Chapter 9
Shadow:
The cart we're riding on starts heading down the hallway straight for those doors. As we approach the doors, the man pushing the cart doesn't stop. He doesn't even slow down. I'm sure we're about to crash and brace for the impact. Alley looks like she's having a grand old time riding on this thing. But just as the cart reaches the doors, they open on their own.
We enter a huge, brightly lit room. The smell of food is overwhelming here. There are a lot of people here. Most are wearing white clothes with funny hats on their heads. There are several tables in the middle of the room. Each table has some people working at it, except for the last table which has platters and bowls of food on it. The people at the tables seem to be cutting up food or mixing something in bowls or putting food onto platters or into bowls. Along two walls of the room are counters that seem to be on fire! The people here are mixing something in the pots and pans that are sitting on the fire. There are strange cabinets set in the walls that people are putting food into or taking food out of. It's very hot in here as well as noisy. It seems that everyone is talking at the same time. I put my ears down just to lessen the sound assaulting my ears.
The man pushing the cart pushes it against the wall with several other carts. He heads over to the last table with the food on it, and starts picking up platters. Alley and I quickly get off the cart so as not to be seen and hide underneath.
I quickly look around to see if I can see the demon rat. And there it is! It's in a corner on the far side of the room! I quickly get Alley's attention, and point out the rat. Alley takes off like a shot. I follow right behind her. With all the commotion going on, no one notices us.
As soon as Alley reaches the rat, she puffs up and starts hissing and scratching the thing. Gathering all of my courage, I follow her lead. The rat starts to try and fight back, but there are two of us and only one of it. It turns tails (it seems to have two now) and heads for a little hole at the base of the wall. The hole is way too small for it to get through. Just when I think we've got it cornered, something happens that I never expected to happen. The edges of the rat become soft and blurry and it starts to change. It's like the rat has turned into water. Then all of a sudden, it pours itself through the little hole and it is gone.
Alley and I just stare at the hole, not sure what to do next.
"HEY! WHO LET THESE CATS IN HERE!?"
Alley and I both jump. There's a big, fat man with blood stains down the front of his white shirt staring at us. He's holding a really big knife in one hand. We both bolt for the door. Luckily, it opens just as we get there. We run down the hall and into the little room at the end, just as the wall slides shut again. As we stand there panting, the floor starts moving upward again. We quickly scoot over by the wall near where we know it will open again. Sure enough, shortly after the floor stops moving, the wall opens again. We hurriedly get out of the little room as a couple of people come in. They're to busy talking to notice us.
We are now in a carpeted hallway with several doors down each wall. Most of the doors are open. There are people working behind desks in almost every room. As we come to near the end of the hallway, we can hear Manning's voice coming from behind a door that isn't quite shut all of the way.
"Is there something you wanted to tell me, Abe?" we hear.
Alley nudges the door open a little more and slips into the room with me right on her tail. We quickly hide under the desk. There's a large leather chair behind the desk that Manning is sitting in. There are a couple of smaller chairs covered in fabric in front of the desk. Abe is sitting in one of these. From under the desk, all I can see is the bottom of several pieces of furniture that seem to be made of metal and have several drawers in them.
"Yes, Dr. Manning, there is," says Abe. He's wearing his funny glasses, black shirt and collar again. He seems to have gotten a new pair of gloves. "I've done more research on the original demon."
"Well, what is it?" asks Manning impatiently.
"It seems the demon is a polymorph," answers Abe. "This means that it can change shape at will."
"I know what it means," says Manning testily. "Are you telling me that there's a demon rat running loose that can change its shape?"
"Yes."
"Great, now I have to worry about a rat the can become different things. I wouldn't be surprised if it's now pretending to be one of Hellboy's stupid cats!" rants Manning. "ACHOO!"
"Bless you. Actually, I don't think that's possible," says Abe. "I believe that it requires a certain amount of intelligence and the ability to concentrate to hold the form. Chances are that the rat is simply using the ability to squeeze through smaller openings. This would explain why we haven't been able to find It."
"ACHOO!"
"Bless you."
We can hear Manning rummaging around his desk.
"Why is it that I'm always out of tissue?" grumbles Manning. He stands up and heads for the door. "Thank you for your report, Abe. Please don't be here when I get back. You must have brought some cat fur in with you."
We watch Manning's feet disappear around the corner. We can hear him give another sneeze as he walks down the hall.
All of a sudden Abe is looking at us up-side-down.
"Ok, you two, you can come out now," he says with what appears to be a smile on his face.
I quickly come out and jump into his lap. Alley is only a moment behind me. He chuckles and then picks us up, one in each hand. He leaves the office and heads in the opposite direction that Manning went. He heads for the little room at the end of the call. The wall has closed again. He pushes a button on the wall that I hadn't noticed before. A few moments later, the wall moves out of the way again, and Abe walks into the room. Once in the room, he turns around and pushes another button on the wall next to the opening. As the door shuts, He holds us up to eye level. The floor feels like it's going down now.
"I'm not sure how you two got into Manning's office," he says, looking very amused, "but I'm sure it's quite the tale."
I'm to busy staring at his collar to really notice what he's saying. There are windows on this thing, and there seem to be bubbles floating past them. I try to catch one, but it gets away. I chase it with my paws. I just can't seem to catch it. I look over and see Alley is doing the same, and having as much luck as I am.
The room stops moving and the wall opens' up again. Abe brings us back down, and walks out of the room. He walks down several hallways until he comes to a room with a long table in it. It has chairs all up and down the sides. Hellboy, Liz and Myers are searching under the furniture.
"Look what I found, Hellboy," says Abe.
"Please tell me you caught that rat," says Hellboy as he turns around. He sees us and his eyes get really wide. "Hey! How did you two get out?"
"I found them in Manning's office," says Abe as he hands us to Hellboy.
"You sneaky little devils," Hellboy says to us, laughing. "How did you manage that one?"
"If Manning finds out that they were in there, he'll hit the roof," says Myers as he comes over to us.
"Here, Myers, take them back to my room," says Hellboy as he hands us off to Myers. "Make sure they don't get out this time."
"What are we? Luggage?" I meow at Red.
"I don't think the kittens really like me," says Myers, holding us at arms length.
Liz comes over and gently takes us and says, "Here, I'll take them."
She smiles at us and leaves the room. After countless turns and hallways, we're back at the big door to Hellboy's room. Liz goes in and puts us next to the food bowls and leaves, carefully shutting the door behind her. I quickly start eating.
"What are you doing?" asks Alley. "We still need to catch that rat."
"Unless that rat comes in here," I say between mouthfuls, "we're not going to be able to do much. Liz shut us in. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to eat my lunch. Then I'm going to curl up with my glove and take a nap."
And that's just what I do.