of the tree aiming right at him. It was only twenty five feet or so, I'd live, cats just from ceiling height and are just fine. It was only five times my height and, oh yeah, I wasn't totally a cat. The kid's eyes widened in horror as I fell, baring my fangs and brandeshing my claws and the Eraser desperately tried to aim the gun at before I hit. I landed with a paw on each of his shoulders and he crumpled, the gun thundered and a blinding pain seared through my leg.

We hit the ground hard and dug my hind claws into his chest to stay on top of him. I tried not to yell in pain, every join screamed from the jolt of landing and my leg was total agony. The Eraser scrabbled for his gun lying slightly to one side, while morphing and showing his own overlarge fangs to match mine. Wrong move, I ripped his throat out with one swipe of my paw.

He gasped, eyes widening in shock, trying to gasp a breath through something that wasn't there. I watched him die; he was actually going to shoot that kid simply because he'd talked to me. Despicable creatures.

I heard the gun cock and I looked round slowly to see the kid pointing it at me, eyes wild.

"Don't move," he said, looking panicky. "What ever you are, don't move."

"He was going to shoot you," I told him darkly. "Why else did he have the gun already out." I didn't add the obvious, to shoot me. He probably figured out that out for himself. Confusion flittered across his face and his eyes darted to the Eraser who was slowly changing to half wolf and half man.

"Who the hell are you people?" he asked, his voice cracking. The gun shook in his hand and I prayed he'd put the safety on.

"Look calm down and put the gun down," I said uneasily, trying to put weight on my leg and gasping when it screamed in pain. Actually that probably just gave him a great view of my teeth, but that couldn't be helped. "There are going to be more of those coming soon and I assume you don't want to be here when they get here."

Confusion and fear flashed across his face again. "He was really going to kill me?" he asked with a bit more composure.

"Well, yeah."

"Okay." He put the gun and then turned round, probably to run like heck. I shifted off the Eraser, trying not to put weight on my foot and suddenly realised the kid was shouldering my rucksack.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I began but then he cut me off by putting his shoulder under my arm and lifting me to my feet.

"Like you said," he said, pulling me back the way he had come. "There will be more coming, let's get out of here."

"You're helping me?" I asked bewildered as we hobbled off into the forest as fast as we could, if I was him I'd be running for my life by now.

"Don't make me regret it," he grunted. "Good grief, how much do you weigh." I didn't answer that; for one, it's not polite to ask and two, I didn't have a clue.

I heard heavy footfalls in the distance, not heading for us but it was only a matter of time before they started searching. Erasers without windpipes tend to spark curiosity. I speed up, my leg was agony and I could swear I could feel the bullet shifting around in my leg. I was almost certain it was broken but where the hell do I go for first aid, A and E or a vet?

I heard the bushes rustle behind us, a lot of Erasers coming straight for us. Shit, how did they know which way we'd gone? I looked back and swore for real, a thin trail of blood lead from my leg all the way back the way we'd come.

"What, what is it?" the kid asked looking round, I have no idea how he could of missed the sound of the Erasers getting very close then again my hearing had improved a lot.

"They're coming," I said with a growl. I turned and tired to stand and had to drop into a crouch when my leg screamed. "Go," I told him, I wasn't going to let the Erasers kill him. "Just run and don't stop."

"But," he began.

"Go!" I roared. He hesitated a moment then bolted. I breathed deeply; well at least I'd die with a clean conscience. My leg throbbed. So this was how it was going to end, a sitting duck, actually, more a crouching tiger. I bared my claws, well if I was going down I was going to take a few of them with me. Then suddenly the bullet popped out of my leg.

I looked at it in surprise and my hand shot to my leg where I literally felt the skin knitting under my fingers. What the hell was going on? Some kind of ultra fast healing; well what ever it was it was damn useful.

An Eraser burst out of the bushes, took one look at me crouching on the floor clasping a blooded leg, grinned evilly and charged, morphing slightly a baring his claws. I didn't move, just shifted my weight slightly and lashed my tail behind me. I wonder if he knew that was a warning sign.

He leapt at me, I ducked under him planting my hands on his chest and throwing over my head. He hit the ground and slid several feet finally coming to rest against a tree. I whipped round, ran over and hit him as hard as I could on the back of the head as he tried to look up. Something went crack and he slumped back into the dirt, unconscious.

I heard another running towards me, just about to come through a bush. I started running at the sound and, without even looking pounced. The Eraser came through the bush and I hit him in the chest, swiping at him with a paw and bearing him to the ground.

We crashed to the ground and I clung on desperately with my claws, took his throat in my jaws and before he could blink, tore. Three more Erasers burst into the clearing, my head whipped round and I growled, spitting out a lump of Eraser flesh. It turns out there are things that make even an Eraser balk because they looked in horror at me for half a second and in that half second I struck.

I tore into the Erasers, hitting one across the face with bared claws, darting around a hastily aimed punch, smashing my fist in the side of one's head and he dropped like a rock then kicked out at another, tearing a deep gouge in his stomach. The first Eraser, the one who had his hand clutched over a gaping wound grabbed my arm and tried to pull me close. My eyes narrowed and I sunk my claws deep into his arm. He didn't let go, I growled and dug my claws in deeper. He snarled back and something hit me over the back of the head, I saw stars and dropped to my knees stunned; not loosening my death grip on the Erasers arm.

"Get this bloody thing off me!" he yelled at his partner and I, blinked rapidly, trying to clear my swimming vision. This would have been a great time for some supper healing to kick in but nothing happened, I would just have to do it on my own. I wrenched my arm out of his grip and bit deeply into his leg, still watching the world through a haze. He yelled in pain and shock, and I pulled his legs out from under him, letting go just before my jaw was ripped from my mouth and then knocked him out with a solid punch to the temple.

I rounded on the last Eraser growling, he shifted his weight slightly.

"I suppose you think," he began but I ignored him and struck, slicing through his arm with one hand and then swiping his across the face with the other. He staggered backwards and I smashed him round the head with a closed fist and watched him collapse growling.

I watched him for a second but he didn't get back up, none of them did. I breathed deeply and checked out the damage, nothing much, there was an egg forming on the back of my head but other than that I was fine. Not bad for someone who'd just been shot.

I set off in the direction that kid went, he was bound to be legging it for home and if it was a town I might just be able to get directions. Maybe even finally start on making my way home.