9 Chapter 9

Rats of all sizes fill the tunnel behind me, staring at me with impatience, excitement, and hunger.

There are two in particular that catch my attention, they're bigger than the rest. One of them is almost as large as the giant spider, its fur is in pristine condition and its body is slightly chubby. The other one is a little smaller, but it has an incredibly muscular body that's laced with scars that look like they came from burns, cuts, and bites.

If I had to guess, I'd say the fatter one is the queen and the smaller one is her warrior. Kind of like a story from a fairy tale. How touching.

Luckily for me though, they're content to hold themselves back from attacking. Instead, they wait in impatience for me to open the barrier.

Hmm... well... this is, uh, quite the situation... I turn back to the barrier, supervising my tendrils. It takes most of my concentration to keep them on target, so I can't afford to spend any time thinking about what I should do next.

A rat lets out a screech, filling me with anxiety. But before I can turn to look, a fat green glob of acid splashes onto the barrier to the side of me. I hiss and jump to the side, getting further away from the next wave of acid that comes in, this time from multiple rats. The sudden movement nearly makes me lose control of the drills, but I manage to keep them centered on the barrier.

With the rain of acid hailing down on it, the barrier furiously blinks in and out of existence. It just needs another push and it'll come down, though I'm worried about what will happen after that. The only reason the rats haven't attacked me yet is because they can't break free from the sewers without me.

But my thoughts are interrupted when a piercing line of acid penetrates through the barrier and onto the soft dirt outside. The barrier gives one last flicker before it finally disappears, leaving the iron bars vulnerable to my tendrils and the next volley of the rats' acid. The bars disintegrate quickly, leaving a large gap for us to escape through.

A comfortable breeze brushes across all of our fur, and the fresh smell of the outdoors fills our noses. This moment is so beautiful.

Or at least it would be, if it weren't for the horde of rats that now turns to look at me with hungry expressions on their faces. Chills run across my spine as killing intent fills the air. It provokes the instincts within my body that tell me to kill and hunt, to go on a rampage filled with blood and to torment my prey.

I act on those instincts, drilling wildly into rat bodies with my tendrils as I escape from the sewer and leap outside onto sweet, beautiful dirt. Blood sprays across the tunnel, dying it red. A line of acid sprays against the cement of the tunnel where I just was, digging deep into the ground. A horrible, acrid scent fills the air. Mad screeches fill the air as I start to sprint away from the sewer tunnel and through the foliage away from the rat horde.

The dirt turns to mud as I skirt around the small lake in front of the tunnel entrance. I run as light as I can on it, but it still sucks my paws in slightly and slows me down. I leap to the side as more acid sprays around me, melting into my fur and skin slightly. But I hardly even notice the pain because I'm finally outside!

I look over my shoulder to see that, instead of running free into the world with peace and joy in their hearts, the rat horde is dead set on pursuing me. And when I look past them, I see why; one of my tendrils must have injured the queen, she's missing an arm and a chunk of flesh from her body. Serves them right, I would've left peacefully if it weren't for them provoking me!

I dash furiously past the lake and grapple up a small hill to save some time. I run past a few more trees before jumping over a guard rail. When I land I look around to find myself on a large highway with several lanes on each side. Unfortunately, there aren't any road signs nearby to indicate where I am. But there are a few old, rusted cars abandoned on both sides of the road.

I would check them out if I had the time, but...

REET REET REET!

Dozens, if not hundreds, of enormous rats are swarming over the guardrail, right on my heels. A wave of acid rains down on me and I do my best to roll out of the way. A small but fast rat dashes up to me. I swat it out of the way with my claws, but another one comes to take its place!

I reshape my tendrils into blades as I bat furiously at the swarming rats with my paws. The heavy scent of blood fills the air as my tendrils slice and dice through their soft bodies. But I can't protect myself from so many of them at once, and my body quickly becomes covered in small bites that trickle blood. I whirl my tendrils around me, throwing the rats away so I can escape down the highway, but the rat warrior steps into my path. I halt immediately, as my instincts tell me that this rat is far more dangerous than the rest of them. But even that short pause is long enough for the horde to regroup and swarm me again.

I whip my tendrils out in a circle around me again, slashing into the rats, injuring and killing many of them at once. The rat warrior sends a piercing line of acid at me, which I roll away from. I send my tendrils piercing towards its stomach faster than it can dodge, but it actually manages to use its claws to slash my tendrils away, leaving its claws bloody and raw.

It returns fire at me with a wave of acid as even more rats dash in to slow me down and prevent me from dodging. I use a tendril to whip at them but I keep my attention focused on the warrior. If it weren't for him, I'd have escaped by now. I jump to the side of its acid spray and dash up to it to engage it in close quarters. Hopefully this will prevent it from spraying anymore acid at me, which I can't defend against.

I pounce at the warrior, my claws raking at its face. It doesn't dodge or block the attack, it just shifts slightly so that my claws rake into the fur a little past its neck. I draw blood and leave a nasty wound, but it's not nearly enough to bring the warrior down. My attack leaves me overstretched and unbalanced. The rat warrior slashes down at me with its claws, but I use a tendril to pull me out of the way. Its claws still gouge into the top of my head and slightly into my ear, making me hiss from the pain. Blood pours down from the wound, partially obscuring my vision.

The warrior charges at me and continues its assault. At the same time, more rats jump at me from the side to slow me down again. In my frustration I use my tendrils to quickly snatch a couple of the rats from the air and throw them at the warrior's face, slowing the warrior down while clearing the area. Doing so creates a little more space for me to move around in, so I stay on the move as I throw some more. The rats squeal as my tendrils crack their bones, and they cry as the warrior mercilessly tramples over them. What an asshole!

But I can't run forever. My path is blocked off by even more rats, there's so damn many of them! My tendrils take a moment to sever their skulls apart, spraying me with blood and bits of brain, but in that time the warrior once again catches up. Its body tackles towards me like a speeding car. I use my tendrils to help me leap straight up, landing on its back. I stab into it with my tendrils, but they don't get far into its body before the rat is rolling onto its back in a continuation of its attempt to crush me.

I leap off before it can do so and slash my tendrils at its face again while it's down. I manage to cut deep into its face and gouge out one of its eyes before it curls its body to defend itself. My tendrils slice into its body, leaving deep wounds that bleed profusely. It howls in pain and rage, and I can feel it glaring at me with hatred. I hiss in response. One day I'll kill you, you bastard!

I dodge as a globe of acid splashes next to me, followed by many more. I take the chance while it's down to try and escape again. I could try to finish them off right now, but blood keeps getting into my eye and its hard to see, especially now that the rats are switching back to using volleys of acid. I'll come back for all of you! Just you wait!

I sprint down the highway while using my tendrils to bat any blobs of acid out of the way. These rats are incredibly persistent, where are the alligators when you need them?! But since it's just the smaller rats chasing me, I use two of my tendrils to slash into them while using the other two tendrils to defend my body.

After a tense few minutes of being chased down the highway, the rats finally start thinning out, no longer willing to follow after me now. I'm not sure if it's because of the distance from their queen or because I've killed so many of them that their bodies line the road. Either way, I'm glad they stopped pursuing me because I'm once again I'm all cut up and covered in acid burns. I reform a tendril to use to hold against the wound over my eye to stop it from bleeding. That's much better. The rest of my wounds should sort themselves out; they always have before.

My fights always seem to end this way now, despite how much I've progressed since I've arrived here. Every fight is a struggle, and I feel like it's only a matter of time until I slip up and make a mistake that I can't afford. But as much as I'd like to think about such things, I'm still not safe. After all, where the hell have all the people gone? This highway is abandoned, and the further I get, the more rusty old cars I see just abandoned on the road.

Ten minutes or so of walking later and I finally spot one of those green signs that tells you where you're going. I'm too far away to read the text clearly though, so I need to get closer. I wonder how much my eyesight c improve if I get more mana. I probably already see much better than a normal cat, but it's still not good enough in my opinion. Maybe they make cat glasses somewhere? Hah.

I'm finally close enough to read the sign. Oh boy... it says that the Throg's Neck Bridge leading into the Bronx is up ahead. I jump up onto the roof of a nearby car to gain some height. I see it in the distance, though like I said it's blurry with my cat vision. New York City, huh... all of these cars going in or out, I guess something big must have happened, and everyone had a different idea on where they should go.

I don't know how much time has passed since I've become a cat... I don't think that there was anything apocalyptic going on during my last memories as a human. Dammit, I just can't remember. I still don't even remember where I lived, just that my house was somewhere in America, and that there was a forest nearby.

I recognize the Throg's Neck Bridge though. I don't remember much else, but that bridge sounds familiar. Should I head into the city then? I should set finding people as my first priority, they should be able to help me figure out what's going on. From there I can try to gain my memories back so I can go home and check on my family.

The difficult part is, I don't know where I'd find people, mainly because I don't know what kind of apocalyptic event happened. If it were a nuclear strike, people should probably be heading away from major cities which are the most likely to be targeted. But there are just as many cars leaving the city as there are heading toward it. Plus, what kind of nuclear strike results in creatures with mana? I don't know.

Wait, what's that? I walk a little closer to the sign to see something written on it in paint. It's hard to read because as a cat I can't see rich colors, nor can I see far distances. But I squint a little and see that someone left a message on the sign, saying that there's a settlement ahead called Sanctuary, and that it welcomes all types. It doesn't say where though... maybe they left more signs further ahead? I don't know how old the sign is, but hopefully there are still people there. At least I have a destination now. I'm sure they'll welcome cats too, right? Who doesn't love a cute cat! Though I don't know if I'm cute. Especially because I'm covered in blood and wounds.

I feel like I'm in a ghost town as I continue walking along the inclining highway, passing by car after car. I peer inside one of them to see that there are semi-decayed, hairless human bodies still in the seats. I start to hiss but I quickly catch myself and quiet down, instead backing away. The bodies are incredibly unsettling, and I don't want to make any noise. They look dead, and they're not moving, but something just feels off to me...

But I'm finally on the bridge, and in the distance I can see the city. The buildings are covered in... I think those are vines, and maybe some other vegetation. There's an eerie silence as I peer at it, it leaves me feeling a little disturbed. I remember that I've been to the city before, and every time it was bursting with sound, whether it was the cars or the people. But it's all gone. Now it's just quiet. Too quiet. How creepy.

I jump down to the road from the front of the vehicle. As I do I accidentally land on a child's toy underneath an open window. The toy is a familiar yellow mouse-like animal with red cheeks and a lightning-bolt-shaped tail, one where there's a button stitched inside that if you press it, it makes noise.

Pika pika!

Pika pika!

Pikaaa!

...I freeze in place, horrified at how clumsy I was to step on that. I stay frozen like that for a few seconds before I finally ease up. It's not just the rats, all rodents are evil! I don't know what I'm worried about, I guess this atmosphere is just getting to me. I wipe my face with my paw, trying to erase non-existent sweat. This situation makes me feel like I'm in a zombie movie, trying not to wake them up. I guess that's why my nerves are so fragile right now.

Ominous creaking sounds echo from the bridge around me. There's a sinking sensation in my gut as I realize that I may have really screwed up this time. My instincts start to scream at me that I'm not alone, and so I jump on top of a nearby car to search for danger.

But I don't see anything, so where is it coming from?

A dry and decayed, nearly skeletal hand bursts through the roof of the car I'm standing on, grasping out blindly for me. The sudden noise makes me jump again, and as I land another hand bursts out through the roof beneath me.

I dash off the car and back onto the road. The sound of glass breaking fills the bridge as I see more decayed hands, arms, and bodies squeezing through car windows and windshields. There are even more of them rising up from beside their cars, like they were taking a nap along the road.

Fuck me! Is this a zombie apocalypse after all?!