by Rob May
… a small cat?
The creature that stepped into view and approached the cereal was a regular black tom cat. Except there was one unusual thing about it that made Kat take a sharp intake of breath.
That cat was staggering jerkily … upright on its hind legs.
‘Watch what it does! Watch what it does!’ Jason teased.
The cat stopped in the middle of the scattering of cereal. Then it pivoted spasmodically at its waist, bent down, then flung the cereal up over its head. A few flakes fell into its mouth, which was hanging permanently open as if frozen, and then the cat jerked down again to flick up some more food.
‘Why is it acting like that?’ Kat said. ‘Brandon? Can you help it?’
She meant help it with the bionoids. Brandon pulled himself out of his trance and sent his robotic helpers between the molecules of the window and out towards the cat.
It jerked upright as it felt the touch of the bionoids. It swivelled its body around to face the window, although its head stilled lolled back, its eyes staring at nothing. Kat noticed that they were clouded over. ‘I can’t do anything,’ Brandon said. ‘The bionoids can only work with human, zelf or balak DNA. The only thing I can say for sure is whether something is from Earth or not …’
Zelfs and balaks were the two alien races who had brought their war to Earth. ‘It’s not alien, surely?’ Kat said, as the cat started to walk step-by-awkward-step towards the window.
‘I can’t tell,’ Brandon said. ‘I’m getting confusing messages from the bionoids.’
‘Use your eyes, Brandon,’ Kat said. ‘Just look at that poor thing. It’s just a normal Earth cat … the only weird thing about it is that it appears to be … dead!’
———
Kat sat up in bed, her arms around her knees. She was scared. All she could think of was the wretched animal: the way it had come right up to the window and stood before them for what had to have been the creepiest five minutes of her life. Then it had turned and lurched away, vanishing into the dust. Kat shuddered when she replayed the scene in her mind.
Down in the basement, in the weak glow of the nightlights, Brandon and his sister were poring over a road map. Tomorrow they would leave Royale and try and regain contact with civilisation. Dieppe was a large town just along the coast: hopefully, the locals had fled there when the dust cloud descended.
Jason was also sat on his bed, studying the Scrabble board. He looked like he was concentrating so hard that his head might explode.
‘What do you think that thing was?’ Kat asked him. ‘Brandon seems to think it might be alien, but you could see it was definitely just a cat. Its hair was matted though, its eyes glazed over like it had been dead for weeks. You never saw its mouth move, but it threw those cornflakes down its throat like it was gonna swallow them whole. Do you think the dust has done something to it? Paralysed its muscles or even turned it into a zombie—’
‘I don’t know and I don’t care,’ Jason snapped. ‘I’ll happily put it out of its misery next time I see it, if you like. Now let me think. I need the three-letter word list, but the rule book is in French!’
‘You should have memorised them like I—’
Kat was cut off by a smashing sound from upstairs, which was then followed by a crumbling rushing noise.
Brandon looked up from the map quickly. ‘Don’t panic,’ he said. ‘The front windows upstairs just blew in, that’s all.’
‘Do I look like I’m panicking?’ Jason said, jumping to his feet. ‘But we just need to double-check that the window displays are sealed off; that there are no doors or vents that weird cat can get through. Imagine being woken by that thing licking your face.’
Kat noticed that Brandon was concentrating. No doubt the bionoids acting as sentries had told him about the windows. Spread around the store, they acted as a three-dimensional map in his mind. He was looking at that map now.
‘Imagine six of them licking your face,’ he said pointedly to Jason.
Jason looked confused. Gem looked up in horror. Kat sighed—why couldn’t Brandon just say what he meant? Just because he had almost superhuman powers didn’t mean he had the right to tease and be obtuse. So there were six zombie cats out there! ‘Bran, can they get down here?’ she asked him.
‘Oh yes,’ he said.
She went up to him and twisted his arm. ‘Don’t be an idiot! Tell us what you know.’ Kat grabbed a map of the basement—actually a sign they had torn off the wall that showed the fire exits—and made Brandon mark the possible points of entry for small creatures.
‘Air conditioning runs along here, and there are spaces behind the walls for cables and maintenance. But it doesn’t matter really; I’ll set up a perimeter with the bionoids. Nothing will get through.’ He took Kat’s hand. ‘I can watch over you all night if I have to. The bionoids can banish sleep too, remember. Trust me, nothing is going to hurt us.’
‘Hard to trust something you can’t see,’ Jason said, wielding his bar and peering into the shadows around the basement. ‘An invisible barrier’s not going to help me sleep easy.’
‘Hey!’ Kat scolded her brother. ‘I trust you, Bran. I just wish there was something that we could do to help, you know. You with all your powers, and us weak pathetic humans, lol.’
‘Did you just say lol?’ Brandon asked, smiling at her.
Gem was going around picking up her things. ‘We don’t have to stay here,’ she said. ‘We could leave now. We’ve collected enough petrol, we’ve got the Jeep outside, you’ve got all the important bits and pieces out of Discord.
‘Too dangerous, driving in the dark and the dust,’ Brandon said. ‘Best to sit tight. Anyway, they’re here …’
Kat looked up. Something was scrabbling in the overhead ducts. She felt Brandon’s body relax as he closed his eyes and concentrated on surrounding them with a solid protective wrapper. The thing in the ducts banged about in frustration as it came up against an invisible wall.
‘I’m … expanding … the shield,’ Brandon said between breaths. ‘Driving them out … of the store …’ Using the bionoids was a mental effort, Kat could tell. Could he really keep this up all night?
Kat would never know, because at that moment the whole store was rocked by an earthquake much bigger than any they had experienced before. Above them the ducts and piping rattled, and the hanging lights, with metal shades, swung violently.
One came loose and fell. It must have been inside Brandon’s expanding sphere, because it came straight down on Brandon’s head, knocking him out cold.
Kat fell to his side almost as fast as Gem did. There was blood on his forehead. Jason stood over the three of them, looking around, gripping his dumbbell bar. ‘Wake him up!’ Jason urged them. ‘I take it that there’s no magic shield if he’s out for the count!’
But Brandon wasn’t getting up any time soon. Gem looked stricken as she helplessly held his head. At least he was still breathing though. Kat tried to think. ‘We need to find another way to keep the cats at bay. It can’t be that hard—they’re just cats, right? Sick cats. If have a sick pet, you take it to the vet in one of those travel cage things … they must have those here!’ She got up to leave.
‘Don’t go on your own!’ Gem said. She laid Brandon’s head down carefully and stood up to join Kat. ‘Jason,’ she ordered. ‘Don’t let those things touch him. We’ll be back asap.’
‘He’ll be fine with me,’ Jason said. ‘Just ... hurry, alright?’
Kat and Gem grabbed flashlights and jogged up the escalator to the ground floor. When they reached the top, Kat flashed her torch around in a three-sixty circle. Something dropped out of sight and scuttled away behind some display cabinets full of kitchen utensils. ‘Come on,’ Gem said. ‘Pets is over on the other side of the store.’
Halfway down an aisle of white goods, Kat heard a noise behind them. She spun round and shined her beam back the way they had come. A small black shape was standing at the top of the escalator. In short jerking
movements, it put one hind leg in front of the other and started jogging in their direction. Kat drew her knife from its leather sheath. Gem didn’t have a weapon; since shooting Kat in the stomach, she had sworn off them for life. She had, however, reached the fifth Kyu—a green belt—in karate.
‘Shoo!’ Kat hissed at the animal. ‘I don’t want to hurt you!’
The creature picked up pace: all of a sudden it was rushing at them as fast as a toddler hurtling out of control. Kat tried not to panic. She held her blade out in front of her. When it was five metres away, the creature sprung at her.
Kat’s knife pierced the animal’s matted fur, but then slipped to the side as it encountered something hard underneath. Kat found herself flat on her back, disoriented, as sharp claws started scraping at her hands and face. The animal was unexpectedly heavy and powerful.
Then Gem grabbed it by the tail and started swinging it around. The cat made a horrible wretched screech as Gem rotated on the spot, centrifugal force keeping the creature away from her. ‘Kat! I’ve got it, but I don’t know what to do now! Help me!’
Kat jumped up and opened the thick glass door of one of the washing machines. In one nice, smooth movement, Gem swung the creature inside, and Kat slammed the door on it.
Gem leaned on the machine, breathing heavily. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘it liked you!’
‘I’m Katnip!’ Kat said.
The thing was banging around inside the drum. It smacked its head hard against the door and a crack appeared in the glass.
Between them, Kat and Gem grabbed a side of the machine each and tipped it over onto its front. It hit the floor with a bang, trapping the creature inside.
‘That’s not gonna hold it for long,’ Kat said. ‘I can’t believe how strong it is!’
‘If that won’t hold it, then I don’t think a pet carrier will either,’ Gem said. ‘What do we do now?’
‘This knife turned out to be next to useless,’ Kat said. ‘We need to go to the hardware department!’
———
Kat shone her torch on the array of secateurs, garden shears and strimmers. Gem was a few rows down in the tools section. ‘Nail gun?’ she called over.
‘Nope,’ Kat replied. ‘I’m not that good a shot, and I’m not sure the nails wouldn’t just bounce off them.’ She stopped in front of an array of chainsaws. Unfortunately they were all corded, and the power was out all over the store. Not that she imagined waving a chainsaw around in a fight with a pack of zombie cats; she’d probably lop her own head off in the chaos.
She met back up with Gem at the end of the aisle. They were in an open space full of garden furniture: folding chairs, tables, barbecue wagons and even camping equipment. At the centre of the display there was a large play pool, five metres across. ‘We could fill that up for a start,’ Gem said. ‘Cats hate water.’
‘Something tells me that these particular kitties aren’t going to be bothered by it,’ Kat said. ‘But go for it: at least the water’s still on.’
Kat had picked up a full-sized garden fork, which she thought might be useful for pinning down one of the creatures at least. Just as long as they didn’t attack en masse. She lifted the lid of one the large barbecues. What were the chances that she could get one of the critters to lie still long enough to grill it? She walked over to where a tent was set up in a little camping scene.
Next to the tent was a wheeled piece of machinery. Kat wasn’t particularly technically-minded like Brandon was, but she saw immediately how it could come in handy …
———
Ten minutes later, the cat-like creatures arrived. Four of them: one light grey, one black and white, one ginger and one dark grey with black stripes. All four were dirty and dusty. All four lurched into view on their hind legs. As far as Kat was concerned, they weren’t cats anymore; something had happened to them in the days since the dust cloud had descended … something that had made them sick, or worse. It was time to put them out of their misery.
Kat and Gem were just about ready for them. Gem had found a hose and had filled the pool to a depth of around twenty centimetres. Kat hefted the chainsaw. She was small and slightly-built, and the tool weighed six kilograms; her arms were aching the minute she picked it up. She waved the forty-centimetre-long blade out in front of her. ‘Come on then!’ she shouted to the cats across the expanse of the pool. ‘Come and get your medicine!’
As one, the cats lurched forwards, bounding along with their heads twisted at an awkward angle, their ruined eyes unseeing. Their front paws flailed like they were puppets being jerked on strings. Kat gritted her teeth; it was going to be a short, ugly fight, whoever won. ‘Hit it, Gem!’ she ordered.
Gem turned on the petrol-powered portable generator that Kat had plugged the chainsaw cord into. She pulled the trigger and the blade ripped into life; the sudden vibrations made her almost drop it.
The cats splashed their way across the pool as if it wasn’t there—wading through the water, which barely covered their legs.
‘Don’t mess this up, Kat,’ Gem said. Kat knew there were no second chances if she didn’t take them down quickly.
‘I won’t,’ Kat said. ‘Okay kitty cats, hear me roar!’ She revved up the chainsaw making it growl like a lion … and then tossed it into the pool.
With a flash and a bang, all four cats stiffened then sank beneath the surface of the water.
It was a quick death; maybe not painless, but it was the best Kat could offer them.
03—CHIMERA
‘I’m going down, falling through the blue!’
‘Katherine! Jason!’
‘Down! Down! Down! Crashing in front of you!’
‘Hell, you two! Turn it down, will you?’
‘I’m going down; it’s your way or bust!’
‘What, Mum?’
‘You got me on the floor; got me biting the—’
‘Nooo, Mum! We were listening to that!’
‘And so was half the street! I’m trying to have a conversation with your nan downstairs. She thinks there’s a terrorist attack going on!’
‘You didn’t have to pull the plug out though!’
‘It’s a beautiful summer’s day. Why don’t you two go out and play with your friends, instead of sitting around like it’s the end of the world?’
———
A smile flickered around Kat’s mouth as she looked back on her old life. Funny how you were only inspired to get up and do something worthwhile when it really was the end of the world. Her parents would be so proud. Now she just had to find them so that they could finally start appreciating her …
Kat was at the wheel of the Jeep. The driver’s seat was pushed forward as far as it would go, and still she could barely see over the dash. But they had all agreed that everyone should have a go at driving, so that they would all be able to drive in an emergency. Kat and her friends had learned the hard way that pinning your hopes on one member of the team wasn’t a very sensible idea.
‘You bit off more than you could chew!’ Jason was berating Brandon as they sat together on the back seat. ‘You should have just kept your shield small, instead of trying to push those cat things right out of the store. If you’d have done that, then the falling lamp shade would have just bounced off instead of knocking you out cold.’
‘I bit off more than I could chew?’ Brandon replied with a hint of a smile. ‘This coming from the guy who got stuck under a hundred kilogram barbell, and could only lift it when I sent the bionoids to help his tired, puny muscles out!’
Jason was grinning the moment Brandon started the retort. The pair were more comfortable in each other’s company now; each of them confident that he was the better man (or man-to-be, seeing as they were only fourteen years’ old).
‘Kat!’ Gem said. ‘Eyes on the road!’
Kat tore her eyes away from the rear-view mirror. Gem was her second pair of eyes, and if it wasn’t for her she would have ploughed straight into the side of an articulated lorr
y that had been parked at a skewed angle and abandoned on the autoroute.
‘Thanks, Gem,’ Kat muttered. ‘Why are there vehicles parked all over the road? Do you think they just stopped there when the dust cloud came down?’
‘Yeah, probably,’ Gem said.
‘So … people might still be in them?’
As they passed the lorry, Kat slowed and looked closer. The cab windows were all smashed-in.
‘I don’t think so …’ Gem said. ‘Not anymore, at least.’
Kat shivered, and put her foot to the pedal to accelerate away from the haunted wreck. Gem gripped the door handle as Kat shifted up the gears, but she bit her lip and didn’t complain about the speed. Kat tried to focus on the road ahead, the D925 to Dieppe—the town where they hoped to find some evidence of human life. The flat Normandy countryside was winter-grey rather than autumn-green. Moon dust swirled through the air and scoured the windscreen of the Jeep; Brandon had said that the dust was basically airborne shards of glass, the sort of stuff you wouldn’t want to get caught in your eye, let alone breathe in. They were driving with the windows wound up, and the vents shut tight. Without the air conditioning, they’d be boiling.
‘As your driving instructor,’ Gem said dryly, ‘I’d advise keeping in the correct lane, at least, and not zooming straight down the middle of the road.’
‘What’s the point?’ Kat said, ‘We’ve not seen anyone out and about since we left the store.’ After their showdown with the demented cats the previous night, they had run back to the basement, where they had helped Jason pick up Brandon and carry him out to the Jeep. They had then spent the night trying to sleep in the vehicle, arms and legs sticking awkwardly over seats and each other. As soon as it was light enough to see, they had left town like a bat out of hell. Brandon had eventually come around, and seemed to be fine now; he had fixed the bump on his head with the bionoids.
