Break Out

"See you in the morning Kit," a voice said, hazy and indistinct and a door clicked shut.

I moaned softly, rolled over and threw up. Every inch of me ached. What the hell had happened? Suddenly I remembered and I flung my hand to my shoulder where I felt a small hole in my T-shirt. The dart was gone. It must have been full of tranquilisers. They'd been shooting those things at me since I escaped, but that was the first time they'd actually hit me.

I cracked open my eyes and then had to check they were actually open, the room was completely black. How long had I been out? There was no way of telling, I'd had a watch before they'd taken us but it hadn't been with my other stuff. I knew I'd been hit with two darts but how much had been in them? If just one had enough to knock out an adult human then I could have been out days. Then again, I wasn't really human anymore, was I.

I sat up and banged my head on something hard. Ow, let me guess. I ran my hand along the bars surrounding me, another cage. Very original. I took a deep breath now to find out where I was and shuddered as the scent of fear and death overwhelmed me. Still in the tank room, close to where the White Coat worked. How on earth could that White Coat work in here? He was the real monster, not me.

I felt around my cage, there had to be a lock somewhere and I was not waiting around for the White Coat to come back. After a moment I found it, a solid block of metal built into the cage, I tried to get my hand through the bars but they were too close. I growled in frustration and shook the bars, I was not going to be caged again, I needed to find Sophie and get out of this hell hole.

I wrenched on one of the bars and felt it give slightly, odd, especially as it was about as thick as my wrist. I ran my hand along the bars again, even if I bent them as far as possible I wouldn't be able to slip out, this cage was several sizes to small for me, but maybe. I grabbed the bars above the lock, if I could bend these far enough I could reach the lock, and I did have an inbuilt set of lock picks.

I braced myself against the side of the cage and strained against the bars, for a second nothing happened, I could hear the blood pounding in my ears, but the bars didn't move. Maybe I'd just imagined the bar bending, maybe these ones were too short to bend. There was the sound of tortured metal and slowly, ever so slowly the bars moved.

I stopped as soon as I thought I could fit my hand through the gap and started groping around for the keyhole. After a moment I found it, now how did they do this in the movies? I felt around inside the lock with a claw, a tumbler lock, so if I remembered correctly I just had to push up all the pins.

It turns out it helps if you try to turn the lock while picking it, which I discovered about half an hour and a blunted claw later. The door swung open and I slipped out, staying on all fours to move more quietly. I needed to find the way out and find Sophie, or at least find out where she might have gone. I trusted that White Coat about as far as I could throw him but I was fairly sure he was telling the truth about that at least.

I walked forward and felt a subtle change in the air around my whiskers. Now what did that mean? I took another step forwards and banged my head into the desk. Ah, that's what it meant. I sidestepped around the desk and found something smelling of me in front of me, my rucksack; that would be useful. I kept walking straight until I felt a wall in front of me and then stood up, felling my way around the edge of the room by running a hand along the wall.

Four corners later I found a change in texture, which hopefully meant I had found the door and groped around for a light switch. After a moment I found it, the lights flickered on and I shielded my eyes. Again the problem with night vision. The door had a key code lock, which I had absolutely no chance of cracking, anyway I wasn't in the mood for messing around. I dug my claws into the casing and tore the number pad off the wall exposing the circuitry underneath.

Did I know anything about hardwiring doors? No. Did I know that no-one in their right mind would have a lock that would trap them in the room if it broke? Yes. Admittedly the White Coats weren't entirely in their right minds but I always had the vents if it didn't work. I ripped the wires to shreds and low and behold the door hissed open.

The two Erasers standing guard were very surprised when the door opened.

"What the…" the one on my left started to say, turning to face me. But I caught him a right hook to the head and he went sprawling.

"Hey!" the other exclaimed, going for a tazer attached to his belt. I didn't even hesitate, just caught him in the throat with my claws and tore out his windpipe. He went down twitching and I leapt over him, dropping onto all fours and running left down the corridor. Someone would find them soon. I had to get out of there.

I rounded a corner and found myself at the end of a long corridor, a lone Eraser guard at the other end. He yelled in rage when he saw me and started to morph. Did I know him? The four angry red lines across his face certainly said we'd met. I accelerated towards him, I couldn't slow down and I couldn't let him alert anyone else.

He didn't take out his gun, just braced himself, he must have been planning something but there was no time to consider what. I pounced, spreading my claws wide and aiming for his chest. He ducked, grabbed my wrists as I flew over and flung me at the ground.

I hit the floor hard, rolling head over tail until I hit the wall at the end of the corridor. Yep, I realised lying upside down against the wall and looking at him down the length of the corridor. I'd met him before. I leapt to my feet growling, so he knew how I attacked; well let's see how he handled this.

I stood up, bearing my claws, and stalked slowly towards him. He copied me. We approached each other warily, I could win this, he was just a dumb wolf, all alone, easy prey. I charged, aiming low and swiping at his kidneys, he dodged backwards, flailing wildly with a paw, which I ducked easily.

"Hold still you dumb Kitty," he growled, rushing at me claws flailing. I sidestepped and tore at his arm as he past.

"Not Kitty," I growled, as he turned to face me. We leapt at each other, locking claws, our faces a bare inch from each other. I could smell his rancid breath and see the rage in his eyes.

"Kit," I snarled.

He growled back, showing his canines, I bared my own fangs. It was a deadlock, neither of us could move, I strained against his arms and he strained against mine, it would just be a matter of stamina. I hooked my claws and dug deep into his paws. Or not. He winced, and redoubled his growl, his spittle flicking into my face. Well if that was how he wanted to play it. I opened my mouth and roared, spreading my fangs wide and feeling the sound vibrating through my whole body. That felt good, I should roar more often.

The Eraser flinched backwards and took the pressure off my paws, a fatal move. I swept his legs out from under him and twisted my arms, flinging him against the wall. His head hit with a sickening crack and he slid to the floor, leaving a bloody smear on the wall. I snarled at his unconscious form, and then realised someone would have heard that roar. Damn it.

I leapt over him and dropped on to all fours, so long stealth, now it was time to leg it. I took the first left I came to and found myself outside the cage room, finally some luck. I picked up Sophie's trail with ease, it had been muddied by a load of Erasers but it was still, for lack of a better word, legible. I growled; when I found out who had made her so scared, I would kill them.

I took a left at the T-junction, still on Soph's trail. An alarm started wailing in the distance, they must have found those downed Erasers. A corner loomed in front of me and I skidded round it, ignoring a yell of surprise as I slipped past an Eraser running the other way. It was too late to worry about being found, I just had to get out.

Sophie's trail ended abruptly again and I slid to a stop, there was a key coded door in front of me but I just ripped the lock apart and the door hissed open. I ran into the room which I recognised as the cloakroom they put me in originally. Did that mean they'd put Sophie in her own combat cage. That was a horrible thought, Sophie didn't even swat flies, she would have hated to hurt anyone else.

I smashed the other lock off the wall and the outside door opened and I started running away from the building, still following Soph's trail. There was disturbed earth either side of me, sort of like a corridor; I had no idea what they'd been doing to her but she was scared, and angry, very angry.

Suddenly her trail faded away at exactly the same time the corridor of earth ended, there was blood in the ground beneath me, but it smelled more Eraser'y than Sophie'y, or at least that's what I hoped. I stopped and walked slowly back down the trail. The scent of feathers was stronger here and I don't think she doubled back and that left one explanation. I looked into the sky. She didn't like those wings but I bet she could have flown on them and if that was true she almost certainly escaped those stupid landlocked Erasers.

"That a girl Soph," I said, looking at the stars. A torch beam roved across the ground a few feet away. I looked round to see Erasers swarming out of the building. Oh well, time to get out of here.

I run off into the forest, maybe I could find somewhere comfy to sleep, all this running was taking it out of me. Anyway, I could rest easy now. I didn't know where Sophie was but I at least knew she wasn't at the lab. And in all honesty I can't think of a worse place to be.