Kitty 16

I am participating in NANOWRIMO this year. I will attempt to post my daily ramblings in the hopes that eventually it will become a book which will entertain you as well as myself…

This is a work of fiction. No real people, places or events were used. Copyright ã 2011 Plot Roach.

Kitty Part 16

By Plot Roach

Kitty shifted her weight off of her bad leg. It still hurt a bit and she felt a bit groggy, much like she had when she had been drugged by the humans in the dog pound. But at least here they had not shoved her into a cage to die after they had shaved her leg and taken blood from her.

Kitty was still very aware of the remaining human in the room. His breathing was different from the other furry residents, and his smell was very distracting. Kitty tried to move to the furthest corner of the table, as far away from the man known as “Craig” as she could.

“Don’t be like that.” Shakes said. “He really is a nice guy once you get to know him.”

But all Kitty could think about was the run ins that she had had with other humans who seemed nice at first, but then turned on her more often than not. She had gotten her fair share of kicks, swats and punches and decided that she did not need to earn any more.

“I’ll stay right here, thank you.” Kitty told Shakes when he tried to coax her out from under the table.

“Haven’t you ever trusted ANY human?”

“There were only two that come to mind.”

“And?”

“One was the old woman who tossed out dry kibble to the cats, the one who I took my name from.”

“Right,” he said. “And what about the other one?”

“The other was the man who worked for a nearby restaurant. When he took out the garbage he would toss some food into the bushes for me. He never once poisoned it or mixed in the cleanser chemicals that some other humans have to discourage me from scavenging in their areas. But I always tested the food before eating it, that’s what kept me alive when the others of my pack ate the poisoned bait left out by the humans.”
“I’m sorry that had to happen to you, ” he said.

“Why?” Kitty asked. “You had nothing to do with it.”

“It’s not that,” he said. “It’s just that, compared to what you have told me, I’ve had a somewhat easier life. I wish that you could have had a master like Maria or Craig.”

“I did just fine without a master so far,” Kitty said. “And I still don’t need one.”

“But don’t you want to settle down, find a home of your own and share it with someone?” Shakes asked.
Kitty pondered Shakes’ question and found that, yes, she was still yearning of a pack of her own. And then the panic flowed in her veins like ice water.

“Shakes, what will happen when I have puppies?” Kitty asked.

“You won’t,” he said.

“You don’t understand” Kitty said. “I mated with Max the last time that I went into heat. There’s bound to be puppies. What will I do if the humans decide to take them?”

“You won’t have any puppies.” Shakes said.

“How do you know?” Kitty asked. “Don’t female always produce pups after each mating?”

“As far as I know, yes. But not this time.” Shakes said.

“Why not?” Kitty asked.

“Because your body went into shock,” Shakes said. You were at the vet’s office quite a long time.”

“I don’t remember it.”

“You were kept sedated. That means that they kept you asleep while they worked on you to make you better.”

“What happened?”

“From what Maria told Craig, while the car hit you, it didn’t do as bad of damage as they thought that it would. You had a pulled muscle and some other things.” he dropped his eyes from hers and looked away.

“What aren’t you telling me, Shakes?” Kitty asked.

“You were so dehydrated and malnourished -and your body was under so much stress that…”

“What is it, Shakes?”

“You miscarried. When Maria spoke to Craig about it she said that the doctor told her that it was probably for the best since you were already so bad off. It might have killed you to carry them to term.”

The loss of her unborn pups hit kitty harder than she thought it would. While she was with the pack she had contemplated running away at the first opportunity to find a place safe enough to give birth and find enough food to nourish her new family. While the females of Max‘s pack had planned to eat their own young and she had heard of some bitches abandoning their pups after whelping, neither was something that she had wanted to experience herself. Now whatever plans she had made were moot. She simply locked away the pain of their loss like she had so many things in her life. Her survival depended upon it. “But I’m okay now?” she asked.

“Well, you have to take it easy and keep from jumping and running for a while. But you should recover nicely.”

“And then what?” Kitty asked.

“What do you mean?”

“What will the humans do with me when I’m deemed ‘healthy’ enough. Will I go back to the shelter, get tossed out onto the street or will I be made someone’s ‘pet’?”

“It’s not like that, Kitty.”

“Then what is it like?” she snarled.

“Hey there, Shakes,” Craig called to the service dog. “I think that you need to give the little lady some room. Why don’t you come out here and spend some time with me for a while, huh?”

Kitty was surprised that Craig had called Shakes to him, giving Kitty a chance to cool down in the meantime.

“He’s not a bad guy, Kitty. He’s really not. He was upset when you lost the puppies. But he was planning on keeping you here with us. And still is as far as I know.” Shakes moved to Craig’s side and jumped up on the couch to be next to the blind man.

“You’re more than welcome to join us when you feel like it, missy.” the man said, turning his head toward the table where Kitty was hiding even though she knew that he could not see her.

But Kitty kept to herself, curled up on her side while listening to the man talk to Shakes. He scratched behind the dog’s ears and showered him with compliments for being such a good dog and trying to make friends with Kitty. Kitty snorted in response. It’s just a show for my benefit, she told herself. There’s no such thing as a good master. She ran through the argument that she had had with shakes again, trying to see if there was a flaw in her logic. And before she knew it, she had drifted off to sleep.

In her dream, the pack was dying around her. Some shook with convulsions as they frothed at the mouth, while others lay as still as the stone pavement beneath their cooling bodies.

“It’s all your fault.” Max said. And when Kitty turned to confront him, she saw that he had been reduced to a rotting corpse.

But the dead don’t walk, she told herself.

Just then the bodies of the other dogs pulled themselves up from the hard ground and began to lurch in her direction. White film covered eyeballs rolled in their sockets as they searched for her. Bits and pieces of the canines fell to the ground, covered in writhing maggots. The smell of the stench was overpowering as they approached Kitty.

She backed away as far as she could, until her back legs bumped into something cold and metal. It was one of the dumpsters she had found food in when she ran with the pack. Quickly she scaled a nearby bush which tried to entangle her legs. She snapped and chewed at the thorn covered limbs that held her in place, jumping into the dumpster. It was filled with food and she realized that was so hungry, but she recognized the smell of the chemicals and knew it to be poisoned. Her landing had knocked the lid of the trash bin down closed and she found herself in the dark. And though she knew that the pack could not see her, she heard them outside the trash dumpster calling out to her.

“We will find you. We will kill you. We will eat you up. All for what you have done to us.” they chanted. She heard a thump on the lid above her head and shuddered when she heard Max’s voice.

“All your running and it did no good.” he said. “We’ll rip you apart inch by inch until you’re begging for the Dark One to come and claim you.” She heard his nails scrape against the hard plastic top of the garbage dumpster as he pawed it to gain entrance.

Kitty’s heart pounded as she contemplated which fate she should choose: death by poisoned food, or trying to fight her way out of a pack of undead dogs with a taste for her flesh.

Just as she was about to chew a bit of poisoned hamburger, the lid to the trash bin opened and she was blinded by the blue sky above her. Max looked down, frothing at he mouth and baring his impossibly large teeth.

How can he lift his head with so many tusks? She thought as he barked at her, the sound of it knocking flesh from his maggot ridden body and sending it raining down in chunks upon her.

The stench was unbelievable as he jumped into the trash bin and closed his jaws around her throat.
You are not alone, a voice said within her mind as she fought the undead monster of a dog and lost herself to the darkness.

She whimpered and kicked out with her back feet, which caught upon one of the legs of the table and sent a bowl of fruit thumping to the floor. The noise woke Kitty up and sent the cats running in all directions.