And so it begins...
Carl lay stretched out on the couch, legs in all directions. His chest rose slightly with each breath and his
tail slowly swished back and forth. The light
coming through the blinds illuminated every hair on his chest and face; his whiskers
gleam like thin curved blades and twitched slightly whenever the wind comes
through the window.
Carl is house cat, an exceptionally lazy one at that. His days are spent, like most cats, sleeping
here and there and eating a couple of meals, but where Carl is different is in
the fact that he sleeps not only during most of the day but most of the night
as well. He refuses to chase the magic
red dot or to pounce on a slow fluffy mouse that squeaks in dismay only to
return the living room day after day. This
is for the young. Not for a respectable
older gentleman who has had his days of sprinting through the house on a whim
or chasing the reflections of the sun off a watch. No not now, now there is much to ponder. Important things like when will the food bowl
be full again and what the optimum spots for napping are and most importantly
when will the humans be back to rub his belly and scratch his head. He guessed it had been a while and his belly
agreed, its rumbling woke him from his nap.
He pulled his head up and stretched his legs until he was double his
normal length and began to shake from the tension. He casually rolled over and looked around the
house. He jumped off the couch and decided to make a quick loop of the house. Upon
inspection he finds all the rooms empty and in an attempt to find someone looked
out the window. The rumbling giant that they had used to take him to the evil
man’s place was still there. That usually meant they were home but not
today. He checked the food bowl but it
was still as empty as it was at darkness. He sat there wondering what was
wrong. Something doesn’t feel right, it is too quiet.
His whiskers twitched and he turned quickly and ran to the door. He rubbed
against it but it doesn’t open. He tilted his head and looked at it. Why doesn’t
it open? Did the people abandon him? He has lived in this house for long time
and they had never been gone this long without putting out extra food. Carl jumped back into the window sill and sat
there. He looked at road where the other people’s giants usually chased each
other and saw nothing but other houses and a few giants waiting for their
masters. One of these monsters was lying
on the grass with its black breath coming from its nose, not is usual
place. He thought this was odd and
watched for a minute. Usually there were
other people walking the street and the little human across the street throwing
a big ball at the house trying to get it into a basket. Carl’s heart began to beat faster, something wasn’t
right.
A scream made him bolt upright. He scanned the street and saw a female
human running down the street. He could
see that she was wet, but it wasn’t the type of wetness that came from water. He
could smell the iron and the sweat and another thing, fear, or panic or
something like that. He saw her trip and
fall as her ankle gave out on the curb. Behind
her he could see some other humans following, in a slow gait that had no rhythm,
like an injured mouse that was using its instincts to move rather than the
inborn ability its thinking mind gave it.
Carl watched as the group came to the place where the woman had
fallen. She began to scream and flail
her arms hitting one of the people in the face as hard as she could. He didn’t seem
to mind and continued to grab at her wind milling arms. He got hold of one of them and while yelling
sunk his teeth into her arm. She screamed
in agony as the rest of them came upon her, each one ripping at her and
growling like beasts. Carl could smell the rancid flesh as they got closer and
greater in number. This was wrong, people aren’t supposed to eat people, like
cats aren’t supposed to eat other cats. He watched in a strange transfixed
state while the stinking people devoured the woman. The screaming stopped and the group of people,
seemingly fulfilled, performed their uncoordinated sort of walk until they were
out of sight. Carl was now to shaken to sit still. He paced the window sill and
wondered if that same fate had befallen his humans. If so what was he going to do, would he be
stuck in this house unable to escape and die of starvation? And even if he could escape where would he
go? He began to realize he was shaking
and his stomach hurt. He needed food and
soon, he had to have a clear mind if he was to figure out what to do next.
