The Angel Experience
By Holly-Batali

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Kat and Feng Chi. All credit to original characters and places go to James Patterson.

Chapter 3: Into the Wild

The erasers stalked forward, those evil smiles plastered all over their faces. Kat's eyes desperately searched the room, looking for any means of escape or defense. There were no windows, no unlocked doors; there was a vent in the ceiling, but it was thirteen feet above her, and it wouldn't do her any good. The erasers were closing in now, and Kat crouched down slightly, unsheathing her claws. If they thought she was going to go quietly, they had another thing coming. She growled a challenge, sounding for the first time like a real Bengal tiger. She felt a savage pleasure to see them tense; she had always sounded more like a house cat than a tiger.

The first eraser lunged at her, reaching out to claw her. She hissed and leaped to the right, dodging the attack and brought up her foot, catching him in the ribs. She heard a satisfying whoosh as his breath burst out of him and he collapsed on the floor. The other erasers advanced quickly and she hunched down and bunched her muscles, then leaped straight at the first one with a savage yowl like an angry alley-cat, and hit him straight on, knocking him off his feet and onto the floor. She swiped at his face and with her claws, drawing blood. The eraser screamed, and the last eraser she hadn't had a chance at grabbed her around the middle, snatching her up. He threw her hard against a wall, then picked her up and sunk his fist into her stomach, cracking a rib. She brought up her legs and kicked him as hard as she could in his chest; he collapsed with a yell of pain.

Kat rushed over him to the first eraser, who had regained some composure and was now stumbling towards her, a fierce scowl on his face. She swiped her right-hand claws at his face, but he caught her hand and brought it up, above her head. She spun and pulled back one leg, then shot it up into his neck, he gasped and let go of her arm. She gave him a spinning kick to the back and sent him sprawling to the ground, where he stayed. The second eraser, his face still bleeding, rushed her and she leaped at him, diving right over him. As she arched downwards, she grabbed him around the neck and he fell, then she sunk her fangs into the base of his neck and he screamed. The last eraser was coming in again, and she looked up at the ceiling a few yards in front of him. The vent...

She crouched down, bunching her muscles tightly, and waited for him to get closer. Almost there... She leaped high, and using the erasers shoulders as a vaulting platform, she went straight up to the vent, crashing through it. She was in the heating ducts now, and she crawled swiftly away in what she hoped was the right direction: up. She could hear voices below her now, "I DON'T CARE WHAT IT TAKES! YOU GET HER OUT OF THERE NOW!" She knew that had to be the scientist that brought her into that situation in the first place. She gave a quick, fang-lined smile and muttered a few choice words for his benefit.

She crawled steadily upward, and eventually, reached other vents. Looking through them she could see the tiled hallways that were all too familiar. She saw signs lining the walls, but they wouldn't do her any good, even if they were in Chinese, as she couldn't so much as read her own name. She stopped for a moment, trying to find her bearings. Office, lab, office, lab, lab, mazes, pool--the pool! She had seen double doors at the end of the room with the pool in it, and Feng Chi had once told her that they led out into the loading bay. She listened carefully, making sure she was alone, then kicked out the vent, not caring how much noise it made. Then she jumped down, landing lightly on all fours. She rushed into the room and jumped into the water; there were no dry areas where she could walk across. After years of swimming, she was fast and powerful, and was soon halfway through the huge water-mass.

But she wasn't fast enough. The remaining eraser she had launched off of was there with four others like him. There was a small group of scientists, including Feng Chi, and they had all noticed her. The first eraser lifted his Browning automatic machine gun and fired. Kat felt the bullets stream through the water on all sides and she swam more quickly. They were all shouting, and going through a next-door room to cut her off. She cursed herself for not trying to find an alternate route, and swam even faster, not caring how tired she was becoming. She had swam farther than this, but she was exhausted from her fight and flight, and had used up a fair chunk of her adrenaline.

She reached the other side of the pool, and scrambled out, barreling through the heavy metal double doors. She was in a huge room, full of concrete walls and floors; there were vehicles everywhere, and the ceiling must have been at least sixty feet up. The small hunting party had caught up to her, and were streaming through a pair of doors to her left. She saw that the bay doors were slightly open, and ran for them with everything she had, ignoring the bullets that were streaking past her. She was almost there when one of the new erasers launched himself at her, catching her around the knees. She cried out and fell, trying to kick the eraser off. She connected her foot with his nose and heard the satisfying crunch of bone as his nose broke, severing nasal cartilage. He screamed and let go, and Kat scrambled to her feet. She heard a shout at the other end of the room, and turned to see the original eraser aiming his gun at her, reaching for the trigger. She froze, screaming at her muscles to move but not getting any response.

Then, Feng Chi was launching himself at the eraser, knocking his aim off. The bullets scatted harmlessly among the ceiling beams, and the gun clattered to the ground. The eraser roared in fury and flung Feng Chi as far as he could across the room. Kat abandoned her escape attempt momentarily and ran to her mentor. The eraser snatched up his gun and sprinted over to Feng Chi as well. Kat reached him and pulled him to his feet.

"Come on, we have to go," she said franticly. But Feng Chi just shook his head.

"No, you have to leave, now. I'll be fine; now go." The eraser had reached them now, and now his gun was trained once more on Kat.

"I hate to break up this lovely little rendezvous, but I have a job to do." Kat hissed fiercely, and crouched down, leaning towards her right.

"Yeah, you do seem to be having trouble getting things done," she retorted. She noticed Feng Chi slowly reaching towards his pocket out of the corner of her eye. She decided to try and keep the eraser occupied; the rest of his group had gathered behind him, waiting for further instructions.

"What's the matter with you," she continued snidely, "you look like you were in a car accident. Then again, perhaps that's normal for you; I wouldn't know, I don't get out much."

He growled at her, and she growled right back, once again sounding like the tiger whose DNA had been combined with hers. Feng Chi was pulling his hand out of her pocket, and she saw that it was some kind of transmitter or remote. He pushed the top button three times, and the bay doors began to grind open. All the attention was on the doors now, and Kat took advantage of it and sunk her fist into the erasers neck, bruising his windpipe, she hoped. He fell back onto the tightly gathered group and Kat started to run. The eraser growled and stared at Feng Chi, figuring out what had happened. He stood up and brought the gun around to Feng Chi, and fired. Kat stopped dead in her tracks, staring in horror and Feng Chi was blown off his feet onto the floor. She ran back to him as the eraser turned to the group to give them orders, "Call for backup, and seal off all exits. And shut those bay doors!"

Kat was next to Feng Chi now, who was breathing in rattles. He stuck a quivering hand into his pocket and pulled out a small leather square. Kat remembered that he had called it a wallet. He pressed it into her hands, "take it," he rasped, speaking in Mandarin. "It will help you." Kat became aware that water was leaking down her face now, and wondered what was wrong with her. Had she been shot too? "Zaì jiàn, wŏ xúeshēng." Good-bye, my student. Kat heard his breath catch, then release slowly; his eyes rolled into his head.

" Zaì jiàn, Laŏshī," she whispered, hearing her voice waver. Good-bye teacher.

She closed his eyes, and looked over to the erasers, her eyes red-rimmed. She put Feng Chi's wallet in the waistband of her gray sweatpants and stood up. The eraser that had shot her mentor was smirking at her, enjoying her pain and fury. Kat jumped straight off her feet and swung in a circle to her right, her right foot snapping out to connect with his head. The eraser collapsed to the floor, unconscious as Kat sprinted for the closing bay doors, the bullets spraying behind her.

She leaped through the small crack between the doors just in time, the metal portal closing behind her. She stood up, and looked up, her eyes going wider than they ever had before. She was on a ledge, overlooking a huge mass of buildings and cars. There was an unbearably bright light above her as the midday sun shone on her, her ginger hair blowing in the warm breeze. There was a huge mass of water, beyond the buildings that must have been a hundred times bigger than the pool in the lab.

She was free. No longer a caged animal for testing. But only one word came to mind...

Seattle...