Caught
"Caught ya!" Jack leaps over the stairs to the side you are on, effectively trapping you in your hiding spot. The rest of the kids soon surround the steps and you.
"Come out." The kangaroo comes over, looking down at you.
You slowly come out, tail and ears down. You barely come up to the chest of the smallest cat.
"Spying on us, huh?" The otter glares at you, looking you up and down.
"Awful clean looking, there, whitey," the green eyed tiger speaking seems to be older than the rest. But he backs down when the kangaroo holds up his hand.
"So what are you doing in bricker territory, kid?" he says, a half smile on his face.
"I didn't know where I was, I...," you're not sure what to say. "I just kind of fell here and didn't know where to go."
"Pill, track him back, find out where he came from. Jaro, Thread, go with Pill."
Pill and the two tigers come over to you. Phil gives a sniff, then grins and walks back the way you came.
He stops where you were when you first heard them coming and looks back at you for a moment, then goes on, the two tigers following him.
"Now, what are we going to do with you?" the kangaroo seems to be thinking out loud.
"Maybe he could be a mascot" the bobcat grins, showing one of his broken incisors. A few others chuckle, and you don't think that sounds too good.
"Hey!" Pill hollers. "His tracks stop here!" He's standing right where you landed.
"Who dropped you off, kid?"
"I don't know..." How can you possibly explain this?
"Is someone gonna come looking for you?"
"Maybe." But you have serious doubts of that.
"Look how fat he is. Maybe we could sell him to the butcher." Fred the cat eyes you up and down.
Pill and the tigers have returned. "He's just a bunch of fluff," the yellow-eyed tiger says, looking you over. "There's a lot of fur there, but not much meat on his bones. The tail makes up half of him!"
The others laugh a bit. "I bet we could get a couple of dinaros for him from the exotic dealers." You could tell Fred was not the nice sort before, but the way he says this sends chills down your spine all the way to your tail.
"Maybe." The kangaroo looks you over. "Betty, what do you think?"
A tall, female skunk comes over. You hadn't seen her before. She looks at you, sizing you up and down, glancing at your tail then briefly at her own.
"Not sure," she says. "He's not from around here, that's fer sure. Look at those clothes - decent quality, clean. And that fur! Like it was made today, hardly dusty at all. Never seen anyone so white. But blue eyes and black nose - he's not a pinkie. Most would not even notice the black edges of his ears. With some powder and shades he could pass for one. Might be useful in a few years if he keeps. It's a risk. Bird in the hand, though."
"I'll think about it." The kangaroo straightens up. "In the meantime, let's get to know him. Guys, have some fun."
Fred pulls you out of your spot. A couple of the dogs each grab a hand and pull you along, nearly tripping you as they go. The otter stops them and says "I like his shirt," and promptly pulls it off of you.
"So white!" says Fred. "He's gonna blind me!"
"Here!" says another cat. "Let's give him some color!" He holds up a bottle.
"Yeah! says a dog, holding up a similar bottle. "It's a regular blank canvas!" He opens the bottle and dumps part of it on your left ear and head. The liquid splashes in your left eye, stinging it. You see a bright yellow patch on your nose with your good eye. You wretch a hand free to wipe your eye and accidentally poke yourself with a claw that you are not used to having on your fingers.
They laugh and another kid pours some bright blue liquid on your shoulder, staining your fur. Pushing and pulling you around, others splash more brilliant colors at you, creating splotches of green, orange, and red. Then they start hitting you, saying you got colors on them while they pour more of the bright liquids over you. You try to run down the street, but are quickly tackled to the ground.
"Hey, let's make a rainbow out of that tail!" "Yeah! See? I told ya we'd find a use for this dye!" A couple of the kids sit on you. It's hard to breathe.
Soon your tail is a sopping mess of colors, completely soaked, mixed with the dust of the ground which has turned into multi-colored mud. Faintly, beyond it all, you think you hear a motorcycle, but then it stops.
"You got some dye on me, kid." One of the tigers growls. You didn't even realize he was near you, and doubt you could've moved enough to have even splashed him.
He comes up and stomps on your left arm.
You gasp as the sharp pain tells you immediately it is broken, the stinging of you left eye momentarily forgotten.
"He doesn't cry much for a little kid, does he?" One of the dogs looks at you with his head tilted.
"Yeah, he's been kind of quiet. Maybe he thinks he's tough enough to be a bricker?"
"Too little." says one.
"Give him a try," says another.
"Worth a shot," says a third.
"His arm's already broken, it's too late for that."
"I'm gonna get me some of that fur!"
They start kicking and punching you as you are held to the ground.
Written by Nom on 03 March 2016
The end (for now)