Chapter 6: Rebirth

The tigerstriped cat carefully changed its position. The whole day it had been on the search for food, and now it had found a rat gnawing on an earthworm. Rats and insects had been quite regular here months before, but day by day there were less of them. Sooner or later the cat would have to leave this area too.

The rat was unaware of the danger it was in. The stinking rain last night had forced some earthworms out of the ground, and now it had something to eat.

Finally the cat reached the spot it was aiming for, and jumped at its target. There was only a surprised squeak and the sound of a snapping spine breaking the silence. Normally it would have liked to toy a bit with its small victim, but the bad-smelling-things came closer every day, so it quickly finished its meal.

Soon it would rain again, and it was time to take shelter. The cat had almost reached its hideout, as a flying shadow crossed its path. Immediately the cat began to run faster, it was one of those flying-bad-smelling-things...

The cat ran through the debris of a burnt-out house, but the shadow was still chasing it. The hideout was only a hundred meters away, but the cat had to cross a street full of rusted-metal-things. Where was the flying-bad-smelling-thing?

Suddenly something smashed into the wall. There was a deluge of stone and glass raining down. The cat nimbly dodged most of it, but was cut by some of the flying shards. It ran like it had never run before.

The flying shadow was very close, as the cat finally managed to squeeze through the rusted windowbars of its hideout.

The cat carefully made its way down to its sleeping place. Small droplets of its blood fell into the dust, and it jumped onto the soft thing on the stone table. Here at its favourite place the cat licked at its wounds, and after a while the bleeding finally stopped.

Minutes later the cat lay down to sleep, totally unaware of the well hidden magic its blood had started.