08. The Lion and the Pussy
The three friends continued to make their way through the dark and gloomy forest for the rest of the day, never seeing the light of the sun through the thick forest canopy. Scarecrow and Tin Man were not human, so they didn't feel the need to rest. Dorothy, however, did tire eventually and the other two travelers stood guard while she and Toto slept by the side of the road. She was sleeping heavily soon after she laid down and she didn't wake for six hours.
When she awoke, they started out again on the yellow brick road. "You know, I think that we might be almost out of this old forest," Scarecrow said. "Another ten hours and we should be able to see the sun again..."
"Thank God," Dorothy said. "I don't think I can take this constant darkness for much longer..."
"Well," Tin Man spoke up, "At least we haven't seen any wild animals on the road."
"Wild animals?"
"Oh, sure," Tin Man said. "There are all kinds of animals roaming a huge forest like this. Most of them aren't any danger to us, but you would want to run into any of the big predators."
"Like what kind of predators," Scarecrow asked.
"Oh, any of them. Lions, Tigers, Bears..."
Dorothy gasped. "Lions?"
Scarecrow glanced around into the dark trees. "Tigers?"
"Yes," Tin Man said. "And Bears. I've never worried about them, because they wouldn't want to chew on my metal body, and I'm sure that Scarecrow is pretty safe, too. Dorothy and Toto might be in danger though, if the beasts were hungry."
Dorothy's body shivered as she thought that eyes might be watching them even as they spoke.
Seeing Dorothy's discomfort, Tin Man wrapped his arm around her. "Don't worry. If any of them tried anything, I'd hack them in half with my axe in no time at all."
There was a crack from the trees and Scarecrow tried to see what made the noise. "Did you hear that?"
"It's nothing I'm sure." TIn Man chuckled. "I probably shouldn't have even brought it up. We're not going to see anything on road any ways..."
Just as he finished this sentence, a loud roar echoed through the forest. All three of the friends moved closer together as they tried to decide where the roar came from. They couldn't see anything in the dark woods until a large tawny colored blur shot out of the forest. Tin Man was thrown to the ground and his axe landed in the woods. Scarecrow was hit by a huge paw that knocked his top half clear off of his pants. When the two men looked at the road to see what attacked them, all that they saw was Dorothy's picnic basket lying next to a furiously barking Toto. The beautiful stripper and her attacker had disappeared in to the forest.
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Dorothy watched the forest fly by in a blur as she struggled against the large furry arm holding her tight. She hit the solid body with her fists and kicked with her heels but it didn't make any difference. He continued to run past the trees until he was sure that he had gotten far enough away from her friends.