A short dream and a tossed stone later when I woke again, it was quiet, save for the constant buzzing of the flickering lights. The remains of the rat poison lay in front of me, a grim reminder of the past and present—and how I got to be in this situation in the first place. See it as a curse or a blessing, however you like, but it will forever be my chain—the one true disturbance of my life, and after, it would never be the same.

I pulled my body up from the dirty, metal floor feeling fresh and alive again, glad to have my eyes back. There's nothing worse than having to suffer in the dark. I should know, I did it for years... At least when you can see, you feel some sort of relief in being able to know what's hurting you.

Once I tore my eyes away from the toxic powder, I looked up to see that the lock on my cage was undone and that the cage door was the slightest bit ajar.

That idiot had left the cage open after leaving the poison for me, thinking that I wouldn't be able to see it or pull myself out. How wrong he was... And that wretch of a she-cat, she had torn my face apart!

These cats were crazy! They were going to eat me alive! I didn't know what to do; I had no idea where I was, or even if the fog had cleared outside. Those two cats, they were eating cats and dogs the human would pick up on the street.

I walked up to the door and pushed it with my paw, watching as it swung open with ease. I looked around, trying to see if any cat had noticed me, but these monsters in their cages were no longer cats, dogs, or any discernible animals; just sick, tortured souls that had suffered too much pain to keep their minds. It was…horrible, what they had done to all these cats and countless more probably. From my spot on the boxes I was able to get a better view of the small cage-lined room, noting the rancid smell of feces and death that wafted throughout, seeing the deep red color of blood stained on the wall and floor, and the shimmer of fresh blood that glimmered from the within the cages, empty and full alike.

It was sickening. Even with all the horror I had to suffer through throughout my life, I too felt sick at the sight, but unlike others it was not a nausea or disbelief that plagued me. I was sick with rage.

How many cats had come here, forced by human hand, taken from their lives to be tortured and killed in this slaughterhouse. To be- to be food for those rats!

Oh, they were going to pay. One should never underestimate the dead… We've got nothing to lose.

The room was empty and the cats' scent was stale; it had been a while since they last came in, but how was I supposed to get out? There was one door, but it was shut, and it would be physically impossible for me to open one of the human's contraptions. I was too small and it too heavy. There was a tiny window on the opposite side of the room though, above the line of cages. It was probably my best bet.

So, keeping a sharp lookout for the arrival of any humans or those two cats, I hurried across the floor to the other side of the room, all the while watching the door for the slightest sign of movement, listening for the smallest sounds. I was just about to make the leap to the top of the cage when a shape suddenly appeared in the window, causing my heart to stop.

A harsh whisper sounded from beyond the glass, a bit faded but audible all the same.

"Roxy!"

I stopped, straightening my ears at the sound. I had to squint up at the small, cloudy window in disbelief. '…Bailey?'

"Roxy! You in there?"

It was Bailey.

I wiggled my haunches and leaped up to the top of the cageline without so much as a sound. I couldn't see her through the glass, but I could see her shadow and hear her voice, it was definitely her. She turned toward me when I stepped in front of the window.

"Bailey?"

"It is you! Great stars, Roxanne, what happened?! I thought you were just going to take a look around, how did you get all the way out here?!" She was kneeling down so that she was closer to the windowpane now. It was at that moment that I realized I must have been in some sort of room underground, and Bailey was standing outside on the sidewalk.

"Bailey! How on earth did you find me?" I asked incredulously, still surprised by the sight of her.

"When you didn't come back I went outside to find you, then I tracked you here. Expert tracker remember? We're almost all the way across town! It wasn't easy getting here..."

"Wait." I cut in. "You went outside in the fog?"

Bailey paused and from her posture alone I could see the look she was giving me in my mind. "Of course! I was worried about you, when you didn't come back I—Well, I thought the worst."

"You don't need to worry about me, I'm a tough old girl."

Bailey paused shortly, and then, "How did you get here anyway?"

"It was animal control. They've kidnapped me and trapped me in this rat's nest with cannibals!"

"What?! Stars… We've got to get you out of there! Come on, help me push!" Bailey meowed, pressing her side against the glass in an effort to push open the panel.

It was no use.

"It's no use, Bailey. I'll have to find another way out."

"What?! No, no, I've almost got it… Look it just opened a bit!"

She had managed to open a small crack at the bottom of the window where it came up from a little metal arm, and I could feel the cool air from outside wafting into the stuffy room. I couldn't leave though, not yet. I had made up my mind and turned to leap down from the cage when Bailey stood from her crouched position.

"Wait! Where are you going?! I've almost got it!"

"These cats are maniacs, they're killers. It's either me...or them. I have no choice."

I could hear the worry in Bailey's voice as she spoke. "Roxanne, no. You can't— That's not your job, now come on let's get out of here before the humans get back!"

"Listen to me," I said to her. "These cats are murderers. They're nothing but scum. No one will miss them," I muttered. "Trust me."

I leapt down to the floor, hearing Bailey call my name and mutter a few curses beneath her breath. "If you're listening," she whispered into the crack, "I'll be waiting outside. And Roxy... be careful."

I turned back to look up at the window, but Bailey's shape was gone and I was alone again.

I jumped down from the cage and took it upon myself to slink back over to the door; there was no way of opening it, so I would just have to wait until one of the humans decided to leave from the door opposite, where I could hear their ramblings from outside the walls. Surely they would need to go back through the cage room I told myself, so I waited in the shadows, waiting for the opportunity to make my escape.

And it came. A lot sooner than I had expected.

When the humans came through the door, I had to push myself as far back as I could into the corner to conceal myself; it would have been all over if I were caught, but the human was caught up in its own ramblings, holding something up to its head with one paw, the other holding a dangling set of metal keys that jingled noisily as it waved them about.

Once the human had gone through, and the door began to close, I dashed like mad to get through. It's safe to say that I nearly lost my tail in the process, but I made it. But that victory was only short-lived as I observed my new surroundings, waiting anxiously for the human to disappear from sight.

I really didn't like the look of that place...

It was a large, dimly lit area. Where it was more open, some ratty-looking pieces of human furniture were placed haphazardly about, and there was only one other open doorway, my only option now, the way the human had gone.

I padded down the same way and past a large counter, sticking mainly to the walls, as if they might suck me in and offer protection. As I moved down the dark, dingy hallway, I passed several closed doors; there was one barely open, and it was at the end, emitting a faint light from within that appeared more gray than white. I squeezed through the crack and managed to push the door more open, but it was heavy. Looking at it, I noticed that a hard, black material had been placed where the crack beneath would normally be, and it was that that made it so difficult to move.

The doorway descended down a line of stairs. I stepped down them, taking special care to watch where and how I placed my paws. I had no idea what lay ahead, but I prepared myself to be ready for it. On my way down, I heard a soft wheezing, almost like a light rumble.

When I reached the bottom, I realized that I had also reached a deeper basement of sorts. The floor was dirty and stone-cold. And above, the ceiling was lined with all sorts of pipes that began to sink into the blackness.

And then I heard it again.

The sound had come from the right side of the room.

I looked over and immediately noticed another desk, but it was the lump of fur laying in the nearby chair that accompanied it that caught my attention. It was the tom from earlier, and he was having a nice nap. My thoughts were immediately overcome by the need to fulfill my revenge and throw all of my wrath onto the cat who had caused me this pain.

But I am no rash cat, and I wasn't stupid. The tom was enormous; even if I managed to get close without waking him, there was no way I'd be able to overpower him once awoken. I looked around the room for something, anything that might help me, but there was nothing.

That is... Until I got an idea.

'Yeah. I think so. Good. I'm glad you said that you know. The gas runs in these small pipes, they go all over the city; the humans have them marked with a little yellow thing, with a black print on it, that's how they know.'

I looked up at the ceiling again, my eyes scanning over the multitude of iron pipes; there was a line of shelves across the room, I could use them to get up there.

It was up there that I was able to get a good look at them. They were all tangled up in each other like a knot, it was hard to keep track of which pipe ran where and connected with what, but I knew what I was looking for. I needed a pipe with yellow on it, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find one and I still didn't have the slightest idea of how I would reach it if I did.

The only way to get a better look at the different pipes seemed to be to jump up there and examine them close up. I stepped back to get in a better position, and when I did, I backed up onto something, something hard that connected with my spine. I turned around to see it, and saw that there was a small pipe bolted to the wall, it was rusted and almost blended in with its color, but it offered something I was grateful to see: the color yellow just identifiable beneath the faded rust.

I glanced back at the sleeping tabby. He hadn't moved.

Silently, I prayed to Bailey my idea would work and I located an especially rusted spot on the pipe, just where two pieces connected. That would be its weakest point, I knew.

I glared at the pipe, focusing all my disgust and utter repulsion onto that one spot, then, taking a deep breath, I brought my paws done as hard as I could onto the thin pipeline, my claws almost immediately slipping across the rusted metal as the pipe bounced noisily out of place, spewing gas into the room.

No sooner than I had hit it, I turned tail and made a mad dash for the stairway. Behind me, I heard a sort of strangled gasp and an immediate chorus of harsh, cacophonous coughing, but I did not stop, not even when considering the fear that I might be pursued. My plan had been set into action and it was something that needed to be done quickly.

My paws thundered up the stairs and slid on the dirty floor as I met flat ground; immediately, I turned back and slammed my body against the door, pushing with all my might to shut it closed.

And I did.

When it came close, the door's weight shut itself, and in doing so, sealed the room off completely.

With the door shut, I could stand tall and catch my breath. I felt cold, but not in the icy way that shivers and shakes through your bones, but the coldness that comes without feeling at all, feeling accomplished. But I wasn't done yet.

I still had to find and pay that she-cat a visit.

That rat.