Tale of a Wildcat

         Leaves ruffled as the wildcat trampled on top of the lush green grasses, chasing after its prey. It is a forest rat, one whose limbs are built to serve an entire life of escaping and running away from danger. But at this crucial moment, the nimble legs failed the rat, as it toppled over a protruding tree branch and rolled on the the dirt like a ragdoll. The wildcat saw that its moment has come and pounced onto the rat with trained agility. And just like that, the meal of the day was there in its paws.
　　

Suddenly, there were sound of approaching footsteps. The wildcat quickly grabbed its trophy and made for a run, reaching for the bushes to disguise itself. Soon, a looming figure came to the scene - it was a brown-furred wolf, making its way through the dense forage stealthily. It was apparent the the wolf was looking for something. The wildcat turned around and saw a deer grazing over in the distance. As the cat gazed on, the wolf approached the deer from behind and attempted to leap on it ferociously, causing the helpless creature to break away in a sprint. The wolf and the deer was caught in an endless race, when out of the blue came another wolf of the pack, jumping out of its ambush to tackle the deer from the side. The deer toppled as more wolves seemed to come out of nowhere to pin their prey to the ground.
　　
　　The wildcat was observing this scene so attentively that it failed to notice the crowd of other cats gathering around, witnessing the flawless act of cooperation. Realizing this, the wildcat hissed angrily at the intruders and the other wildcats quickly scampered away from the territory of the solitary cat.
　　
　　The story begins the next day, when the lone cat patrolled within its territory in search of prey. As usual, a few deer were sighted over the horizon. But this time, the wildcat wanted to try its luck. It mimicked the motion of the wolf, moving slowly towards its prey until it was close enough, and gathering all its muscle strength, pushed itself swiftly aloft onto the back of the deer. The alerted deer struggled violently to shrug off the cat, flinging it with full force from left to right.
　　
　　As the greedy cat was close to losing its grip and falling to its demise, its fellow kin, the other wildcats in vicinity caught the signal and started attacking the deer from all sides. A tug of war soon started between the two species, one eager to expand their reach of preys, the other eager to escape from the reach of its new predator. Amidst this heated battle, the tussling deer suddenly fell numb and collapsed to the ground, a spear stabbed across its torso.
　　
　　Before the clowder of cats had time to react, the protagonist of our story was grabbed by its tail by an unknown trespasser and stuffed into a wooden sac. It was pure darkness inside, one which the wildcat had never experienced before. It was the turn for the wildcat to struggle now, kicking and growling, for it found itself trapped inside a suffocating confinement so small its head was touching its tail. The more the wildcat tried to swivel around, the tighter the confinement seemed to get, and after a long while of battle the cat finally gave up to exhaustion. All it can hear now is the monotonous sound of its captor’s footsteps.
　　
　　Finally, the sound came to a halt. The wildcat was tossed to the ground and the sac went loose. The terrified cat jumped out of the sac in a split second and scurried away at full speed. But it was to no avail, for the compound was gated. The cat turned around and snarled angrily at its captor, its tail upright and bristled to mirror how furious the cat was. The captor responded only with a sly smile before disappearing into a cave.
　　
　　It is a cat’s primary instinct to have a clear insight of its surroundings. As it scanned around for ways to escape the compound, it was greeted by the sight of a wolf. It was the same wolf draped in a coat of brown fur which the cat saw just the other day! The cat quickly turned to a defensive stance, standing tall on its two hind legs and curving its tail to warn off the new threat. The wolf, unfortunately, was undeterred. It began moving towards our helpless protagonist, its pace gradually matching up the quickening heartbeat of the wildcat. At last, the wolf was a mere two feet away from the cat. It was there, a towering wolf standing next to a cowering cat, that a few tense moments passed in silence.   
　　
　　The wolf decided to make a move. The wildcat whimpered in fear, and knowing that it couldn’t possibly outrun a hungry wolf in an enclosed area, bent around its tail and sat submissively on the dirt floor. It can hear the heavy breaths of the predator closing in around its neck, the sharp teeth of the carnivore ready for a good munching, as saliva started dripping onto the striped fur of the wildcat. Soon, the teeth are brushing its skin, the nose sniffing, and before the cat got too comfortable the wolf grabbed the cat by the neck and lifted it into the air.
　　
　　The wildcat gave away one last high-pitched growl before... before it started flying! The wolf flung the cat with all its might and soon the cat found itself reaching heights it had never dreamt of reaching before. A few seconds later, the cat was greeted by the ground again and the cat rolled skilfully upon landing to reduce impact. It quickly recovered from the gut- stunt and scanned around to look for the wolf. Unexpectedly, the wolf was nowhere to be seen, but the imposing wooden palisade that gated the compound was still clear within view. Then the wildcat realized with great awe, it has been freed from captivity by a wolf! 
　　
　　Without delay, the cat began tracing its way back home guided by the trail of odor its captor left behind. It was sprinting on double-time because for once it had a mission in mind that isn’t fighting for its own survival. All the scenery of the forest swept through the vision of the cat so quickly they became blurry images blending green and blue. The cat started heaving heavily as it arrived at the spot where the monumental battle with the deer took place - its home. It didn’t take long before curious eyes started peeking around the corner, eyes that glowed green in the dark, eyes of its kin.
　　
　　But this time, the wildcat did not chase them off. As the other curious cats gathered around to tap onto new knowledge, the wildcat avidly re-enacted the scene to its peers. The cat attempted standing on two legs - representing the man, its captor; the cat bristled up its furs and let out an intimidating meow - the wolf; the cat ran against a tree bark - the wooden palisade. This went on for thousands of heartbeats before finally the clowder of cats wrapped their furry heads around the situation. Meows and chirrups resonated with each other, and the crowd seemed to be engrossed in deciding the fate of a creature ten times the size. At last, the wildcat turned back to the path that leads to danger, the danger that made the cats agree for the first time.
　　
　　As the orange hue of sunset pierced through the white-washed sky, the man returned to check on his newly-captured trophies. Holding a bronze spear in hand, he skirted around the wooden palisade to the gate, eager to observe the result of his vile experimentation. The wolf was easy enough to spot, but the cat was nowhere to be seen. Not surprising, he thought to himself, nature is about the survival of the fittest and the most selfish after all. The wolf even finished the devouring the bones! He chuckled.
　　
　　That was when he noticed a cat with striped furs standing idly at his side, outside the compound. Incredulous, he quickly pinned on the cat’s tail and wrapped his strong muscular arms around the neck of the cat. Strangely, the wildcat was all docile and cooperative, making no attempts to escape and definitely not struggling. He unbolted the makeshift gate, and was about the toss the escapee back inside when something fluffy suddenly fell on his head from the tree behind, pushing him off balance.
　　
　　The man realized he was being ambushed and scrambled to remove the cat from his head, but then the cats started the growling. It was not the growl of one cat, not two, not three, but dozens upon dozens of deep and hostile voices growling, hissing and snarling in unison. Being an intelligent creature that it thinks it is, the man knew he had two options, flight or death. And so he ran with all his might, trembling in fear and shrieking in pain, but it was all too late. The hungry wolf took a greedy bite of his leg before scampering into the dense forest.
　　
　　Ultimately, the man was left alone to survive by the cats. The cats have no need for the repulsing human flesh, and it was better off leaving him to assert the feline dominance in human society. As for now, the cats have much to celebrate. Excited purring and meowing was heard echoing across the dense forests that night, as the wildcats cheered not for conquering a new species, but for conquering solitude. If you listen closely enough, the howling of wolves can be heard resonating faintly from the edge of the forest too.