Chapter 08

Manx Memorial Hospital: 7:21 AM, Friday, September 13. Ten hours and forty-nine minutes before launch.

It was supposed to be Commander Ulysses Feral's longest day, and the last thing he needs right now is a media circus. Pushing through the crowd of media people, spotting Ann Gora among them, he and a few Enforcers head towards the room where Mayor Calico Briggs is being admitted. Feral dodges several outstretched hands holding microphones at his face with his free left paw while being cooed by them. Knowing that it will be a long time before he was being left alone to do any work, he turns around to face them.

Ann Gora was the first to speak. "Commander Feral. Is it true that there is a new menace on a rampage in MegaKat City? Will the mayor be able to recover after the recent attack on MegaKat Biochemical? There has been a report that the mayor has been seeing someone for the past few months and knowing that she will not disclose any information concerning this mysterious tom."

Turning his left lazy eye on Ann Gora, Feral decides to give her what he needs just to keep the reporters off his back, but not so much as to jeopardize the investigation, but was surprised to hear Ann's question concerning her love life. "The doctor told me that Mayor Briggs will recover soon enough and there are no other risks in her. The attack on MegaKat Biochemical is only the result of a possible arsonist who might have had a grudge against that facility. As long as the case is still being investigated, my Enforcers will make sure to put a stop to his maniacal crimes. As for the mayor's personal life," Feral pauses for a few seconds while the reporters posed their microphones and Dictaphones at him, "it's not for me to know and surely like it's any of my business."

Without waiting for anyone to ask more questions, Feral lowers his head to his sergeant's ear and whispered. The tough tom with a color of light dusty fur nods and raised his hands towards the people to catch their attention. Several Enforcers on call began to move up in front of the media people and slowly driving them back to the exit; the continued barrage of questions continued to shoot past them. After a few minutes, the silence returned to the hospital and left only for the use of its personnel and patients admitted into it. Feral continued to walk straight through the corridor for several feet and stops at the door guarded by two Enforcers. They saluted to their superior officer and the Enforcer on the left side opens the door for Feral.

Inside, a doctor and nurse were also in the room as Callie, looking nothing like she did last night and wearing a thin, papery gown over her, stares blankly through them as she sat on the bed with her legs bent upwards and both her arms wrapped around them. A white patch of thin layers of gauze over Callie's left eyebrow gave evidence of the one hour of suturing the gash. Lowering his sights under Callie's eyes is a small patch of black and blue. Despite of the positive prognosis the doctor is giving Callie, Feral couldn't help but notice a small dribble of tears on both her eyes. After a few moments, the doctor faced Feral and nods at him, giving him permission to speak with the patient. Nodding at the doctor as an approximation of thanks, Feral pulls up a chair and sits beside the bed.

"How are you feeling, mayor?" Feral asks.

Callie continued to stare blankly through the wall. "Just stop it, Feral. I want to know how Jake is doing."

Feral draws a long sigh. "I don't think that's a good idea for now. You know how people talk about these things especially those who also work here."

Callie fixes a sharp stare at Feral as she raised her head. "I don't care about that one, Feral. Since when did you get to be my publicist?"

Feral stops for a minute, observing the glare in Callie's eyes when a knock came through the door in Callie's room. Feral stands up from the chair, his eyes frowned, knowing that he gave specific instructions about letting unauthorized people near the door. The door swings open to reveal two she-kats in lab coats and one face drawn with worry. Feral softens somewhat as he allowed Doctors Sinian and Katzenkauf in the room.

"Are you okay, Callie?" Abby sits on the bed as she wraps right arm around Callie's shoulders. Alice Katzenkauf stood next to Feral.

"I'm okay, Dr. Sinian. But they wouldn't even tell me how Jake was doing. They wouldn't even let me see him." Callie spoke, yet her voice cracked.

A sense of guilt began to hover around Feral as he watches two pairs of eyes from Sinian and Katzenkauf staring at him. Cursing in his mind, Feral tucks his cane under his armpits and reaches for the door. Feral knows that he was no match for three she-kats when they all think that he was a heartless tom who never had to worry about having a loved one recuperating in a hospital.

"Jake is in Room 307 on the third floor. I'll tell the Enforcers to let you in but for only thirty minutes." Those were Feral's conditions.

Callie's face brightens a bit as Abby took a bathrobe off the hook and wraps it over Callie. The three she-kats leaves the room after Callie ordering the Enforcers guarding her to remain behind when they were about to follow.

"I couldn't imagine the kind of luck you had if Jake wasn't with you." Abby spoke beside Callie as the three she-kats walked through the long hallway.

"Neither would I." Callie breathes out as she strides towards the elevators, her pace a little faster than normal as if nothing happened to her.

"But when Commander Feral mentioned the name Jake, did he mean Jake Clawson?" Abby asks. At that moment, Abby watches Callie as she held her breath slightly. The color of Callie's cheeks slowly rose and Abby understood the gist.

"Jake Clawson? I know him!" Came a voice from the two she-kats just behind them. They stopped to see a surprised Alice standing between the nurses' station and the door leading into the ICU Men's Ward.

"You know Jake Clawson?" Callie eyes Alice with a wondering look.

Brooding silence seem to emanate from Alice as Callie and Abby watches Alice from where she stood. "I thought that the Commander was mentioning somebody else named Jake until I remember that I had a classmate named Jake who I studied with in MCU. He joined the Enforcers after graduating."

Some strange feeling of emptiness began to stir inside Callie that held her back as she observes Alice in a she-kat's point of view. Whether or not that Alice was referring to 'her Jake', but knowing whether Jake was still alive or not was the first priority in Callie's mind as the three she-kats arrived at the elevator about to ascend to the upper floors. The flight took only a few moments and the three exited. Callie kept stealing glances from the tall she-kat, wondering what sort of things does Alice know about Jake back then. Ever since Callie and Jake made their relationship official only to themselves several months ago, she couldn't have imagined that there would be other she-kats in Jake's life. What sort of he-kat was he like back then?

Callie didn't need to count the numbers written over the doors when she spots another pair of Enforcers sitting down on chairs beside the door. The room was used solely for criminals who were unfortunate enough to sustain injuries and allowed to recuperate until fully healed, but the thought alone began to stir a negative impression upon Feral who placed Jake in that room. The two Enforcers were notified that there will be visitors, but knowing Mayor Briggs, she would probably ignore the thirty-minute limit set to them. The Enforcer guarding the left side near the knob pulls out a keycard attached to a retractable string and inserts it into the slot under the doorknob. The red dot of light blinked five times as it read the information encoded on the magnetic strip and in an instant it turned green. The lock's inner workings came to life with a simple click and the Enforcer opens the door. Callie's eyes widened as she sees an unconscious Jake lying on the bed. Various instruments almost crowded both sides of the bed as Callie listens to the beeps of an electrocardiograph in clockwork intervals, thinking that Jake will live. Bandages wrapping most of his chest brought a tear on Callie's eyes as she slowly entered the room along with Alice. Abby remained outside as the doors slid shut behind the two she-kats that entered. A single nurse in her Plexiglas booth stood up and greeted the two.

"How's his condition?" Callie asks the moment the nurse exited the booth.

"Mr. Clawson's case was a little more extraordinary at first. The puncture was caused by an unknown energy bolt that shot clear through his collarbone and shoulder blade, creating a hole about a quarter inch in diameter. He was fortunate to have survived, but given the case of his condition I would say he's now down to his eight lives. The doctor said that he'll be up and about in no time."

It wasn't exactly the kind of prognosis that Callie could have wanted to hear as she walked slowly towards Jake's bed. Looming over him, Callie watches Jake in every movement her eyes could catch as she listens to the sound of Jake's breathing through the nose tube that feeds his body with oxygen. Somehow, she still could never accept the fact that this was her lover, now lying down with nothing more than machines to help him recuperate where hours ago they could have been in bed together, like they always did for the past six months.

A small grunt coming from Jake started the two she-kats as they watched intently. Slowly, Jake begins to stir from a sleep he thought he could never get out from as his eyelids opens a crack, bringing in artificial light coming from the overhead fluorescent lamps in the room. With every second passing, to Callie it was a blessing to see Jake slowly returning into the world once again. After a few minutes of Jake struggling to free himself from the slumber, his eyes fly open, only to be greeted with Callie's as tears kept falling out from her eyes like a leaky faucet.

"Jake." Callie murmured.

It was the sound of Callie's voice that brought a smile on Jake's lips, though weak from the injury and exhaustion. Callie could have smothered him in her embrace, yet managed to retain her composure, probably it would cause some serious complications after all the things she heard from the nurse. His lips move, trying to call out Callie's name yet all that the two she-kats hear was Jake's throaty breath. Mustering all his strength, Jake attempts again.

"Callie…" Jake croaked, followed by a weak smile.

There were no words to describe the sense of relief that rushes all over Callie like a flood. Callie held Jake's hand, her thumb almost snagging the needle of the dextrose tube in his hand. After a few minutes of silence, Jake feels part of his strength returning to him as he lifts his head up and scans the room. Jake immediately notices the other she-kat, thinking that it might be the doctor that was watching over him. But as Jake kept his gaze at her, his eyes began to open more widely, noticing the shape of her eyes that seem to remind him of his past not too long ago. Pressing the green button near his right hand, the top area of the bed slowly begins to rise along with Jake from the waist up. The she-kat also brought a smile on Jake's lips as she responds in kind, finding it hard to believe that this was the same she-kat that Jake used to date back in college.

"Alice Katzenkauf? Allison?"

Alice couldn't help but waver at the sound of Jake's voice slowly clearing up as each second passes. To her, it seems that college was another life long ago, yet the gap between the past and the present was too small to be out of reach. The tall female geologist also approached the bed with nothing but a smile that irradiates a sense of old-time familiarity between them.

"Hello, Razor. Even in bed you're still as sharp as ever."

It was the kind of shock that brought a chill upon Callie's spine as she shifts her eyes towards Alice. How does she know about that name?

"Do you know who he really is?" Callie asks, her voice sounded distant.

Alice could only smile softly.

"It was a name I gave him back when we were studying at MCU. We were studying different courses back then. Jake was working on a degree in Aeronautical Engineering while I was stuck in Geology. We met when we were on the same classroom repeating Calculus 202 for some reasons or the other. I used to call him Razor back then, and he was pretty good with archery.

"But he likes to be at high places. After we graduated, he decided to become a pilot. I don't know if they allow call signs at the Enforcers so I suggested to call himself Razor if he ever becomes an Enforcer pilot."

ESACC Headquarters. Nine hours before launch.

Only the silence of an empty hangar that could be viewed outside his office windows that slowly drove Chance Furlong to a brink of momentary insanity. Touching the goose bumps of the football with his right hand, Chance kept staring at the ceiling as he lies down on the sofa. It has been a long time before he could remember having to hold a football, only at times that he would only hold one if he feels insecure or excited over something.

Chance Furlong has been waiting for this day in almost all his life as a pilot. Thinking that a kat could go as far as being able to rule the skies was enough, he thought that space was truly the final frontier. Whenever he closes his eyes, every muscle in his body would tense up, feeling the force of the rocket thrusters pushing him back against the seat of his craft. Once he flips the first tinted layer of his helmet, he could almost imagine (or even hallucinated) the darkness of space, untouched by the atmosphere of the earth as it remains motionless.

Less than nine hours to go he thought. In some ways, Chance had nothing to lose. He won't miss Commander Feral, though, but he had issues to clear up with the commander's niece, knowing that it could be a dangerous mission that anything can happen.

The intercom on his desk slices through Chances dream-like trance and back to reality. He jumps off the sofa and presses the button to allow the line in.

"Lieutenant Furlong. You have a call on line one." Chance's secretary announced.

"Who's on the line?"

"It's Lieutenant Feral."

Chance smiles a bit after thanking his secretary as he reaches for the receiver. He pressed the blinking red button to connect the line.

"Hello, Felina."

The voice from the other line hissed a bit from the traffic in the city. "I thought you were still at your place. I've been looking for you almost half the city. And you shouldn't be reporting at the ESACC building."

Chance laughs a bit. "You know where I'm gonna end up if I got free time in my hands."

"Well, if you do have such time, meet me at Manx Memorial Hospital ASAP."

Though Chance didn't hear a hint of concern in Felina's voice, a strange rushing force begins to stir in Chance's gut as he waits for Felina to give him a reason why he needs to go to the hospital.

"Jake Clawson is in there and he's really hurt."