I was awoken by a noise above my head. I looked up to see one of the large bricks in the wall being pulled outward revealing a large hole where the brick used to be. I stared in anxious anticipation at the hole in the wall when suddenly a head popped into the room through the hole. It was the head of a squirrel. “You Christopher?” The squirrel asked. “Chauncey sent me to rescue you. He says you’re the Great One. I said to him ‘If he’s the Great One, why does he need rescuing?’ Nevertheless you are obviously one of us. Let’s get you out of here brother.” At that he pulled his head back through the hole. Immediately I jumped up and climbed through the hole, which was just big enough for me to squeeze through. Finally wriggling my body through the hole, I looked up and noticed it was nighttime. All was dark. “Follow me,” whispered the squirrel. So I followed him. We eventually ended up along the side of a road. It looked to be the same road I was on when I first entered this land. He said, “This is as far as I can take you brother. Just follow this road keeping your head down and be as quiet as possible. If you keep moving you should reach the border by morning.” I walked all night long. Exhausted, I decided to rest for a few minutes. I closed my eyes and immediately I heard the sound of leaves rustling. I quickly opened my eyes but didn’t move a muscle. Although my eyes were only closed for a few moments it felt as if I were awakening from sleep. I noticed the sun was beginning to rise. I felt a need to get to the border as soon as possible even though I didn’t know what I would find there. The territory I would enter had to be better than this strange land with it’s society rooted in inequality. I decided to run. I was a fish out of water. I didn't know where I was going I just knew I had to keep running. Before this adventure I had only been outside a couple of times in my life and they were only brief outings to the vet and back home. I also used to stare out the window of Jeffrey's apartment for hours fascinated by what I would see. I had no concept at the time of the size of the world, but now as I continue to run it's beginning to sink in. I was afraid. An uneasy feeling began to plague me. Disquieting thoughts crept into my mind. Suddenly my fears became reality as a dog at least six times my size leaped out from behind a large tree and began to chase me. The monster seemed to have intentions of devouring me. As I frantically increased the speed of my running I could feel the hot breath of this beast against my tail. As my pursuer advanced I began to realize the futility of running. Just as I was about to give in to this predator I made a last ditch effort to escape. I decided to try and cross the road. I shot across the road in no particular direction. Suddenly a loud screeching noise accompanied with horns blaring stopped my pursuer in his tracks. When I stopped to turn around and see what happened I noticed the monster running in the opposite direction. Suddenly I felt a rushing stiff breeze and everything went dark. I closed my eyes and crouched down in a ball of trembling terror. When I opened my eyes I noticed that it was light again and I saw a large vehicle racing away from me. It was much larger than any of the vehicles I had seen before. Apparently the vehicle had passed right over me scaring the large dog away. As I walked into the woods on the opposite side of the road I felt a strange sensation. It was the feeling of being in a new place. I knew at that moment that I was no longer in Cuyamonga. The atmosphere seemed less rigid. I walked a little while entering a field with tall wild grass that made it difficult to see the full extent of the land. After walking for a considerable distance into the field I noticed that the grass along my route was thinning out and there was a pile of dried leaves scattered in front of me. This didn’t strike me as significant at the time so I just continued on. As I stepped onto the pile of dried leaves the ground suddenly gave way and I fell into a large pit. I tumbled head over heals finally striking my head on the earth at the bottom of the pit. After picking myself up I heard steps running towards the opening at the top of the pit. When I looked up I could see three silhouettes hovering over the entrance of the hole. This was obviously a trap. “Now what?” I thought, just before losing consciousness. When I awoke I was in a tract of land that appeared to have been cleared of weeds and grass. I tried to move but noticed that my paws had been tied tightly together with pieces of shoelace. To my left and right were other cats sitting in perfect rows. There were rows of cats ahead of me and rows behind me all staring forward at a large bonfire. The dancing lights seemed to mesmerize them. I whispered to the cat on my left, “Where are we? Were you captured as well?” He just looked at me with empty eyes and said, “I am not special. I am not an individual. Without the masses I am nothing. I am not special. I am not an individual. Without the masses I am nothing.” He then looked ahead back at the fire. Now I have had some strange experiences since I began this adventure but so far this seemed to be the strangest. Suddenly I began to hear the sound of two sticks being struck together. I looked down the row and all at once the cats began chanting, “I am not special. I am not an individual. Without the masses I am nothing. I am not special. I am not an individual. Without the masses I am nothing,” over and over again. I began gnawing at my fetters. Surprisingly they tore free fairly easily and I was able to stand. I ran down the row of cats toward the aisle when gradually I noticed that they had stopped chanting. After exiting the row I looked back to see that the entire group of mesmerized cats were looking in my direction angrily. They now began chanting, “You are not special. You are not an individual. Without the masses you are nothing. You are not special. You are not an individual. Without the masses you are nothing.” They began to walk towards me breaking their formation of perfect rows. They didn’t run however. They just walked steadily towards me trying to surround me. I heard a voice shout loudly, “He must not escape!” The voice came from somewhere beyond the bonfire. I don’t know what this group had in mind for me but I wasn’t about to stick around and find out. I ran with all my force through the tall grass and back towards the road. I felt as if I was running in the right direction but I must have somehow been turned around because the place where I entered at the edge of the field was nowhere in sight. I saw a large rock that stood above the tall grass. If I climbed on top I could surely see the road. I listened to make sure that the mob of cats I was fleeing from had gone back. All was silent for miles. After waiting a considerable period of time I hoisted my tired body up on top of the rock and looked around to see if I could locate the road. I noticed that I had been running in the opposite direction. Instead of exiting this land, I had penetrated even farther inland. At this point I didn’t want to head in the direction of the road and risk running into the mob of zombie cats again, so I decided to just keep going in the same direction and hopefully I would find someone that could offer me shelter. As I walked through the field the sun began to gradually change positions in the sky. I was in a trance as I walked because the scenery never seemed to change. At times I feared I was going in circles. All at once the ground began to rise sharply and I found myself climbing uphill. After ascending this steep hill a great distance, I finally felt that I couldn’t walk any further. But as I glanced around me it appeared that I didn’t have to continue because my trek came to an end at the edge of a cliff. As I looked out over the cliff I could barely believe my eyes. Actually I wasn’t sure what it was I was looking at. “Is this the ocean?” I thought. I looked out at a vast valley that descended for miles. There was movement along the bottom of the valley that had the appearance of colorful rushing waves sweeping and breaking. It was beautiful. I squinted my eyes to get a better look. It couldn’t be water because the waves were rushing in opposite directions and colliding in the middle of the valley. It was as if two massive rivers were running into each other. “Where am I?” I wondered. The sun began to go down and I realized that I needed to find shelter before nightfall. I looked back at the path I had traveled on. There was no shelter there and aside from some brainwashed inhabitants the land was desolate. My eyes followed along the edge of the cliff to my right and I saw the top of some trees. It looked promising so I decided to head in that direction. After staring at the stran
ge waves that swept across the valley for a while, I noticed that I had regained a little more energy for the trek. As I entered the woods I perceived a great difference between this forest and the one I had been held prisoner in. The birds sang a little bit more cheerfully and the wild animals seemed to run about freely without a care in the world. A raccoon walked up to me smiling and waving his hands like he wanted to get my attention. He appeared to want to ask me something. He said, “Esucxe em dneirf. Od uoy wonk woh I nac teg ot eht tnorf enil?” I just looked at him and said, “I’m sorry I don’t understand.” He didn’t seem to be deterred by this. He just raised his voice a little and began speaking slower and gesturing, “Od uoy wonk woh I nac teg ot eht tnorf enil?” I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head. He gave a deep sigh in frustration and walked past me. It was starting to get dark. The inhabitants of this land seemed to be friendly but I really needed to find someone that I could understand before nightfall. I continued walking. Then I came to a stop as I saw at a distance a large Rottweiler dog walking across my path. I crouched down and remained perfectly still. He looked in my direction and stood erect sniffing the air. He then lowered his nose and continued on his way. “That was a close one,” I thought. “He didn’t see me.” “Pssst…” came a sound from the inside of a large hollowed out log. "Hey you. Get over here before that scoundrel comes back." I cautiously walked toward the sound of the voice. "I saw what you did earlier when you crossed into Fostoria. You must be some kind of daredevil or something to have tried that stunt. It almost worked too. It would have served him right. Justice for always chasing after us poor defenseless creatures.” He paused then looked at me inquisitively. “How did you devise such a plan? The timing would have needed to be perfect. And the courage… Oh the bravery needed to put such a plan into effect was astounding. I'm Rizzo by the way. What's your name?” said the cat with his paw pushed out ready for a greeting. “I'm Christopher.” “Well Christopher I'm pleased to make your acquaintance. I haven't seen you around here before, are you just passing through with your gang?” I looked at Rizzo with a puzzled expression. I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. “Err um… That is… I imagine you must have your own gang a natural born leader as yourself.” I shook my head. “Well then, I hope you'll consider a position that is now available in our gang. We happen to be looking for a leader. Our old leader Tom met his demise at the jaws of Prodjo.” “What's a Prodjo?” I asked. “He's a mutt nearly twice the size of that animal you sent running earlier. But I'm sure you'll be able to handle him.” Believe me, I had a lot of questions but everything was happening so fast. “Well we have plenty of time to get you up to speed. Let's introduce you to the rest of the gang.” As Rizzo turned to lead the way I noticed that he only had half of a tale. Part of it was cut off. And it wasn't a clean cut either. The tip was mangled as if someone or something had chewed it off. He was a large cat. Or at least he used to be. One could tell by looking at him that he at one time was taken care of. He had a large frame, strong bones, and at one time this frame was covered in flesh. But now you could see his ribs. He was just fur and bones. Because of the near death experience I had just been through I hadn't really noticed Rizzo's emaciated state. But as my heart rate began returning to normal I started noticing certain details about my new friend Rizzo that shocked me. For instance, the corners of his eyes were filled with a yellowish substance that seemed as if it should block his vision but he didn't seem to mind. In fact he got on as if he could see just find. He slanted his head a little as he was talking to you. One got the impression that he was sizing you up or trying to figure you out while conversing. But I now realized that he was just lining you up with his field of vision, which was obstructed. This is not the first time I’ve seen this condition. Once when my sister Josie was sick she had this substance in her eyes but Vincent and I would clean her face and then we would get on with our games. It certainly never got so bad that her vision was obstructed. She got over it. It wasn't a serious condition. I wondered about this gang. “Why would they let one of their own walk around like this?” Something else I noticed about my new friend is that he had a large gash on his back as if someone had tried to take his head off with a machete but they missed and clipped his back. The fur was gone. In fact the first layer of skin was broken and he was nursing an open wound. You wouldn't notice it when you were facing him except that every now and again he would turn around to lick his back. This in itself wasn't strange. This was a natural response when one got hurt. You would lick the affected area to ease the pain and eventually the pain wasn't there anymore. But there are some injuries that require more than just this natural medication. I knew this from experience. I wondered, “Where is the human to take care of him, to change his litter box, to soothe him when he is disturbed?” I had so many questions but I couldn't ask him now. We had just met. This was my only friend in this strange new world and if I in some way offended Rizzo I might be left alone again. I didn't have a plan. I was just going with the flow. I didn't know where the flow was taking me but as long as it took me far away from Cuyamonga I felt I would be all right.
Breed The Secret Design To Maintain Racial Inequality Among The Despised Classes Page 4