The One's You Love (Cat Johnson Chronicles Book 2)
Page 12
“Maori, stop.” I pull the covers further up my head, wanting the pouncing to stop so I can get some decent sleep.
“But, play, play, play!” she retorts, and I soon feel my toes being bitten. Maybe I should have worn socks?
“No,” I coo. “Sleep.”
“Play!” she repeats again, being a sassy firecracker even at her young age. I groggily stretch my poor bones out to sit up, letting her win this time. I get her favorite toy of a mouse on a string out so she can hopefully wear herself out soon. She’s young, though, so the energy in her is tremendous. What I thought would be a five to ten-minute play session ends up going on for close to an hour. “I’m sleepy, Mommy.” She curls up in a ball beside me, putting her paws against my arm. Yes, sleep.
“Night, love.” I give her a chaste kiss on the head, my body answering sleep’s beckoning call immediately.
“Fascinating.” Hank's voice draws me out of the memory.
“What happened?” I groggily ask as the memory about sleeping was making me a tired kitty kat. I should see if they would let me go where Maori is so I can sleep on her bigger, furrier form. Somehow, I assumed they wouldn’t let me go home until they were done running tests. Safety precaution, of course. They want to make sure none of the rampaging killer virus ends up in my veins.
“See for yourself.” Hank hands me a mirror, and what I see isn’t the same shock from before. My cat ears are gone, my teeth back to their normal state. Rubbing my backside, I confirm there's no tail there anymore. I’m back to being human. Everything is the same except my emerald-green eyes that still look like they’re lined in eyeliner. Well, at least I don’t look as tired as I feel.
Hank says, “Of course, I want to keep you here for a few more days. See if we can find out what triggers your cattiness.” He laughs as is he made a funny. “What use can it be on the field? Would you want us to see if we could rid you of it?”
I don’t know how to answer that question with the exhaustion floating through. Fell like I could fall asleep curled up on the floor at this point. Sure, the cat parts are unique, but how practical were they? He seems to notice.
He continues, “You can have some time to think about it, of course. But if you keep it, we may need to retrain you so we can make use of your powers.” Like I’m just another cog in the machine.
“Of course.” Was I going to have clean clothing to wear the next few days? Or just be stuck in this white scrub outfit? I guess it’s better than being covered in my cat's blood. But what about clean underwear and stuff?
“We have overnight stays sometimes, so in your brother’s room, there's some clothing in the drawers. They're not the most fashionable clothes, but they're clean. And there’s a restroom connected to the patient room. Also, there’s basic essentials like a toothbrush and all that. Did you want some food after all the testing?,” Hank says as if reading my mind. Was he a vampire or was my face just that open of a book?
Let’s see. Colin’s in a coma, Maori’s been shot, Charming is off running around the building doing god knows what. And I let Raven go so she didn’t have to stick around for hours of tests. The shapeshifter disappeared the same time as Brian. Since Brian was sorely disappointed that he only injured my cat, but wasn’t able to kill me. He’s lucky he ran, or I wouldn’t have been able to been to held back after the carnage he caused.
Better that he’s gone, or they’re gone, whatever they go by. I just didn’t think he’d leave without payment at the very least. Well, half the payment, the shapeshifter required half of it up front. My poor bank account, right before we stormed the HQ building and ran down to the basement. Army HQ guys trying to stop me until they realized that I was in the right, but by then it was too late. If the shapeshifter didn’t screw me over, I would have felt bad about not having an actual name to refer to him as. Or her, or them, the shapeshifter true form from what I saw is more nonbinary then anything.
I check my phone so I can text Raven, but alas, it's dead. “Is there a phone charger I can use?”
Hank nods. “It's in the examination room on the dresser by the bed. Do you want to pick one out? Your brother is occupying a room, but we have a few others.” Yes, because sometimes people got injured and couldn’t come back to the wife and kids in a bloody disarray. I wonder how many divorces were caused by the secrets they had to hide. Because going off for days, without explanation usually got ruled to cheating, unless there was a lot of trust there. Or both parties were HQ members.
I shake my head. Colin wouldn’t be in a coma, or gotten kidnapped if I hadn't been so careless to begin with. Or maybe Brian would have still done that, I would have just had less resources on my side. No way to find out now. “I’ll sleep on the couch in his room.”
Hank frowns. “Are you sure? That can’t be the comfiest place.”
Minutes ago I thought I could fall asleep on the wooden floor. I give him a slithering glare. “It's safer that way. Your lab was protected, and Brian managed to destroy all the info that could help Maori. He was probably the one fucking with the experiments to begin with.” Not sure how he managed it, but maybe his shapeshifter friend came in handy for that.
“The systems have been rewired, so he can’t get in,” Hank tries to reassure me.
I sigh, “I’m not taking any chances with all that has gone wrong tonight. Can you check on the cats to see if there still okay? I can’t be too sure Charming didn’t escape and start running around causing chaos.” He looks like he wants to argue the point but drops it for now.
“As you wish.” We leave the lab. It’s about 12x12. A huge table in the middle of the room, with cabinets, and counters on the two walls by the exit. The one to the right of the door holding the stereo. The one to the left, having the rat cage. Empty as well, Brian or one of his conspirators killing the poor rat. Another wall is filled with vials of all sort, or would be if Brian didn’t wreck the place. The last wall having windows, so that Hank could get a view of the outside world even if he never left this place. For the time being though the curtains hung heavy over them, as if he couldn’t face the world with what became of his work. What besides the cat formula did that monster break? If we could have gotten that right, and mass produced it all of the evil Susan brough over the years could have been healed. Would have the spiders have enjoyed that? They seemed like they liked the bigger hunt now, after trying to eat Charming. Poor kitty still blames me for taking him away from his friends.
“Fuck!” Well I was still clumsy as I nearly tripped over the chair that was by what he deemed a desk as one of the counters on the right side. Maybe there was hope for me still.
“You okay Cat?” Hank asks concerned, at my outburst.
I nod, not feeling it. “Sorry looks like my clumsiness came back as soon as the cat ears were put away.”
He opens the door to the lab, so we can go out into the hall. “Cats still have some clumsiness, their just better at hiding it then others are.” Bloody brilliant.
“What floor are the medical rooms on?” I ask, as he leads us down a hall. The lights still on, but it feels like this passageway will last forever.
“Once we reach the end of the hall, we’ll make a left then go there once we go down.” We’re finally turning the corner now.
As we make our way down the next hall I comment “Would have been a lot faster if you tore down the wall so we could just get to the other side in a jiffy.”
He shakes his head. “Don’t I know it. I’m not the one in charge of the structure of the building though. If it were my way, that suggestion would have been done long ago, makes it quicker to reach patients.” He stops momentarily, before stepping forward a few steps. “Room 405, that’s the one Colin’s in.”
Great. I can do this, but I feel less then reassured.
“Are you sure Cat? I don’t want to cause you any pain.” His fingers linger on the doorknob.
“I got this.” I sound more confident then I feel. Once I saw my brother again I would just be hit
with a wave of regret.
He puts in the code to unlock Colin’s room as my gaze lingers on my brother for a moment, noticing that I can barely make him out through the door’s window. He’s sleeping, with that bothered expression on his face. The lines of his mouth in a frown, eyes squeezed shut. Was he having nightmares? “Do we have any mind readers left to see if they can unlock the block in his mind?”
“We have one.” Hank deadpans. “But Vryn is out of town at the moment on a mission and can’t be back until the end of the week.” How much damage could be done to Colin being trapped in his own mind for the next week?
“Can’t he come sooner?” I walk towards the couch, pulling off the quilt and setting the pillows as comfy as possible.
“We’re already lucky he can come that soon. You know how busy of a man he is.” Considering I sort of met him once four years ago when I first started, I did have that impression.
“Did you explain how important this is?” I snark back, and for a moment my head tingles, as it feels like the cat ears make a minor appearance.
“Aggravation.” Hank notes. “Yes, he does know why it's important. That’s why he’ll be back by the end of the week instead of a couple of months from now. That’s the soonest he could, Cat.” I guess I’ll have to make it work.
“Of course. Can you leave so I can get to sleep without someone leering over me?” On those words, he turns around.
“Cat, they'll bring in a new key card for you soon.”
“Thanks. Night or morning, or whatever time it is.” I wave him off. Hitting my head against the pillow, immediately being pulled into the land of dreams.
“Hi, Cat.” I hear the voice call to me.
I turn around to see of course it's her. Susan. It’s the worst day of my life, and of course she decides to make an appearance. As I stare more, though, her appearance changes, like her body has been patched back up, similar to Frankenstein.
“You look different,” I note, not sure whether I should trust touching her. Was this why her casket was empty? They wanted to put her body back together? It was her to a par, missing finger and all.
“You’re one to talk about, miss kitty girl.” As if by call a mirror pops up, and I see my own reflection. It's back to the cat form. Cat ears, fangs, tail. “We’ve both changed since we first met,” Susan shrugs, as if it were simple little changes. Not something like dying, and becoming a human cat. She wasn’t lying. I was a lonely student, and she was the caring teacher. Or so I thought she was before she broke my heart into a million pieces.
A Special Thanks to My Editor
Editor: Ashley Olivier
Email: ashleyolivierwrites@gmail.com