Mittens startled when an angry cry echoed down the tunnel to their den. They had been bombarded with the loud noises of humans talking and walking across crushed rock all day. But the most disturbing sounds were the cries of the other cats. Hissing, snarling, plaintive meows, desperate moans, following the loud metallic snap of cage doors closing. Between all the clatter, Hunter slept. It was daytime, his time to sleep.
Hunter was tired. His sleep had been disturbed for days, his head filled with thoughts, worries, questions, concerns, wonders and decisions. When he was awake, he was often gone for long periods of time. Every day he searched for a new home, traveling farther and farther from the junkyard to look for a better potential home than the one the raccoon had found. It wasn’t just the searching that was tiring, it was the newness of everything. There was so much to hear, smell, listen to, be aware of and try to understand. And he had to be cautious as he pushed through potentially dangerous situations.
Hunter was drained. But being a cat meant he was curious. Every time Hunter rose to leave the den, Mittens stopped him. She pleaded for him not to go. She wanted him to stay where they were safe. And they were safe, for now, but not for much longer.
Hunter felt divided between his broods of new kittens and the older ones. The older ones still needed his guidance, and the four new ones could not survive without him. Hunter knew what a mother cat could do if she became scared and protective of her newborns. He had heard tales of mothers killing their litters to save them from danger. But Mittens wouldn’t do that, or would she? He couldn’t take the chance, so he remained with her throughout the day. He kept her calm, offered reassurance and was there to stop her if she got desperate. The four older kittens stayed on the surface. They kept hidden during the day. They were cautious, observant and careful. But still, they weren’t much more than kittens themselves. Finally, his concern for them took over.
“I’m going up to check,” he said softly. “To make sure all our kittens are well.”
“Be careful,” she said.
“I will. It’s getting quieter up there.”
And it was. There seemed to be fewer human sounds. He was certain many of them had gone.
“Come back, soon, please,” said Mittens.
“I won’t be long.”
He approached the surface slowly. He told himself to think, not feel. He stopped just short of the top and listened. There were scents and sounds of humans, but they were faint and far enough away they didn’t pose a threat.
He poked his head out and looked around. No one was there. Everything looked familiar. For a split second, he thought everything had been part of an elaborate dream, but then he heard another clank. He resisted the urge to go back down the hole.
He darted out and found shelter under a wreck. What now? He knew he had to make his way to a spot where he could see the clearing. That’s where the humans were.
Hunter knew the nooks and crannies of the wrecks well. He hoped his older kittens had stayed hidden in the wrecks too. He sensed another cat ahead in the narrow passage.
“I thought they had caught you,” a big tom said.
“I’m not going to get caught,” Hunter said.
“They’ve caught a lot of the cats. More than my toes and your toes together.”
“Have you seen my kittens?” Hunter asked.
“I haven’t seen them, but that doesn’t mean much. I’ve been here most of the day.”
“You’re a wise cat,” Hunter said.
“If I was really wise, I would have listened to you and we would all be gone by now.”
“Staying in here is wise. They can’t get you here,” Hunter said.
“Not unless they remove the wrecks. Do you think they’re going to do that?” the cat asked.
“Yes. Not today, but soon.”
“Have you found a place for us to go?” the cat asked.
“There’s a place. It’s not as good and it’s not close,” Hunter said.
“There aren’t that many left. When can we go?”
Hunter knew he couldn’t go soon, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t lead some of the other cats there. “In a few days I can take you and anybody else who wants to go.”
“Do we have a few days left?”
“I hope so, but I don’t know. I have to go and find my kittens.”
“Be careful,” the cat said.
“I can stay away from the humans.”
“They’re not the only ones you have to fear. King said he is going to rip you apart, kill you.”
Hunter shook his head sadly. “With all that we’re facing, he still wants to come after me?”
“He blames you for all of this,” the cat said.
“If he thought I had such powers that I could cause all of this, then he should be afraid that I’m going to kill him or have him killed.”
“Maybe he is afraid. He’s been hiding since this happened.”
“Do you know where he’s hiding?” Hunter asked.
“In the big pile of wrecks on the far side of the clearing.”
That reassured Hunter. He could get to the clearing without having to pass by King. The last thing Hunter needed was to fight King. Especially in the narrow passages where Hunter’s speed and agility would be hindered. The only place he had any chance against King was up in the clearing, and he certainly wasn’t going out there.
There was a loud scream, a human scream, followed by the desperate cry of a cat. They were close, very close. Hunter froze in place. His every instinct was to turn and run away from the commotion. But if he did that, he might as well have stayed inside the den.
Hunter started moving slowly forward. He wove his way past sharp edges and rusty parts. The cat and the humans were getting louder. He recognized the cat’s voice. It was a tomcat he knew well. He sounded as if he was being throttled. And one of the human’s voices was Taylor’s.
Hunter approached the edge of the wrecks and peered out. The vet and Taylor were in the clearing. The vet held a long metal pole. The tomcat was attached to the end of the pole and he was being dragged forward. His claws dug into the crushed rock as he howled, and his eyes were wild with fear.
The vet pulled the cat closer. The cat swiped at him. But the vet pinned the cat to the ground. Taylor ran off and returned with a cage. He placed it on the ground and opened it. The vet grabbed the cat by the scruff of his neck, unfastened the pole and dropped him into the cage. The cat, free, lunged against the mesh, trying to find a way out.
The fur on Hunter’s back rose up. He knew exactly what the cat was experiencing inside the cage. He knew the fear, helplessness and desperation of being trapped inside there. The vet picked up the cage, and he and Taylor walked away, disappearing from Hunter’s view.
Hunter should have retreated, hidden. But he didn’t. He scrambled across the clearing, following the vet and Taylor. They passed by some other humans but didn’t stop. They headed toward the opening in the fence. It wasn’t safe to follow directly behind them, but Hunter needed to know what they were going to do with the caged cat. He knew of another way to get to the opening, hopefully without being seen.
Hunter spun around and sprinted away. He hoped he didn’t run into any other humans, and if he did, he hoped they wouldn’t be fast enough to capture him. He stayed in the opening, close to the edge of the wrecks, so he’d have a place to run to if needed.
It was dusk, and Hunter felt the snow coming. He tolerated the snow but hated the cold. Tonight the temperature would drop. He wanted to go back and stay in his den, dry and warm. But he still needed to look for food and a new place for the colony.
He reached the fence. Wrecks were pushed up against it. One leap took him to the roof of a car, and a second brought him to the top of the fence. He jumped off, onto the ground on the other side. Now that he was outside the junkyard, the fence was his only defense from being seen. He ran along the base of the fence toward the place it had been knocked down and to where the van was parked.
As he approached, he heard the drone of cats—many, many cats—screaming and crying in desperation. He’d never heard such a…wait, yes he had. It was the sound of cats in cages, trapped. The colony cats were in cages.
He reached the gigantic gap in the fence, and up ahead was the van. The caged cats were inside. He could hear them. Then he saw the vet and Taylor. Hunter hid behind a large rock.
The vet and Taylor opened the back door of the van. There was an explosion of cat cries. The vet put the cage in the back and slammed the door shut. Now Hunter knew where all the cats had been taken. He just didn’t know why.