7. Zazu
Chapter seven
Zazu
Who am I? What am I? Noise I’ve never heard before tumbles through my head. All I know is the burning rage inside stems from the feeling of loss. I lost something, but I don’t know what.
I’m sure it has something to do with the new threat the others brought to our cages. No, not a threat. A female. One who smells so strongly it’s like she burned away the cloud in my mind. And she makes unique sounds, high-pitched and strung together pleasantly.
But not even a female’s presence can change the reality of pain and darkness that consumes me. Cold air and icy floors alternate to numb my skin. Light and darkness flicker.
The only time I’m warm is when I’m fighting.
The others who bring food moved us out of our familiar territory, and I spent a long time swaying on my feet while the walls rocked and rumbled around me. More recently, the men loaded us into small but quiet cages to wait. I recognize this pattern; it means more intruders wait nearby, ready to challenge me.
I snarl as an other shoves a biting rod through the bars, and I skip out of reach by stepping back into the shadowed tunnel. I know this place. New scents linger here, but it’s familiar enough. Bright lights pulse overhead, matching the sound whooshing near my ears. The tang of blood fills my nostrils, heightening all my senses. A real threat lurks nearby. I cannot tolerate that.
I growl deep, making my chest pulse with the noise as I stalk forward, scanning every shadow for danger. Light frames one end of this darkness, the smell of an enemy invading my territory growing stronger with each step.
He’s here, the one I must silence. One like me.
My knuckles pop as I crush my hands into fists, but the roar of many voices soon swamps even the noise between my ears. I quiver, every sense on high alert as I approach the light.
Voices ring out in crazed howls, and one pitches louder than all the others, echoing. “And from the blue door, the kicking master from Grom Kennels, Zazuuuuuuuu!” The garbled collection of sound is meaningless, except for the last drawn-out one. That’s the one they always use for me.
The owners of the multitude of scents streaming through the opening shout and stamp again. They know an intruder’s here too. I’ll make sure this marauding one never comes back to threaten what’s mine.
But why did he come? And what exactly is mine to protect?
The new female? I smell her sitting out there beyond the mesh. No, she isn’t mine. The superior fighter lays his claim every moment with that continuous warning rumble in the room where we sleep. If I challenged him, I would die, no doubt about it.
Then what is mine?
Whatever it is, I won’t let the threat prowling in the opposite tunnel steal it. The light overhead changes, and I tense, ready. The gate keeping us apart slides open and I run, leaving behind the uncertainty and the strange thoughts. All that matters is dealing death before he does.
That’s what I’ve always done.
The threat hesitates, lifting his nose to investigate the female’s scent. I snarl and swing for his chin. If I defeat him, perhaps the territory superior, or the other one who smells of death, won’t kill me if they ever find me without bars between us.
My opponent rocks back with a cry, his scent thickening with anger and pain. He charges in, pummeling my chest wildly. He’s off balance, so I spin and lash out with my foot, catching his side. Bone crunches under my heel and I roar with triumph as the intruder staggers back, yelping.
Enter my territory and challenge me? Never!
I leap on him and dig my fingers into the tender flesh around his neck, snarling and straining. My arms burn with explosive heat until the would-be predator stops thrashing.
I growl into his face once more to make sure he’s no longer a threat and then release him. Wind rushes through my mouth as I gulp for air, the scent of people so strong I can taste it. Are all these beings part of my territory? No. My instinct tells me even if they aren’t enemies, they don’t belong either.
I stumble back from the prone body, pressure building inside my skull. Why was the one lying on the floor my enemy?
I spin around, searching the area. The bitter-smelling cruel one perches nearby with the new female at his side. The territory superior and the death one won’t like that.
Baring my teeth in warning, I pace back and forth. The cruel being sitting on the mesh’s far side brings only pain with his biting stick and heavy hands. We’d all tear him limb from limb if we got the chance.
The colors flashing overhead change, telling me the threat’s gone, but my body still throbs with warning. I slink away from the blinding lights and back into the familiar shadows of the tunnel. Pain runs down one arm, but pain always clings to me. Cold pain, hot pain, biting pain. Pain that flares from the inside every day I’m kept behind bars.
The wall slides shut behind me and I pace back down the tunnel to my place.
“Well done, Zazu.” The other reveals his teeth and I leap at the bars, wanting to tear his jaw out. Blood still sings in my ears, howling for me to spill this tormentor’s life force. He’s the real threat.
He laughs at me, the sound infuriating since he’s out of reach. “Let’s check his wounds.”
The barrier between us opens and I fling myself forward, aiming for his gloating eyes. But he’s not the only one here. I can hold my own against nearly anyone, but a group in this tight space is a different matter. One grabs my arms while another trips me, sending me crashing to the floor.
I writhe and snarl, but it’s no use. My skin stings as they poke at a bite wound I’d forgot about. I growl, jerking against the icy floor with every sharp jab. Unfortunately my words never seem to form into the sounds these others use and understand. A huge gap exists between what they are and what I am.
Why am I so different?
They lack killing intent, unlike me, so eventually I stop fighting and simply lie there, snarling. The aches of my fight catch up to me, numbing me into a kind of trance. I want to hide in a dark corner and lick my own wounds quietly, but sound constantly assaults my ears. So I pant on the cold floor, growling softly even after they leave, trapping me back inside the tiny metal walls. I’d rather live and die out where the intruders are than stay trapped in here.
The superior one goes out into the tunnel, vibrating a warning. He’s upset because they took the female away from him. I twitch as a commotion leaks through the walls, and the cruel tormentor’s screams ring out over the burble of the not-belonging beings. A deep, shuddering noise of pleasure works through my throat. The superior one has taken his revenge.
I slink onto the sleeping shelf and draw my feet up off the floor, tilting my head side to side to listen. The others shout in rage and run out of our cave. The tunnels behind my cage echo with furious cries and then I smell the blood as they force the superior one back into his cage nearby, roaring with rage and pain.
I jump to my feet and open my mouth to rumble my congratulations.
Suddenly, I stop and spin. Scents that don’t belong filter in through the air vents. The fighters around me take up the alarm cry, and then the light shuts off, leaving us in total darkness.
“What the fuck?” one of the other tormentors cries.
I don’t know what his sounds mean, but the alarm in his voice makes me bare my teeth. I growl at the dark, shivering. I’m vulnerable and my senses spike unbearably, trying to detect all possible threats. And the pressure in my head pounds heavier, plunging me into a turmoil of ideas I can’t understand.
Why am I here, while the others come and go? Where did the strong-smelling female come from? Do more females live beyond these walls?
Muscles quivering, I wait, listening to the warning shouts muffled by the solid walls. “OCB raid!” The unfamiliar scents thicken in the vents, and then a door bursts open, admitting twin beams of white light. Unknown male scents burn my nose.
“OCB, get on the ground!”
The other man curses and tries to run, and one stranger slings him to the ground. I throw myself at the bars, springing at the chance to end him while he’s down. The metal stops me, and I flail through the gaps, snarling.
He’s my prey, mine!
“Fuck me, look at them all! Wild as animals!” The new voice burrs deep like mine, and soon more people join the stranger.
“Damn, they reek!”
“Yeah, bet they never learned any scent control at all.”
I slink back into the shadows, knowing if they choose to work together, my chances of winning will be slim, especially since I’m wounded.
“They’re all contained and Alpha Lodgings are on standby. Continue sweeping.”
“Roger that.”
The superior one whines in his cell, lifting his nose. He’s lost track of his mate’s scent and we fighters pick up on his unease, growling and baying a warning.
I watch as an unfamiliar man drags out the other one who feeds us. Something has changed. Is another group claiming this territory? I have a bite puncture in my arm, but they won’t take me down easily. My head blooms with new ideas as I consider the possibility of the territory structure changing.
Or is this my territory at all?
I shake my head. All I can do is wait and see and defend myself with all I have when they come within range.
And snarl. I can always do that.