Ashen Echoes

“What the…?”

Cold. All I can feel is cold. My ears ringing, I can faintly make out a hissing noise and blaring alarm.

I can’t scent anything. It hurts to even try. Then, as I begin to feel my paws, the machine I’m locked inside of opens, and I tumble outward.

The ringing slowly subsides, though the sound that replaces it isn’t much better.

“CRITICAL CRYOGENIC MALFUNCTION. PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.”

This phrase plays on loop with the alarm in the background.

To a cat like me, it’s kinda painful on the ears, and quite annoying, might I add.

How do I get out of here?

I remember how I got here in the first place, the humans brought me and tossed me into that machine.

Yet now, all the doors are locked. No scientists, guards, interns(the humans got rid of a lot of those,) and no other cats.

I’m alone here.

Okay, think! The humans aren’t that smart, there’d be an easy way out if I know them.

There’s the vent. I could easily fit, but I’m too small to reach the shaft.

The window. I’d try to break it, but it’s plexiglass, and I must say, I am not capable of even cracking it.

The door? No, I don’t have the keycards the humans used, can’t go that way.

The terminal. Even when power is down, the command terminals stay on! Good old cold fusion powered computers!

I leap onto the desk. The computer is a little large for my liking, but I can make do.

>View Cameras

>HKV-3c Omega

>HKV-3c Alpha

>Open Doors

>Print Keycard

>View Scouting Reports

>Open Emergency Exit

The emergency exit is three floors up. I memorized the layout. I’m on Sub-Level 8. All I have to do is get up to Sub-Level 5.

I click on ‘Print Keycard.’

Right next to the computer, the printer whirs, and quickly I have a way out.

I grab my wrist-attached mini computer from the desk and download the computer program. I made it completely myself. It’s one of a kind. My special tool of survival. I even made it run without the internet. Aren’t I just a genius?

Now all I’ve gotta do is open the terminal app.

It’s evidently October 3rd, so it hasn’t been that long sin-

That doesn’t say it’s 2111… right? Nope, it does. I’ve been in that thing 36 years. Yaaay.

Okay, then. So what? Not like I had friends or family or anything like that. None left, anyways.

The closest thing to a friend that I have is a yellow bunny plush named Gerard. And yes, I made that myself too. What, you thought I was receiving presents in this place?

I hop up onto the first shelf, slide the keycard, and the door hisses open.

Three floors. Just three floors.

As the hydraulics system locks the door in place, I notice out of the corner of my eye, a shape bolting across the hall.

I pick up a knife-shaped shard of metal. Any weapon would be quite helpful, if you didn’t guess. Something still feels off. I head through the door to the vehicle workshop.

This whole platform elevates up to the surface. I can get out of this bunker here, too.

I head to the feline soldier vehicle lot, pulling a me-sized tire iron out of the crate of tools. I bound over to the lock-up, using my wrist computer to open it up. I grab my backpack. Inside I find what I left. Some thirty-six year old water, a bandage roll, some heavy-duty rope, some spare parts… and one other thing.

This can stay hidden in here, for now.

I take the rope out before putting the backpack on.

I tie the metal piece to the tire iron. It takes a bit of time, and I watch and listen warily as I do it.

Then I have it. A makeshift spear. Quick and easy to make. I sell them for two mice apiece. It’s a bargain!

I catch the fast movement out of the corner of my eye again, this time catching a scent.

Is that… another cat?

I stand at the ready, just in case.

Then the figure charges out of the shadows, and I swing my spear.

My blade slashes against the chest of the she-cat, and she howls in pain, but she manages to get back on her paws and still circles me.

Back and to the right!

I spin around to parry, but whoever it is pins me down, though I manage to keep her at bay with my spear handle.

Just then, I scent more cats.

That isn’t good…

Summoning all my strength, I throw her off me, twirling and slashing out as I do.

My slash sends the she-cat further backwards.

She rears up on her hind legs when a voice rings out across the garage.

“That’s enough, Mint Nose!”

The she-cat stops. And I get a clear look at her.

She’s… beautiful…

She has a dappled tortoiseshell coat, with pale green eyes, sleek fur, and an overwhelmingly cute white nose.

Another she-cat steps into view, clearly a full adult cat.

Mint Nose dips her head respectfully, glaring at me. I simply stand there, on hind legs, spear in paws, wary but curious.

“Greetings, Clover Leaf,” Mint Nose meows.

“It seems a new cat has come to the city, and clearly not from Radiance or the Collective,” Clover Leaf replies, though aiming the statement in my direction.

Radiance? The Collective? What is she talking about?

Mint Nose nods.

“You fought well, stranger. Where do you come from?” Clover Leaf continues.

“Um… here. A room. Right over there.”

Clover Leaf sighs. “I didn’t think anybody lived here. I apologize for disturbing you. We shall leave your territory.”

“It isn’t exactly my territory, either. Funny enough, I’m not here of my own volition.”

“Then why are you here?” Mint Nose cuts in.

I say nothing.

“Well, then. We will show you the way out, and go our separate ways. And you should remember this, if you plan to go out on your own; you really should avoid the waterworks, and Route 66 in general.”

Wait, what? Why? Huh… weird…

We head up the stairs, and out the emergency elevator silently.

As we exit, a tomcat pads over to us. “Who’s this?” he asks.

“A loner. Nothing more.”

I pull my bandage roll out, wrapping it around Mint Nose’s chest and tying it off. She winces slightly. I hand her the rest of the roll.

“Just change that every couple days,” I murmur.

“Thank you, I guess.”

I shuffle my paws awkwardly, kneading my claws into the ground before Clover Leaf pads away from her own conversation with the tomcat, as well as another cat whom I don’t know. “Come, Mint Nose, time to head back to camp.”

She nods at Clover Leaf before turning back towards me. “Goodbye, then.”

“Yeah. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Let’s hope not.”

“By the way, stranger, what is your name?” Clover Leaf calls.

“Ain’t got one!”

“Well then, just know you can come to our territory! Maybe see if you’d like to become one of us.”

With that the Ashclaws bound off toward the highway, and yet again, I’m left alone.

All alone…

For the first time, I really take in my surroundings.

The city in which I now inhabit isn’t like what I saw out of the lobby that one time I managed to get up there. It was bustling with humans, and there were military vehicles everywhere, and bases, barricades…

All of it is torn down, now scorched and broken. Whatever happened here was bad.

I think hard. All the other subjects, the other cats, were gone when I woke up. Maybe when whatever happened, well, happened, they escaped. Maybe those cats were their descendants.

Anyway, I look around, spotting a water tower that seems to have a moving shape atop it.

‘And remember this;’ she said. ‘Avoid the waterworks, and Route 66 in general.’

But why should I avoid it?

“Hello?”

The voice causes me to jump. I dropped my spear in the bunker, but I still have claws and teeth. “Who’s there?”

I kid you not, an old cat steps out of the shadows, wearing an old dish towel. Her right ear is practically non-existent, and she has a scar on her muzzle.

“So sorry, youngster. I didn’t mean to startle you. I noticed you didn’t go with the Ashclaws, I was curious.”

Ashclaws?

“What do you mean, ‘Ashclaws’?” I ask.

“This is the name of their tribe. They rule the south of the city with an iron paw. No group can compare, even with the sheer quantity of little tribes and towns that other cats have created.”

“Do you mean, they’re… the enemy? To you?”

“No, not necessarily. I understand their defense of the territory they waged war over for a decade, yet their inhospitality often overrules that understanding. They let in no outsiders. You weren’t attacked, though.”

“Actually… I was. I had a spear, slashed her on the shoulder.”

The elder absorbs this information. “They do not approve of weapons. They believe in old-fashioned things. They do not, however, comprehend the dangers of other deadly creatures. Cats aren’t the only worries around here.”

“Okay, then… What happened to the city?” I ask.

“Fire rained from the sky. We do not know precisely who brought the flames down upon this place. Some speculate it was just another human accident, from the city itself. Some say that their wars turned completely catastrophic. But without further information, we can only guess.”

“What about the Ashclaws? How’d they form?”

“There are three major powers in this city: Radiance, the Ashclaws and the Rustpaw Collective. There were once seven. The other four were destroyed. They were lost when the humans came back, eighteen years ago. The humans thought them to be dangerous like the other mutants and eradicated them. There were still four after that, but they went to war against the Ashclaw tribe, lost, and were either killed in the fighting or became Ashclaws. By winning this war, everything on the east side from the wall to Route 66 became their territory. If you look through the buildings, you might see the mountains, up north. We’re very close to them.”

“The wall?”

“A big wall of cars on the highway. Anyways, the Ashclaws will leave you alone most of the time, till you hit anywhere south of that highway, and north of the 66, and then you are their enemy. They reserve everything they get for their own group. All cats here dislike them for keeping them out, yet understand their reasons and respect the sheer power they hold.”

She snaps to attention, gazing at the sun. The sky is slowly turning a fiery vermillion, the sun sinking downward.

“Danger is more frequent at night. Come with me.”

“How do I know you’re not going to lead me into some kind of attack?”

“You don’t. That’s the thing about the end of the world; everything’s a guessing game when it comes to who you place your trust in.”

Fair enough. You seem trustworthy enough, I guess.

I follow the stranger. A hatch on one of the tanks opens, and the two of us climb inside.