See How She Runs by Matthew Costello

Author:Matthew Costello [Costello, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller, Suspense
Published: 2020-01-17T16:00:00+00:00

24

The cougar raised his head. A sudden flurry sent icy specks biting into his eyes. He blinked and turned away, stung.

Then, when the gust faded, he turned his head back and sniffed the air.

But there was nothing familiar here. Nothing at all. There were many scents, but none that told the cat that it was someplace that it had been before.

The cougar took a step on the crunchy snow. Another step, and no matter how lightly he trod, each step made a crunching noise, a warning sound so loud it disturbed him.

And every step brought pain.

The pain came from his right rear leg. There was something there that hurt him. It wasn’t so bad now, but if he were to run, or leap, the cougar remembered how bad that felt.

He stopped and licked the spot. But there was nothing there to lick. The blood was crusted and dry. His tongue didn’t soothe him. Something was below, buried in the meaty haunch of his leg.

He licked again. It did nothing.

There was a sound. The cougar turned and looked forward. It was a deep, rumbling sound. And down there, through the trees, where there was no snow, no brush, no trees, something was moving fast. Something large, twisting left and right, roaring, smoky puffs trailing from behind.

After it was gone, the cougar sniffed the air, and the smell stung his nostrils.

A strange smell. A new smell.

He was wandering, drifting.

Ever since…

He heard something when it happened. A loud cracking sound. Then there was the sharp pain—for the first time. Something bit into his leg. But when the cougar howled and spun around, talons out, there was nothing there, just this pain, growing, and red, the color of a kill, staining the snow.

The cougar had glanced around, looking for something to attack. A small bluish cloud hung near a stand of trees.

That’s when his leg was hurt.

He had dashed away then, feeling the wound tearing, and something deep inside digging at him, running, leaving a bright red trail.

Now the wound was covered.

There was nothing to lick.

And it hurt so much to walk. To run was impossible.

The cougar was hungry. There were no scents here to help him, no familiar trails to follow, no line of hoofprints leading to a large herd of the animals with sleek brown coats and dark eyes that froze with terror when he leaped out.

He couldn’t find them.

He wandered.

Moving lower, each step jabbing at his back leg. Hungry, looking for the trails that were gone. Hungrier, snorting at the air, facing into the snowy spray.

And the hunger only added to his misery.

The teacher was nice. She was pretty and she smiled a lot and she was great at reading a story, better even than Mom.

Emma liked her new teacher. And the children, though they didn’t even know her, they were nice too. One girl was real nice, Lela—it was a funny name. Lela shared her Play-Doh with Emma, and asked Emma if she wanted to be friends.

“Sure,” Emma said. “We can be friends.

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