Star Cat Forever: A Science Fiction & Fantasy Adventure (The Star Cat Series - Book 6)

by Andrew Mackay

  “Ngggggg,” Maar choked as a fountain of blood escaped down his suit from his lips, “Gwwuurrrr.”

  It didn’t take much effort for Jelly to lift her hand in the air, taking the screaming, impaling Maar Sheck in the air.

  He grabbed hold of the claw with both hands as it twisted vertically toward moon.

  Maar kicked his legs and groaned. He tried his best to remove himself from the claw. Every attempt to kick away made matters worse. He slid down the length of the razor like a warm slab of cheese on a stick

  “Grrroigh,” he gurgled as blood blasted out of his nostrils.

  Jelly found the sight of her dying prey stuck halfway up her infinity claw fascinating.

  Sniff-sniff.

  Maar went limp. His hands moved away from the sharp rail shooting into his chest and dropped to his sides.

  “Juh-Juh—Jelly—”

  “—What is it. Dickhead?”

  “Puh-puh p-please, p-please—”

  “—Kill me?” she snapped, finishing his sentence as she recounted Rana’s request.

  “N-Naawwww.”

  Maar burst into tears, much to Jelly’s delight. She didn’t know if it was tears of pain or regret.

  Perhaps both?

  “N-No, put m-me down,” Maar pleaded as a swarm of blood bubbles escaped his shaking, purple lips, “P-Please?”

  Jelly smiled and obliged the man begging for his life.

  “Okay.”

  She lowered her claw to the ground, making damn sure Maar slid along to the tip of her infinity claws.

  “Gaaooowwurrggh.”

  His toes touched the ground, even though he had three feet of infinity claw sticking out of his back.

  He tried to kick himself back and push his impaled body off the end of the claw.

  “Actually,” Jelly snapped. “I’ve changed my mind.”

  Maar’s eyelids lifted in horror, “Whhuh, wh-whuh—?”

  She lifted her claw up again, forcing Maar to slide down the length of her infinity claw once again.

  “Gwwwuurrrr,” Maar screamed his last as his eyeballs turned up and locked into the back of his head.

  Maar’s body slumped as the razor on her claw crunched through his ribcage and sliced clean through his heart.

  The very last thing he heard was Jelly’s pure, undiluted fury.

  “Go to hell you son of a bitch.”

  She flung her left arm in the air, catapulting his body off the end of her infinity claw and into the night sky.

  ROOOAARRRRR.

  Maar’s corpse somersaulted in a frenzy of blood at the summit of his trajectory. It twisted around, and plummeted head-first towards the ground.

  Jelly slid her face into its falling path as Maar’s corpse hurtled towards her mouth.

  CHOMP.

  Jelly bit down on his body and dropped herself on all fours. She kept the detonator’s trigger held down as she swung the body around in her mouth like a dead mouse.

  Maar’s top half hung out of the left side of her mouth. His lower half hung out the other side.

  Grrrrrrr.

  She looked around and spotted a gray van with hundreds of cats and her human friends looking back at her.

  She dropped Maar’s body to the floor and leaned on her hind legs.

  GROWL.

  Sierra turned to the others and held out her arms, “I think we better get out of here.”

  “Good idea,” Roman said. “Oh wait, what about Rana?”

  “She’ll catch up with us,” Sierra said, knowing that there was a chance Rana had been killed.

  She didn’t know for sure, though, and that’s all that mattered right now. Roman and the rest of the team weren’t going to convince her otherwise.

  “Everyone in the van,” Sierra said and turned to the cats. “That includes you guys.”

  “Meow,” the cats raced to the van as Jamie opened the back doors.

  “Wow, look at them.”

  “I got this, my friend,” Roman said.

  He ushered the cats in as Jamie took a few steps forward and squinted at the giant tiger staring at him half a mile away through the devastation.

  “Hey, girl.”

  He held up his hand and gave her a wave, hoping she’d respond.

  Jelly couldn’t wave back. Her thumb held the trigger down on the detonator.

  She wiggled her nose and grunted.

  “Goodbye, Jamie,” she hushed through her physical and mental turmoil. “Friend.”

  The cats and humans in the distance hopped into the van, leaving Jelly alone with a dead Maar Sheck on the ground under her chin.

  She licked her mouth and lifted her ears as the strength from her body subsided.

  Her beating heart pumped slower and slower as her fresh wounds continued to bleed.

  Something felt wrong on her left hand. The last remaining infinity claw had crumbled away from her middle finger.

  Maar’s corpse lay beside the shards of Titanium clanging around his feet.

  “Huh. Oh, it’s y-you again,” she whispered, feeling the power drain from her vocal cords.

  A careful choice of words, considering she knew it could be the last time she’d ever speak.

  A loud commotion and cries of anguish came from within The Arena as she moved her face over Maar’s body.

  Her body felt like a dead weight. The shooting pains in her broken vertebrae and numerous bodily wounds threatened to floor her there and then.

  Jelly’s eyelids lowered. Instinctively, she faced the battered area and grunted.

  “L-Let’s f-finish this.”

  She lowered her head to Maar’s corpse. Her mouth closed around the length of his body and picked it up.

  CHOMP.

  Her razor sharp teeth imprisoned through his chest and waist.

  Jelly trundled towards the battered Arena, leaving a thoroughly devastated battlefield of carnage and machinery behind her.

  ***

  The stench of gasoline and death drifted up Jelly’s nostrils as she carried Maar’s body through the destruction the truck had caused inside The One Arena.

  The walls had collapsed, breaking away the rooms on either side of the beaten corridor.

  One by one, she pressed her front hands forward as if they were paws. It felt good to be on all four, once again.

  She pressed her stomach to the ground and stretched her limbs, shaking the fatigue away from her muscles. It only reduced the dull pain that gnawed at her body for a moment.

  But every moment counted.

  “Damn it,” Brayn’s concerned voice shot out of the door, “Where’s our ride outta here?”

  Jelly lowered her head and grunted as the blood poured from her wounds.

  “We better get out of here,” a man’s voice cried from the giant arena a few meters ahead of her.

  “No, stay here. We don’t know what happened out there,” Brayn snapped back. “Keep your weapons drawn. If she gets in here, we’re dead.

  They had that damn right, Jelly thought to herself, as the sound of the voices drowned into nothingness.

  She felt her chest scrape against the ground as the energy in her muscles subsided. In danger of hitting the deck at any moment, she closed her eyes and utilized every last vestige of energy to push herself forward.

  “Meow,” she whimpered as her eyelids slunk down.

  And then, in the semi-permanent darkness, she heard a voice that kept her going.

  “Jelly?” a man’s voice asked, confused.

  “Yes, mister.”

  The response came from someone she knew. A little boy named Jamie - all those years ago.

  A scorch of light formed in the darkness as she felt the ground crunch beneath her four feet.

  It was almost as if she were back in the Quad with her friend.

  “Funny name for a cat, isn’t it?” the technician asked, as the contours of the featureless face looked into her eyes.

  WVHOOOOOM.

  A rendition of beautifu
l stars formed the shape of Jamie’s face and drifted into the center of the darkness.

  “She’s named after my favorite film.”

  “Ah, Star Jelly?”

  She shook her head and opened her eyelids, throwing the sound from her ears.

  Brayn wandered into her sight as she crept into The Arena.

  The lights snapped on, throwing a heavenly light onto the shiny black stage surface.

  WVHOOOM — WVHOOM - WVHOOOOOM.

  “Oh, Christ,” one of the five mercenaries shuddered and held his gun at the tiger as she trundled into the room.

  Brayn pinched the side of his visor and leaned forward. He recognized the dead man hanging in her mouth.

  “Is that… Mr. Sheck?”

  Whine.

  Jelly paused and settled on her haunches.

  “I th-think it is.”

  Brayn trained the end of his gun at her face, “Easy, now. Anderson. Drop the body to the floor.”

  She duly obliged her oppressor and released Maar’s corpse to the ground. His behind hit the floor first, quickly followed by his flailing limbs.

  Brayn took a careful step forward, “Stay.”

  Jelly growled and sniffed around her neck and chest. She pressed the tip of her tongue onto her bleeding wounds.

  Biddum-biddum-biddum.

  Another mercenary paced alongside the crashed truck and stepped over a battered audience seat. He kept the sight of his gun square between her eyes.

  “Jesus, look at her. She’s all messed up.”

  Brayn snorted at Maar’s corpse and slipped his finger over the trigger.

  “You did a good job, Anderson.”

  Jelly ignored him. She lifted her behind and swished her tail around.

  “Oh, no. No, you don’t.”

  The glare from the stage lights drifted across her pupils. She tried to purr, but her internal engine had given up the ghost entirely.

  “What’s that in your hand, girl?”

  Her right hand vibrated as her thumb kept the trigger held down.

  “What is that?”

  WHUMP.

  She slumped against the ground and whined in pain.

  Her eyelids lowered once again, squeezing out the intensity of the stage lights.

  The last thing she saw was the first row of seats and the stage where she once displayed her skills all those years ago.

  WVHOOOM — WVHOOOOOM.

  Two deadened pangs of sound shot around her head.

  “Welcome to Combat,” announced a dramatic female voice.

  The whoops and hollers from the crowd rifled over the music as the stage lights blasted to life. “There will only be one winner… who will become USARIC’s Star Cat?”

  Suddenly, Jelly found the energy to climb onto the stage.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Brayn’s voice followed after her. He could put a bullet in the back of her head for all she cared.

  The adulation from the crowd spurred her on as she walked through the ghost of her former self on the left side of the stage.

  Four-year-old Jelly inspected her new gloves. Stupid, little infinity claws, as she meowed at her foe - a Russian Blue named Bisoubisou.

  “Meow.”

  “Grrrrr.”

  The two apparitions ran towards each other and fought. Tiny little creatures, goaded by the electric cage surrounding them.

  Grunt —grunt.

  The ghost of the cats turned to pixels, and then to dust, as Jelly made her way to the corner of the stage.

  She turned around and settled in the corner by the torn curtain.

  “Jelly, Jelly,” the cacophony whirled around her head from the crowd.

  Seconds later, the chants turned to distant echoes.

  A transparent, ghost of a woman ran through the stage door.

  A medician.

  Someone Jelly knew well.

  “Oh, God,” a voice dampened into the ground and tumbled towards Jelly’s paws. “She’s bleeding. We need to get her to medical now.”

  The voice of Gunnar Kane, the compère of the Star Cat Project, grew concerned amid the chaos from the crowd.

  “Everyone get back. Now,” his voice twisted into a stream of white smoke and puffed in all directions, seeping into the air.

  Wool ar-Ban took the injured Russian Blue in her hands and, for just the briefest of moments, looked in Jelly’s direction.

  “Mommy?” Jelly’s voice escaped from her mouth five seconds before it moved.

  Wool didn’t respond.

  She carried Bisoubisou through the door in haste and disappeared into a contour of dust.

  “I’m s-sorry.”

  A whine rumbled deep within her chest as she felt something cold and circular press against her forehead.

  She fought so hard to lift her eyelids. They crawled up her eyeballs to reveal the long barrel of a gun.

  Brayn had the barrel of his gun pressed between her eyes.

  “Go to sleep, pet.”

  Jelly relaxed her body and curled up in the corner of the stage.

  Her heartbeat slowed to a halt.

  The intense agony subsided as she placed her head across the length of her arms and expelled the last of her oxygen through her nostrils.

  “Good girl,” Brayn said. “Don’t worry. It’ll be nice and quick. You won’t feel a—”

  Whump.

  Jelly passed away.

  The knuckles on her right hand hit the stage floor. Her thumb slid away from the trigger, which lifted up and out like a knife through butter.

  Click.

  Brayn’s face turned to sheer terror when he spotted Jelly’s fingers open and reveal the detonator. The strength in her thumb subsided, threatening to release the trigger.

  He turned to the truck and put two and two together - far too late.

  “Oh, shit,” he yelled as he made for the auditorium door. “RUN. RUN.”

  “What?” one of the mercenaries screamed.

  “The truck,” he squealed, “It’s gonna—”

  The Arena building loomed in the night sky. The front was destroyed, but the dome and much of the structure remained intact.

  It wouldn’t last much longer.

  A flash of light whipped from within like a camera exposure, and then—

  KERRAAAAA-BA-BA-BA-BLAAAMMMMMM.

  The Arena exploded, reducing everything inside it to nothingness.

  The windows shattered across the length of the walls, which blew apart. The dome rocked around before cracking into several thousand pieces which sprang in all directions.

  As the building expanded and busted apart, the second crate in the truck exploded, pulverizing the ground beneath it and destroyed whatever remained standing.

  The dome’s underpinning crashed into the ground, taking whatever was underneath it at least twenty feet closer to the Earth’s core.

  USARIC’s ground cracked apart, throttling anything that stood nearby, smashing it to dust.

  The entire spectacle lit up the night sky.

  ***

  The gray van hurtled along the empty freeway.

  It had no destination other than far, far away from the war zone.

  Sierra gripped the steering wheel, thinking about where they might be headed.

  Perhaps she could cross the border with her tribe.

  Roman sat next to her with Lydia resting against his shoulder. He stared through the window at the spectacular fireworks show taking place at the USARIC grounds.

  “Would you look at that. It’s amaziant.”

  A cavalcade of light blasted across the horizon, lighting up the occupants of the vehicle.

  Sierra cried hard for perhaps the first time in her adult life. So many had given their lives. There were no words.

  Only action.

  “We did it, Handax. Rana,” she whispered and took a deep breath. “We beat them. I, uhm,” she croaked, unable to think of a way to finish her sentence.

  Sierra thumped the steering wheel and l
et her emotions get the better of her.

  “WE DID IT,” she bawled, half elated, crying like a child. “We beat them. We beat them.”

  Roman lifted his arm and hugged Lydia, who did precisely the same to Bobbie as she rested in her arms.

  “Hey, girl.”

  Purrrrrr.

  Amelia and Remy sat side by side at the back of the van and marveled at the beautiful firework display of destruction.

  “That it,” she cleared her throat, “I’m the last of them.”

  “Last of them?” Remy asked.

  “The Misfits. The IRI have gone down with the bastards, now. I’m not so sure where that leaves us.”

  Remy knocked her shoulder and grinned, “You’re not alone.”

  He slipped his hand into hers and squeezed it. It was a gesture Amelia appreciated. Neither could be sure of their safe return to their family.

  The orange fire bounced off a bead of transparent liquid trickling down fine cracks nestled in smooth skin.

  The skin belonged to Jamie.

  He peered through the window near the front of the van and stared at USARIC’s destruction, “Wow.”

  Leesa lifted her head to watch with him.

  “It’s over, Jamie,” she whispered.

  “I know.”

  The girl sidled up to him and gave him a hug.

  Scores of angry cats pounced over the van’s seats. It was as if they were cheering at the sight of the devastation.

  “Meow, meow, meow.”

  Jamie wiped his tears put on a brave face. He ran the back of his hand over Leesa’s brow and took her in his arms.

  The tumultuous events of the past few weeks and months replayed in his mind.

  He couldn’t stand to look at the horizon any longer. The pink beams continued to throttle east and west from the middle of the gulf.

  The road was a long and bumpy affair, shaking the occupants from left to right.

  No one seemed to notice.

  The cats sat perfectly still in the middle seats, unperturbed by the furious sounds and movements of the van.

  It was a weird sight to behold. Each and every one of them battle-hardened, and appeared to be reflecting on what had happened.

  Remy caught the pointy ears of a cat he had come to know well during the course of the past few days.