The Predator

She awoke in the unfamiliar bed, under the sheet she hadn't picked out and glanced to her right, just as the sun sent groping tendrils through the cracked blinds. He was still, neck at an impossible angle. She remained impassive, short clips from the previous night flashing through her brain. The crowded bar, the shots of tequila, the pretty, blonde man child who now lay unmoving beside her. He had been persistent and eventually she had caved in, accompanying him to this room. The sex had been mediocre, fumbled and clumsy but enthusiastic. Stupid boy had signed his own death warrant.

Rising from the bed, she took one more look at the corpse, pale skin, lips already slightly blue. She felt nothing. He would be found soon enough, room service, a cleaner. He would be mourned by his wealthy family and his preppy friends and colleagues. The hunt would begin but of course they would never find her. Shaking out her long, dark locks, she turned her thoughts inward and disappeared.

Nobody saw the large spider scurry under the door and into the hotel corridor. Taking the shape of a creature so small was always a risk and by the time she reached the fire escape at the back of the building she had transformed into a large, grey cat. Cat descended the steps slowly and elegantly, pausing every now and then to lick a paw or groom a whisker. Cat wouldn't be rushed. As she jumped down into the alleyway, causing the kitchen hand loading up the bins to scream, another, high-pitched scream pierced the air. It came from the room where the dead man lay rotting.

Cat ambled along the alley, moving through back lanes as the city came to life. Reaching the outskirts and feeling hungry, cat became a beautiful peregrine falcon and headed into the countryside in search of food. Afterwards, she played in the currents, swooping, soaring and gliding. By late afternoon, she reached a small country town surrounded by fields full of cattle where she became an invisible, old lady. In this shape she acquired a few credit cards here, some cash there, and an old Buick from the Walmart parking lot on the edge of town. She drove through the night and into the light of the next day, abandoning the car outside the Pony Club, a strip joint with a neon sign on the tin roof. As a wily fox, she slipped unseen into town, ready for her next adventure.

That evening she sat on a stool in a wine bar, long legs on display, wearing a figure hugging blue dress. It matched her eyes, now also blue and they, in turn, complemented her short, blonde pixie cut. She raised a hand to attract the barman, long blood red nails gleaming in the artificial light. He ambled over, smiling at the stunning woman who was attracting so much attention. She smiled back, silently promising he would enjoy his last night on earth.