Grace turned to Siyam and exhaled, “That’s it. We’re busted.”
He clutched her arm and held her back, “No, wait. I don’t think they’re talking to us.”
The helicopter lowered. The blades of grass and dust kicked across the ground.
“I repeat, come out now and await rescue.”
Grace tapped Siyam on the shoulder. She’d seen something crawl out of the bush by the stores.
“Look, over there.”
“Oh, wow,” Siyam gasped as he watch the Egyptian Mau bolt into the middle of the freeway.
Two cars blared their horns and screeched to a halt, narrowly avoiding contact with the cat.
She made herself comfortable in the middle of the road and looked up at the blinding light coming from the helicopter, “Meow.”
“Good. Stay where you are,” said a USARIC mercenary sitting at the opened door to the helicopter, “Where are the others?”
“Meow,” Mau growled and looked at the floor.
“What is she doing?” Grace lowered her flashlight and stepped forward, “I’m going to take her—”
“—Christ’s sake, no. They’ll open fire on us. On her.”
“We can’t just leave her there,” Grace whispered. “They’ll take her back.”
A chorus of ‘meows’ snaked through the trees. Several cats emerged and joined their leader on the road.
“That’s right, you fluffy idiots,” the USARIC mercenary said through his megaphone, “Out you come. Nice and slow.”
Another merc pushed forward as the helicopter hovered to the liquor store’s parking lot. He produced a mini gun and attached it to the frame of the hatch, “Just tell me when.”
“Drivers,” The merc said, “Exit your vehicles and make your way to the parking lot, please.”
The drivers in each car jumped out and ran under a giant vertical billboard advertising Rollneck Kojak beer. A neon image of a bald-headed man blinked underneath its logo.
“Meow,” The Egyptian Mau stood up and walked around in a circle, forcing her twenty-nine peers to stop moving. They sat on their haunches, randomly dotted all over the road.
Grace reached into her belt and retrieved her handgun, “They’re not taking those cats and abusing them.”
“Grace, don’t. Look at them, we’re outnumbered. We’re too late. They beat us to it.”
“I’ll take as many of those bastards out as I can,” Grace bit her lip to prevent herself from crying, “I don’t c-care if I die.”
Siyam grabbed her shoulder and sidled into her, “Well I do. You’re no use to any of us dead, are you?”
Grace lowered her gun, resigned to defeat.
“You wanna end up like Handax? Like Denny, Moses, and Leif? Then go out there and go down in a blaze of glory. Just know that you don’t have our blessing.”
She swiped his hand away from her shoulder and fell to her knees, “Let go of me.”
The helicopter’s landing gear hit the ground, kicking up a giant whirlwind of dust. The armed Mercenary jumped out and swung his machine gun at the Egyptian Mau, “There you are. Stay right there.”
He waved his colleague out of the vehicle.
“Get the net. Tell base we’ve located the rest of them.”
SNAAARRRLLLLL!
The Egyptian Mau looked up at the full moon along with her peers.
“Hey, you,” the merc shouted over the noise of helicopter’s rotors, “Stay where you are.”
His colleague hopped out of the helicopter with a giant net in his hands. He unraveled the ends and yanked them taut, “Ready to capture.”
The Egyptian Mau wasn’t impressed. She stood on all fours and showed the men her ass, and faced her peers. A tiny white spark erupted a few inches to the left of the moon, a billion miles away from Earth.
“Meow,” she cried.
All the cats howled with her. They turned to the mercenary as he aimed his gun at the Egyptian Mau.
“What are you doing?” he said with a heart full of fear, “It’s weird.”
“Meeeeooowww,” the Mau growled and scraped her paws on the gravel.
“Oh no… no-no-no…” Siyam eyes widened, “They’re not going to—”
“—Jesus Christ,” Grace held her breath.
A standoff occurred between the two men and the thirty cats, “Don’t anybody move or I’ll blow her damned head off,” he shouted, hoping the cats understood English.
They didn’t comprehend the instruction but knew a threat when they saw it. Now was the time to act.
“MEEEOOOOOOOOWWW,” All thirty cats shrieked and launched toward the armed mercenary.
“No, get back!” He opened fire on the stampede of felines. A flurry of them trampled over the parked cars and cracked the windscreen as they bounded toward him.
The Egyptian Mau nodded the two white bobtails ahead.
BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!
The mercenary fired at the cats. The ones who didn’t get hit bolted towards him.
“Get back you vicious, little shi—”
ROOOWWAAAAARRRR!
“Look! They’re gonna kill him.”
“There’s nothing we can do,” Siyam spluttered in amazement, “Keep back.”
The Egyptian Mau jumped into the air claws-first and punctured the mercenary’s visor. A jut of blood splattered up the inside. She dug her hind legs into his chest and ravaged his face, “Meow!”
Twelve cats ran up his trouser leg and jabbed their claws into his flesh, tearing bits of him apart. He screamed and fell to his knees in agony.
The two USARIC mercenaries ran back into the helicopter, “Get this bird back in the air. They’re killing him,” shouted one of them to the pilot.
The helicopter blades fired back up.
WHUM-WHUUUM-WHUUUUM…
The Egyptian Mau ran the top of her head against the mercenaries visor, lifted it over his head. His face was a bloodied mess.
She looked into his pupils and licked her lips.
“N-No, p-please,” he screamed as she dove into his face claws-first.
The helicopter’s gear lifted from the ground – taking ten cats with it. Half of them invaded the passenger seat area and tore the two mercenaries apart.
The other half – all ten of them – hopped into the pilot seat and ripped up the pilot’s legs and arms.
Grace ran into the road with her flashlight and watched the helicopter auto-rotate twenty feet in the air.
Large numbers of patrons from the liquor store and surrounding restaurants gathered at the window. Some of them ran out of the building and into the parking lot.
“Get back, get back!” Grace screamed at them, “The chopper’s gonna come down!”
A thrashing of meows and human screams came from the spinning USARIC helicopter.
“Get back!” Grace shouted at the others as Siyam ran up behind her.
WHUDDA-WHUDDA-SLIP-CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!
The blades of the back rotors sliced against the Rollneck Kojak sign. Segments of it blasted in all directions, causing an electrical storm. The neon rendition of the bald man burst into flames and crashed against the ground.
The chopper hit the cement. The first rotor’s blades stabbed into the side of the vehicle itself, pushing it onto its side.
WHIINNNEEE… KERRR-RASSSHHHH!
A dozen cats hopped out from the helicopter and landed on the road. They dispersed in all directions, howling and squealing at the night sky.