Саманта Сильвер - The Purr-fect Crime

“Leave… the…. cat…” Sophie gasped, but I shook my head.

“I can’t! Keep going. Call the cops!” I cried, stopping and resting my hands on my knees to catch my breath once more. For Sophie and Charlotte, Bee was just a cat. But to me, she was my cat. And she’d just saved our lives. I couldn’t just leave her.

I made my way back to the edge of the forest, trying to be as quiet as I could without moving at a snail’s pace. I reached the edge of the forest and looked out. Zoe had dropped the gun, she was trying to pry Bee off her, who was still screaming and scratching Zoe as much as she could. I could see the familiar red marks all over Zoe’s face and arms as she struggled with my cat.

This was my chance. I ran out from the woods towards the gun. All I had to do was get it away from Zoe and we were free. Unfortunately, it meant running pretty close to them; the gun was only about two feet from where Zoe was now. I ran, focusing my energy entirely on the gun. In a normal situation I would have used a summoning spell, but I knew I couldn’t do it around a human like Zoe, not without incurring the wrath of the Witch’s Council. Plus, I could do this with just my normal human abilities. I ran to the gun. I reached out to grab it, right as Zoe got Bee off her and threw her as far as she could.

Zoe kicked out as she threw Bee, and her boot connected right with my face. At that moment, everything went black.

Chapter 22

I was only out for a second or two, but it was enough. When I woke up, Zoe Wright was reaching for the gun. My vision was blurred and I moved for it as well, but with my weakened reflexes, I missed. I had one option though: I reached out and grabbed Zoe’s perfectly groomed hair – although Bee had already done a number on it herself – and yanked as hard as I could.

Zoe fell to the ground, yelling, and I took up every ounce of strength I had to get up and run.

Bee was lying on the ground, motionless, about ten feet away. My heart sank like a stone. No. No, no, no. This couldn’t be. I ran to her and grabbed her off the ground, and as soon as I did I could feel my cat’s heart beating against my hands. Thank goodness.

“Oh Bee, I’m so glad you’re ok,” I whispered to my cat as she began to stir. She’d just been knocked out for a minute. I’d never been so relieved in my life, I don’t know what I would have done if anything had happened to my cat. My aggravating, annoying, unbearable, beautiful, perfect cat.

“I told you this adventure was a bad idea,” she murmured softly as I ran to the forest with her in tow. I could hear Zoe running after us.

Every ounce of my being was focused on getting out of the forest and back to the road as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, I was never exactly what you would call a runner, and after a few hundred yards I could feel my breath becoming more ragged, and a sharp metallic feeling in the back of my throat.

I swear, if I get out of here alive, I’m going to start going to the gym more , I thought to myself as I struggled to run with Bee through the forest. I could hear Zoe catching up to us. We had to be still a good mile from the road, there was no way we were going to make it.

“I’m sorry, Bee,” I whispered to my cat. “You run as far as you can, ok?” I asked.

“Nah. The other humans don’t talk to me. They’re boring. I don’t have the energy to try and claw her down again, I’m sorry,” Bee replied.

“Don’t be. I love you,” I told my cat as I came to a stop. Zoe had practically caught up to us, we were just delaying the inevitable. Less than five seconds after I stopped, Zoe came upon us. She flashed a grin as she raised her gun.

“You realize my sister and Sophie got away, right?” I said, desperately hoping to stall Zoe. Not really because I thought anyone was going to save us, but because I just wanted a few more precious moments on earth. It wasn’t until now, as I stared down the barrel of her pistol, that I realized just how much I really, really wanted to keep living.

I heard a rustle of wind in the trees, and inhaled a deep breath of air, knowing it might be my last one. Nature was so wonderful, so peaceful. At least I’d picked a nice place to die.

“They’re going to get the police. And they’re going to come and arrest you,” I told her. “You’re not going to get away with it.”

“I can kill you now and get back there long before they do. No one will ever know.”

“I know,” came a voice out to the side, and a split second later Jason Black burst out from the trees and tackled Zoe. They fell to the ground, and I ran towards the two of them to get the gun from Zoe.

Suddenly, a shot rang out. It was like everything froze for a split second. I couldn’t hear anything. All I knew is my t-shirt had blood on it. But I didn’t feel any pain. Then, instinct kicked in.

Get the gun .

I caught a glimpse of the barrel and reached towards it, yanking it from Zoe’s hands. Jason overpowered her easily and pressed her to the ground, ripping off her jacket and using the sleeves to tie her up.

I looked down at my shirt. There were splatters of red blood on it. But funnily enough, nothing hurt.

That was when I looked up at Jason, and I realized: it wasn’t my blood.

He was standing there, a hole the size of a quarter in his arm with blood flowing out of it.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

“I’m not the one we have to be worried about right now,” I said, stuffing the gun into the back of my pants. He looked down at the wound.

“Yeah, that’s not great, is it?” he replied. Even though my training involved taking care of animals in an emergency, it didn’t mean I was completely useless with humans as well.

“Take off your shirt,” I ordered.

“Look, I know you think I’m hot, but do you really think this is an appropriate time?” he asked.

“To stop the bleeding,” I replied, exasperated.

“Oh. Uh, yeah,” he said, immediately slipping the shirt up and over his head. I totally didn’t look on purpose, but couldn’t deny that he had one hell of a chiselled body. I didn’t think I’d ever actually seen a six pack in real life before.

“And I do not think you’re hot,” I replied, grabbing the fabric from him and tearing it into strips.

“If that’s true then why did your face go like three shades of red when I took my shirt off?” he asked, and I felt my face go an even deeper scarlet. Great.

I immediately wrapped the strips of fabric tightly around his arm to help staunch the bleeding. That was the most important thing; we were far enough away from civilization right now that I had to make sure he lost as little blood as possible before we got to the hospital.

“Are you ok to walk?” I asked, and he nodded.

“I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure you don’t need an arm to walk,” he replied with a smile.

“Well if you don’t stop giving the actual doctor lip, you’re going to be walking back to Willow Bay by yourself,” I warned, looking around for Bee. She was just sitting on the ground, still looking a little bit dazed as she stared aimlessly at a clump of grass.

“Come on Bee, we’re going,” I told her. “Can you jump up on my shoulder?” The sound of my voice seemed to shock Bee back to life, and she easily leapt up onto me.

“Wow, that’s the best trained cat I’ve ever seen,” Jason said, staring at Bee, amazed. A second later he had to move out of the way of her claw swiping at him.

“Woah, what was that for?”

“Insinuating that she’s trained,” I replied, rolling my eyes at my cat. “Now come on, let’s get going. I really don’t want to have to carry a gunshot victim out of the woods in the dark,” I replied.