Cat Refuge

by Liza O'Connor

“Where was Tiburon? He should have been there to protect it!” The Warrior reached down and snapped in two a scorpion approaching Carmella’s ankle from behind her.

  “The woman had escaped Tiburon and went to a doctor for a late trimester abortion. Evidently, sensing danger, the cub tore open her womb and birthed itself.” She paused. “I’m assuming that is an anomaly of cross species breeding. Do the female of your species normally survive pregnancies?”

  The Warrior paused before answering. “I don’t know.”

  Carmella sighed. “We promised to answer truthfully.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Why do you think I’m lying?”

  “A change in your voice. I’m good at detecting alterations. Your mother was on that ship, wasn’t she?”

  He did not answer for several minutes. “Yes. She and another cub.”

  “Do you know what happened?”

  “I remember growing strong in the womb and when I was strong enough, I ripped open the soft walls and entered the world. A terrible force of hunger was upon me. I turned to see my sister following me out through the ripped flesh. Blood covered her, and she mewed so pitifully. I still remember the wonderful taste and yet terrible remorse I felt as my teeth sunk into her back. I had quenched my hunger but even then, I knew I destroyed something valuable in the process. I had destroyed the one meant to be my life companion. I had destroyed my future.”

  “And your mother?”

  “She provided sufficient food until I could make sense of my environment and locate the food sources.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. Why would a species destroy the female during childbirth?”

  “I do not know. Maybe it is not a flaw of my species, but of me which I pass to my offspring.”

  “Found something.” Carmella pulled a long cylinder tube from the soil. She turned and held it out to the Warrior. “Do you recognize it?”

  The Warrior studied the object for several minutes before answering. “There was a wall of these in the navigation room. I think they were part of the pre-programed mechanism.”

  Carmella set it gently down, side-stepping a small brown spider she knew had enough venom to drop an elephant. She continued the excavation, discovering seventeen more of the tubes and portions of what appeared to be plastic rings.

  She reassembled her findings on the leafy floor of the jungle and sat on her heels studying the items. “Why do you think these were part of the computer system?”

  “Because just before the ship would make navigation changes the tubes would fog up and glow with power.”

  “What sort of power?”

  “Light. They would get very bright.”

  “Were they hot to the touch?”

  “No. However, I perceived heat within. I remember touching them once. I expected my paw to burn, but the tube was room temperature, nothing more.”

  “Light,” she murmured. “These must be the equivalent of our giant fiber cables, transmitting data at the speed of light. We discovered the concept twenty years ago. While we haven’t yet reached true speed of light transmissions using fiber cable, our newer technologies can get very close to the speed of light.”

  “I don’t understand what you are saying.”

  Carmella turned. “No, of course you don’t. Dr. Taylor would have had no knowledge of these things. They had not been invented at the time of his visit. In fact, they had not even been conceived.” She jumped up and slapped at her leg. “Shit!”

  The Warrior followed her look and saw the tiny red mark upon her leg. She held out her palm and showed him the brown spot.

  “Well, if you plan to eat me alive, I would say you have about five minutes to do so.”

  Rage built up within him. “You did this on purpose. You want to die.”

  “No. I wanted to find out about your ship and your origin. I had hoped to learn more before my death, but I always knew I would probably die. I had just hoped it wouldn’t be this soon.”

  The Warrior sensed her waning strength and caught her just as her legs gave way.

  He carried her back to the rock in the river. It was clean and free of insects and viruses that thrived in the jungle. He laid her down and sliced the tiny wound with his nail. As he leaned down to suck the poison, her hand touched his arm.

  “Don’t,” she whispered. “It may kill you, and it can’t save me. The venom is too strong and already in my blood stream.”

  “I know that, but it will improve my chances of saving you.” Ignoring her continued protest, he sucked the venomous tainted blood and spat it out into the water. Once she was too weak to protest further, he released her leg and moved so her head rested on his leg. Using his sharp incisors, he forced a deep puncture on his finger. As the blood swelled on its tip, he placed it in her mouth, forcing the wound to remain open and flowing. She choked and gagged. “Swallow!” he demanded. “This liquid will save you.”

  She stopped fighting him and obediently swallowed. He was amazed. So, she really did want to live. He had become convinced her apparent bravery was not bravery at all, but rather a need to die. But now it seemed to be neither. Could a human’s curiosity be so strong as to override even the need to survive? While he would not want such a character in his cub, to have a touch of this character in himself would not be a terrible thing.

  Had she found herself born in a spacecraft, she would not have been satisfied to accept its path without question. She would not have left it to rot in the jungle. She would not have been content to live in a remote jungle among savages.

  She would have traveled the world, inquiring, and gathering information. She would have probably learned to fly the spacecraft, so it would have remained functional upon landing.

  He continued to feed her his blood as the night grew dark and the jungle became alive with the night movers. He was aware of all movement and sounds in the area. A panther was stalking a monkey on his left. An anaconda was slithering across the fiber tubes they had left at the crash site. Her breathing was softer now, but it still sent out signals of weakness, attracting predators in the jungle. A large lion coughed near the edge of the water. Only his scent kept the animal at bay. He laid her head down gently on the rock and turned himself into his natural shape. He faced the lion across the water and sent a mighty roar of anger in its direction. The lion responded in a similar roar but made his way down the river. The black panther was well known in the jungle and even the largest of the predators gave way to him. Those that failed to do so were all dead.

  ***

  Carmella woke in the morning. Her body ached from laying on the hard rock, but other than that, she felt remarkably well for someone who should be long dead. She sat up, and the world twirled.

  “Lay down.” the Warrior pushed her down. “You are better, but not well yet.”

  “I should be dead. What did you give me?”

  He stared out at the crash site. “Don’t you know?”

  She considered it for a moment. “We are alone on this rock. You did not bring medicines with you, and you had access to this medicine without leaving the rock. I therefore must conclude you fed me your blood.”

  He nodded. “And how do you feel about that?”

  Carmella considered this. “Appreciative, I suppose. Although you have stated your intention is to kill me in a far more painful manner, at least now, I shall have the opportunity to further investigate the site.”

  “You plan to go back there and be bitten again?”

  She could hear the exasperation in his voice. “Well, I’ll try to be more careful this time.”

  He sighed heavily. “Don’t bother. With my blood inside you, you now have a natural anti-toxin in your system.”

  Carmella sat up again. “Really? Then can we return to the site?”

  Chapter 25

  Before Cat arrived at the address Jason had provided, she dropped Milo off so that he wouldn’t be involved.

  A man named Carl waited to help her get Jason and Winston inside.

&
nbsp; “They’ve lost a lot of blood,” she said as he opened the car’s back door and studied the carnage.

  The man didn’t ask any questions, he just lifted Winston in his arms, entered the building and then returned for Jason.

  Once the medical staff attended to the injured men, Carl turned to Catina. “How did you know to call that number?”

  “Jason gave it to me. He thought I was going on without him, but I doubled back. I thought he might need help.”

  ***

  Carl studied the blonde several moments. God, she was pretty. In fact, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She looked incredibly sexy, even wearing a blood-soaked nightgown.

  Catina noticed the hungry stare and crossed her arms in front of her breasts. “Do you have somewhere I might shower and get some warmer clothes?”

  He forced himself to stop looking at her breasts. “Yeah. The locker room is down the hall. The last aisle is for the women doctors. There are showers and dressing rooms. Grab a pair of scrubs.”

  Carl wanted to follow her down the hall and into the locker room. God, he couldn’t remember a woman ever impacting him so intensely. He stepped into the operation viewing room and watched as two teams simultaneously worked on Jason and Winston. What the hell had happened to them?

  He was shocked he didn’t know the answer to that question. He had intended to grill the woman for answers, but somehow, he had completely lost his purpose when he saw her. He would try again when she was dressed in scrubs. The see-through nightgown must have addled his brains.

  The doctors patched-up Jason fast enough, but, a solid pound of flesh was missing from Winston’s thigh. It looked like something had torn a bite out of him. Something large. Carl couldn’t even imagine a dog big enough to do that. He really needed to quiz the blonde.

  ***

  He entered the locker room. The nightgown lay in a heap on the floor. It was torn and bloody and he wondered why he had ever thought it sexy. “Hello?” he called out. “Ma’am are you in here?”

  He walked toward the running shower. “Ma’am?” he repeated. “Are you all right?”

  When she didn’t answer, he opened the shower door. She turned in surprise to face him. Her body almost glowed with sensuality, her breasts full, her stomach round and swollen.

  She’s pregnant, he realized. Inexplicably, it only made him want her more. He slammed the door closed and leaned against the wall. “Sorry ma’am. I was afraid you were hurt.”

  The water stopped. “It’s okay.” Her voice almost reverberated in his chest, low and sultry.

  It’s not okay, Carl thought. It’s not okay at all. He watched the blue shirt and trousers disappear from the door where she had hung them. She’s dressed now. It’ll be better now.

  She opened the door, her hair in a white towel and her body hidden beneath the blue scrubs. God, she even made scrubs look sexy.

  He breathed in to steady himself. “I need to ask you some questions.”

  “Okay.” She moved toward him.

  He stepped back, fearing the lack of control her proximity seemed to cause. “Follow me. We can talk in an office.”

  He led her to the interrogation room. When she brushed past him as she entered the room, he felt his member stiffen to an excruciating level of need. “I’ll bring you some coffee.” He escaped the room and leaned against the hall outside.

  He knew if he returned to the room he was going to destroy his career. Raping witnesses was definitely crossing the line. He needed to calm down. He went for the coffee but lost his nerve as he returned to the room. If he went in, he was done for. His career was over.

  He entered the observation room and studied the woman who was about to destroy his immaculate record. She looked up at him and smiled. Carl suddenly felt chilled. She shouldn’t be able to see him, yet she was looking right at him. He moved across the room, wondering if she just happened to be staring in his direction. Her eyes followed him as he moved. He sat in the front row and turned on the two-way intercom.

  “You can see me?”

  “Yes, but just barely.”

  He turned up the lights in the observation room.

  “That’s better.”

  He noticed she was looking at the coffee in his hands. “I’m sorry, I didn’t bring you coffee.”

  “I understand. It’s safer for you to be in there.”

  Again, his blood chilled. “What do you mean?”

  She pulled at the neckline of the scrub shirt, as if it constrained her. “My feelings are difficult to control since I became pregnant.”

  “What feelings are you talking about?”

  The look she gave him was so sultry his member stiffened again.

  “I think you know. I think you felt the same for me. If you had returned to this room, there would have been no stopping what we both wanted.”

  “I don’t even know your name,” Carl replied. He was glad no one was around to witness the dampness around the crotch of his pants.

  “Catina Nelson.”

  “And how do you know the men you brought in?”

  “I don’t know the blond man, personally, but he’s a friend of Jason’s.”

  “And how do you know Jason?”

  “He was my…” she paused and then continued, “savior. He helped me escape.”

  “Was he injured while doing this?”

  “Yes. He sent me down the mountain and returned to help his friend. He gave me your name and number and told me to call you, but I turned around. I knew he was in danger.”

  “In danger from whom?”

  “Tiburon, and his sister.”

  “Who’s Tiburon?”

  “My husband.”

  The words were like daggers to Carl’s heart. Fool, he chided himself. You knew she must be married. She appears to be six months pregnant, for god’s sake! Getting a grip on himself he continued, “So you returned up the mountain. What happened then?”

  “They were in the back, by the cat cages. Tiburon was locked inside, but he had a gun aimed at Jason. I called out as he was about to fire, making him miss his mark.”

  “Jason’s got a pretty nasty wound for a ‘miss.’”

  “Tiburon was aiming at his heart.”

  “Maybe he’s a lousy shot…”

  “You don’t know Tiburon.”

  “True enough,” Carl conceded. “Then what happened?”

  A man opened the door to the observation room, interrupting the interview. Carl turned off the intercom upon seeing Barry. “What?”

  “Why are you in here?”

  “I don’t want to go into it. Did you check out the place?”

  “Something went down there. Blood everywhere. Winston’s gun couldn’t be located. The perp must have taken it with him. The back is filled with animal cages. All sorts of wild cats. They all seemed agitated, but given the smell of blood in the air, I’m not surprised. There may be one out. One of the cages was torn apart. Blood both inside and in front of the cage. We’re having it tested, but I suspect it’s Winston’s.”

  “It is,” Catina replied.

  Both men looked at her in surprise.

  “Shit, I thought you had that thing off,” the man whispered.

  Carl double-checked the switch. “I do. Mrs. Nelson, am I to understand you can hear me?”

  “Not as well as I could before, but yes, I can hear you.”

  “This is supposed to be a sound proof room!” the man insisted.

  Carl shook his head in disgust. The government couldn’t do anything right. “Call someone and get it fixed.”

  “We’re going to step outside for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

  ***

  The men walked twenty feet down the hall and raided the vending machines. “That was spooky,” Barry said. “Are you sure you didn’t screw up the intercom?”

  “Positive. And you want to know something even more disturbing. She could see us too.”

  “No way!”

  “Y
ep. I walked around the room. Her eyes followed me everywhere I went.”

  “You might convince me the intercom is broken, but I’ve been in that room and there is no way you can see anything through that mirror.”

  “She can.”

  “Which reminds me. Why aren’t you in the interrogation room?”

  Carl didn’t respond.

  “Carl?”

  Carl shook his head. “Barry, there’s something strange about that woman. I don’t want to be anywhere around her.”

  “Strange how?”

  Carl shook his head. “She gets to you. What was your impression of her looks?”

  Barry shrugged. “She was okay. With makeup, she’s probably pretty.”

  “If you were to walk in that interrogation room and give her this cup of coffee, you would think her the most desirable woman in the world.”

  Barry scoffed. “Not likely.”

  Carl handed him the cup. “Then take her a coffee, Barry. But I’m not going in to retrieve you, so I strongly suggest when the mood hits you, you get control of yourself and get out of there.”

  ***

  Barry opened the door. She seemed to be waiting for him and smiled in appreciation, holding out her hand to accept the coffee.

  “Thought you might care for some…”

  “Thanks. That was very thoughtful of you.” Catina rose and took the cup. He seemed mesmerized by her.

  She looked at him for a moment and then touched his forehead. “Barry, are you all right?”

  Her touch seemed to send an electric shock through his system. He staggered back and hoarsely replied, “I’ve never been better.”

  She could feel the heat pulsate from his body. She could hear the pounding of his heart. “Just stay calm,” she advised him. “Carl has gone for help.”

  Barry smiled and stepped forward. “We don’t need any help do we?”

  Catina stepped back, putting the table between them. “Are you married?”

  “What? Yeah…I guess.” He slowly moved around the table after her.

  “Do you love your wife?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Got kids?” She had now gone completely around the table and was back to the other side.

  “Two.” Barry lunged across the table and snared her arms. “Easy, I’m not going to hurt you. I promise.”