Ryan squeezed off two rounds, faster than he’d wanted to because he knew he didn’t have the shot he needed. Both bullets creased the raised muscle mass surrounding the cat’s neck; neither did any permanent damage.
“Get back, Ryan!” Mildred yelled. “Get back and give me some room!”
Her last words got tangled up in the sudden screams and yells of the stickies breaking out of the brush. Gunfire broke out in earnest as the other members of the group opened fire. Even with a number of them going down, the stickies rushed forward, waving clubs and stone-sharpened knives made of whatever metal scraps they could find.
The cat’s shoulder smashed into Ryan. He barely managed to avoid the snapping jaws, but the impact knocked the SIG-Sauer from his hand. There was no time to bring up the Steyr because the mutie cat wheeled around instantly.
Whipping its head forward again, the cat tried to sink its fangs into Ryan’s throat. Even focused on the animal as he was, he was aware of the stickies getting closer.
J.B. and Mildred raced forward to take away the no-man’s-land that separated the stickies from Ryan and the cat, grabbing cover behind trees and rocks where they could. Spears sailed through the air, followed by a few stone axs and squared-off hammers that split or broke off pieces of the rocks they slammed against.
Ryan caught the cat by its dish-shaped ears, halting the wedge-shaped head. It howled in pain and surprise. Instantly changing tactics, the cat curled up backward and tried to bring its claw-studded hind legs into play.
Already expecting the move, Ryan wasn’t there when the claws slashed through empty air. He moved to the right, feeling that he was moving in slow motion next to the cat’s quickness.
Before the animal could come around, Ryan grabbed a fistful of the loose hide at its neck. With a lithe jump, he bounded onto the cat’s shoulders, he gripped the fur-covered flesh he had hold of as tightly as he could, then locked his legs around in front of the cat’s forward legs so it couldn’t rip him to shreds with its hind claws.
The cat snarled and spit, twisting and turning to rid itself of its burden.
Ryan held on, putting his body on top of the cat’s, weighing down the animal’s head. Making the cat work the larger muscles of its body to support him and try to throw him off would cause the beast to use up oxygen more quickly, slowing and weakening it. Ryan still believed the creature could outlast his own strength. He leaned forward, biting into the animal’s neck in an attempt to forge one more point of attachment.
He ripped the panga free and used his left hand to work the big knife. Reaching under the mutie cat’s neck, he stabbed it in the chest. The beast quivered as though an electric shock had hit it.
Drawing the panga from its flesh sheath, Ryan stabbed again, burying the weapon as deep as he could, then twisting it to tear the wound open as wide as he was able. The cat snapped its jaws as he pulled the knife free again, barely missing sinking its ivory fangs into his arm.
The exertion of hanging on, avoiding the cat’s snapping jaws and being on the offense took its toll. Ryan had difficulty breathing, choking on the wet, smelly fur in his mouth, the smell of fresh blood clogging his nostrils.
He took a fresh grip on the panga, shifting the blade. Knowing he couldn’t hang on to the cat much longer, feeling the burning ache throbbing deep in his shoulder, his lungs working hard to suck in air he couldn’t breathe, he drew the panga hard against the mutie cat’s throat, pulling with everything he had left. The effort unseated him from the cat’s back, but not before he felt the cascade of hot blood spill in waves across his knife arm.
Ryan sailed backward, flailing for something close to control of his fall. The cat had already turned, searching for its tormentor, scarlet frosting its purple-gray lips and black fur of its throat.
Landing hard on his side, Ryan felt the breath spurt out of his lungs. He forced himself to roll over and get to his feet as the big cat padded toward him. “Fireblast!” he cursed. He spotted the SIG-Sauer on the ground, but it was to the mutie cat’s left. Getting it was impossible without coming too close to the injured animal.
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