Chapter 7

New characters introduced in chapter 7 are:

Killer of Many

Bobcat, Lynx Rufus Rufus, gray brown spotted coat with a white underbelly, whiskered face with black tufted pointed ears, 35” long including a stubby 6” tail, 20” high at the shoulder, weighing 27 pounds

Peace, Harmony, Happiness, and Trouble

Tiger’s kittens, striped reddish brown and white with large heads and short tails.

William

Gus and Zoe’s son, 7 pounds 8 ounces at birth, brown hair, gray eyes.

Gus arrived back at the ranch house shortly after Richard got off the phone with the sheriff.

“The sheriff is sending some people out. They’ll be here shortly,” Richard told Gus. “Were they the missing diapers?”

“Yes, they’re our brand,” Gus said, as he started to pace back and forth.

Tiger had curled up over in the corner and appeared to be asleep. Appearances were deceiving however, as her mind was searching for some sign of Zoe. It was not Zoe’s mind that she found in her search, though. The mind that she contacted was a stranger to her. It was filled with hunger and longing plus thoughts of long hunts and hot blood filled it.

“Who are you?” Tiger asked in surprise.

The mind was startled. Who had spoken to it? It had never had another speak to it in its life.

“Where are you? What are you?” It demanded, with a snarl.

“I am Tiger,” she replied. “Who are you?”

“I am Killer of Many. What are you doing in my territory? How can you speak to me? Where are you hiding?” It demanded, as it searched with its mind.

“I am at the ranch of the two legs with my friend. His mate and cubs have been stolen,” Tiger answered.

“You stay with the two legs?” he asked in wonder.

“Yes, I have always been with the two legs. My friend takes care of me. I don’t have to hunt unless I want to. I always have plenty to eat,” Tiger told the other, realizing that he had to constantly hunt to eat.

“The two legs don’t chase you or use the noisy thing to hurt you?” he asked, unbelieving.

“No, my two legs only uses the noisy thing to kill the large grass eaters. What are you doing here?” Tiger finally asked.

“There are two kittens near here. I have sensed them for some time now and came to see what they were. They are inside one of the large two legs trees,” Killer told Tiger.

“Can I look through your eyes?” Tiger asked.

“How could you do that?” he demanded.

“Like this,” Tiger said as she sent a picture of the inside of the ranch house and the men there. Killer instantly jumped in shock. His back went up and his fur expanded as he hissed.

“How did the two legs get here?” he demanded.

“The two legs aren’t there. They’re here with me. You are seeing what I see. I want to look through your eyes to see where you are. Those are my two legs kittens that were stolen that you are hearing,” Tiger explained.

“All right, if you know how to do that, go ahead,” Killer said.

Tiger looked through his eyes and saw the rundown house and the road near it.

“Can you get close to the two legs tree and see inside it?” she asked.

“I can get near it, but I don’t know about seeing inside it,” Killer answered.

He crept forward and used the uneven ground and what cover was available to get close to the house. He couldn’t, however, find anyway to look inside. All of the windows were several feet off the ground and there was no way for him to get high enough to look in.

“The kittens are making a lot of noise,” he told Tiger.

“Yes, I can hear them through your ears. Can you lay close to the tree and listen for a while?” Tiger asked.

“Perhaps,” Killer said. “I need to continue my hunt soon. It has been two dark times since I have eaten.”

“If you do this for me, I’ll have my two legs bring you fresh bloody meat from one of the large grass eaters,” Tiger told him.

“That would be good,” Killer acknowledged as he crept closer to the building. He soon found a place where he could slip under the building and conceal himself while he listened.

“If you don’t shut them brats up, I’ll kill them now,” Tiger heard a man’s voice say, suddenly.

“Well, they’re probably hungry,” a female voice answered, “and wet too. I’m going to need to change them. We don’t have any diapers, though.”

“Leave ‘em naked then,” the male voice said.

“I’ll see if they can eat some soup. We don’t have anything else that they could eat,” the female voice said.

“Just keep ‘em quiet,” the man replied.

The noise from the twins subsided after that.

“Can you keep watch there for a time?” Tiger asked Killer.

“Yes, if it’s not too long,” he responded.

“I’ll come with my two legs, soon,” Tiger assured him.

Tiger got up in the corner of the ranch-house living room and stretched like cats do. She had already adjusted her reproduction system. Killer was a male that she definitely wanted to meet. She headed for the door to the kitchen. When she was out of the room, she called to Gus, who was still pacing.

“Gus, I was looking for Zoe. I still haven’t found her, but I found another. He had heard the twins also and went to investigate, and he is there, now.”

“Who is this? Is it someone like us?” Gus asked, startled and stopped in mid pace.

“He’s somewhat like me,” Tiger said. “He thinks of himself as ‘Killer of Many’, and he is under the house now listening. He couldn’t see in, as the windows are too high. So far there appear to be only two people there: a man and a woman, also the man has threatened to kill the babies!” Tiger told him.

“Where is the house?” Gus demanded.

“It is near the road, but I’m not sure of the direction. Killer doesn’t come too close to the ranch or to town, so I would say away from both. I also promised him food,” Tiger said.

“Food we can do, but I’ll need a vehicle, first. Let me talk to Richard and see what I can arrange. If necessary, we’ll steal a vehicle. Meat, I’ll get from the processing plant. How much?”

“A good size roast at least,” Tiger said. “There will be two of us, and you may need to cut it. I don’t think he’s into sharing,” Tiger answered. “I’ll be outside.”

Gus turned to Richard when he had recovered.

“Richard, I can’t just sit here and do nothing. Can I borrow a vehicle? I want to go looking for Zoe,” he said.

“Gus, we have no idea where she could be. You would only be wasting your time.”

“Richard, I’m not getting anything done here. Let me at least feel like I’m doing something,” Gus pleaded.

Richard could see that Gus was seriously upset, and he realized that he himself would be out looking if it were his wife that was missing.

“All right, Gus. Take one of the jeeps and a radio. If you find anything, call in. If I hear anything, I’ll call you,” Richard said, as he gave Gus the keys to the vehicle and a radio.

Gus went out through the kitchen, where he collected two large pieces of aluminum foil. He also stopped to pick up the short spear that he had made for Richard from the den. These all went into the vehicle along with Zoe’s claws. Next he went to the processing plant where he retrieved two six pound pieces of meat from the fresh kill that was being processed. It had just recently been brought in.

At the vehicle, he wrapped the meat securely in the aluminum foil and then tied them to the vehicle inside the open engine compartment.

“What are you doing?” Tiger asked.

“Has your friend ever had cooked meat?” Gus asked.

“I would doubt it. Mostly he has had just fresh killed and bloody meat. Why?” she asked.

“These two pieces of meat will get some cooking on the way to where ever he is. One is for you and Killer. The other is for Zoe when we find her, as she’ll probably need it. The girls can suck on a little of it too,” Gus told her as he closed the hood.

When they got to the main road, Gus turned right, away from town, as George had, and proceeded down the road at a substantially slower pace than George had. Consequently, it was forty-five minutes before they were near the rundown house. They hadn’t seen any traffic to speak of or any other houses.

“The babies are a lot closer now, Gus,” Tiger told him as they neared the house on the other side of the road.

“All right, I’ll drive down the road past them a ways and then come back very quietly,” Gus told her.

After turning around, Gus returned to within a hundred yards of the house before he pulled the vehicle off the road and stopped.

“Where is your friend?” he asked.

“I’ll call him. He may not want to come too near you,” Tiger told him.

“All right, I can understand that. Try to find out how the girls are if you can. Then I’m going to sneak up close and transport inside. See if he can tell us where the man is, so I can deal with him first,” Gus asked.

A few seconds later, Tiger answered.

“The man is in the front room. The woman and the girls are in the back. The girls are asleep, apparently.”

“Does your friend want to move before I get too close?” Gus asked.

“No, he’s fine where he is for now,” Tiger answered.

Gus slipped up to the house as quietly as he could. He had the short spear in his right hand and one of Zoe’s claws in his belt. He also had his own claws out as he gripped the spear, and he turned all of his systems to maximum just before he vanished.

Gus appeared suddenly in the living room of the old house, and he didn’t hesitate an instant, as the man there had a pistol in his hand as he sat there on the sofa. Gus thrust the spear through the man, released the shaft and ripped out his throat with his own built-in two and-a-half inch claws. The man never knew what hit him or made a sound, as the gun tumbled from his dead hand.

Next Gus moved quickly to the bedroom. The woman there was still asleep and unaware of him. The babies were awake, however, as Tiger was standing between them. A male bobcat was sitting at the head of the bed watching the woman, who hadn’t stirred yet.

Gus removed the dagger from his belt, reversed it and hit the woman in the head with the large brass ball on the end of the handle. He then proceeded to tear strips from the sheet on the bed and tied the woman up, and he put a blindfold on her, also.

“Daddy,” both girls said with a giggle and then “Tig”, as they reached out to pet Tiger who purred nicely for them.

Killer was still at the head of the bed and looked distinctly uncomfortable.

“How did we get here?” he demanded, indignantly.

“I transported us,” Tiger answered between purrs.

“How did you do that?” Killer demanded.

“I’ll show you over the meat,” she told him.

“Yes, meat. Where is it?”

“It’s in the two leg thing that goes fast,” Tiger told him.

They were interrupted by Gus who had picked up the girls.

“I need to make some diapers. Off of the bed, Tiger! I’ll get the meat when the girls are taken care of,” he told them.

Gus ripped up the sheet to make diapers and created two pins to hold them together out of bobby pins the woman had there.

They were all half way back to the vehicle when Tiger shouted in Gus’s mind.

“It’s Zoe. I’m picking up her signal again.”

Gus had been so intent on taking care of the girls that he had not noticed that Zoe’s old familiar signal was back in his head. He stopped in mid step and mentally shouted “ZOE”.

I had been lying in the cold closet for some little time. My head eventually started to feel better. Then, suddenly, I heard the shout “ZOE.” It was Gus. I would know him anywhere.

“Gus,” I shouted, hear hysteria, “the babies. You must find the babies. Don’t worry about me. Find the babies. Hank has threatened to kill them.”

“Zoe, calm down. I have the babies here, one in each arm. They’re fine, and I’ve taken care of the people that had them,” Gus assured me. “Where are you?”

“I’m in a closet. I don’t know where it is,” I said, relieved that the girls at least were safe. “I’m naked and my hands are handcuffed behind me.”

“We’ll find you somehow,” Gus told me. “Hold on.”

“How are we going to find her, Tiger?” Gus asked.

“She must be in a house, Gus,” Tiger replied. Then she turned to Killer.

“Is there another two leg tree near here?” she asked.

“There is one about a day’s travel from here,” Killer replied.

“Can you picture it in your mind,” Tiger asked.

“Yes, I have been there many times. The two legs seldom stay there anymore. Small creatures still come there, attracted by the smells still there, and it’s easy to catch the small creatures to eat.”

“Picture it in your mind from your favorite hiding place,” Tiger told him.

Killer pictured the old rundown shack in his mind and almost instantly, he and Tiger were there. Killer was extremely shocked to see the building a reality before him.

“Again, I will show you how this is done over the meat. Did you smell it in the two legs fast moving thing,” Tiger asked.

“Was that meat that I smelled?” he asked.

“Yes, hot bloody meat from a fresh kill, and we’ll have it soon, but first I must aid my sister two legs. She is the mother of the kittens.”

“The large two legs - is he her mate?” Killer asked.

“Yes, they are mates,”

“He didn’t use the noisy thing to stop the other male.”

“No, he is a maker of claws, and has claws of his own as does his mate. Let me go to my sister now. You wait here for us,” Tiger told him.

It was only a few seconds later that I heard Tiger calling my name.

“Zoe ... Zoe where are you?”

“I’m here Tiger,” I said. Seconds later she appeared in the closet.

“You smell of sex,” Tiger said, first thing.

“Yes, those men had their way with me,” I said. “They threatened the girls if I didn’t do as they wanted.”

“We need to get you out of here,” Tiger told me.

“The handcuffs,” I said, “can you unlock them?”

“Let me see them, turn some,” she told me. In a few seconds the cuffs loosened and fell off.

“You must teach me how to do that,” I told her.

“Yes, some time. Let’s go.” She linked minds with me and we were quickly outside. It was cold and I increased the setting on my heater.

“Where’s Gus?” I asked.

“He’s still at the other house with the babies.”

Tiger linked minds with the other cat that was there and with me and then we were at the other house.

“Mommy ... Mommy,” was the first thing I heard, and then Gus was shoving the babies in my arms and holding all of us tightly in his long arms. I was soo glad to see him and the babies.

“Are you all right?” he asked, concerned.

“No, but I will be - soon. Do you have anything to eat?” I asked. “I’ve been running this heater for a while.”

“Yes, let me open the hood of the vehicle. I have some nice fresh buffalo in there, hot, bloody, and ready to eat,” Gus told me.

He got the meat out. The smell was terrific. It was hot from the engine and the smelled of fresh hot blood and meat juices. Tiger and her friend both had their noses up in the air at the smell, also.

Gus opened the first piece, cut it in two and placed it on the ground for Tiger and her friend. The male instantly grabbed the larger piece and took off about ten feet to devour it. Tiger picked up her piece and pranced over to join him. She ate much more sedately than she usually does.

Gus opened the second piece and started cutting off pieces of the meat for me. He also cut off some very small pieces and gave them to the girls. They instantly went into their mouths - like everything does. They sucked on it for a while, not quite having mastered the art of chewing yet.

I gobbled down almost half of the roast before I started to think, and then I got mad. How dare that asshole Hank do this. Soon I was really pissed, and decided I needed get evne with him. I ate a little more while I thought about it.

“Tiger, can you get me back to that other place?” I asked.

“Why would you want to do that?” she asked.

“I want to pay those bastards back. Nobody threatens my babies, rapes me, and gets away with it. The wolf in me demands payback.” It was then that I remembered hearing someone saying that ‘payback was a real motherfucker’.

“Yes, I can get you back there. When do you want to go?” Tiger asked.

“Very soon, before I’m missed, and I’ll tear them limb from limb. Besides, that’s where our car is and my clothes, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let them have either of them.”