Dark. Murky. Dreadful. These were a few names of disgusting putrid that could describe the alley that she was going to be attacked at.
A kitten followed by a cop, masquerading as a killer engaged in tonight’s exercise. No more than nine, Hanna walked the pathway to where her to-be predator would follow. He was at a fairly close distance, but just far enough to not be noticed. His stalking boots were oiled leather, a knife in one paw, knees scraping knees, scraping knees of dangled expertise for quiet stalking in the city shadows.
Hanna rounded the corner into the alley, coming against the wall into a dead end.
There he was; As soon as she turned, she met with her demise-A masked killer! A puncture wound maker was held tightly in his paw, she could see. It’s deadly blade met her eyes sharply before the masked killers stride stepped quicker.
Hanna fidgeted with her paw, brandishing a firearm lookalike, it’s synthetic barrel made for the projection of plastic darts. Shaking to her knees the kitten brought the firearm up to her eyes sights, aiming for the masked killer’s head. He was closing the distance and coming fast! Whole blown when her bravery left as she shrieked. The figure flooded the alleyway with a dark silhouette and grew in size until he was but a foot away. With one mighty kick to the groin and a cry, Hanna had felled him.
Flomp!
His body curled into a ball as he hit the pavement.
“…Ah!...ahhh!....R-rugger, are you okay?!”
Words spoke, but were warped with nonsense at first. A couple sputters, and bits of painful babbles, the first logical things came out from Rugger’s mouth. “I…hath been slain...groan...”
Poor, unfortunate Rugger. He was suppose to be shot by a plastic dart. It was suppose to bounce harmlessly off his nose. He was suppose to fall down gracefully in a comical way that showed he had been injured from a gunshot wound-but no. He got kicked in the balls. Rugger planed his ‘death’ monologue all week, since he heard about this exercise. It was suppose to be fun, now he lay on the ground, in pain.
“Rugger!” Hanna came to his aid, “I’m so sorry! Are you okay?!”
Just at that moment, a cruiser came strolling in as if it owned this dampened alleyway. No reds and blue flashing, it stopped before it really got in too deep inside. It’s engine still ran, but the door on the driver’s side opened to a figure of authority, standing tall with a pudgy belly. “Rugger?...” A hat, a gun, and badge spoke all at the same time.
But those headlights were still pretty fucking bright. “Dad?” Hanna spoke up in the blinding lights, “I-I think I messed up.”
But Neil sat crouched over his partners still frame. “What in blazes happened?”
Rugger explained this. “I reckoned she...must be joining a soccer team good buddy, hehe.” The border collie writhed under the pain in an unusually high voice. “She kicked pretty hard.”
Neil was in uniform, and he helped his comrade to his feet, who stumbled at first but with help was able to recover some of this strength. “Okay, funs over for tonight. I think officer Rugger is going to need some ice.”
But Hanna looked shameful at the ground. “I’m sorry Rugger, is there anything I can do to help?” the girl walked slowly to the back door of the parked cruiser.
Rugger was helped into the car, sitting was a chore right now. “Nothing that a bit of mead can’t fix. Some drunk stupor will do me some good.”
Neil put Hanna’s toy firearm up front with him as they all got inside and backed out the ally. They ran to the station, then to Rugger’s abode where he was dropped off. The night rested with Hanna and Neil at their home with a slight wind breeze and crickets chirping under the moon light.
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Dawn began a new day for the Diamonds under clear skies, not dotted with mischievous clouds or angry weeping rains. For a Sunday, everything was just peaceful. Hanna began in the kitchen talking to no one but herself. “My dad is an olive freak.” Hanna spun a rotary shelf in the cabinet. “Spanish queen olives, pepper stuffed olives, jalapeño stuffed olives, onion, garlic, kalamanta olives.” She gave the rotating shelf a final spin before opening the cabinet to her right. “See? And this one has even more! Castel...vet-veet-rano olives! What does that even mean?” She looked at the bright green olives in question as if they had done something to a horrible degree. “Olives! Olives! Olives!” Hanna threw her arms up and paraded about.
A mature cat of stature, a plump belly and strong shoulders came into the ruckus. “What about my olives? Those Castelvetrano olives are great with bleu cheese. Actually that sounds good right now...” Neil made a bee line to the refrigerator where an already open jar of olives, and crumbs of bleu cheese awaited his hungry stomach and left for the living room.
“Yuck! I can’t believe you can eat that! Ewww!” Hanna put on a face of disgust and shook her paws loosely. “Whatever, you eat that, I’m going to snack on peanut butter crackers.” Hanna went to the cupboard opposite to the oven. This was her stash of snacks. She set off then to the living room and sat loosely on the sofa where the television was set to Loonytoons. Rectangular in shape, the crackers were sticks, and there was a compartment of peanut butter ready at her disposal.
Neil was sitting in his recliner munching away on those green fruits. “I love this part.” Mr. Diamond spat an olive stone into a bowl. “Elmer Fudd always gets the short end of things. Watch this.”
Hanna did so and watched as closely as her dad at the antics of Bugs Bunny always giving the hunter the slip. The living room space had a table set in front the couch, the recliner sitting to its right. Seconds stretched to minutes as this kitten lay dipping cracker sticks into a cup of peanut butter. Her fur was a white coat, save for several black spots on her back and left eye. Neil had a bit of chub on his belly, his coat was black. He kept his whiskers well groomed.
Neil chewed on an olive as he spoke to his daughter, “Last night could have gone better, what if that had been a real attack?”
“Then,” Hanna watched as Elmer Fudd was kissed by Bugs Bunny wearing drag. “my attacker would have had been kicked there?”
Neil spat a pit out. “You know what we talked about. You were suppose to use your gun. If you ever got caught in a situation that threatens your life, you need to know how to defend yourself.” Disappointment drummed in his voice about the actions from last night. “I thought I taught you better.”
Hanna sighed. She knew her dad was only trying to help. “I know. I got scared okay? But that’s why we did that last night, right? To practice?”
Neil took in the rascally rabbit punting the hunter into a hole. “At Rugger’s expense, yes. But maybe you need some more practice with a gun. You just need confidence, so I think I should take you to the range later today.”
The kitten sat right up. “Totally?! You’re going to take me to the range? Cool!” Hanna had gone to a few before to hone her skills, so this was a treat. She finished her snack and watched the cartoon waiting on her father. “When are we going?”
“After lunch, there’s a few things me and Rugger have to go through. So it will be later today.”
Later today could not go by fast enough for the kitten. A promise to shoot a real gun within grasp was tantalizing. However her boredom on the couch was rewarded as the pair got ready in the car to drive off to the range.
