A Cat's Tale
Prologue
Millions of years ago, primitive mammals roamed the earth. They scurried and scampered, attempting to survive in a hostile environment. They were not very intelligent, relying on superior numbers to ensure their survival. They began to hunt and eat meat, much easier to do as they stood upright with more frequency. Their cognitive abilities grew exponentially with the consumption of meat, and they began to build with the tools they made from stones and wood. Their sheer numbers and reproductive abilities kept them ahead of the waves of deadly disease and predators. After only a matter of a few hundred years, they no longer had to hunt for all of their food; they could grow it from the ground. Civilization was established and they grew like a plague as communication and transportation became more technologically advanced. Those primitive apes evolved.
Most humans seemed to forget their humble start in the world, as they believed they were the supreme beings. Each generation believed this, as their technology grew and their humanity lessened. Nature, however, had something else in mind. Life never stops growing, never stops changing. Not even humans can avoid evolution. And for whatever reason, whether by cancer-causing rays of the sun or the poisonous pollutants of the air, human genetics began to take a turn no one could have predicted. Individuals began to surface with unimaginable abilities due to abnormal, mutated genes. Appropriately, these individuals were called mutants, and shunned by those who were deemed "normal" by man's society.
Despite man's efforts to first turn a blind eye to the situation, then to weed out the mutants themselves, more and more humans were being born with these defective genes. Public fear and hatred of the mutants strengthened for the simple reason that their superior brains could not accept something new and different.
As the witches in the middle ages, the Jews in Germany, and the Japanese-Americans in the West, the mutants would enter an age of turmoil and barbarian prejudices. They were systematically hunted down one by one by the United States Government, though not exterminated, as this was a civilized, high-tech world man now lived in. Instead, known mutants were rounded up and bar-coded like beasts, then released and watched very closely by the government. If the mutant was even slightly suspected of causing any disturbances using their powers, let alone hurting a citizen, they were taken away. The especially troublesome ones were never heard from again.
Despite all that man did to try and hold back the tide that would wash everything away, it was impossible to label the mutants as a mere annoyance. It was only a matter of time before the mutants rose up and refused to be treated as inferiors. As freaks. What would happen then?
Life would continue to evolve.
Chapter One
"You spin me right round baby right round, like a record baby, right round round round." A sneaker-clad foot tapped on the quilted covers as an old tune flowed from young lips. Earphones blaring loudly, a muted TV flashing across a room lit by only a desk lamp, and a teenager sprawled across the bed, unfinished homework set to the side as a magazine was flipped through. The sound of a door slamming below followed by several thuds went unnoticed. The teen was oblivious to everything until she felt an unexplained fear grip her heart.
She shuddered and pulled off her earphones, her startled eyes dashing around the room to find the object of her sudden apprehension. Then she heard her mother's voice yelling for her, yelling for her at the top of her lungs.
The girl was off her bed in a flash and racing down stairs at breakneck speed, the magazine tossed absentmindedly on the floor.
"Mom? What is it? Mom? Mom!" Catherine jumped over the last two steps to the floor and ran to her mother, who looked very pale. "Mom, what-"
"Go upstairs and pack as much as you can." Catherine's mother walked past her, and that was when the girl noticed her mom was limping. And she smelled strongly of smoke.
"What are you talking about, I just got down here! I thought you went to meet Marissa at work-" Catherine could barely say before her mother interrupted her for the second time.
"It was a trap, all a trap! They know. They know and we have to leave now." Catherine's auburn-haired adoptive mother began to hastily throw things in her purse. Catherine felt shaky and afraid and her mom wasn't instilling any confidence in her.
"Who? Who are you talking about? I don't understand-" Catherine interrupted herself this time as she stared, dumbfounded, at her mother. A large bruise was beginning to form on Theresa's cheek. A small sound directed her attention down to her mother's hand, which was dripping with blood and splattering small droplets onto the kitchen floor. Catherine felt her bottom lip and chin tremble as panic and fear brewed inside her.
"Mom? You're bleeding."
Theresa looked down at her injured hand with indifference, then back up at her adopted daughter. "Catherine, if nothing else, you must listen to me. Go upstairs and grab only what you need. Go!" she snapped when Catherine still stood there, staring with her wide blue eyes like a deer in the headlights.
Catherine jerked, as if her mother had reached out and slapped her, then turned and ran up the stairs, the adrenaline beginning to make her feel numb and disconnected. This has to be some kind of nightmare, she repeated over and over as she gathered clothes and other essentials from around her room and stuffed it into a gray nylon duffel bag. Some kind of nightmare, some kind of nightmare, some kind of you spin me right round, baby right round…
Her attention was drawn to the Walkman and headset still blaring on her bed. She quickly grabbed them up, making sure to turn it off and stuff it into her bag. Wherever they were going, she wasn't about to leave her tunes behind.
After gathering what she could, Catherine raced back downstairs, almost tripping on the last step. When she came into sight of her mother again, Theresa turned and spoke before Catherine had the chance.
"Did you pack enough clothes and something warm to wear tonight?"
"Yes mom. Now please tell me what's going on." The pleading in Catherine's eyes and voice caused Theresa to pause for a moment, then give a heavy sigh.
"The Shepards are after me. They tried to take me tonight, and they will follow me here… which is why we must leave. Marissa called me tonight because she had agreed to help them. In fact, I have a strong suspicion that she was the ones who contacted them."
Catherine stood there for a minute, not understanding, and her confusion seemed to drain some of the fear out of her.
"I don't understand. You're not a mutant. Just tell them it's all a big mistake, then they'll leave you alone…" Catherine began to trail off as her mother slowly shook her head.
"Catherine, I am a mutant."
The blond 17 year old could only stare, her gaze slightly unfocused as she tried to comprehend the five simple words her mother had spoken.
"Y….you can't… be serious…" she could barely breathe. Her own mother, a mutant? There was no way; Catherine would have noticed something while living all of her life with her mom. People couldn't hide something of such huge importance with such ease, could they?
Theresa's face seemed to age with sadness, and her hazel eyes trailed to the dark fireplace just a few feet from them. Catherine suddenly saw something in her mother's eyes that startled her, like a glint, or a reflection of brief light. Then she gave a small jump as the empty fireplace suddenly sprang to life, orange flames reaching upwards as if determined to escape through the chimney.
"I am a mutant Catherine, and there's no way around it. You must accept that fact, and in a hurry." Theresa turned her back to her daughter and began to now rummage in her purse for something, expecting Catherine to erupt in anger, or to express the shame she surely felt to be living with a mutant. But her hands stopped searching when she heard her daughter's voice, straining with tears, not rage.
"You… would be able to… to move faster without me. I w-would only slow you down. I could stay at Sarah's house… then you c…could send for me-" Catherine stopped speaking when her mother turned and suddenly hugged her. When she was finally released, she could see her mother's eyes were glassy with tears.
"That's thoughtful of you honey, but you have to come with me because they wouldn't just take me, they'd take you as well."
"But… but I'm… I'm normal!"
"Both of your parents are mutants, as well. They would do a blood test on you and most likely, would find the mutant gene in your DNA. There's no way around it. I'm sorry."
"No… no… it… it's not true!" Catherine shook her head in denial, and then took a step back, as if the X-gene were contagious by air. "I'm not like that! I'm not one of them! I'm normal! I'm normal!"
Theresa stood there calmly, looking at her daughter with a mixture of love, pity, and sadness. "Catherine," she said finally, her voice weary but not unkindly. When her teary-eyed daughter looked up, she parted her lips to say something, but before she could comfort Catherine, she heard something that made her mouth close with an audible "pop".
"They're here!" She reached out and grabbed Catherine's arm when she was frozen in place, and began to pull her away. Catherine barely had time to grab her duffel bag, and Theresa her purse, before she was pulled to the doorway that led to the cellar. She threw open the door and they raced down the wooden steps into the mildewy darkness, a couple of fluorescent strips glowing eerily.
Before Catherine, who was still in shock from what her mom had told her, could point out that they were trapped, Theresa felt along the wall for a moment then hit a specific crack in the boards with the heel of her hand. There was a loud click and then a whirring and clicking sound as a concealed door swung slowly open.
Catherine waited for her mother to go first; instead she was pushed forward into the dark opening. Suddenly realizing what was happening with overwhelming dread, the girl turned just to have her mother push her backwards, the purse thrust in her hands.
"Mom, no!"
"I'm sorry Catherine, but this is the only way. Their Tracker has already marked me. They'll hunt me to the ends of the earth if they have to."
"No, please, don't do this! You can still make it!" Catherine tried to push through the opening, but the door was a lot heavier than it looked. The tears streaked freely down her cheeks now, her face as open and vulnerable as a child's. "Don't go mother!"
"There's an address tucked in my purse, where you will be safe. There are friends there who will watch over you. You must get there as soon as possible, don't stop on the way, and don't let yourself be spotted by the Shepards!"
"Please don't go, please don't go, mother!" she cried as the doorway spanned only a few inches now, and closing fast.
"Take care of yourself," her mother whispered just before the door shut with a final, loud click.
Catherine could at first only whimper inaudibly, digging at the sealed door with her bare hands, almost expecting the door to open any second and her adoptive mom, the woman who hadn't bore her but who had raised her for all of these years, would be there in the doorway, smiling her gentle but confident grin.
But the doorway didn't open, and she could hear nothing on the other side either. She would have liked nothing better then to sink to the cold dirt floor and curl into a little ball, but that fear she had felt earlier exploded in her like a broken piñata.
I have to get out of here and save mom before it's too late!
Catherine spun around and took off down the dim corridor, her sneakers thudding against the damp stone and her heart thumping hard in her chest. The corridor was not totally dark, bare light bulbs could be seen hanging from the dirt ceiling once in a while, but there was still the feeling of being far underground.
Catherine didn't know what she could possibly do to save her mom from the group of government men called the Shepards; she just knew she had to do something. She wasn't going to run away like some coward, she would rather die with her mom than be left alone in a world that would fear and hate her. If she was really a mutant, that is. Just because both her parents were mutants didn't mean she was going to be one, did it?
Just when she thought the hallway would keep going forever, she spotted a stone stairway leading upwards. Catherine dashed up the stairway; not bothering to slow down even though her lungs were beginning to burn and the weight of the bag and purse were making her shoulders hurt.
At the top, she stepped onto a concrete platform while facing a metal rung ladder. Hoping she wasn't too late, she began to climb it quickly, almost waiting for one of her feet to slip from a rung or to lose her grip on the cold steel. But she finally she came to a small door situated right above her head. There was only a handle that she could see, so Catherine pushed as hard as she could, but nothing happened. Feeling a moment's frustration, she looked around and spotted the button she had somehow missed in her earnestness to get out. She pushed it and heard the same clicking and whirring gears that had worked the door in the cellar. Later, she would wonder about the elaborate passage from the house, and if her mother had been prepared for the inevitable visit from the Shepards.
When she emerged, Catherine was a little surprised to see that the back of the door had a large, green fern attached, and that she was standing in the middle of the forest near her house. Once she was totally clear of the opening, the trapdoor began to shut slowly, the fern taking its place amongst the other flora of the forest.
A strong wind suddenly brewed, startling her out of her revere as the faint but pungent smell of smoke reached her nostrils. She spun around and took a sharp intake of breath at the sight in the distance. A very large fire was burning right where her house was supposed to be!
All the strength left her legs as she abruptly sat on the needle-strewn ground, a soft "oh" escaping her mouth. Her house was gone. She couldn't see the burning remains, as the pine trees were blocking her view, but she didn't have to.
"Mom," Catherine said softly, knowing she must have set the house on fire while trying to drive away the intruders. Would her mother rather die by fire than be taken by the Shepards? Were they really so horrible?
For the first time that evening, she felt a small flare of anger at the people who had hunted down and hurt her mother. She was a mutant, that was true, but she had never hurt anyone, Catherine was sure of that. Wasn't she? This was her mother, not some freak that tortured children and small animals for fun. She knew Theresa, who wouldn't hurt a fly unless she was trying to protect Catherine.
Catherine felt the hot tears welling up in her eyes, but an earth-rumbling explosion startling her out of her grief. A bright mushroom-shaped cloud of flames rose from the fire, and the helicopter just arriving on the scene had to back off rather quickly.
She couldn't take it anymore; she felt that she was going to burst inside from so much fear and emotion. It wasn't fair, why did they have to do this to her mother! Her mother, her house, all of childhood possessions and keepsakes, gone in a whirlwind of fire.
Catherine's hands curled into tight fists by her side, but her anger was quickly cut into by the sharp, stabbing knife of fear she had felt earlier that night. She had to run, run as fast as she could, or else they would find her too. Find her and do what with her, she didn't know, but she didn't want to find out.
Heart thumping frantically, she turned and ran, ran as hard and as fast as she could, believing if she ran long enough she could outrun this horrible night that would stay deeply imbedded inside her mind. She ran until her lungs burned and her muscles ached, and a stitch pierced her side.
She knew her mother had told her not to stop anywhere, but she had one place she needed to go. She even thought she might be able to spend the safely night there, and continue on to wherever Theresa wanted her to go.
Catherine was at least cautious as she emerged from the forest and onto the main highway, panting like the hunted animal she was. She listened for a minute or two before leaving the protection of the trees and jogging onto the pavement, seeing the twinkling town lights just half a mile away down the road.
The half moon and starlight allowed her to easily follow the highway, but she was quick to rush into the forest and hide behind one of the thick trunks of the trees that stood sentinel. The adrenaline that pumped through her body continued to give her strength and energy after she thought she would fall down from exhaustion.
Catherine was a little surprised to find that she had a little bit more control of her emotions now, though she was still plenty scared. Even though she felt pumped up now, she knew when the rush had worn off she would want nothing more than to crash and sleep for the rest of the night till late morning. Well, she wanted her mother to be alive more than anything else, but passing out for a few hours wasn't far behind.
She had followed the road, sometimes jogging along the pavement, turning off the main street to follow the side road past several nice houses to find her friend Sarah's house. If there were one safe place to crash for a while, this would be it.
Catherine trudged up the driveway lit by the porch light, and rang the doorbell, staring indifferently at the intricate metal weavings of the screen door. Her eyes, which were red and dry from crying, fell to her arms where she could see several cuts and scratches, but she couldn't remember when she had received them. She finally lifted her eyes upwards when the door opened.
Her friend's familiar face floated behind the screen door, but instead of looking surprised or worried to see her best friend on her doorstep at night, she looked nervous.
"Cathy… what are you doing here?" Sarah said, her eyes drifting over Catherine's shoulder to see if someone would spot them talking.
"Can I come in to talk with you? Please Sarah?" She suddenly got the strong feeling that her best friend did not want to let her in, did not want to talk to her at all. Feeling more confused and a little bit angry than hurt, she said seriously, "Sarah, what is it?"
"…I'm sorry… but you'll have to leave," she said in a voice tinged with fear.
"What are you talking about? I'm in some trouble here, and I need your…" Catherine trailed off, something finally clicking in her head. "Is it on the news already?"
Instead of directly answering her question, Sarah replied, "They said your mom was a mutant, is it true?" Catherine was horrified to see not only fear in her face, but a sick sort of curiosity, such as when small children watch a slug squirm and writhe in pain after salt had been sprinkled on it.
"Was?" Catherine was momentarily stunned by the implications, seeming to forget the ignorant tone of her friend's voice. "What did they say, Sarah? If you have a shred of decency, you will tell me what they said."
Sarah didn't speak at first, looking nervously back over her own shoulder, then said, "They said she set the house on fire as a distraction, and they accidentally shot her when she tried to escape. And they… they said you might be a mutant." Sarah turned a paler shade of color as she said this, as if fully realizing the possibility of its truth.
"Accidentally shot? W-what's that supposed to mean?" she stammered, her voice breaking painfully, but even her grief couldn't mask the boiling anger that showed in her voice. "And yes, both of my real parents were mutants, but why does any of that matter!" Sarah shrunk back away from the screen door, as if she could physically feel Catherine's anger, her mouth working like a fish gasping for air, but no sound coming out.
"You know what, forget it Sarah. If you really were my friend, my true friend, you would help me, no matter what a stupid electronic box told you. Have a nice life." She picked up her mother's purse and duffel bag, then turned on her heels and walked quickly down the stone path to the driveway, and then out to the street.
Catherine could feel her face burning as the fury coursed through her body. How could someone who was supposed to be her best friend act like that? So now it was being broadcasted all over the state, maybe even farther, about an attempted raid by the Shepards to take in a mutant mother and her possible mutant daughter. Now everyone would know her name and what she looked; it would be foolish to stay here in Small Town, USA.
"That just leaves one place left," she said to herself, stopping in her tracks as she remembered one of the last things her mother had said to her. There's an address tucked in my purse, where you will be safe. There are friends there who will watch over you.
Catherine opened her mother's purse and felt a pang of terrible sadness, as she could still smell Theresa's perfume on the fabric. Struggling to see through the tears that covered her irritated eyes, she pulled out a neatly folded piece of white paper that seemed ordinary, but seemed to have caught her attention amongst all the other items that women normally carried in their purses.
She opened the paper, and by the aid of the last streetlight in town, read the words there.
" The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. Gifted isn't the word I would use." Looking over her shoulder at the dark column of smoke in the distance, she carefully folded the piece of paper, tucked it into her pocket, and then looked forward down the dark road that led down to the highway that would continue on for hundreds of miles.
Feeling as lost, confused, and scared as the child she was, Catherine began her 1,000-mile trek with a single, hesitant footstep.