Black Ghost Runner

by M. Garnet

  Brandy stopped, a cramp in her side making breathing difficult, and realized that she wasn’t sure if she was going in a straight line or in circles. She was still on her knees, but at least her breathing was easing. The cramp was becoming bearable. She felt around in the darkness until she found the dampness of a moss-covered tree. Pushing against it, she got up on her feet. She listened carefully, now holding her breath. She saw nothing but the buzzing of the bugs that had finally caught up with her, already attacking her neck and arms.

  Not letting go of the tree, Brandy turned until she could lean her back against it. She struggled with her wet pants pocket to get the bug spray out. She began to add a different type of moisture to her body including head, neck, arms especially face, even her hair. Carefully capping the can so she could put it away, she used her hands to spread the moisture, and was relieved to feel no one biting her any longer.

  She took the time to pull on her poncho. Even though she was already wet, it would leave both hands free as she moved in the dark, but she took a moment to think things through. Did she really want to move on in the dark? After all, she was not use to this type of terrain, this type of vegetation. Maybe it would be smarter to stay put and wait for daylight to give her some type of relationship or point to travel. Even she knew which direction the sun came up from.

  Brandy knew the Dam was north of the jungle. The rustic highway was west. She also knew there were the plateaus and staggering high ranges to cross, but surely, there would be roads. She hunched down on her heels against the tree, allowing the poncho to envelope her. Hoping no lizards or snakes would crawl under with her, she decided to wait for dawn.

  She had actually started to doze off as her knees began to ache when something heavy hit her on the side, knocking her away from the tree, forcing her to slide on her side away from the security of the tree. She heard a deep growl as she tried to scramble to her feet, but again something slammed her to the ground. She crawled on hands and knees, trying to get away from the animal that was attacking her. She could hear the deep breathing behind her, almost against her ass as she moved forward on her knees, in the mud, as fast as she could.

  She was moving as quickly as she could on her knees, being slapped in the face by leaves. She decided to try to spring up to run and started to get one knee up under her chest so that she could raise upright, but as soon as she shifted upward, she felt a heavy swipe strike against her back, claws tearing through her poncho into her back. This time, she went down, face first into muddy water.

  Brandy pushed with her hands by her head to get her face out of water, coughing and blowing dirt from her nose. She heard a low growl close behind her, so the animal was still on her. She felt the burn of the tears in the skin of her back. She knew the animal had raked her body as she felt some hot moisture move down her back that had to be blood.

  She felt the weight of something on her thigh, pushing her into the mud. She held her breath, waiting for death from sharp long teeth, then a bright flash to her left drew her attention. Lying flat in the wet forest, she turned her head to see the beam of a flashlight moving in and out of the foliage, about twenty feet away. She now was hearing the heavy progression of men, pushing or chopping through the forest—the hunters who had stopped the vehicle she had come in.

  Brandy slowly turned her head to look over her shoulder, trying to see if it was one of the spotted cats that had jumped from the four by four. All she saw was darkness, then there was the reflection in the blackness of the two large cat eyes, tracking the men. The eyes didn’t blink. They disappeared as the lights went with the men who were moving away, enveloped in the arms of the dank dark jungle.

  The weight was gone from her leg, but she lay still, waiting, wondering who was with her. What was going to happen next? She couldn’t lie in this mud for long, so she slowly eased up on knees, finding no interference. Okay, so far so good. She slowly brought up her feet, her knees under her breasts, then slowly stood upright. No growling, no claws, no knock against her body.

  Brandy decided the best direction would be away from the hunters, since she didn’t want to go back. She didn’t want to go in the direction the men with the flashlight were marching. She heard a low purr, so, evidently the beast agreed.

  She was tired, dirty and sore. She had been walking—no make that stumbling through the blackness of the labyrinth of wet leaves limbs, and don’t forget the bugs. She was so tired. Now, she was in the water, up to her knees for several minutes before she was aware of the wetness of her shoes even her clothes. This was different from the dampness she had grown used to in the mud. She halted, standing with the water moving around her legs. She was aware that it must be getting toward morning as she was starting to see a difference in the darkness, some shades of black fading to grey. She also heard a strange sound like rain, but she felt no water hitting her head or shoulders.

  Brandy started for the other side of the fast-moving stream. She was bumped again from behind. Tripping as she tried to keep her stance, she didn’t want to go back the way she came, so she just moved forward in the water, staggering against the water as the force got faster. Thank goodness the stream didn’t get deeper, oh shit. This was her thought as she first saw the reflection of the waterfall. Then she stepped into a hole, sinking over her head.

  Her clothes were dragging her down. There was a type of whirlpool, probably caused by the waterfall. Holding her breath, she tried to remember her Red Cross training. She struggled to get out of the poncho, finally getting it off. She tried to kick to the surface, but was running out of air. Then her head burst through. She pulled in air and water, choking as she went under again.

  Her shoes including her clothes were still heavy, but her need to stay alive was desperate. She kicked, swinging her arms. She was again above the water, able to get air. This time she found she was closer to the waterfall. She was finally able to get enough traction with her legs to keep her head above to move.

  It was getting light enough to see more shapes. Beside the waterfall were rocks that stepped down. It looked like an easy way to escape the deep swirling water. She could have made the distance faster if she dumped her boots or more of her clothes, yet she felt she would need them in the jungle, so she struggled in a modified dog paddle. She eventually reached slippery rocks under the water with her feet.

  Brandy held on, leaning fully against the rocks, in the water. As her lungs slowed, at last receiving enough oxygen to help her body start to gain strength, she had to smile. She was clean of all the mud, including whatever else she had picked up in crawling or lying on the jungle floor. She decided she had enough stamina to crawl out of the water, but as she looked up, she was looking into golden cat eyes of a huge black jungle animal, standing at the top of the rocks, near the waterfall.

  Was this Noble? Then the cat disappeared under the waterfall. Well, she had heard of this type of stuff, caves or depressions behind cascades. She struggled up the rocks, dripping. She was carrying water in her boots, even in her pockets. She had to rest again at the top of the ledge of rocks, near the flow of sparkling fluid thundering down into the deep pool. She was sure the giant black animal went under the water. She took another breath as she looked up at the brightening sky. She decided to make this quick so she ducked into the water.

  Thankfully, it was hollow behind the water, but it was also pitch black, and she could see nothing. Then she felt a slight nudge on her thigh from the cat. It was pushing her forward. She put her hands out and shuffled until she touched a wall. She stopped, feeling the wall, surprised that it was dry to her touch. She turned, putting her back to the wall, seeing the lighter glow from behind the waterfall. She waited to allow her eyes to become adjusted to the lack of light, aware that the cat seemed to be gone or had moved far enough away to be lost in the blackness.

  Brandy slowly moved further into the cave, keeping her back against the wall, letting the dim light from the waterfall show her what she might be stepping
on. Then she stepped on a pile of sticks or something. She looked down carefully and stretched to move over the stack. She could see enough that it was dry wood. Dry wood equaled a fire, if her matches had survived in the waterproof tin in her pocket. She put her hand on the wall to move again, and found a small ledge. Feeling around, she found several items she could not identify. She did know the feeling of wax—it was a candle. She noticed a box with rough sides that had to have the long wooden matches inside.

  Fumbling in the semi-dark, she got her first match lit. That let her see around. She was able to ascertain that there was a candle on the shelf, so things were looking up. With her second match, she got the candle lit and dripped wax on the shelf to stick the candle in it. She had a small amount of light. She also had the reflection of two golden eyes deeper in the cave. Shit. She was really praying that those eyes belonged to Noble and not some wild cat that had brought her home for dinner.

  Next, she started moving some of the dry wood out to a stone circle that was obviously a fire pit. She looked for some type of tinder to get the fire going and finally settled on shredding up some dry bark from a couple of small limbs into a small pile under one side of the short pile she had set in a teepee fashion. Taking the candle, she dripped wax so she started a fire on the bark, then reset the candle on the shelf.

  It was not long before she had a small, warm fire. Brandy began to strip off her wet clothes, setting everything loosely around the fire to dry. She ended up in her panties and tee shirt. She reached under and unwrapped her strips to allow that material to dry also. She felt the golden eyes watching her movement, but since he had only hunkered down, head on one large paw, not blinking, not doing anything threatening, she decided to ignore him.

  She set everything that had been in her pockets in a pile by the fire so she could see the items. What had survived the jungle or the moisture? Well, hooray, her matches had made it. They were still dry in the tin. Only two of the Trail Bars were still intact—the others had leaked, as the wrappings had split when she had fallen on them or rolled on them. She broke one open and ate it with relish, not realizing how hungry she was until the taste hit her tongue.

  Her small LED light was busted. Her bug spray can had a big dent in it, but it had worked for a while, maybe not long. On top of all of this, she had to pee. She stood up, which made the cat raise his head. She took the candle and held it up to see what she could find by going back further in the cave. There was a stack of clean furs. If she moved them near the fire, they would make a nice bed.

  All right, she would have to do what her mother told her not to do since she was three years old. Don’t pee in the pool. She came back to put the candle in its place. She blew it out. No need to waste it when she had the light of the fire. Besides, there wasn’t much to see in the dark cave—some strange things hanging from the walls, a couple more shelves, but no toilet.

  Brandy looked over at the big beast that was watching her. “Look, I’m not leaving, I just have to use the facilities. I will be right back. I guess you don’t have any TP, huh?” Still watching him, she pulled lose one of the soggy small Kleenex and made her way to the waterfall. Edging on the rocks, staying out of the falling water, she found a spot where water moved over the area in a smooth manner that she decided would take away her urine, and relieved her bladder. She hoped she wasn’t messing up the environment too much.

  Brandy returned, surprised that the cat hadn’t moved. If it was Noble, it could understand her. She was still hungry, but she wasn’t sure when she would get more food, so she held the last Trail Bar for a moment with longing, then laid it down with her other pile of items. The warm fire was making her sleepy after crawling all night through the muddy jungle. She found she could hardly hold her eyes open.

  She went to got one of the furs, hoping there were no fleas or bugs in it. Shaking it briskly, she laid it down on her side of the fire, looked at the golden eyes, then lay down, tucking her elbow under her head and watching the fire. She was exhausted. It didn’t take her long to doze off. She knew she tossed a bit as she dreamed of hands touching her sore back to ease the deep scratches.

  Brandy slowly opened her eyes. She was glad she hadn’t moved. She could feel the coolness of the dry wall against her back as she lay on her side. Pushing against her front was the warm length of the giant black jaguar. She felt stiff as she started to pull her arms down from above her head only to discover several things at once. She had no top on, and she could feel oil or cream on her back, but her wrists were locked into some type of leather restraints securing her to the wall under the shelf.

  Brandy let out a yelp as she pulled. This brought the black cat up on its feet instantly, which also froze her instantly. Having a two hundred fifty pound cat standing over her was more than enough to make her decide not to move. At last, the jaguar looked around, then he was gone, with a long beautiful stretch of powerful muscles.

  Her lungs let her know that she had quit breathing, so she sucked in air, then looked up at her wrists, caught in leather. The fire was low, but between it and the daylight shining through the water, she could see a little more of the cave. Someone had been living here for a period of time. She could see into the shadows on the other side. There were boxes with bottles of water sitting in front of them. She saw the reflection of white metal containers with the Red Cross on them, telling her there were medical items stored within.

  Brandy now saw a leaf by the fur with some fruit like a ripe guava, sliced in uneven pieces, and lying beside it was a bottle of water. She scooted up towards the shelf. She found that this gave slack to the lengths of leather holding her to the shelf. When there was enough play in the tethers, she sat up. First, she looked around for her top, but she couldn’t see it.

  Since her wrists were tied, she reached for the water with both hands. The cap was loose. By holding it with her teeth she could turn the bottle to remove the cap, which she spit out. She took a long drink. The water tasted sweet. She set the bottle down and glanced at the cave entrance, but she was still alone. She picked up a piece of the guava and took a bite—oh yes, it was sweet. It was juicy, picked ripe from a tree.

  Wait, how did her shirt get off, her wrists tied, and something get rubbed on her back? Someone had opened the bottle. An animal with paws wouldn’t have that kind of dexterity. If the jaguar was Noble, he had shifted, at least for a while. She sat the peel down and looked at the leather holding her wrists together that connected to the tether. Yep, this was clever, it was some type of braid. There didn’t seem to be a beginning or an end.

  Brandy pulled, twisted, then stopped when she felt the leather begin to burn against her skin as it rubbed back and forth. She tried her teeth on different parts of the braids, but nothing gave or became loose. In fact, it seemed like the ties were becoming tighter. She stopped when she saw the jaguar at the entrance. He looked all smooth heavy muscles as he stalked in slowly. For the first time, she saw the damage to his beautiful black fur as a jagged gash covered with healing flesh that showed along his hip and down his leg.

  He went over to the other side of the fire and stretched out as he lay down, head on one huge paw. She looked at the fire he had built it up during the night. She took a deep breath.

  “Noble, why are you keeping me here?” He raised his large blunt head, golden eyes reflecting the light of the fire. “Oh, you can’t talk in this form. So, let me see if I can speak for you. You think in some twisted way, that you are protecting me by keeping me here.” She looked around at the dark walls. “It doesn’t seem to figure into your equation that I wouldn’t be in this mess if you had just left me alone, that I could be in a nice warm dry bed without snakes or stinky frogs. You are right to keep me tied, because as soon as I figure out how to chew through this leather, I am out of here.”

  Although the big cat didn’t move, she heard the deep growl. Okay, he wasn’t about to let her go. She took a deep breath and decided to try to reason with him.

 
“Noble, look, I understand you have been hurt. Your woman friend told me, so I guess you need to stay in this form in order to heal better. I don’t pretend to understand what that is all about. You had to have shifted last night, and you cheated, because you did something to me so that I didn’t wake up when you moved me and undressed me. I am getting pretty damn mad at being treated this way—plus, you used me as a mattress, which is how we woke up. I want to go home, not to Santiago, but back to the U.S. Let me go, Noble!” Her voice had risen towards the end.

  What even added to her anger was when she saw Noble lower his head on his paws and just look at her. “Great. I was afraid of you in the man form—in this form you are just a pain in the ass.” She shifted to where she didn’t have to look at him.

  Chapter Eight

  Brandy or Beth, she was having a hard time deciding which name to use. She had actually fallen asleep. With her arms tied above her head, naked to the waist, back throbbing, she had actually fallen asleep. She tried to roll over, but was still tied by the leather thongs. It was dark in the cave with the fire down to its embers. Somewhere, she could hear voices. She could not quite make out the words.

  She found out she was stiff all over as she began to scoot up to a sitting position. She was thirsty, hungry, but most important she needed to use the fancy bathroom again. When she was finally sitting upright, she could tell that the voices were outside the cave.

  “Hey, anybody. Hello?” she yelled, then waited to see if anyone would answer her. Instead, there was nothing, except silence. Okay, she scared them all away. Great.

  But just when she thought she was alone in a cave in a jungle, the big black cat entered. Behind him was the girl with her partner, the big male who had brought Beth into this mess. She brought her tethered arms down over her breasts then let out a big sigh. Wonderful, what did you call a group of cats? Covey? No, that was a bunch of some type of birds. Wait! Pride—that was the word, and it sure did describe Noble.