Capture, Release

Short story, Intended as a warm up excercise before I wrote something else. What would it be like, to wake, a beast with no memory?

Birds called from the treetops above me, but wait, how did I know that there were tree's above me, I hadn't opened my eyes and for all I knew this was the first time I had ever held consciousness, I rubbed my eyes with my leaden paws and opened them slowly, cringing at the sudden light cascading across my vision. I sat up on my haunches and stretched the wings on my back out of habit, were was I, and why was I here? I stood unsteadily on my four legs, surveying the thick green brush surrounding me, the only signs of movement were that of crimson butterflies dancing among the grey flower blossoms. I placed a paw in front of me and spread my wings, surely the small clearing above my head would be sufficient for me to head for the skies. I pushed myself naturally with my back legs, attempting to clear the ground with a beat of my light wings.

The world lurched around me, a burning ring pulled at the ankle of my right foot, I was caught in something, panic surged within my mind, what was it? I collected myself off the ground, trying to gather my shattered thoughts, dirt clung to my pelt, my fur was matted with blood around the trap my ankle was caught in, what exactly had happened, why couldn't I remember a thing. Surely if I stayed here I would die. I pushed my teeth into my hind leg, growling in frustration and pain, then pulled sharply, trying to dislodge my leg from the tangled metal.

“Here it is!” An excited voice yelled, my ears twitched and I turned slowly to see behind me, a strange animal, there was no fur on it anywhere but the top of its head, there was a strange material hanging around its body, it seemed to be pointing in my direction. That thing, was meant to be my food, I felt it, the soft flesh it had, could be rent easily with my jaws, had this creature stumbled stupidly into its doom? Ha! Four more appeared behind it and suddenly the feeling inside me turned from hunger to fear, I was trapped, and five was probably more than I could handle. I felt my claws extend, the only way to get free from here was to scare them away, somehow I knew how, I arched my back, feeling the fur on my neck stand on end, a rumbling sound found its way out of my throat.

“Didn't you say it shouldn't remember a thing? Didn't you test this poison of yours?” One of the creatures yelled at the first.
“Of course it works, its acting on instinct. Don't worry, the best way to get to a dog like this is to act weaker, it will calm down. Get low, hide the catchers.” What is that creature on about, am I this dog, are they trying to kill me? I let the rumble in my throat echo into a roar.
“Are you sure about this, it still seems pretty wild.”
“It's ok, see.” The creature got on the ground, crawling on half its legs, it approached, I swiped at it, but it didn't flinch, I lowered my head to sniff at it, the creature offered its paw. I touched my nose to it, it didn't evoke an hunting instinct as I had thought it would, maybe I had been wrong that this creature was for eating. Its paw reached further and went behind my ear and as it reached it stood up to its full height, it didn't even reach my shoulder, I felt it rub its paw against the skin behind my ear.

“Come, it's safe.” I felt myself relaxing at its touch, warily watching the others, which had now fallen to the ground, I could easily crush them, they did not smell friendly, not at all. Something shined within their hands, I felt the need to lash out at them, whatever they had was shiny like what held me trapped. Without my notice, the one which had been touching me wasn't there any more but was pulling at the metal contraption on my ankle. It's trying to free me, it's not a bad thing, nor something I should eat. Suddenly the ones which I hadn't been watching leapt up, and the metal things where shoved towards my head, I panicked, trying to pull away, kicking my back feet, flailing my wings, swiping at the creatures blindly, but something was pulling on my head. I thrashed my head side to side, they had caught me hadn't they?

“Stop pulling, let it calm down, you f*****g idiots!” The creature pulling on the thing trapping my leg yelled, “Who f*****g told you to leap forward like that? You scared the daylights out of it. Look what you caused.” I could smell blood, the creatures blood, I had injured it in my struggles, if I had injured one, then I could surely get the rest, they had control of my legs, but I could get them couldn't I.
“It's not our fault that you decided to climb underneath the thing before we had even got the loops around its neck.”
“You think it's my fault.” the creature coughed, the smell of blood becoming more intense, “You idiots didn't stick to the plan and made it panic.” There was two creatures on my right, and the other two where on my left, they were spread out, but I had a plan.

I flicked my right wing forward and out, so that it was behind the creature, I heard the other shouting, with the tip of the bone I stabbed at it, forcing it closer and closer to my body, then pushing at its legs so that it fell forward. These things were nothing to worry about, they were weak. I placed my paw on the one I had swept to the ground, it still had the silver stick in its paws, it was pulling on it desperately, it was dragging on my neck, as the others were pulling in other directions, but their force was slightly unbalanced now. I felt myself falling to the left, before I worried about that though I had to deal with the one I had captured. I pushed my sharp, thick claws into the creature, it started screaming, I felt a fresh rush of energy through my body, I wrenched my head in the direction of the trapped man and snapped at his face, my teeth just slashed the risen section on the creatures face. I pulled my claws through its flesh, it screamed louder, crimson was leaking from the wounds, much like what had come from the sore area where I had been trapped.

“Why did you take the trap off its leg, Matt, Matt is going to die.” They were panicking I could feel it.
“It is his own fault for not being aware of the situation. As it is yours for provoking it, its an animal don't you realise this.”
“Animal Indeed.” I snapped at the face of the screaming one again, the other creatures pulled on their sticks as I did and I lurched backward, almost pulled off the ground by the backwards force they were exerting on my neck. The creature underneath my paws was now mangled beyond recognition, as they had pulled me my claws had rent him in half.

“You guys are idiots, why did they hire you?!”
“Hey what are you doing?” I felt something grab the fur around my neck, it was the creature that had released me, I ignored it, and snarled at the ones still pulling on the sticks. I knew the same trick wouldn't work again, though I had realised that the creature I had swept underneath me had started bleeding from the spots where my wings had struck him.

I swept my left wing towards the creature towards my front on my left, the feathers sliced through its mid section and a long section of meat fell out of it. It screamed as the other had, I felt a small sense of triumph, I would make them all stop moving, then I would eat them.

“Do something, stop standing there patting the creature, your not calming it down! It just tried to kill me!” His screaming intensified. “Aghh, What is this, what is this!! Is that my... Oh my god. Aghhhh”
“You two, make sure you stay away from its legs, and its wings.” The creature holding my neck fur yelled.
“No, f**k you! Your f*****g crazy.”
“I agree, we're out of here, your own your own, Kurea!” I felt the pressure release from the poles and the tightness around my neck. The two remaining were running away, that was fine, I had one more to deal with before I could feast. I sidestepped, trying to make it loose balance and fall away from me, but it wasn't by my side any more, but I could feel it still gripping my neck. It must of got on top of me while I was distracted. I will deal with it later, warm meat.

The one which I had recently felled was still screaming, trying to wriggle away on the ground. I stepped up to it and put my teeth around its neck, then bit down, I felt its meat crush within my mouth and it stopped struggling, I put my paws on its back and started tearing at it's flesh, then swallowing the delicious pieces. After eating the creature my stomach was nowhere near full, so I went to the other and tore it into pieces, the meal was not as satisfying having become cold and stiff. The one on my back was making weird hiccuping noises in my ear, its paws were gripping tightly to my fur. I won't kill it yet, I can kill it and eat it when I am hungry again. Not satisfied with my current location for a nap I decided it would be a good idea to take flight and find somewhere. Why was I asleep there in the first place, why were these things trying to hurt me? What am I?

I flexed the wings on my back, the muscles around them were strong, it wouldn't be hard to take flight, I beat them experimentally, this time I was calm, they definitely provided enough lift for me to take off. I coiled the muscles in my back leg, bent slightly to the ground and then pushed toward the sky. In that one instant I was above the green canopy, I beat my wings and felt myself rise, I beat them again and again and found myself high in the air, it felt good.
“No, No... no....” The creature was mumbling in my ear, I growled warning at it, if it wanted to be annoying, there was an easy way to kill it, I was sure. Getting the hang of flying was terribly easy, I felt as if I had done it a million times, and the easiest way to conserve my energy seemed to be leaving my wings spread and gliding on the different directions of air flow. The sticks were still dangling from my neck, the four of them occasionally tapping against my legs, it was annoying but I had no way of removing them.

I could feel the creature on my backs breathing start to decrease, and the shaking movement I had felt was beginning to slow, it wasn't going to live all that long, and I myself was becoming tired. There had to be somewhere to land, I scanned the forest below, and could see nothing but green and the occasional small clearing, there was a large raise in the ground to my right, it was probably the best place to rest. I changed direction, I had to get there soon, my food was dying and I wanted it while it was still warm. Once I got closer I could see a small opening in the rock face, it had a small rock jutting out from underneath it as well, perfect. I angled my wings so that my altitude began to fall smoothly, then evened myself out when I was just above the trees.

My wings jarred, my body was thrown forwards, there was an extreme pressure on my neck, I couldn't breathe, I was hanging from a huge tree, the sticks had jammed between two of the branches of the tree, I was hanging with the sticks pulling on the back of my neck, extreme pressure on my throat. The creature was barely hanging on, but I felt it moving, pulling itself atop my back again, I could just part of its bottom half, I could feel myself shutting down from lack of air. I felt one of the sticks parts break, then another. Are they breaking, or is the creature breaking them? Only one was left now, the creature was panting, at least it could breathe, my eyes were closing and my senses were beginning to dull. Suddenly I was falling, we had come loose, but I didn't have the strength to do anything but break the fall for the creature with my mass. It saved me. I thought as I closed my eyes. Just, just resting.

I lay there, panting heavily for some time, my neck aching. Some strength had returned to me, and I was curious as to whether the creature had stayed with me. I pulled myself off the ground, I had landed on my left side and it was aching terribly, I had to ignore it, survival or death. I opened my eyes and swept the scenery, we were at the base of a huge tree, the one which I had been caught by, we were lucky that we had barely missed the other branches of the tree. I was really lucky that it had freed me, I would have strangulated for sure. Leaves were strewn everywhere, and amongst them was a ragged heap, the creature was laying curled up, not far from where I was. I nudged the creature with my nose, it stirred, I poked it again.

“Huh, morning already?” It moaned, then unrolled itself then whimpered. “Ah, oh my god, thats right.. ow.” It stared at me through half closed blue eyes, it was lying flat on its back now, I could see across its front, that there were four large gouges spanning its chest, they were crusted with old blood. Had I done that, or the fall. The exposed area around the lacerations was darker than the rest of the creature. “Hey, nice Wairf, don't hurt me.” I sat back, watching the creature curiously, what did it want, what did it's sounds mean? I wanted to poke at it more before I killed it, I wasn't that hungry anyway, but how would I keep it from dying? Do I take it back to its kin? But that would be... Suicide.