Andrew Mackay - Pink Symphony

“Cats?”

“Hundreds of them,” Handax said. “All caged up.”

“Ugh…” Katcheena spluttered from the floor, slowly waking up. Her leg bled a storm across the floor, “Ugh…”

Both Moses and Handax looked down at her.

“She’s seen better days, hasn’t she?”

Handax snorted, knowing full well that she was an unfortunate casualty of her employer’s war. “We’ll get her help when we get what we want. How long, now?”

Moses looked up at the panel and eyed the absorption bar. “Less than a minute. I hope.”

“You’ll… you’ll…” Katcheena tried through her bloodied mouth.

“We’ll what?” Handax asked, put-out by her drama.

“You’ll never get out… alive.”

“That’s as maybe, but as long as the animals do, we don’t care.”

By now, everyone had gotten used to the screaming alarms.

Handax crouched down and felt Katcheena’s neck, “I reckon you have about two minutes before you bleed out.”

Defiant, she spat in his face, “Go to hell.”

He duly ignored her instruction and wiped the phlegm from his face. “You can make this right, Katcheena. Tell me where the release switch is.”

“Never.”

“Suit yourself,” Handax rose to his feet and hollered at the second compound door. “Leif, get out of there.”

Leif ran out of the room and up to Moses and Handax. “Yeah, what’s up?” She spotted the bleeding security guards screaming for their lives by the main door.

“Katcheena, here, won’t tell us where the release switch is. It must be here somewhere, judging by the look on her face lift .”

“How dare you,” she retaliated and press her fingertips to her cheeks. The oily, plastic skin pushed around her skull, “I have not had a face lift.”

“Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart,” Moses nodded at a green button on the control deck, “Try that one.”

“No, don’t press that!” Katcheena cried. “It’s the fire alarm, you’ll soak us all.”

Handax looked at her dead in the eyes. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” she insisted. “The whole place will flood. If we don’t run, we’ll drown.”

“I guess it’ll release the cages if that were to happen, won’t it?” Moses kept an eye on his forearm. Hundreds of little black dots formed across his skin. “That would be a mighty shame. For you.”

“Ugghh…” Katcheena rolled around the floor in pain, covering her bullet would with her hand, “Don’t press it. Please, don’t press it.”

Handax and Leif shot each other a knowing glance.

“Leif?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“Hit the green button.”

“You got it,” she thumped the button and turned to face the second compound.

SCHTANG-SCHTANG-SCHTANG !

One by one, the cage doors burst open, releasing the one-hundred-strong tidal wave of furry felines to the ground. They tumbled, shrieked and scratched their way into the central compound area.

“Run, my darlings,” Leif pointed to the main door, “Over there. Run, run, run.”

Fluffy, the white American bobtail, led the charge. A huge variety of cats chased after her as they dispersed around the console.

“No, no,” Katcheena screamed at the top of her lungs. “What have you done? They’re not ready for release—”

“—We’re only doing what USARIC claims to be doing,’ Handax shouted at her. ‘Maintaining their welfare.”

“You idiots. You don’t know what you’ve done.”

A few cats became fascinated by the workstation’s swivel chairs. They spun them around, and dug their claws into the upholstery.

“Gaaah!” Ketcheena screamed as the influx of furry little felines descended upon her. “Get away from me!”

SCRATCH! GNASH!

Twenty-six cats tore away at Katcheena’s work suit and face, tearing her clothes to shreds and much of the skin from her face.

“Meow,” one particularly vicious cat who resembled Jelly Anderson clawed at her eyes, hungry for revenge.

“That’s one furious pussy, right there,” Moses gasped at the attack and turned to his forearm, “Nearly done.”

“Good,” Handax watched as the majority of the cats storm through the entrance and into the corridor, “They’re going.”

Leif pointed at the far wall in haste, “The third door?”

“No time for that, now—” Handax caught sight of the door leading to the corridor. Furious gunfire, followed by screeching from some of the felines, rattled along the walls and into the compound. “Oh, no .”

Just then, twenty-odd cats ran back into the room, trying to hide from danger.

“Someone’s coming,’ Handax yelled. ‘Someone’s coming.”

Moses kept his forearm held to the plate. “I need more time.”

“No, there’s no time,” Handax grabbed Moses’ shoulders, “Security’s coming. There’s only one way out.”

“If we’re going to die, I’m taking as many of those bastards with me,” Leif lifted her firearm and pointed it at the corridor.

The returning cats fanned out around the room and took refuge behind the assorted chairs and desks.

“Security breach in Sector Z118,” a stern-sounding voice thundered down the tunnel, “Shoot to kill.”

“Forget that,” Handax slid the machine gun Moses had confiscated from the security guard from his shoulder, “Mind if I borrow this?”

“Hold them off till I’m done,” Moses reached into his belt for his hand gun with his free, right hand. He aimed it at the door and kept an eye on the absorption process. “Twenty seconds. I’m right here with you.”

The sound of charging footsteps grew louder and louder…

Leif hid behind the console and held her gun in both hands. Handax inadvertently stepped on Katcheena’s glasses, crunching them against the ground. “Whoops.” He slid across the console deck, crouched behind the chair and aimed the machine gun at the door. “Ready, guys?”

“Oh, yeah,” Moses held his hand gun at the corridor. “Let’s give ‘em hell.”

“Leif,” Handax shouted over the console. “Protect Moses till he’s done transferring.”

Leif cocked her weapon and knocked the side of her head against the console, enjoying the adrenaline rush. “You got it, babes.”

“Here they come…”

A USARIC mercenary ran into the room, ready to open fire with his USARIC-issue machine gun. He took a look around and saw Moses in the middle of the room with his arm pressed to the console plate.

BLAM!

Moses fired a shot at the mercenary. “S’up?” The bullet smoked in the wall a few inches to the right of the man’s head. He saw the barrel of Moses’ handgun facing him, “The next bullet won’t be so kind, my friend.”

“Okay, okay,” the mercenary unhooked the gun from his shoulder and set it to the floor, “Don’t shoot.”

“Get on the floor and lie down, face-first.”

“Whatever you say.”

The mercenary carefully placed his chest on the floor. In doing so, he caught sight of Leif and Handax hiding behind the console. To his left, dozens of scared kitties peered from behind the chairs and desks.

“How many cats got out?” asked the mercenary.

“A few. I don’t know,” Moses said. “Now it’s your turn to answer my question. How many of you scumbags are coming?”

“Dozens. We’ve been ordered to shoot—”

“—Shut up.”

“They’re already here,” the mercenary said.

“What?”

The mercenary pushed himself onto his back and reached into his boot strap. “Advance! One on the console, and two behind the deck.”

“Huh?” Moses double-took as everything slowed-down to a crashing halt. “What the—”