Star Cat: Killer Instinct Read online

  “How you holding up, girl? Huh?”

  He pressed his thumb against her forehead and looked into her eyes.

  “Beautiful creature, aren’t you?” he whispered and looked up at the woman. “How did you find her?”

  The woman pointed at the battered cardboard box and burst into tears.

  “It w-wasn’t my f-fault. I hit it. Someone must have l-left it there deliberately.”

  Handax’s face fell, “This is terriful.”

  He turned to Brownie who, by now, had seemingly forgotten about the absence of her siblings and made herself comfortable in his arms.

  “I’m sorry. Would you mind coming with me to the van so we can record what happened?”

  “N-No,” the woman sniffed, “That’s fine.”

  The pair walked across the verge and arrived at the back of the van. It had been parked next to the tiny conker tree hanging next to the entrance to the cemetery.

  Brownie stared into Handax’s eyes as he opened the back of the van with his free hand.

  Various tools of the trade lined the walls inside the van, partially covered in white sheets.

  Cages.

  Benches.

  An assortment of utilities that, to the untrained eye, might have been weapons of some description.

  The van driver, a black man, leaned over the seat and hollered at Handax through the back of the van.

  “You rescued her?”

  “Yeah,” Handax released Brownie into the back of the van and reached for an empty cage, “But the other two didn’t make it.”

  “Where are they?” the man asked. “Should we go and get them?”

  “No, Moses. Let’s get this one back to base and have her processed. Get her rehoused as quickly as possible.”

  Brownie trundled around on the spot and finally looked up at Handax’s face.

  He scrunched his face and stroked the top of her head, focusing his eyes on the tiny conker tree, “Who did this to you?”

  “Miew.”

  “Look at you, you beautiful little thing,” Handax smiled affectionately at Brownie, who ran the side of her face along the back of his hand.

  “Don’t worry, sweetie. We’ll find you a nice person to look after you.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Chrome Valley

  Presently…

  A slender woman in her late twenties pointed through the black-tinted window from the back of the stationary van, “There he is.”

  Her fingertip traced along the glass, following what looked like a young boy turning around the corner of the cemetery.

  “There, just past that conker tree.”

  The boy continued down the path. It was Jamie, carrying his backpack, and minding his own business. He brushed past the tree and paid no attention to the jet black van parked on the side of the road.

  A stocky man sat opposite the woman, feeling his patience begin to dwindle.

  “Sierra?”

  She removed her finger from the window and stared at Jamie, “He looks so sad. So lonely.”

  “Sierra?”

  She turned back to the man, snapping out of her daydream, “Yeah?”

  “Is it him, or not?”

  “How should I know, Noyin? I’d say the chances are good, but we need to be sure,” Sierra thumped the back of the driver’s seat, “Rana, start the engine.”

  “Okay.”

  The van’s engine fired to life as Jamie walked past it. He was on the verge of looking over when, out of the blue, a flurry of school children swarmed him from behind.

  A chubby boy with a double chin cackled with his excited friends, “Ugh, there’s Lame-y Anderson. His cat lost the competition,” he yelled just loud enough for the occupants of the van to hear.

  “Yeah,” an over-excited schoolgirl joined in the merriment, “A giant loser, just like her ugly owner.”

  “Lame-y Anderson, Lame-y Anderson,” all the kids chanted in unison as they ran off around the corner.

  Jamie muttered something in return, but the occupants of the van couldn’t hear it.

  He turned into the same corner and made his way down the Waddling Gate Cemetery road.

  The van rolled behind him.

  Sierra gripped the back of the passenger seat and glanced at the driver, a young brown-skinned woman with long, black hair.

  “Rana, keep the gas at a steady ten, okay?” Sierra said. “We don’t wanna spook him.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  Rana clutched the steering wheel and spotted Jamie looking over his shoulder as he sped up along the sidewalk. He wasn’t spooked quite yet.

  “There’s no way he’s gonna voluntarily get in the van.”

  “You don’t say,” Sierra returned to the back seat and slipped her gun out from her belt.

  Noyin looked up at her and chuckled, “Tough love?”

  “It’s for his own good. Those vultures are about to descend on his family.”

  Sierra clutched the door handle and prepared to open it, “Rana, roll up alongside him. Don’t use the horn. I’ll talk to him.”

  Rana looked at Sierra in the rear view mirror, “We’re nearly there. But what if he runs off?”

  Sierra flicked the safety catch down on the side of her gun.

  “He won’t run off. Poor kid will be too scared,” she turned to her accomplice in the back seat, “Noyin, put your balaclava on.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  He rolled the cloth down the front of his jet black face and took a deep breath, “If he runs, he’s mine.”

  Sierra pulled the balaclava over her yellow, shoulder length hair, “He’s ours, not just yours.”

  Jamie continued to walk, hoping the van would overtake him and disappear forever.

  A quick glance at the Individimedia ink on his forearm showed the time: 8:10 am.

  Jamie looked over his shoulder and squinted at the van’s windshield. Its darkened, limousine effect prevented him from seeing the driver.

  Rana squinted at the boy’s face. It felt as if he looked her dead in the eyes.

  In actuality, Jamie could only see the cemetery trees reflected in the windshield.

  “Damn. He’s seen me.”

  Sierra clutched her gun and set it down on her seat, “Doesn’t matter. As long as the drones and cameras don’t see you, we’re fine.”

  “No, it’s freaky,” Rana added. “He won’t stop staring at me.”

  Noyin stomped his feet to the ground, “Who cares? He’ll know what’s up in ten seconds, anyway.”

  Sierra turned to Rana, the ends of her yellow hair streaking down from the fold in the back of her balaclava, “No use in prolonging the misery. We’re here to take him, not scare him.”

  Rana hit the gas and rolled the van alongside the boy. Noyin and Sierra held the bars on the interior of the van.

  “You got it,” Rana turned her head to Jamie through the passenger window and slammed on the brakes, “Do it.”

  Sierra took a final glance at Noyin. His big, brown eyes were his only recognizable feature under the black cloth.

  “Here we go. Let’s hope we have the right brat.”

  Noyin placed his left hand over the top of his gun, “Stop stalling. Do it. We have a plane to catch.”

  SCHWUMP.

  Sierra slid the side of the van open. She grabbed the lip of the door and held her masked head out.

  “Jamie Anderson?”

  He blinked at her, trying to process the fact that his worst nightmare had come true. The van had been following him. Worse, the occupier knew his name.

  Jamie’s heart jumped in his throat.

  His guts churned away like an angry food mixer, threatening to floor him via his weakened knees.

  “Ugh, don’t mess me around, you little turd,” Sierra huffed, “Are you Jamie Anderson?”

  “Who’s asking?”

  “It’s him,” Noyin yelped from behind the door.

  On the verge of tears, Jamie scrunched his face at Sierra
.

  She lifted her gun and placed it on her lap, “Jamie?”

  “P-Please leave me alone.”

  “Jamie Anderson?”

  “My mom told me never to speak to strangers.”

  Sierra lifted her gun and traced her finger along the barrel, “I know it’s you, but I need to be sure. What’s your date of birth?”

  Jamie recited the information she wanted to hear, “March tenth, twenty-one-twelve.”

  “Yes, it’s you all right.”

  Jamie’s skeleton turned to stone, “What do you want?”

  Sierra slid across the seat and patted the vacant space next to her, “Get in.”

  What little lubrication remained in Jamie’s mouth turned to sand. Speaking was going to be difficult.

  “Wh-what?”

  “I said get in the damn van,” Sierra secured her grip on her gun and threatened to point it at him.

  Rana yelled from the driver’s seat, “Stop flirting with him and get him inside before someone sees us.”

  Jamie’s jaw dropped at the sight of the gun. His backpack slid down his left arm and landed in both hands.

  Sierra took a deep breath and stared at the boy, “Jamie, I mean it. Get in the van.”

  Jamie didn’t respond.

  He froze on the spot, wide-eyed with terror.

  “Earth to Anderson?” Sierra lifted the gun, but didn’t point it at him, “You have to come with us. Or I’ll shoot—”

  A palm rammed against her shoulder, pinning her to the back of her seat.

  “—God damn it,” Noyin stepped forward and ducked his head under the door frame, “Get in, Anderson, or you’re dead.”

  Jamie’s eyes widened at the gun, “I d-don’t—”

  “—Shut the hell up and get in. Now,” Noyin yelled.

  Jamie took a deep breath, startled beyond tears. Then, out of the blue, he yelled at the masked man, “No.”

  WHUMP.

  Jamie threw his bag at Noyin’s face. It bounced off the man’s face, sending him tumbling over Sierra’s lap.

  BANG.

  Noyin squeezed the trigger and accidentally fired a shot across Sierra’s face. The bullet tore through the roof and into the sky.

  “God damn it,” Rana threw the stick shift into reverse and hit the gas. “Are you trying to get us busted?

  “You nearly took my face off,” Sierra pressed her fingers along the tear in her balaclava, “My cheek. You hit my cheek—”

  “—Relax, you’re fine. It’s just the material,” Noyin said.

  Noyin pointed at Jamie as he climbed over the giant gate to the cemetery, “He’s getting away.”

  “I can see that,” Rana backed the van up onto the sidewalk and spun the steering wheel.

  CRASSHHH.

  Noyin and Sierra flew against the back of the van as the door slid shut and locked.

  “Rana, be careful, for Christ’s sake,” Sierra climbed to her feet and collected her gun from the floor. She palmed the underside of the grip and inspected the barrel for damage.

  A flashing white light zipped up the side of the gun barrel, indicating that it had been armed.

  “Don’t let him get away.”

  “I’m way ahead of you,” Rana shifted into drive and pressed her foot down on the gas.

  Jamie swung his body over the top and jumped away onto the grass.

  “Hold onto something,” Rana screamed as the van crashed through the entrance gate’s iron bars.

  “Comeback here, you little shi—”

  CLANG-SMASSSHH.

  Both gates smashed against the electrified fence as the van bolted down the tiny, graveled path, in pursuit of the young boy.

  Noyin climbed to his seat and kicked Jamie’s backpack across the floor, “That little bastard.”

  He slid the side door open and watched the boy race through the wet grass and around the headstones.

  “Hey. Shut up,” Sierra grabbed the overhead door handle and aimed her gun at the boy making his escape through the cemetery headstones, “He’s scared. You would be, too.”

  “He’s a brave little terror, I’ll give him that.”

  “Yeah,” Sierra aimed down her sight and focused on Jamie’s back as he ran. His body bopped up and down as he ran through the wet grass.

  “Damn it. I can’t get a shot.”

  “You won’t have to if these stones don’t slow us down,” Rana said as she floored the pedal.

  “Huh?” Sierra looked over her shoulder at Rana, “What are you talking about—”

  TCHLOCK-CRASH-CRASH-SCHPAAANG.

  The van mowed down the first three headstones in the cemetery, speeding after the fleeing child.

  “Oh, God,” Jamie panted and puffed as he weaved in and out of the headstones, “Please, no.”

  The black van’s headlamps snapped on, illuminating Jamie’s back. A giant, black-face of death with angry teeth, in the boy’s eyes.

  In a few seconds, it’d turn the entire cemetery over and swallow him whole.

  “Jesus.”

  He turned to the front and continued to run, jumping over the occasional headstone like an Olympic hurdler.

  Sierra gripped the ceiling handle and placed her foot at the lip of the van.

  She swung her gun at Jamie and fired three shots.

  SCHWIP-SCHWIP-SCWHIP.

  Each bullet missed him. Two of them hit the headstones he’d just passed, which made him run even faster.

  “Someone, please. Help me,” Jamie screamed, his voice rumbling through the eerie scene, “They’re trying to kidnap me.”

  “Damn it, Jamie,” Sierra yelled form the van, “Stop running. Don’t make me shoot you—”

  TCHLOCK-SCHTAMM-SCHTAMM.

  The van careened through three headstones, in pursuit of the boy.

  Bits of stone and mud pinged off the side of the van as he hurtled through the cemetery grounds, smashing through three more headstones.

  Sierra held her body out through the open door and armed her gun, “Jamie?”

  “No, leave me alone,” he yelled and burst into tears, “I want to go home.”

  “You can’t go home, Jamie,” Sierra shouted over her shoulder to Rana, “Step on it.”

  “I am stepping on it, you stupid woman. I don’t wanna leave tire marks all over this damn place.”

  “Oh no, he’s making for the trees. We’re gonna lose him,” Rana quipped and pointed at the fence lining a large forest.

  “Shoot the little turd, man. We can’t let him escape,” Noyin said.

  “No, no, no,” Sierra swung her gun at Jamie’s back and took serious aim, “Jamie, stop running. This is your last chance.”

  “Leave me alone,” he wailed back and continued to run at speed toward the fence.

  The van crashed through the last few headstones, kicking up a slew of mud from under its spinning wheels.

  Jamie launched himself at the fence and threw his arms in front of his face.

  TCHLANG.

  His fingers slipped through the railings. He made his ascent as quickly as he could, but his wet shoes kept sliding off of the wet metal bars.

  Rana slammed on the brakes as hard as she could.

  SCREEEEEECH.

  The van swiveled around and crashed into the same fence Jamie had climbed onto. It rattled back and forth, swinging him from side to side.

  It wasn’t enough to send him to the ground.

  Sierra hopped out of the van and gripped her gun in both hands, aiming at Jamie’s back as he continued to climb the extraordinarily high fence.

  “Jamie, it’s over. Stop it.”

  “I want to go home.”

  Sierra raced forward and stood a few meters away from the fence. She aimed her gun at him, “Look at me, Jamie. Can you see what I’ve got in my hand?”

  Jamie stopped climbing and looked over his shoulder to find a strange woman in a balaclava pointing her gun at him.

  “Please d-don’t sh-shoot me.”

  “I
won’t. Just get down and we’re all good.”

  Jamie thought the offer over for a second. He looked at the top of the fence. Only one, final push would send him over the top - and away to freedom in the trees.

  “Jamie,” Sierra snorted. “Don’t even think about it.”

  He squinted at the top of the fence. It came into sharp focus, begging him to grab it and hoist himself over the top to freedom.

  Noyin joined Sierra and held out his arms, “Jamie?”

  “No.”

  The boy decided to escape. His fingers grabbed the top railing and pulled the rest of his body up along the metal.

  “God damn it, Anderson.” Sierra huffed and squeezed the trigger.

  SCHWIP-KA-JUNT.

  The blue bolt fired from the barrel and hit Jamie in his left buttock.

  “Gaaahhh.”

  Every muscle in his body turned to ice, forcing him to slump chest-first over the top of the fence.

  His eyelids slammed shut.

  Noyin clocked Sierra’s look of regret, “Hey, you had no choice,” he said as he ran up to the fence and held out his arms.

  Jamie’s body slipped away from the railing - and right into Noyin’s arms.

  “Oof. Gotcha.”

  The unconscious boy snored in Noyin’s arms.

  A few spots of rain hit the man’s face as he made his way back to the van.

  “Those blasters really kick ass, right?” Noyin chuckled as he stomped his way through the wet, muddied ground, “Rana, we got him.”

  “Good,” she leaned over the front passenger seat, “Get him in the van. We gotta get out of here.”

  Noyin reached the back of the vehicle and laid the passed-out Jamie across the back seat. The spots of rain weren’t enough to wake him up from his slumber

  “Sleep well, my friend,” Noyin said, and then turned to Sierra, “Hey, let’s go.”

  She stood by the fence, lost in her own world. Her arm hung down by her thigh, barely clutching the stun gun.

  “Sierra? Come on, we have to get out of here.”

  “What have we done?” she whispered, just loud enough for Noyin to hear it.

  “What are you talking about?”

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

  “What’s she doing, now?” Rana asked, impatiently. “We don’t have time for this lessense.”