Lovely Creation - Chapter 4 Birds

Kitty woke in the night to a scratching sound. She had a flashback to the attack and curled into as small of a ball as possible, envisioning a giant claw or beak coming at her any moment.

The scratching continued, and with nothing happening, no monster making itself apparent, she finally uncurled herself and peeked out of her hole.

The wind had picked up in the night, and clouds had obscured the moon. She could barely make out the branch she like to lay on in the dark. The scratching continued, and as her eyes adjusted, she realized the branches were rubbing together.

Tilting her head to the side, she watched in amazement as the leaves danced in the wind gusts. Remembering the wind that had knocked her out of the tree, she remained secure in her new home.

Suddenly, a flash of light blinded her, and she ducked back inside, covering her eyes and rolling in agony. She was going to be blind! Her eyes had just been seared! She was certain she would never be able to see again!

A deep rumble filled the air, and she stopped her rolling as the whole tree seemed to vibrate.

Breathing deep, her eyes grew wide, and she began to shake in terror. The whole tree started to creak as the wind became stronger. The branches began to whip in the air, and she could see the leaves being torn off.

Whimpering, she crawled to the back of the hole and cowered during the storm’s wrath. It lasted all night, finally dying down as dawn arrived. Kitty was so exhausted from her fear the whole night, that she fell into a deep sleep with the calm of day.

Waking briefly to voices outside, she fell back to sleep very quickly. Besides, she didn’t know what experiment even meant.

When she finally woke, Kitty stretched luxuriously. Her stomach informed her of the lateness of the hour, and she poked her head outside to investigate her surroundings.

The area looked trashed from the storm. Branches were strewn all over the place and half the leaves had been ripped off all the surrounding trees. She hesitated stepping outside on her branch, as she wasn’t sure the remaining leaves would block the view of big birds. A rumble from her stomach convinced her that there were no big birds around, and she stepped outside to see around better.

The sun was setting, and she could see that the little birds she had been watching the day before were settling down to sleep. Several were only a few branches up from her. Settling down on her branch to watch them, a thought began to form in her head.

Momma had brought her birds to eat before. They had been little, probably the same size as those were. Could she sneak up on them while they slept and catch one? She mulled the thought over and scanned the area, while she waited for the birds to fall asleep.

She figured, she could try and catch one, and if she failed, there were plenty of tasty bugs. But a bird was much bigger, and it would fill her stomach up faster.

Sounds in the distance, caught her attention, and she turned a little to get a better view of what was happening. It looked like two of those tall creatures, who had been pounding the posts into the ground the other day, were talking by a tree. Spying the bramble bush at it’s base, she recognized it as her old home.

“We found a specimen, probably the one we were looking for, but until we can run some tests back at the lab, we can’t be sure.”

“I told you folks, this is my land, and I won’t have you trespassing on it. If you think you have what you needed, then good. Get off my land! If I catch any of you here again, I’ll call the law.”

“Sir, I assure you, that won’t be necessary! I can call you as soon as we know if this is our specimen or not.”

“Don’t bother. Get going or I’ll introduce you to my twelve gauge!”

“Alright! Alright! I’m going!”

“And don’t be coming back!”

Kitty watched as they made their way back past her tree and towards the field. They were soon out of her sight. She had no idea what kind of creature they were, but it was the first time she had found someone who could talk. Obviously, this area was claimed by the one tall creature with red fur on its head, and the brown creature was not supposed to be there. She made a mental note to stay hidden from the one with red fur so that it didn’t get mad at her for living there. It was far too big for her to win this area from, so she would have to get really good at sneaking.

Would she ever get big enough to win this area, or would she always have to hide? The thought intrigued her, and she mulled it over for all of five minutes. Then her stomach growled again.

Glancing up, she decided it was dark enough to see if the birds were sleeping.

Moving slowly, she watched the birds carefully. Every time one shifted, she froze. She couldn’t tell if they were asleep or watching her in amusement. Her dark form made it up the trunk of the tree to the branch they were sleeping on. With her tail waving like mad, she began to inch along the branch.

The birds startled and went to fly away, so Kitty jumped at them, swinging her claws crazily back and forth, trying to grab the nearest one. Not only did she miss, she also missed the branch coming down.

The ground was coming at her at an alarming rate, and she opened her wings instinctively. Suddenly, she was swooping through the air. A tree came flying at her, or was she flying at it?

CRASH!

Kitty clung to the branch she had crashed into, her body quivering in fear and adrenaline. Flapping her wings, she was able to get settled onto the branch, where she crouched long enough to catch her breath and look around.

A large bird, unlike any she had ever seen before was right in front of her, swooping at her with huge open talons.

Screaming in a shrill panic, she jumped up on her back legs and opened her wings wide. The bird veered to the side, uncertainty registering in its scramble to escape. Her panic turned to fury, and Kitty decided to do something that was probably very stupid. As the bird tried to turn to flee, she ran along the branch and jumped on it, sinking her teeth and claws deep into its back.

It shook her off, and she was tumbling towards the ground again. This time, she was able to slow her descent with her wings, instead of shooting off and hitting a tree. Landing softly in the thick grass, she watched as the bird started to climb laboriously back into the sky.

Something was wrong though. She watched apprehensively, as its wings seemed to be losing power, and it landed in a heap on the ground fifteen feet in front of her.

She may have had a moment of stupid, when attacking it, but that moment was long gone. All she wanted to do was hunt some tasty bugs and return to her little hole in the tree.

The big bird tried to flap its wings a couple more times, but then began to scramble around on the ground in circles. After a few more minutes, it stopped moving all together.

Kitty watched it, wondering if it was playing some game to try and trick her. When several more minutes passed and it was most definitely not moving, she began to hesitantly slink towards it.

Was it really dead? Had she killed it with just a bite? Or was it tricking her like her sisters did sometimes?

The closer she got to it, the more certain she was that it was dead. Foam had spilled out of its sharp beak, and there was a tinge of blood in the air. The eyes were the same eyes of the dead bird that killed her family.

Reaching out, she touched it, quickly drawing back in case it attacked, but it was truly dead. Sitting up, she looked at it curiously, then she wondered if she could eat it.