Flash Fiction Challenge: Tough Stuff

My next submission is at  Indies Unlimited.

The beginning of the story was provided by the administrator of the website:

This is Oscar, the terror of the night, king of the alley cats. He’s sixteen pounds of fang and claw and fighting fury. He’s defeated everything from copperheads to Rottweilers.

Everybody knows he’s the toughest cat around, but that wasn’t how life started out for him. Oscar wasn’t born on the mean streets. In fact, he had it pretty soft for a while…

Below is the entry that I submitted:

Oscar was born into a privileged household filled with love and happiness.  His mother and father were from a long line of pampered felines who had trained their humans to cater to their every need.  

From birth, Oscar was fed three times a day with a variety of fish, chicken and beef entrees - lovingly prepared by his caretakers.  It was a wonderful life for a special kitty like Oscar, until that fateful day in the seventh month of the fifth year of his life.

It was Independence Day, the scariest day of the year.  In the past, he would cower under the bed until the chaos subsided.  Only then would he rejoin his family in the living room for soothing pets and reassuring hugs.

On this day, he made a grave mistake.  He scurried out of the door to the patio instead of into the bedroom.  He ran for what seemed like miles, looking for the familiar bed that would be his sanctuary during the thunderous light show.  But, he found no solace in the outside world.

When he awoke the next morning, he found himself in the middle of a turf war between the Snakes and the Hounds.  He was not met with caring or compassion, but with demands from both gangs to take a side or fight to the death.  After many taunts and insults from them, Oscar chose the latter.  

Today, Oscar rules the woods near his home - where no Snakes or Hounds dare to tread.

The Vote:

And the winner is ... Yours Truly:

http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2013/09/06/sherry-molteni-is-this-weeks-flash-fiction-star/

Thanks again for all of your support during this week's contest.  It will be published in an anthology of other short stories in e-book format in the first part of 2014.