A Pirate's Life for Mei

Cat and Mouse

Mei

Mei felt her palms growing sweaty and worried about how well they'd continue to adhere to the polished wooden grip of the pistol in her left hand.

Fowler continued to give her that infuriating half-smile, just waiting for her to move.

Her heart rate started picking up speed. Her fingers flexed around the wood and felt for the trigger. Doing her best to control her breathing, she knew there was no point in trying to drag things out. She readied herself to shoot and tried to ignore the sense of dread that washed over her as she anticipated failure.

Jie growled.

Fowler suddenly slid to her right.

Instinctively, she raised the gun and fired.

But he was already calmly in motion the other way, and the bullet flew wide. With smooth practice, he raised his pistol, and white smoke bloomed from the end.

She readied herself for the bullet's impact and then was surprised to hear a sharp whine of pain from beside and behind her. Whipping her head around, she saw Jie and gasped in worry.

The beautiful but already bloodied feline fell to the ground. She opened her mouth, and a sawing roar rose. With heroic effort, she tried to claw her way towards the man who'd shot her, but he'd hit her in the left hindquarters, and Jie's leg was too weak and in too much pain to use. It dragged behind her, and then she collapsed with a piercing wail.

"Jie!" Mei exclaimed. She turned back to her opponent and snarled at him. "You bastard! Why would you do that?"

He arched a single eyebrow. "So it doesn't attack me, obviously." He cocked his head. "Is that the governor's escaped pet? It must be; I can't imagine there are any other jaguars on the island. How on Earth did you tame the damn thing? Did you actually get it to follow you around somehow? Incredible!"

She felt hate pulse within her chest. "You're cruel." She itched to go over and help the poor creature, but Fowler was still standing before her, still dangerous, although he'd fired his weapon, and it would take time to recharge. Anxiously, she inched towards Jie.

The cat looked up at her, eyes swimming in fear and pain. It whined.

Wary of being bitten, she gingerly reached out. Once Jie showed no sign of snapping, she touched the animal on the head. "There, there. You'll be ok." She petted the feline.

Fowler's chest heaved with silent laughter. "Amazing! You managed to bond with it. We had no such luck."

"That's because all you did was abuse it and treat it like a toy. You should have treated her with kindness instead. But I guess that's a foreign concept for someone like you." She pretended to look down at Jie, but her eyes darted towards the pistol's timer, hovering over the rear of the barrel. The seconds ticked by too slowly. And she just bet that his countdown was going to be shorter.

Her mind whirred. What to do? Should she charge him? Try to run past to the ship? But that would mean abandoning Jie. The thought appalled her, though she admitted to the practicality of it. Should she sacrifice the animal for her freedom? Of course she should, though she'd hate herself for it. But were there other options?

Was there any way she could beat Fowler again? Some way to trick him? Or to appeal to whatever small measure of humanity he possessed?

Then she recalled the other pistol in her other pocket. If she could use that before his weapon recharged...

Transferring her sword to her other hand, she drew the other gun, switched hands again, and faced him.

He didn't seem worried at all at the sight. "Oh, good. You've still got both of them. I'll be taking all of my things back now."