Chance was rushed by cats the moment she turned around. One snarled and growled deeply, low in her throat. Her jaws snapped, and her legs were tense and tightly sprung, as if she might pounce and sink her teeth into Chance's skin. The other was presenting her long, wicked claws. She hissed, and swiped at Chance, flattening her ears against her skull.

"What are you doing?" Snapped Chance. "Your claws aren't going to work on them. You've both got to get out of here." She ran forward suddenly, and the cats jumped out of her way with terrified yowls.

Chance skidded to a stop on the smooth white floor and turned again to face the cats.

"Come on!" She scowled at the cats. The cats scowled back, each pressed firmly against her own wall.

"I'm clean, can't you see?" Chance gestured extravagantly at the skin of her arms, "Better than you'll be if you stay here any longer."

The cats didn't seem very happy about this, but Chance had won her point, and when she again turned around and started to run, she heard footsteps behind her.

"Where are we going?" Asked one cat.

"Up," Said Chance, "You wouldn't happen to know of another set of stairs, would you?"

"Sure," Said the cat, and she took the lead, turning down hallways, and throwing open doors.

"Service stairway," She explained, propping open the doors into a dimly lit stairway, cold and metallic.

"Service stairway? I always thought you took the regular stairwell in cases of emergency." Chance looked up at the criss-cross of steps. She couldn't see the top.

The other cat gave her a confused look. "What if the people were going and we needed to get to something in the other direction? We would be swimming upstream, lost in the panic."

"What's your name?" Asked Chance.

The cat paused for a moment, unsure. "Fela," She said, and relaxed slightly.

"And yours?" Chance turned to the first cat.

"Gatt," She said, and let go of the door. For a moment it seemed it would crash back into its frame and cause a terrible commotion. Instead, it caught itself halfway and slid smoothly home with hardly a sound.

"I'm Chance," Said Chance. She smiled. "I'm glad we met."

"Sorry for trying to attack you earlier," Said Gatt with a sheepish grin that showed the tips of her fangs.

"No worries, happens all the time. Now shall we go?" Without waiting for an answer, Chance bounded up the first set of stairs, her dark hair flying behind her.