Chupar

Tres

"Catalina," an anxious voice whispered through the dark. "Catalina, wake up."

Stirring within her cot, the girl rubbed the sleep out of her eyelids, seeing a figure standing over her. "Papá?" She squinted her eyes at him, trying to make out his features. "What is it?"

He leaned in closer, the worry on his face as clear as day. "It's the chickens. They were attacked."

"What?" She shot up out of the cot, nearly tripping over the man beside her. "Viper, wake up." Catalina nudged him with her bare foot.

"I've been awake this whole time, darlin'." He reached for the hat next to him and placed it over his unkempt brown hair.

"My father said the chickens were attacked. Did you hear anything?" She demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"If I would've heard a couple of chicken squawking, trust me, I would have gotten up." The Viper glanced up at her as he slipped on his pointed boots.

"Ugh," Catalina groaned before turning back to her anxiety-ridden father. "No, Papá. He didn't hear anything. Did you?"

He shook his head, running a hand through his short hair. "No. It wasn't until I checked this morning did I see..." Tomas heaved a deep sigh. "It was the same as yesterday."

Grabbing her strewn cardigan, Catalina ran past her father and out the door, not bothering to wait for the outlaw still sitting on the floor. Rough pebbles and goat heads rubbed against the soles of her feet, pricking her skin until she bled. Not thinking to stop, she drew in a sharp breath to keep from shouting out a string of curse words.

Though dawn had not yet arrived, Catalina could still make out the outline of the chicken coop in front of her. By now, she should have heard the familiar clucking emitting from the wooden shack. But the only sound to be heard was that of the wind blowing across the sand. A surge of fear shot through her like a lightning bolt, quickening her pace until she practically crashed through the door.

"Oh my God..." Catalina's heart skipped a beat as she gazed on the wreckage that had been the chicken coop. Brown and white feathers were scattered everywhere- on the floor, over the rows of nests, and even in the air, looking like specks of dust floating around. The round, feathered bodies laid on their backs with their wings outstretched as if they were about to take flight. And perhaps they had tried, but in the end had been unsuccessful in escaping the prison that had trapped them with their killer.

The floorboards underneath creaked as someone entered from behind, pushing her aside. Bending over, the Viper lifted a chicken off the floor and looked at it closely. Its head hung limply to the side as he held it by its punctured neck.

"Have you seen anything like that before?" Catalina approached him, shifting her eyes to where his blue ones were fixed. A trickle of blood oozed from the two gaping holes and over the slender, white neck.

The man shook his head. "No. Can't say I have."

"Then... you don't think people did this, do you?" She glanced at the mess around her.

"Without leaving any blood behind?" The Viper followed her gaze. "There's just no way."

"Then what?" Catalina balled her fists together. "What could have done this?!" She pointed to the bodies lying beside her feet.

"I-I don't know..." The Viper sighed. "Wait." His head suddenly perked up as he quickly exited the coop and fell to his knees beside the door. Catalina and her father immediately came to his side, watching as he brushed his finger across the dirt.

"Look." He pointed to a slight impression on the ground. Leaning in closer, Catalina made out the three nail marks atop the paw pressed into the sand.

"It's a pawprint," Tomás said, almost as if he were relieved.

"But of what?" she whispered. Although she was no expert on animal tracks, Catalina knew that whatever had left that print was no creature she had encountered. "Viper, what kind of animal is this?"

The man rubbed his scalp, seemingly as dumbfounded as they were. "Some kind of cat maybe?" He pointed to another set of tracks close by. "But cats don't walk on their hind legs."

Catalina blinked, thinking she must have misheard him. "What?"

The Viper looked up at her, and what she saw in his blue eyes made her blood run cold.

Fear.

"Look at the distance between these sets of tracks and the other ones. They're not from something that walks on all four legs. They're from something that walks-"

"Like a human," Catalina finished for him with a shudder. 

**

Packing the last of their food into her bag, Catalina glanced up at her parents, who stood right outside the front with their hands intertwined.

"Is that everything? You have your water? The tortillas? The machete?" Her mother asked.

"Yes, Mamá." She smiled. Usually, this onslaught of questions would have gotten under her skin. But today, today was different. She knew it must have been heartwrenching for her parents to let her go, but there was no other choice now that all the chickens were dead. It was either go out and kill the animal in hopes of putting an end to its slaughter, or do nothing and starve through the winter.

"Be careful." Her father suddenly released his wife's hand as he pulled Catalina in for a tight hug. Burying her face into his chest, feeling the threat of oncoming tears as she took in his scent. He smelled of the Earth and sweat, but most of all, he smelled of the ranch. Of home.

Narrowing his eyes at the man standing off to the side, Tomás broke from the embrace and marched right up to him. "You," he said in English. "Take- Take care of her."

The Viper gave a short nod. "Con mee vee-dah." Even in a different language, he still retained that slight Southern drawl.

Tomás's eyes widened, evidently surprised by his response. Even Catalina raised her eyebrows, thinking he must have been pretending this entire time.

"You mean to tell me, you know Spanish?" She glared at him.

"Nah. Just enough to get by." He flashed her that cocky grin of his.

Rolling her eyes, Catalina turned back to her parents- her gaze softened almost instantly. "Tell Isabella and Tomas goodbye for me. I-I don't want to wake them."

Dolores nodded before enveloping her daughter into her arms. "We will."

"Well, I think that's everything." Catalina nodded to the Viper as she broke from her mother's embrace. "I guess we should go now before the sun rises any higher."

"Alright." With a grunt, the Viper swung his leg over the mare as he climbed onto her. Following suit, Catalina hopped onto Cortez and settled herself over his smooth back.

Swallowing the rising lump in her throat, she gave her parents one final wave before tilting her hat over her tear-filled eyes. As she tugged at Cortez's mane and rode off, the wind carried off the tears from her into the clouds of dust behind her. With nothing clinging to her now, she hardened her gaze as she followed the Viper into the endless desert where whatever beast they were after called its home.