Charcoal, Did You Do Something Again?

Zheng Tan inched towards the source of the sound. He could see tracks in the ground where the girl was dragged and a phone with a ladylike cross body bag lying on the side.

There was a strong scent in the air, Zheng Tan sniffed around. He found keys and a small tube in the grass. It seemed like pepper spray.

The girl was well prepared. However, Zheng Tan didn’t hear a scream. Did that mean she didn’t manage to spray her attacker? Otherwise, the man must have been a repeated offender and had experience against such things.

It was much faster moving on trees. He needn’t avoid all the bumps on the ground.

The person stopped under a tress. The place was a far away from the road. It didn’t matter anymore if he made some noise.

Ka!

Zheng Tan looked to find what made the sound. He saw a flash of metal.

F*ck! The pervert brought S&M handcuffs! How much more perverted could he be? Zheng Tan couldn’t help but swear inside.

The guy cuffed the girl, then took out some tape from his bag.

He let go of the hand on the girl’s mouth. Before she could yell, he taped her mouth shut. She could only whimper.

Zheng Tan looked along, the guy wore gloves and a ski mask. Only his eyes and mouth showed, like a bank robber. He was an experienced repeated offender, after all.

Zheng Tan quietly jumped onto the tree next to them. He climbed to the top, then found an appropriate branch and jumped down.

Bang!

The tree branch shook violently, causing leaves to fall from all around. The rustling sound made by the branch stood out in the quiet night.

The man with the ski mask was holding the girl down with one hand and battling with his belt buckle with the other. He was about to get on with it when the sound from above startled him.

He looked up. It was too dark. He couldn’t see anything unusual. He could only see the branch above his head sway up and down.

However, there was no wind tonight and all the other branches were still. This branch above his head was like a ghost waving towards him.

Was it birds? He thought.

This was winter though. Birds were all hidden in their nests at this hour. Why would there be birds. Maybe there was a bird nest on this tree? Or was it some other animal?

He held the girl down while listening to the sounds around them.

There were some sounds, but not that of humans.

He cast away his doubt and continued to unzip his pants. However, there was another bang. This time louder than the last. He wanted to ignore it, but the sounds coming from above was making him go soft. At this moment, a thick branch fell down from the tree and hit him right on the face.

“Ah!”

The man let out a cry of pain. Beside being hit in the face by the tree branch, leaves scratched his eyes.

The girl took this opportunity to run, but the man caught her on the ankle. She tried to kick him away but was too tired from fight back earlier.

“A woooo!”

The weird noise made both of them pause.

It was hard to tell what animal made the sound.

A wolf? But this was a campus, surely there weren’t any wolves. A stray dog maybe?

The man took out a pocket knife. The blade gleamed in the moonlight.

Zheng Tan hid behind a tree. He never planned to jump out right away. Maybe if he was still human, but now as a cat, fighting a grown man would put him at a disadvantage. He might not be able to save the girl, but harm himself while trying.

There were more rustling noises.

The man was alert. He prayed that it wasn’t a pack of stray dogs. He heard that when strays got hungry enough, they would eat even humans. He could fight a dog, but he would be lucky to leave alive if a pack of dogs were coming.

The rustling noise was approaching. The man held the girl down and held on tight to his knife. He held his breath.

Suddenly, he was hit hard on the arm. He dropped the knife and was knock back.

Zheng Tan had been waiting for a chance. He calculated the angle and the spot to hit. He waited for the other cats to come and distract the man and grabbed the chance when it came.

They were on a hill. The man tumbled down the hill after being hit. Zheng Tan followed behind him and saw him limp away. He probably thought someone had found them and was trying to run away.

Little did he knew; it was a cat that attacked him. Not a human, not a stray dog.

The girl was still here, so Zheng Tan didn’t pursue the offender. However, if he ever ran into the person, he would definitely be able to recognize him. Cats had an excellent sense of smell. He would be able to pick out the man in a crowd anytime, even if he had a ski mask on.

Zheng Tan walked back up the hill. He saw a jacket left aside in the grass with the scent of the girl’s perfume. She was probably attending a party earlier. She had on a long dress. Her coat was ripped off her earlier.

Zheng Tan shivered in the night wind. He considered it, then dragged the coat back up the hill. The girl was holding onto the man’s knife and looking around. When Zheng Tan appeared with her coat, she immediately raised the knife. Under the moonlight, she didn’t see anyone. When she looked down, she saw her coat. Next to it was a cat that almost blended in completely in the night.

Suddenly, cats started coming out from the shrubs. They saw a human here and did not come out earlier. Now that Zheng Tan appeared, they felt safe. The cat that led the pack was Sheriff. He jumped out immediately after seeing Zheng Tan. He meowed and jumped up to swat at a falling leaf.

No one wanted to see his performance at the moment though.

The girl oddly felt better after seeing all the cats. She listened and couldn’t hear any human approaching.

She sat down on the grass, with the knife still in her hand. She was shaking.

Zheng Tan dragged the coat and put it beside her feet.

What should he say? Here, cry on my shoulder? How could someone cry on a cat’s shoulder?

As he was thinking, he was picked up by the girl.

The girl held him in her arms and put her chin on his back. She was still shacking. The knife was by her side. The warmth coming from the cat made her feel better.

Zheng Tan felt uncomfortable. The girl’s knees were poking him, but the girl was holding onto him like he was her hope.

He couldn’t see her eyes, but her hands were ice cold and she was still shaking with fear.

The girl was squeezing him. He couldn’t help but sway his tail to tell her to let go a little.

The girl didn’t react.

He swayed his tail again.

She still didn’t react.

He gave up. His tail moved from her wrist to her elbow then up to her shoulder. He refused to admit he was using this chance to earn himself some ‘benefits’.

The girl would not know that the cat in her arms was starting to think impure thoughts.

She was breathing fast. Her mouth had been shut ever since the tape was ripped off. The breath from her nostrils were making Zheng Tan’s ears itch. He twitched his ears. He twitched his ears twice every time she breathed.

He hid his name tag behind on a tree on his way over. The girl couldn’t tell whose cat he was.

The wind howled. Leaves were dancing in the air. Some were still twirling after hitting the ground. The woods were a creepy place at night. However, the cats all around canceled out some of the creepiness.

The night wind messed up the girl’s long curly hair. Zheng Tan thought this was a beautiful sight.

However, Sheriff appeared the very next moment and started playing with the girl’s hair. The next moment, he began licking his butt.

Idiot!

Way to ruin the mood!

He was not playing with this idiot again, thought Zheng Tan.

Nearby, a cat was bothering Fatty, who lost his patience. He jumped up and squashed the cat with his body weight. The cat let out a shriek.

Another cat who was chasing something looked over after hear the shriek and ran into a tree. It rolled around on the ground and pretended like nothing had happened.

Zheng Tan wanted to do a face palm. It was embarrassing.

The girl, however, was loosening up after seeing all the cats. She stopped shaking and her breathing calmed.

Though it was uncomfortable being held in that position, Zheng Tan enjoyed the feeling of being trusted and relied upon. He felt slightly sorry after she let go of him.

“Thank you guys, really, thank you.”

The girl’s voice was still shaking, but judging by her tone, she was feeling better.

She stood up, knife still in hand, and carefully inched down the hill.

Zheng Tan led the way and brought the girl her bag.

She took out her cell and made a phone call.

He originally thought she would call the police or a roommate or a boyfriend, but by the sounds of it, he was wrong.

The street lamps flickered. Because of the location, the school was slow to fix the lights on this street.

The cats were moving about in the woods. Because of the lighting and the angle, she could see eyes glowing in the woods whenever she looked up. Normally she would find the scene strange and the cats wicked, but now, it was a source of comfort.

Zheng Tan stayed by her side and waited with her.

Because he was still here, Sheriff and Fatty stayed around too. The other cats followed suit.

After ten minutes, a Range Rover pulled to the side of the road. Two men and a woman came out of the car. They were respectful but didn’t say much.

The girl looked out the car window, the black cat was no longer there and the pack of cats were gone as well.

Zheng Tan did not think too much of the night’s events. He went back and took a bath. He had Papa Jiao dry his fur then squeezed into Gu Youzi’s bed covers. He ate and slept and took strolls like nothing had happened.

On afternoon, he was sleeping on the chair in Papa Jiao’s office. Papa Jiao was reading student papers. Suddenly, his cell phone rang.

“Hello? Oh, Yuanzi, what’s up?”

Zheng Tan’s ears twitched. His eyes were still shut. He tried to listen to their phone call, but a truck passed by outside. The bio building was to be expanded. Zheng Tan could only guess what happened from Papa Jiao’s answers.

Papa Jiao’s expression changed, “I don’t know anyone from Changwei Company, you know that. I’ve been busy at work these days. I don’t even have enough time to go home some days, let alone meet contact people like that.”

Yuan Zhiyi said something else. Papa Jiao’s mouth twitched, “The business card the CEO of Changwei gave you had a cat on it. A black cat. Are you sure?”

His tone changed by the end of the sentence. He was incredulous.

“Alright. I have a guess. Let me check something.”

After the call. Professor Jiao put down his cell phone and rubbed Zheng Tan’s head.

“Charcoal, did you do something again?”