The Revenge Of The Claws - PART 7

"You've got no reason to be alarmed", Robert continued. "I was 11 years old when I first I held a pistol in my hand. There was an aggressive jackal in the forest, my father told me to shoot it. Ever since then, people have been calling - asking me to kill dangerous animals."

"Ever been injured?" O'Morris asked.

"Some slight wounds here and there. I've got a scar in the cheek, it was a panther."

"My son, what do you know about this....virus?" Father Lane whispered.

"Not much", Robert unpretentiously admitted. "It makes animals and humans crazy. 10 years ago, I was paid to protect a family in Venezuela. They knew it was a wild cat near the house. When you've seen such a cat near by... The jaw is full of blood and froth..."

They heard the sound. Scratching and unpleasant, something like scraping one's nail at the chalk board. They saw something, nobody knew what it was but Robert firmly maintained that it resembled a bloody claw.

"Help! It's outside!!" O'Morris screamed.

Father Lane remained calm. Robert held the pistol straight in front of him.

"Come here", he mumbled.

A soft creak were heard. At first, they only saw a bloody paw. But in a little while, the black cat appeared. The eyes shone in a terrifying way. The mouth was wide open and a mixed sludge of blood and froth spurted out. The cat fiercely hissed.

Robert fumbled for the pistol, but it was beyond reach.

"Shoot!" he screamed to O'Morris, who stood behind the couch. "Take the pistol!"

"Hell Mary...." Father Lane chanted.

O'Morris trembled. He saw Robert's face slowly disappear into the mouth of the cat. Father Lane crossed himself and grabbed the gun. O'Morris laid on the floor, uttering whimpering sounds. The shot of Father Lane hit the cat in the stomach. It was bawling with pain but still rushed about. Father Lane shot again. This time, the shot hit in the forehead. The cat collapsed, a lifeless bloody mass.

Father Lane stared at the headless body of Robert.

"We must bring him out", he said to O'Morris. "Burn the remnants."

They watched the flames consume the black cat.

THE END

The Revenge Of The Claws - PART 6

The next day, Robert once again paid a visit to father Lane. The priest had arranged a dinner party. Robert was served both bread and soup, but hardly touched the food.

"My son, my son - your troubles won't diminish just because you're not eating. No matter if they're worldly or spiritual."

Robert nodded and obediently cut up a piece of bread for himself.

"This cat", said Theresa. "Tell me about it."

Father Lane gazed upon his maid.

"Do you remember a girl named Nancy Sanderson?"

"Nancy - yes, I remember her", Theresa whispered.

"We believe that we've found out her cause of death", said Robert. "She was attacked by that cat, the one that everybody's talking about. It's a female, I'm sure of that. She recently killed Mary Anne Ricster. And Roselyn Tex."

Theresa made the sign of the cross.

"Its natural habitat must be in the forest. Let's go there!"

Robert tried to sound persuasive.

"When?" O'Morris asked.

"In the evening, perhaps even at night. My cousin has a cabin not far away from here. He's gone away for a month, I'm sure we can stay the night."

"Are you going to kill it with your mother's dishcloth?" O'Morris teased.

"I'm going to bring a pistol. I would appreciate your company, I've already persuaded father Lane."

No sooner said than done. The following evening, they plodded through the forest.

"My cope are getting snowy", father Lane complained.

"You should have taken a jacket", O'Morris muttered.

"We're there!"

Inside the cabin, O'Morris was busy making a fire. Father Lane read aloud from the catechism while Robert charged the pistol.

"Nice", O'Morris lauded. "How much did you pay for it?"

"You don't wanna know. Put it this way: I made two piles of my wages. I bought the pistol with the first one, I gave the other to my mother."

The Revenge Of The Claws - PART 5

The cat felt how the froth began to trickle down the jaw. She pattered up to the woman and observed her face. The cat opened its mouth and bit the woman's cheek. The following roar made the cat arch its back. She slowly bit off the nails and enjoyed the crunching sound. She swallowed selected pieces of the ear and tore off a large part of the throat.

O'Morris was a very experienced pathologist. He inquired about the most important details - with a handkerchief in one hand and a bottle of perfume in the other.

"I left Roselyn 8.00", a crying woman told him. "At that time, she was still asleep. And now..."

"So you're saying that you haven't been threatened in some way?"
"No, never" the woman sobbed.

"Parts of the forehead are worn away", O' Morris mumbled. "She has no nails and no throat. A few pieces of the ears are extant."

"It may be a murderer who is obsessed with specific body parts", the assistant added.

"When I look at this, I get the feeling that it wasn't a human killer. It was an animal, an insane animal."

Half an hour later, O'Morris hand was still shaking as he tried to dial Robert Lee. The third time was successful.

"Robert, you must come here!"

"Why? I've seen enough blood today...."

"But I've got a body here, it's actually quite intriguing."

"Okay".

They analysed the non-coagulated blood. Robert had to exert himself not to vomit.

"A cat", he eventually made clear.

"A cat?" O'Morris laughed.

"This is not a normal cat. It's...rabies. We must warn as many as possible!"

"Nobody's going to believe you."

"I know one who will listen. Clark Ricster. He lost his daughter recently and is firmly convinced that she was attacked by a cat."

The Revenge Of The Claws - PART 4

Nellie took a deep breath and dropped the mobile.

"Go home", said Roger in a low voice. "It's alright."

Robert Lee gazed upon his bloody reflection. The priest wouldn't even let him in looking like that. But it was necessary to visit father Lane. The sins of the morning felt like 100 kilo-weights. Robert thought of the confession and continued to rub the rag against his face.

A bar separated Robert from his confessor.

"Hell Mary, full of grace.... Father, I've committed a sin. I've offended against one of the ten commandments."

"Which one of them, my son?"

"The one about killing. This morning, I became guilty of a slaughter... Still, it's my only alternative. I must support my mother!"

"Quite true, my son. And don't forget - there are many animals all around the world who suffer."

"Yes, father", Robert whispered. "But I saw.... I've never went through that before. They had tied a dog all around the fence, two people are being nursed at a hospital right now. The third man is dead. I took the gun and shot straight into the jaw of the cur. Bang! Just like that."

Father Lane made the sign of the cross.

"That dog was mad, my son. Believe me, no animal in that state of mind should be alive. I forgive you, in the name of Virgin Mary and all the saints. Go in peace."

Robert expressed his thanks and blew out the candle.

The black cat wandered on obscure grounds. This was the territory of the humans, which made her insecure. But the rats were here.... The cat approached a house. The door was unlocked.

The cat didn't hear any squeak. She just perceived short breaths. She pricked up her ears and followed the sound waves. They lead her to a miserly furnished bedroom with pink wallpapers. A woman laid in the narrow bed. The flickering eyelids revealed that she was dreaming an intense dream. The cat lithely jumped up on the bedstead and observed the sleeping woman. The brown hair was decoratively spread on the pillow.

The Revenge Of The Claws - PART 3

The kitten squealed. Clark grabbed the other one by the scruff of its neck and banged it against the ground. He took his knife and cut out the eyes of the kittens. The pupils spurted out. Clark turned on his heel and walked away.

The cat observed him. The human had killed the kittens. Her kittens, whom she had given birth to at the risk of her life.

Nellie gazed at the notes from the interview. It had been a long one, due to the fact that the sales clerk gladly wanted to give a detailed account of the robbery. Nellie thought it was almost too detailed. Tuesdays were always tough. Everything had to be quick.

"Hey Nell, ignore that robbery. Show me the article about the murder of Nancy Sanderson."

"Roger, that's 2 years ago. Why all this gossip about that girl? The rest of the family also died."

"In all probability, the father commited suicide. In his shocked condition, he shot his wife and the youngest daughter. But nobody knows how Nancy lost her life, it's a mystery."

Nellie sighed and started to plough her way through the enormous archive. When she finally found the article, it contained a large-scale headline - intended to attract curiosity - and a detailed description. The black and white photo made Nellie cold as ice. It represented a smiling long haired girl - Nancy Sanderson.

"It's terrible....", Nellie mumbled.

She wanted to say something more, but was interrupted. An old woman in a blue jacket held Nellie's mobile in her hand.

"It's urgent."

The boss nodded apologeticly and started to poke at a calculator.

"Yes?" Nellie answered in a skilled manner.

At first she only heard a sob.

"It's me."

Nellie recognized Clark's voice.

"Clark? What's happened?"

There was a long silence, a choking silence.

"Mary Anne is dead. She's dead, Nellie."

The Revenge Of The Claws - PART 2

Mary Anne desperately tried to give the cat a kick, but it was useless. She screamingly witnessed how the collar bone crunched into pieces. Scraps of flesh dashed around. The cat angrily spitted out the pupils, which remained in the mess of bloody parts of the body.

Clark anxiously waited for the phone to ring. He ogled at the clock. It was 2.30 PM. Mary Anne should have been home at this time. 2.40. Still no phone call and no Mary Anne. The situation made him frustrated. He disliked being in the forest, but if Mary Anne wasn't home before 3.30; Nellie would get mad and that certainly wasn't enjoyable. He had to walk a long way into the forest before he could really begin to relax. Small, clear sounds made themselves perceptible. Clark began to run.

The cat had swallowed Mary Anne's middle finger and registered new sounds. It was a human again. The cat arched its back and hissed.

Clark observed an animal with something in front of itself. It was a cat with a prey.... But the prey, it was... Clark stopped dead and held his hand before his mouth. It was Mary Anne.... Clark had to lean against the tree trunk not to faint. He stared at the cat which seemed to be ready to attack. The cat had killed Mary Anne.... Clark clenched his fist in fury.

The cat noticed his aggressive facial expression. She went off like lightning towards the burrow. Clark stared hard at the black creature, whilst he ran in the snow. He stopped to calm down himself. The cat had disappeared.

The kittens squealed, which only made the cat more upset. She cautionary hissed when one of them tried to get out. But the warning remained unheard and the cat anxiously watched as the other two also began to crawl out.

Clark noticed the three little creatures outside the burrow. He assumed they were kittens, the brood of the cat. He took a fast hold of one of them. Inside the burrow, the cat's eyes were anxiously roving.

The Revenge Of The Claws - PART 1

2 years has passed since that horrible day when Nancy Sanderson was killed. Everybody has forgotten the black cat - who has been hiding itself in the woods. However, her revenge is getting near....

Mary Anne was used to being alone. She got lost in the crowd. Her father was an ambitious lawyer. Her mother was a natty journalist. They scrambled for the computer as well as the phone. Therefore, Mary Anne had created her own world, a world in which she could feel at home. That world was in the forest. She was finally there.

Approximately 10 metres from that place, the black cat sneaked around. She had grown leaner and was tormented by the cold. But she had to defy it. The 3 kittens remained in the abandoned burrow, helpless and hungry. The cat was hungry too. For the last months she had lived on apple-cores, pieces of bread, mice and weasels. But that was before this awful winter came. A thick layer of snow covered the ground and blocked her usual feed. The burrow had been a retreat for her and the kittens ever since the horrible day 2 years ago, when Nancy Sanderson were killed.... That memory still made the cat tremble inside. Ever since then, she'd stayed away from humans and observed them from a hill - all those reporters who'd search in the famous barn. The cat didn't like the idea of killing humans. But the madness, the horrible madness, was still there.

Mary Anne gazed upon a squirrel who were collecting nuts. She thought of the silence. She had grown so used to it that she never noticed it. The squirrel suddenly disappeared. It was as if it had heard distant sounds who were approaching. Mary Anne tried to listen, but couldn't hear anything. She finally fell asleep close to a tree trunk.

The cat moved faster in the direction of the sound waves. They were slow and drawn-out. The cat sensed the vicinity of human being. A green froth oozed out of the corner of its mouth. The eyes expanded and became twice as big. The human had once been evil. The human had caused the wound in the neck. The human had let out the detestable bat. The bat had spread the disease. And the disease made her heart pound faster than normal.

Mary Anne woke up from her deep sleep. She heard small sobbing sounds. She saw a black cat with a green sludge in front of it. It looked like vomit. Mary Anne felt sorry for the cat. She held out her hand towards it.

"Don't be afraid. I'll help you."

The cat reacted as quick as lightning. The human was about to get nasty again. The cat opened its mouth and swallowed Mary Anne's wrist in a flash. A cascade of blood and froth belched out.

To be continued....