“Okay, okay, I’m going. Calm your titties, kitty.”
The apartment was completely looted. I wasn’t surprised. Tilly had mentioned breaking into all the residential homes in the neighborhood and bringing everything edible into the main factory building, where her loft was. She, however, missed several cans of dog food. Could cats eat dog food in a pinch?
Now that I was no longer on a comfy bed with my very own purple heater next to me, the chill of the storm outside was settling in and making my bones ache. I pulled a curtain aside to check on the storm. Yep, it was still raging.
“I have food and water in my shuttle. We can wait out the rest of the storm in there.”
“Sure. But let’s find a way to get Her Highness and her babies into the shuttle with as little fuss as possible. I doubt she’d let one of us pick her up yet.”
Despite the cans of dog food we’d found, and the numerous dog toys—cat toys now, I supposed—lying around the apartment, we didn’t find any pet carriers. Probably because the owner had used it to carry Fido out during the big escape. We did, however, find two identical laundry baskets and a bunch of zip ties.
Anyone surviving in the bugpocalypse was an A-plus MacGyver-er and knew that these items were as good as a pet carrier. We just had to get Mama Cat into it.
We were still coming up with a plan when Ror’k’s communicator buzzed from his belt.
“A warning from some of our amateur meteorologist types,” said Roger’s voice from the speaker. “There are some twisters forming in the area. It’s a bit early in the season for them, but we had them early the year before the bugs came, remember? So either get yourself underground somewhere safe, or in the air flying as far as you can before they touch down.”
“Twister?” Ror’k asked.
“Tornadoes. We’re technically not in Tornado Alley, but it sure feels like they should be moving that map over every year that passes.”
“The second we get Her Highness and her little nuggets set up, we’ll get somewhere safe, I promise.”
“Her Highness?” Roger asked.
“We found a cat, and she came with kittens.”
“Did ya now. Great! We need a few more mousers.”
I knew we complained a lot about the rodents, but every pest problem we dealt with thatwasn’tthe scourge was proof that the scourge wasn’t winning, and that there was still life out there. And as long as there was life, Earth was worth fighting for. Her Highness and her litter were further proof.
“Just get back in one piece. It’s not looking good.”
With the warning in mind, we got to work luring Her Highness into the lined laundry basket with a can of dog food. We had to be careful not to overfeed her today. I wonder if refeeding syndrome was a thing in animals. Then we went around the apartment, searching for more kittens. I didn’t want to leave any behind in case some of them were hiding. There were only five.
We’d just gotten the second basket over the first and zip-tied it together when everything suddenly went still. The howling winds died down to nothing outside, and it was eerily silent.
“Um, Ror’k. We have to move now. This place has to have a basement.”
“Why can’t we fly out of here? The storm is ending.”
“No, it’s not. Roger said twisters are forming in the area, and those usually come after a calm at the tail end of a storm. We need to get underground.” Something in my face must have given away the urgency because he moved immediately, picking up our makeshift cat carrier and ushering me down the stairs.
I moved through the dim hallway with my hand on the wall, searching for the basement door. Dust drifted in the air as the wind picked up again outside. My pulse was loud in my ears as I reached the end of the corridor and pushed against a warped doorframe.
Suddenly, a deep groan moved through the building. The floor trembled under my shoes, and everything seemed to slow for a moment as the wind outside shifted into a violent roar. The building shuddered.
A sudden blast of air slammed against me. Something heavy crashed onto the floor above, sending vibrations through the beams. My ears popped at the abrupt change in pressure, and my breath caught as the window at the front of the ice cream shop exploded inward, spraying glass across the floor.
A violent rush of air tore through the hallway, tearing at my clothes and hair. I grabbed the doorframe and held on with both arms as the wind tried to drag me backward. A strong hand gripped my shoulder as Ror’k hauled me protectively into his body, anchoring me to him.
“I have you.” It would be the only words I could hear through the roaring of the wind.
The next few minutes were chaos as he forced the basement door open and guided me down the stairs. It was pitch black, and I couldn’t see a thing. I reached out with my hands, trying to feel my way around, but only managed to smash my hand on something hard and knock it to the floor. The sound of breaking glass was loud despite all the chaos around us.
“Stop. Let me help.”
Suddenly, I was lifted off my feet. When he released me again, it was against a wall. He guided me to sit down on the cold floor.
