Monique already knows her odds aren’t good; her only real chance is if the tigress should give up the chase.  She doesn’t hold out much hope on that, not with the feline gaining on her.  …And quickly.  The rat knows her assailant is getting closer, too, it isn’t hard to hear her trampling the undergrowth behind her.  Obstacles that Monique needs to go around hinder her somewhat, whereas Tamara simply barges straight through them without losing a step.  And if that wasn’t bad enough, the frightened rodent can feel herself slowing from fatigue.<br/><br/>When Tamara growls behind her, Monique casts a quick glance back over her shoulder.  Just because she knew what to expect didn’t make the sight any less horrifying, though.  She screams in terror and tries to shift to one side to avoid the pounce.  She even manages it, the tigress’ forepaws coming down distressingly close to where she would have been if she hadn’t looked back.  The problem is that she’s<span style="font-style: italic">still</span>looking back, and not at where she’s going.<br/><br/>She runs headlong into a bush.  While it isn’t really big enough to injure her all that much, it throws her hopelessly off balance.  Arms and tail flailing while her legs are briefly tangled in the branches, she winds up staggering through the shrub and toppling just on the other side of it.  It happens so suddenly that she doesn’t even have a chance to get her arms up to help cushion the fall at all, the rodent ending up slamming heavily and chest first to the ground.  She’d turned her head enough that she doesn’t slam the front of her muzzle against the earth, but the side of her head still hits more than hard enough to leave her seeing stars.