Dark skies flew overhead, scattered clouds dumping down rain. A flash or two of lighting came, illuminating a squirrel sitting on a damp branch. Its eyes were too light to be called brown in the dark and its tail still stood straight up with its spiky fur, not watered down by the large droplets as it bounded through the tree. Its large paws scrabbled against the tree bark and tore into the fibers of the branches and its tail tore through the wet leaves clinging to the branches. In the leaf cover below, red fur shone in the small patches of moonlight for a second, then disappeared.
A few moments later, a scraping sound rang out and the unnaturally colored squirrel jumped at the sound, scrambling up the tall tree and trying to pull its large body up as far as the branches would support.
The tree shook as red fur flashed by the trunk. The squirrel squeaked in panic as the branches whipped back and forth and it struggled to keep its balance on the slick, wet branch. Branches snapped, their bark straining under the pressure of the newfound winds of the storm. The animal was flung off of the wet branch and landed on the ground. Immediately, the red shape growled and pounced on the defenseless animal. It was thrown back with a yelp as the squirrel grew, larger and bolder.
Its fur grew as pale as its eyes and it grew to the size of a small Labrador. Its ears fluffed up into giant cones and its claws grew curved, like a dog. It paced towards its attacker, increased in size and muscle and no longer looking anything like a squirrel, but more like a lean, rabid fox. Its attacker slipped back out of the bushes and stood in front of the squirrel. The rain slipped straight off of her red coat, while flashes of lightning predicted thunder. The squirrel yowled and threw itself at the animal, and its ribbed body was thrown into its thick furred attacker.
A few seconds of silence rang out almost louder than when the squirrel had been screaming. The red animal and the squirrel were both in a tangle, but both so still, that either one could be dead. The red one's tail twitched, then she slowly got up onto all four of its paws. She padded off, the body of the other animal still on the ground. A black shape seeped out from underneath the still body, the shape of the animal it had just been in, slinking away into the trees.
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Bright LED lights flashed by in droves, rain refracting the light and making the streets seem even brighter in the night. A few street lamps buzzed overhead as the cars blurred by on the busy street. A dark figure slipped into the alleyway between standard brick homes, barely visible even by the lights. Not a person on the sidewalks saw the animal walk in, and no one saw it come out. As it passed between the alleyway and onto the other street, rain bouncing off of its fur was the only thing that anyone could see, though no one seemed to notice.
It made its way into another alleyway, this time dropping into a subway track. It walked through the crowds carefully, avoiding others. It finally made it to the other side of the subway, where the twin track had been shut down for years. It padded lazily down the track, avoiding the boys daring each other to walk on the crossing metal. Out of sight of the station was a fork in the track, leading to another station that had never seen any people.
There was a nest of newspapers, a few matted blankets spread around to make a large mat. Glass bottles and a pair of plastic dinosaurs decorated the walls in little alcoves, reflecting the small amount of light still in the station. The figure walked over to the wall, carefully placing a brightly colored stuffed animal on the wall, a soft and fluffy bunny leaning on the ledge wall. The dark animal walked over to its nest, folding its long legs and nestling itself into the blankets. It’s long tail draped over the nest and flicked every now and again, in time with an unhearable beat.
A few seconds passed, and it got up quickly. It’s tail whipped as it gazed around the abandoned room. Lights flashed down the tunnel where trains would have passed through, and chattering voices echoed down the hallways. The animal growled softly, and retreated to the back of the room, right in front of its shelves. Two people walked in, covered with a face mask and gloves. Flashlights swept across the dark walls until the entire station was lit with LEDs.
“So… a giant… cat? Like one of those Main Coons?” One of the workers asked, obviously better dressed for the job.
“No! This one was large, almost like a wolf, but larger.” The other sighed, rubbing his eyes. “I don’t know, maybe I was just seeing things. I’ve been on edge for a while.”
“Alright then, I’ll check it out some more next week, but we need to get the tracks up and running again.” The first one said, and turned to the tracks. As the humans left, a tail flicked out of the darkness. Color started fading back in to fill in a large animal, standing in front of its ledges. It’s now visible tail kept flicking as it settled back down into its nest, keeping watch on the door. Blue eyes closed on the dark, and the station fell quiet again.
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