Zyanya knew she was dead the moment she woke up.
“Where am I?” She asked, because she knew someone must be there. Or else she wouldn’t be here, tucked away among rocks. She squinted in the darkness, making a face as she attempted to move her head.
“She awakens.” A voice said somewhere beside her. The cheetah frowned, trying to raise her head, only to find it held down to the floor by a paw. Or was she really just that weak? “You should probably stay still a little while longer. Figure out what you feel.”
She felt like crap, obviously. “I feel like I’m dead.” Said Zyanya, trying to sound irritated or aloof, but really only sounding miserable and sad.
“You’re not dead.” The voice said again.
“Yes, I am.” A sigh. She knew she was dead. “My leg…” She tried to move her front leg, and almost cried out in pain. Perhaps she would have, if she’d had the strength. Instead, all the female managed was a sharp whimper.
That was all he needed to understand what she meant. He swallowed, looking down at the female against his side. He had been here all afternoon and most of the night. He didn’t even know this cheetah, but, for whatever reason, he wanted her to be alright. Evidently, she was not. “…I see.”
He heard he cheetah sigh beside him. “Where are we, anyways? And where are you? I can’t see you.”
He managed to hide his amusement. She hadn’t realized that she was lying against him. “I’m right next to you.” He shrugged his shoulders so she could actually feel where he was. He could swear he heard a startled gasp at the sudden movement. Or maybe it was pain, in which case, he was sorry. “I found these rocks to hide you. If we stayed out there, someone would definitely try to eat you.” He wasn’t completely sure no one would.
“You should have let them. I’m dead anyways.”
Her pessimist irritated him a little, but mostly just made him sad. That surprised him. Maybe because he was starting to wonder if the cheetah he had tried to save really was simply destined to death. Maybe he had just prolonged her pain. It seemed that, even if you tried to do something right, you would still mess up somehow. “Are you certain of that?”
There was a short silence, and he assumed the cheetah was trying to move her leg again. “I think so.” The defeat in her voice kept Usiku from pointing out her contradiction; if you only “think” you’re certain, you are not certain. “Who are you, anyways? Just some random cheetah that goes around saving people?”
He snorted. She had assumed he was one of her own kind. He supposed it made sense, if he expected random kindness from a stranger, it was more likely to come from one of his own kind. “Usiku. You are the only cheetah in this den, I am a leopard.”
Zyanya did her best to turn her head to look at the mass beside her. Even his fur was very dark, but his face. She could see he had white on his face. Yes, those were definitely not the jaws of a cheetah, and now that she thought about it, he seemed to soft to be one of her own. Not bony enough. “That’s just weird. Why would you help me?” She felt him shrug.
“Don’t know. I watched you hunt.” Great, he had seen that pathetic display of hunting ability. She should have seen the wildebeest coming back to save her calf. “You were running towards my tree. When you fell down, chased the wildebeest away.” It was a shame he hadn’t jumped in sooner. By the time the leopard had reached her, Zyanya had already been stepped on by one wildebeest. She had been lucky, really. She had been tossed around between its legs, but only actually stepped on once. Apparently, her leg. If he had come sooner, she might not be dead now.
Zyanya tried to move her leg once more. It still hurt very much, but she realized, at least, that she could move it. Her right front leg. “Get me out of here. Leave me there to die, or kill me yourself.” She said grimly, scowling down at her paw in the darkness. “I can even here some hyenas. Come on.”
Even if for a moment he had begun to agree with the cheetah, because if her leg really was broken, she truly was as good as dead, Usiku suddenly felt determined that she would not die. At least not now. He didn’t even know her name. “No.” He didn’t need to elaborate on that.
The cheetah, on the other hand, would very much like some more elaboration. “What do you mean ‘no’? I’m dead. Let me die already. You should never have ‘saved’ me!” Zyanya hissed, some strength returning to her. Her fur prickled, and she tried to turn to look at the leopard again, but even that was exhausting.
“No.” The leopard called Usiku insisted. “Maybe I shouldn’t have. But I did. So now I am keeping you alive.”
“Don’t you understand? I’m not worth keeping alive! What good is a cheetah that can’t run?”
“I guess we’re going to find out!”
Now his voice was so firm that even Zyanya had to shut up and, at least temporarily, let go of her pursuit. She flopped her head down on the floor (or maybe it was his shoulder? Her senses were still all fuzzy. “Stupid leopard. Can’t just let me be.” The cheetah grumbled and heaved a sigh, letting silence fall over them for a while.
“You should rest.”
Hmph. No kidding she should rest. Maybe if she rested now she would actually be able to dream. In her dreams, she would be running and hunting gazelle, like she never would be able to do again. In her dreams she would have just caught and killed that calf and the other wildebeest would have done the normal wildebeest thing and ran off. Since when had wildebeest cared so much? She had seen them abandon their own young for not walking fast enough!
… Heh.
“I’m Zyanya.”
Her introduction seemed to come out of nowhere, considering their little spat just moments ago. Usiku’s face was still hot from that. But he tilted his head and looked down at the female, so small and weak and defeated. Perhaps even dead.
“Zyanya.” He repeated, but she seemed to already be sleeping. “Nice to meet you.”
