Behind The Scenes (short story)
A white-and-grey blur flew through the forest. Breaths came out quickly and painfully as a tom ran, ran, and kept running, his paws burning and bleeding from his abuse and his mind too filled with the images of his two friends strewn dead on the forest floor to notice the pain.
He took no notice of roots that grabbed at his toes, or the trees he just barely managed to dodge. A dark grey-and-black she-cat came into view ahead, and only then the tom stopped, skidding the earth and halting a whisker from the unblinking she-cat.
“Plague!” he rasped, barely able to even say it.
“Bhoota,” Plague responded with a lifted brow. “What is wrong with you? Where are Zar and Nishi?”
“They’re dead!” Bhoota gasped.
Plague stiffened. Bhoota shrank back at the shrill growl that rose in her throat. “Two higher-ups died while you had the honour to hunt with them, and you live?”
“It’s not..! That’s not what…-we were attacked!”
Plague stepped close. When she was so near that he could see his petrified face reflected in her angry eyes, she peered down. Eyes snapping attentively, she stomped down one paw on his foot. With the other, she hooked a piece of fur with her claw out of beneath his own.
Plague’s voice was a dangerous rumble. “Did one of these attackers happen to have the same tan fur as Zar?” she questioned.
Bhoota’s heart leaped up into his throat. “No! No! That was just an accident–the clearing was small and there was little room–it was just an accident, I swear!”
“You better return to the group,” Plague responded with a cold, even tone. “Face their families and tell them your excuses. Then it’ll be decided what will happen to you.
Shivering so hard that Bhoota couldn’t breath nor walk properly, Bhoota obeyed. He wondered as he tried not to hyperventilate if he should make a break for it and run. But even through his panic, he knew that Plague would be faster, and she would surely kill him if he tried to get away. Either way, it didn’t feel like his fate had a hopeful future.
--Hey, what is this attack about? Oh..right...
Plague and her group were close enough for her to be affected by Myrtle, right? It’s not too hard to believe that the three toms they encountered had belonged to that group.
--Zar was the tan tom with darker paws and face. He was the leader of the hunting party, though he and Nishi are the same rank, as they are brothers. Speaking of, Nishi was a dark brown tabby, and as stated, Bhoota is a grey-and-white tom.
--All three toms are named after spirits! Bhoota is a ghost, usually of a deceased person, who cannot move on due to having unfinished business. Zar is a demon spirit that possesses the living and causes discomfort and illness. A zar-ritual is what an excorsism is sometimes called. I cannot find a good source for what a Nishi is. Also know that I’m summing up and this changes from culture to culture.
If Elemental will allow me some speculation, I think that the group Plague belonged to named their members and kits based on things that cause fear. No, they don’t know what a Zar is, but they have seen Twolegs speaking the strange word (cats are seen to at least understand some of the noises Twolegs make) and notice their fear scent and fear-like behaviour when they say it.
Scary things like Badger and Shrapnel aren’t tough or scary enough, it has to be big things, like a Plague (that they probably do understand) or things that cause even the massive strange creatures fear.
