1:Poor cub

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The cold night air hit me as I exited the Valentine bar, everything's spinning, I reek of the smell of beer and the hollering of other drunks gives me a headache.

I barely balance on the way down the couple steps. When I reach the muddy surface of the ground I stumble to my horse, Kira, a 7 year old American Paint. Her coat shined in the moonlight, her white spots shined on her black coating.

I hopped on and patted her before starting a decent gallop out of Valentine. I started to doze off as I passed the Railway, the stars shined so bright, they're so beautiful. After about 10 minutes of dozing off in the sky's I get my attention snatched by a big gunshot.

The gunshot was followed by a scratchy growl. I look the the sound and see a man going full speed away, then I look to the roar... A giant cougar, limping away with something in its mouth... What the? Why would he leave it in pain! I get frustrated about the mans decisions.

Since I don't want it to be in pain... I think for a moment. It's the best, right? I make my decision and start my way in the direction the cougar went. I hop off Kira when I come near the line of trees. "Stay here, I'll be right back." I tell her then grab my bow off my saddle.

I draw the bow and slowly walk in the trees, keeping my eyes forward and slowing my breathing to hear more. The crack of branches makes me turn left to see a bush shake, I don't hesitate to go to the bush and look behind it.

I get to the front of the tall bush and heard a more small, higher pitched meow? I push through the bush, cautiously walk through. I instantly aim my bow down to the huge cougar, but also instantly stop when I see a smaller one. A baby cougar...

I guess that's the mother...? The cub is curled up to the bigger one, trying to get her to stay awake. She lays there with painful breaths and not even caring about my presence. I try taking a step closer but she growls and swipes, I jump back with my bow still drawn.

"I'm sorry.." I try making myself feel better, but she needs to be put down, I don't want her to die in pain. I let go of the drawn bow making it whip the arrow to the cougars head. Then that's it, she's gone.

I look to the smaller one, it still lays there shaking of fear, it's no bigger then my foot...? I step closer and slowly reach my hand to the poor cub, it lets me pet it a bit but then let's out a scratchy and painful meow. My facial expression drops to the dreadful sound. It's a smart one, it that doesn't mean it can survive alone.

This might be crazy but, I'm gonna keep it. I dig my hands through my satchel on my side and pull out a small cloth I keep for any messes or blood. I gently grab the cub, he seems to not really care at this point. I slowly wrap it in the cloth so it can stay warm, it getting colder as the night gets later.

I put the bow back on my back, hold the cub in both arms and walk back to where I left Kira. I approach Kira slowly just in case if she knows it an actual cougar. She's more interested in the grass below her anyways... I hop back on, hold the cub in one hand and the other leads us all with the reins.

We make it to my small cabin, I hitch Kira and walk in through the front door. The candles are still lit from when I left, the familiar smell of... Home...?

I kick off my boots and gently place the cub on the floor, unwrap it and take a look at it. It's eyes look almost like they have sparkles in them, it also has shiny bright fur. It looks at me hitting me with a wave of guilt, I definitely have a feeling it knows what I've done...

I check my satchel again and find a can of tuna, hopefully it likes this. I open it quickly and leave just enough room for it to eat out of it on its own. I place right in front of it and sit criss crossed in front of it, a soon as I place it down it takes a sniff then a big chunk. The fan is gone in under a minute. "Hungary ain't ya?" He pets it's head.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of you."

𝓕𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓕𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭•Charles Smith X ReaderWhere stories live. Discover now