Catnip

by J. S. Frankel

  Doug walked over, hawked up a wad and turned his head to spit it out. “Sorry for my bad manners,” he apologized. “My throat’s a little swollen. It must be the change in the air.”

  “Where exactly are we?” Harry asked.

  Doug swept his arm around. “I don’t know how I know, but we’re on Slide Mountain, just in case anyone’s wondering. If we follow the road we’ll eventually find a cabin. I’ll scout ahead.” He didn’t wait for an answer, just tore off into the woods and started running on all fours.

  Anastasia kissed Harry on the mouth. “I’ll take the other side.”

  “Be careful.”

  She gave him a smile. “You know I will.”

  Another kiss, and then she moved into the woods on the right side of the road, running gracefully along until she vanished from sight. Harry started walking up the road, and as he walked he wondered how his canine-human guide knew so much. Could it be the programming, or was it something else? Although he should have been suspicious, he figured Doug wouldn’t screw him or Anastasia. He had too much to lose. They all did.

  As he tramped along, his mood started to improve. Granted, he was still a fugitive on the run from both the law and a monster, but he’d survived attack number two, was with his girlfriend and another friend, and with luck he’d soon figure out how to solve the riddle of their DNA.

  The weather decided to get a bit warmer, and sweat soon started to pour down his head. He would have loved to just discard his suit, but had no spare clothes, and now his body odor came through. A few cars passed him by, honking as they went. Hitching a ride seemed like the thing to do, but then he figured no one would pick up a guy dressed like a raccoon. It was dangerous, anyway. You never knew who you might meet, but on the other hand he didn’t want to meet Ivan.

  He put out his thumb and hoped someone would take him up on his request. Some of the drivers slowed down to stare and chuckle before moving off, but no one bothered stopping until one person, a woman in her thirties with a chubby, cheerful face full of too much makeup, pulled her car over to the side of the road. “Hey, you lost or something?” she called out.

  Harry made his way over to her car and wiped off some of the sweat on his forehead as he went. “Uh, my car ran out of gas a few miles back and—”

  “Oh, the car with the busted window?” she interrupted, and eyed him up and down. “Yeah, I passed it on my way here. What happened, party got too loud?”

  “What?” He didn’t understand the question, and then his mind started working. “Oh, uh, yes ma’am. The people got a little drunk, someone chucked a rock at my window…you know, kid stuff.”

  “I hear you.”

  He continued thinking up the lies as he went along. “So I was driving up here to meet some people I know. My car ran out of gas.”

  She considered his words and finally nodded. “I’m headed to the Slide Mountain Forest House,” she said. “My husband and children are already up there.”

  Time to lie and he did it fast. “Hey, that’s cool! I’m staying near there. My, uh, friends are camping out in the forest area.”

  She stared at him. “You mean near Esopus Creek, don’tcha?”

  “Uh, yes ma’am, that’s right,” he answered quickly and cursed himself for not even bothering to use his computer to find out something about this area. “My friends went up there last night before me, and this is my first time in New York, so…”

  “I hear you. Got lost, right?”

  “Yes ma’am, I did,” he said, and forced himself to adopt an ashamed air. It wasn’t so difficult, really.

  “Hop in,” she ordered, and then sniffed the air. “Seems like you did some dumpster diving too, didn’t you?”

  Aware of his stench, he felt the blood rush to his face. “Uh, yes ma’am. Some of my guests emptied garbage cans all over me…just…stupid stuff we did.”

  The woman smiled. “Okay, you convinced me. Anyone with that kind of wild story has to be trustworthy. I’ll take you as far as my inn and you’re on your own from there. Wait a minute, I’ll spread something out.”

  In a quick motion, she twisted around, grabbed an old newspaper that lay on the backseat, and spread it on the passenger side for him. “Get in,” she said. Grateful for the help, he clambered in the passenger side. She opened the window to let the fresh mountain air come in and drove off, cheerfully whistling a tune. “Hey, let’s listen to some music. It’ll help pass the time.”

  On went the radio and soon the sounds of some soft rock ballad filled the air. Harry tried to relax, but suddenly sat bolt upright. What in the…?

  Out of the corner of his eye he saw Anastasia gracefully loping along like a large mountain cat. She dodged effortlessly between the thick trees and bushes and resembled a gray streak of lightning. He didn’t know she could run like that!

  “This is the life,” the woman said, snapping him out of his daydream. She introduced herself as Sheila Murphy, resident of Schenectady. “I like to take a vacation up here every year, just get away from it all. What I don’t like is the other kids picking apples and what have you.”

  Her statement confused him. “I don’t understand, ma’am.”

  Sheila laughed and shook her head. “This must be your first time up here. Well, it’s like this. The city kids and their folks come up here and walk into the local apple orchards and pick fruit, right? It just annoys some of the locals. Same deal with the hay rides, the teens get drunk and smoke drugs…”

  She suddenly shot him a wary look. “You’re not into that, are you?”

  “No, ma’am,” he answered truthfully. He had no intention of trying drugs, picking apples, or going on a hay ride. He was probably allergic to it, anyway.

  Sheila nodded. “Well, you may be all right. What’d you say your name was?”

  He hadn’t said anything. “It’s Mark,” he decided to offer, “Mark Simpkins.”

  “Good to meet you.”

  The music continued to play and then a news flash interrupted the proceedings. “We interrupt this broadcast to alert residents of New York and the outlying areas that the person involved in the other day’s attack on FBI headquarters is still at large,” the announcer said. “Harry Goldman, eighteen, is still wanted in the connection with the large-scale slaughter of FBI personnel and is now also under suspicion of causing one more death at the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan yesterday evening. He is approximately five-eight, one hundred and fifty pounds, with green eyes and brown hair…”

  Sheila reached over and with a snort of disgust, switched off the radio. “That was a terrible thing,” she muttered. “They were showing all those hurt and dead people on the news channels yesterday. How could a person do something like that?”

  Harry said nothing. Now the authorities were trying to hang another murder charge on him. He only hoped his driver wouldn’t make the connection. He stayed lost in thought, hoping he wouldn’t be found out until the car suddenly stopped. Panic seized him, and jerking his head around, Sheila intoned calmly, “We’re here.”

  Oh yes, sweet relief! After getting out of the car, he came face to face with the Slide Mountain Forest House, a pleasant looking two-story white wooden house surrounded by panoply of evergreens. They blanketed the area and he wondered if there was a path he could follow. “Uh, thank you, ma’am,” he said. “I’ll just be going now. My friends are probably waiting for me.”

  “You take care now, Mark,” she replied, and after giving him a friendly wave, drove off. He hurriedly walked past the house and into the forest, hoping no one outside of his driver had seen him. Fortunately, there was a well-marked path, and the trees, thick and dense, provided good cover. It was only a bit cooler here, but better than being in the hot sun. He sat on a tree stump wondering what to do and waited for a few minutes until the familiar form of Anastasia bounded over to him. She stopped a foot away and stood up.

  “That was a pretty good run,” she said. She wasn’t even breathing hard.

  “Y
eah, you looked, uh, graceful.” Once more he wondered when she’d started to move like an animal, got a hunch, and was about to say something when she leaned against him and kissed him hard.

  “Thanks, boyfriend,” she said, and they continued to hold each other until a gruff bark interrupted their reunion.

  Harry turned his head and saw Doug come in at high speed. He stopped to pant out a “Wait” command. He stood on all fours, his tongue hanging out slightly, and then got off his hands to stand erect. “If you two…two are finished…then come with me. I found us a place to stay.”

  As Doug led them deeper into the forest, he recovered his breath and explained how things had gone. “When you got into the car with that lady I chased after it. She didn’t drive so fast, and I figured she’d take you here.”

  Harry was perplexed by his statement. “How did you know she’d come here? Do you remember this area?”

  Doug stopped, blinked, and shook his head. “Like I said before, I’m not sure. Everything looks familiar…but I can’t tell you if it’s my real memory or an implanted one. All I know is that something told me to take you here and I knew where the lady would be going. Besides,” he added, “that place is the only inn around here. The next inn is about six miles away and after that there’s just more forest. There are probably some cabins we don’t know about, so keep on the lookout.”

  Anastasia listened intently to the conversation. “Yeah, this area also looks familiar to me,” she said. “I sort of remember other cabins being around. Maybe whoever changed us has his place up here.”

  That had to be the most ridiculous thing Harry had ever heard of. “There’s no way anyone could be up here and do that kind of work. You need DNA analyzers, sterile lab rooms, and how would anyone be able to do what, uh, they did to you without anyone else finding out?”

  Doug stopped in his tracks and swept his arm to indicate the entire area. His voice took on a robotic quality much like Anastasia’s had in her session with the late Oleg, only this was no hypnosis session. “These are the Catskill Mountains. This is one of the biggest areas in upstate New York. This area goes into the Allegheny Plateau. Catskill Park has over seven hundred thousand acres, and it is considered a prime place for campers and hikers to stay and enjoy the scenery of this state.”

  Doug abruptly stopped reciting facts and figures, and shook his head as if trying to get rid of a bad memory. “Did that come from me?” he asked.

  “Yeah, it did.”

  Doug grimaced and held the sides of his head, rocking it gently. “Get out, get out,” he muttered, as if to expel the words on command.

  Harry wanted to ask him something, but before he could get a word out, Doug trotted off to lead the way.

  “Hey, let’s go,” Anastasia said.

  She took his hand and they followed their guide. Soon, they came to a slightly rundown log cabin deep within the woods. Doing a scan, Harry noted only forest and more forest. This whole area was isolation city. “Is this where we’re staying?” he asked.

  Doug barked out a sound which sounded like yes. “There are tire tracks leading down to Esopus Creek, but no car, so the owner must be out,” he said. “I scouted around and it seems like a pretty quiet area. There’s a big generator outside, so the place must have electricity. Maybe it has Internet connections, too, so you can do your thing.” He indicated Harry’s computer bag, and then coughed and cleared his throat. “Damn, I’ve been doing that a lot. I must be out of shape.”

  He looked pretty winded, Harry thought. Anastasia also looked tired. “I guess we all need some rest,” he said, and he tried the door. Naturally, it was locked. “What do we do now?” he asked.

  Anastasia didn’t hesitate for a second. She simply lashed out with a mighty kick and the door burst open. “We go inside,” she said, a tiny grin on her face. “Enter, and be served.”

  They walked in and Harry surveyed the area. He ran his hand over the wall, found a light switch, and once the power came on, gave a small “mmmph” of satisfaction. A spacious enough place, big enough to hold at least twenty people, it was sparsely furnished. It held a television set in a corner, a sofa strategically placed in the opposite corner for the best possible view, and a desk in the center of the room.

  Across the room, Harry saw a tiny kitchen area complete with a range and a refrigerator which lay next to three large freezers. A bed, a small window above it, and a closet completed the decor. Out of curiosity, he checked under the bed and hauled out a large box. “See anything interesting?” Doug asked.

  “It’s a toolbox,” Harry answered, and opened it to examine the contents. Rummaging inside, he found a first-aid kit, a small Swiss Army knife, and some twine. He also found some magazines, which featured a variety of shotguns and smiling men holding up the carcasses of dead animals. Altogether, this place looked like a refuge of someone who was into hunting. The magazines and the freezers were a dead giveaway.

  Anastasia walked around a corner and let out a gasp. “Harry,” she whispered, and gestured with her hand to come over.

  His girlfriend’s face looked almost…pale. “What is it?” he asked, and wordlessly, she pointed to a small alcove and stood there, her body shaking slightly.

  Worried about her reaction, he walked over and another dead giveaway greeted him, this being a collection of animals—the real kind, killed and stuffed—that hung on the wall above a faux fireplace. She kept shivering and he put his arm around her, his gaze fixed on the wall.

  Whoever lived there wasn’t into fly fishing. Harry saw bobcat, fox, bear and beaver heads along with a couple of gun racks. Everything was behind a glass plate cover, and the guns looked totally lethal. The expressions of distaste on his companions’ faces told him what their feelings were and he wondered what kind of person got his kicks from shooting animals. “Not interested in meeting this guy,” Anastasia muttered and kissed him on the cheek.

  Doug trotted over in order to take a look and grunted softly. “I wouldn’t want to meet him, either,” he echoed and loped over to the kitchen. “But on the other hand, any port in a storm, as they say. and I need to chow down.”

  He opened up one of the freezers and let out a whistle. Harry marveled at his ability to do so. He didn’t think it was bio-mechanically possible, but then again, just being here with them was the impossible. “What’s in there?” he asked.

  “Let’s find out. Doug opened the fridge and stuck his head in. “Hey, shooting rabbits or not, this guy knows how to live right,” he called out. “We got bacon, we got hamburger meat, steaks of all sorts, and we got beer! Who wants a beer?”

  Harry and Anastasia declined, so Doug helped himself to one and drank it down thirstily, burped, and then reached for another. “This is good,” he said to no one in particular. Once finished, he pulled out the package of hamburger meat from the freezer and tore it open. “Hey, you want some?” he called over to Anastasia.

  “Yeah, bring it on.”

  Doug carried the package over and grabbed half of the contents with his hand, stuffed it—raw—into his mouth, and wolfed it down. Anastasia took the rest of the meat and nibbled away. After finishing it, she walked over to the sink and washed her face off. Harry watched them both eat and offered, “Do you guys realize you just ate raw meat?”

  Anastasia shrugged and Doug replied, “It’s not like we’re gonna get food poisoning.” He obviously didn’t get the point and then a phlegmy rattle erupted from his throat. “Damn, I need some water.”

  He went to the sink and guzzled the water straight out of the tap, then licked his face with an extremely long tongue. Harry observed his movements and brought out his computer, his mind rapidly digesting the recent events and correlating the data. Anastasia searched the cabin and found a small closet. After rummaging around inside, she came out with a black T-shirt and a pair of shorts in her hands.

  “They look a bit large for you,” Harry opined.

  “I can’t wear these clothes anymore,” she responded, point
ing to her torn blouse and skirt. “I also need a shower.”

  Looking around, they saw that a door at the opposite end led to a combo bath-shower room that could accommodate only one person at a time. It had black and white tiles and an ancient, ripped-up shower curtain along with a small medicine cabinet above a sink. The place smelled stale and unused, and he opened the small window to let some fresh air in. Anastasia came over to join him with a towel in her hand. Her nose twitched along with her whiskers. “You need a shower, too,” she said, not unkindly. “I’ll go first and then scout around.”

  Her ears twitched and she got an uncertain look on her face. “Do you smell the bear guy?” he asked.

  A laugh came from her. “No, just you,” she said and then kissed him hard. “Shoo, I need to get clean.”

  Harry went back to the main room and searched the closet for some clothes. Fortunately, whoever lived there had stocked up on spares, and he found a pair of shorts, a worn T-shirt, and a beach towel. “I’m finished,” she called out.

  She came out of the shower dressed in her fresh duds and they looked cute on her. He felt like stealing a kiss and for a change he leaned in close, but she gently pushed him away. “Later, Harry, get clean first.”

  Her tail lashed his butt as she sashayed past and he watched her hips sway as she sauntered over to the toolkit, took out a large safety pin and cinched her shorts in.

  Reluctantly, he tore his gaze away, and then the stink of his body odor came through. Inside the shower, he stripped off his suit and let the water run. The spray was strong although not particularly hot, but right now he’d have taken an ice bath if it washed away his stench.

  After finishing up and drying off, he put on the fresh clothes. Predictably, they were way too large, but he found another safety pin and fixed his shorts so that they hung around his waist comfortably.

  “Can you check on the news?” Doug asked him.

  “You read my mind.”