Day Two ∞ Saturday afternoon

DANNY LOOKED AT MRS DAVENPORT IN DISBELIEF, a chill assailing his nape. "Another animal? I'm going to have to see that for myself."

"They'll soon be back with it." Mrs. Davenport took him aside without letting go of his arm and looked up at him with a twinkle in her eyes. 

"Who's your friend over there, Danny? Aren't you going to introduce her?" She nodded toward his truck.

He felt his ears burning. The old lady was still sharp as usual. "Not today, ma'am. She's not feeling so well..."

"Ooh, then let me get her a cup of tea, how about some—"

"No, no, it's okay," he chuckled, raising his hand to slow her down. "No need. I'll soon take her home anyway."

She squeezed his arm and winked at him. "You're too shy." 

He shook his head, smiling.

Mrs. Davenport was right. Danny looked up as he heard men's voices approaching from the woods. Two men appeared with a pole on their shoulders between them, the dead cat hanging upside down with paws bound and head and tail dangling. Mr. Davenport trailed behind them.

"Hey, look! There it is!" a boy shouted and waved the other four children to come. They ran over to meet the procession. Danny and Mrs. Davenport walked over to the driveway, followed by the rest of the women.

The men paused in front of them. "This was a relatively healthy female," the man at the back said, a wildlife rep with a tranquilizer rifle hanging from his shoulder. He had the NWR refuge logo on his shirt. "Just a bit underweight. But it looks like it got into a fight with another cat." 

Danny swallowed as he looked at the reddish-tan fur, pasted to the corpse by yesterday's rain. So the neighborhood wasn't safe yet. He stepped back as the men continued toward the refuge truck and swung their load onto the bed. The children followed the men with a barrage of questions.

Mr. Davenport dropped a broad hand on Danny's shoulder. "You see we're having a lot of excitement here today, eh?" he said in his deep voice. He was a broad-shouldered weathered man of Danny's height.

"Hi, Mr. Dee. Well, we had our share of it yesterday." Danny told him about Lad.

The old man nodded and pushed his glasses up the nose ridge. "Yep, I'm sure it's the one that's been roaming around the district these past few weeks. I'm surprised that the catfight didn't wake me up, though: normally they'd've made a racket... Threatening screams and the like. I'm a light sleeper."

Danny looked at him thoughtfully, then turned as he heard more voices coming from the woods. The rest of the men were returning, two police officers, three of the neighbors, and two wildlife reps carrying a wriggling, crying sack between them. 

"We caught it!" one of them said as they passed, heading for the van. 

Everybody gathered around and watched as they offloaded the sack into the waiting cage and locked it. The spotted cougar cub backed up as far as it could in the cage and hissed at its captors.     

"It's soo cute!" one girl said. "Can I have one, Mommy?" The children chattered away.

"Well, this cub is just a few weeks old," one of the reps, a burly, bearded man said. He wore a cap displaying the Wildlife logo. "Old enough to follow the mother but not old enough to survive out there on its own." He smiled at the children's barrage of questions. "Don't worry—we're taking the cub to the reserve. As soon as we can, we'll have it transferred to a proper facility that can serve as its new home. It will be well taken care of, okay?"

Several of the neighbors nodded in approval and there were some conversations among them.

"Excuse me, ladies, gentlemen?" one of the police officers raised his voice, waving a notepad and pen in his hand. "May I have your attention? I'm Sergeant Eldon. Y'all need to go 'bout your business now. Go home. An official statement will be forthcoming. Animal Control will come by to advise you on safety measures."

There was a murmur in response, and people started to disperse, a few calling their children to them. 

Eldon turned to the elderly couple. "Shall I start with you?"

Danny stepped aside and surveyed the movements. This was disturbing. Another cat had killed this cat, and that probably meant it was bigger and meaner. He turned to check on Mickmi but found a couple of the neighbors walking past his empty truck.

He frowned. Where was she?

Wandering across the lawn, he looked around. Then he spotted her. She was by the NWR truck, staring at the cougar corpse. Something about her looked off as she stood there. He walked over to her as she reached her hand into the truck bed and touched the cougar. Her face was pale. 

"What's the matter, Mickmi?" He inspected her as she rubbed the strands of damp fur between her fingers, bringing it closer to her face as if to smell it, contracting her brow.

"I taste blood," she breathed and reached in to touch the animal again, this time letting her fingers stroke the head and slide down the side of the jaw and over the crushed neck and partially torn jugular that had been washed clean by the heavy rains.

Danny swallowed; he couldn't help looking but he was seeing Lad's body in his mind's eye. Same M.O. He cleared his throat. "What are you doing?"

Mickmi's hand started to tremble. "I..." She pulled back her hand and looked at him, her green eyes widening in dread. "I understand not... Daniel"—her face paled even more—"I have met this creature before."     

"But how could you've possibly..." Danny shook his head. "No, that's not possible." But he noticed in alarm that she was trembling all over now, and he grabbed onto her elbows. Something was very wrong; she looked like she was about to collapse. 

"Mickmi?" He looked at her closely and then glanced around. Nobody was paying them any attention. "Come sit in the truck." 

He put his arm around her and led her back to where he'd parked. She was trembling hard now with shallow breaths as if she'd gone into shock. He had to get her home. 

"Give me a minute," he said as he closed the passenger door. "I just need to speak with the cop." 

Mickmi nodded, her eyes closed.

Danny strode over to the sergeant. He was still talking to Mr. and Mrs. Davenport. "Excuse me."

Eldon looked at him, up and down. "Yes?"

"I'd also like to report a dog killed. I'm Danny McGahn. I live just five gates away, at number nine."

The sergeant nodded. "Sure, I'll get to you when I'm finished here." He saluted Danny with his pen.

Danny jogged back to the truck and hopped in. Mickmi was still trembling. He leaned over and took her hand, squeezing it. 

"Try and breathe deeply, Mickmi," he said, meeting her gaze. "Try and relax."

She squeezed her eyes shut as he revved the engine and drove off. Just before reaching his driveway, a colorful van marked KJZ 96.9 FM passed them on the road. He parked in front of the porch, jumped out and went around to open the passenger door. 

"Come." He held out his hand.

She turned jerkily toward him, her face flushed and glistening with perspiration, her jaw clamped shut. Her eyes were imploring, burning into his, and they were more yellow than green. 

"My God—your eyes!  What's happening to you?" 

He lifted her out of the truck and elbowed the door shut. She was hot with fever and shaking hard. He took two steps up to the porch and managed to pry the screen door open. 

"You need to drink some water." He carried her to the kitchen and set her down on a chair by the dining table. He scrutinized her. "Can you hold on?"

Her nod was spasmodic. He hurried to the sink and turned on the tap while reaching for a cup with the other hand.

He reached back to her with the lukewarm water and sat in front of her. "Here, can you hold it?" 

Worried, he watched her as she brought her shaking fists up, unclenching rigid fingers to enclose the cup between them. He supported it with his hand while she managed to gulp down the cooling liquid. 

"More?"

She nodded. He returned with the second cup and it went down the same way, but it didn't stop the shaking. She was still hot and hyperventilating. 

"Mickmi, I should call the doctor; you're—"

She shook her head once, her pupils dilating as she wordlessly communicated to him. Her eyes were completely yellow now, he could see the streaks of her irises changing, shifting in color density by the minute. The whole situation scared him; he didn't know what it meant. 

"But we've got to get you cooled down," he said with urgency and scooped her up again, heading for the stairs.

He kicked the bathroom door open but found he couldn't get them inside. He looked at Mickmi. She had braced her foot against the door jamb, shaking her head, her pleading eyes now showing streaks of black. 

"Nay... Let – not – go," she squeezed out through clenched teeth.

Danny swung around and went for the couch under the balcony window and sat down, holding her tightly in his arms. This was not how he would've imagined it would be. But he didn't care; he was scared for her and all his focus was on her in his arms as she curled up her legs and desperately held onto them, staring straight ahead, shaking. Four lines of bruises showed angry red on her exposed right shoulder and arm. 

Like the scratches from a cougar. Scratches without damage?

"What's happening to you? Mickmi? What can I do to help?" He brushed the hair from her face and felt her damp forehead. "Damn, you're burning up!" 

But he couldn't do anything sitting here with her in his lap except to hold her. He pressed his hand against her forehead, massaging it, and started humming. He didn't know what else to do since she clearly didn't want him to let go. He hummed the few notes that had been in his head since morning. It felt like it was a melody in the making, and it would help him keep his composure now as she needed him to. Composed, even as his heart was racing in alarm.

Suddenly the shaking stopped and Mickmi went still. He looked down at her; her eyes were closed and she was panting slower. She trembled again, but this time it was a short shiver and gradually the tautness in her body released, allowing her to relax. He kept his hand on her forehead, squeezing with gentle movements, humming. He noticed with relief she wasn't feeling so hot anymore; she was cooling down fast. Even the red bruises on her arm were paling. 

Whatever it was that was happening to her, it had passed.

"Mickmi?"

She shivered again, and opened her eyes, blinking. For a while she lay still, staring straight ahead, breathing with slight tremors. Then she pushed herself up, and he released her. She sat with her legs folded under her, a foot away from him, looking back at him. Her glazed eyes were almost back to normal.

He studied her with concern as she wiped her forehead with the palm of her hand. He'd never felt so scared for the welfare of anyone in his life since his grandmother died. That time he'd feared a known end. But this time it was uncharted territory. 

"Mickmi. What was that? Has that ever happened to you before?"

She frowned, her gaze slipping as she tried to recall. "I... think not..."

"Never mind. I'm glad it's over." He didn't want her equilibrium to be disturbed again right now. "Are you okay?" 

He slid his knee up on the seat, just an inch from hers as he turned toward her and peered at her. Apart from the exhaustion, she seemed none the worse for wear.

 "Aye." She lowered her head slightly in a nod, blinking slowly, her right hand making that graceful movement to her chest again. "Thank you. You help me so much."

Danny shook his head, smiling slightly. "You don't need to thank me, you're welcome. Man, to tell you the truth, you really had me scared there."

"I know... I, too, was scared."

"I sure hope you don't have to go through that again." 

They sat silent for a while, eyes locked to each other. Then her gaze wandered to his shoulders, left and right, and back up again.

She stretched out her hand, waving it downward in a small movement. "Allow me," she said. 

Danny looked at her quizzically and bent forward. She placed her hand at the base of his neck right where the pain he'd been trying to ignore all day was. He gasped as a burning heat shot out of her hand to the area with targeted focus, enveloping it intensely for a moment, and then it spread out, gently warming his neck and shoulders.

A minute later she exhaled a long breath and pulled back her hand. Danny tested his neck, twisting and turning it. The crick in the neck was gone. No more pain. He looked up at her in wonder, rubbing the base of his neck. 

"Wow. How did you do that?"

She shook her head with a small tired smile. "You are welcome."

This girl... 

Danny shook his head slowly in amazement, gazing at her. Then he chuckled and got up. 

"You've been through the wringer today. Stay there. I'm going to fix a bath for you. It will help you relax."

https://youtu.be/uhyw8js2uFk

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©2016 by kemorgan65

Credits:
• Music track video from the 2011 movie The Gray, composed and produced by Marc Streitenfeld. 
• Cougar image from Pixabay.
• Cougar cubs video by AZcontra on YouTube