For three glorious weeks I’ve led them on the hunt, slowly diminishing their ranks one by one. But now I have nowhere left to run. I was sitting on the ground when they discovered me. Getting careless, I stumbled over a rock and tripped over a damn root.

When I saw them, a medium length belt knife flew into my right hand from my pocket. I was dirty and scratched up, my hat was on crooked revealing my catlike ears on the side of my head, and to top it all off, I was pissed. But I had an advantage; I could feign serious injury. They’d be less alert that way.

The general cautiously approached me. As soon as he was within reach, I sprang at him. With cobra-like speed and catlike grace, I plunged the knife into his heart three times; giving it a twist each time I pulled it out, then… I slit his throat.

Realizing I couldn’t put weight on my left ankle, I sank back to the ground. ‘And that’s why mother said to never trust a man and never trust a dog. I should’ve seen this coming, he is both after all.’

The other five soldiers that were left each pointed their machine guns at me. A floating air craft was above us, all lights shinning on me. I could hear the electric hum of their engines. The sudden blare blinded me, rendering me helpless for those very few, but terrifying, seconds. Regaining my senses, I see and feel ropes drop around my body.

The ropes tightened and my feet started to dangle above the ground. The guns started to go off. There is sudden flaring pain in my limbs and torso. The black curtains started to close my sight, like some dramatic play just ending. ‘It’s ironic. They say that your life flashes before your eyes when you die. Well… they lie.’

‘There is no long tunnel with light at the end. It is just gray and hazy, no color, no life, no nothing. I guess you have to wait for the God or whatever mysterious life force to judge you, send you to either Haven or Hell or where ever you’re supposed to go. But something did not feel right.’ There was an unease in the air, then… I felt the abrupt painful jolt.

The haze left and was replaced with normal sleep. Sighing, I let the dreams capture me. ‘So that was between life and death. It was a dull, eye drooping place.’ Those were my last thoughts as the darkness consumed me whole. I guess I should have been more concerned, but when you’ve looked death in the eye, you don’t think normal again… at least not for a while.

I groggily awoke to a really white room. The sudden light was too bright and hurt my sensitive cat’s eyes. This time when I opened that, it was a tiny crack at a time. When they were fully opened, I saw the source of the discomfort that awoke me from my slumber.

A snarl escapes full force from my lips. I feel all poking, priding, and electrical zaps stop. I took this chance and struggled against the straps holding me down. Several snapped, and then the scientists were in a frenzy, restraining me down. They did not expect me to awaken so soon. I guess they were scientists, since they felt as if they were studying me.

I heard a voice boom in a foreign language I had not learned. Which I stored into memory to find out what it was and learn it. It was a command by the sounds of it and the way the people reacted within the room, either slowing down or speeding up to what their tasks were, but in a more orderly fashion. Before I could voice protest, a needle pricked my skin and I was loosing consciousness instantly, the drug taking immediate effect.

“… careful with her…” was the last thing coherent I heard. The Dreams Land took over, chasing all other things from my head. Sighing, I allow darkness reclaim me. It was no use trying to fight it.