I am alone but that didn’t bother me. I have no name, because there isn’t much of a point in it if there’s nobody to call me by it anyway. I am simply called Cat. People have changed. They don’t react when I brush their legs, so I don’t bother much with that anymore. Few people still enjoy my presence. These people are nicer to me too. They sometimes open the cans of food they don’t eat for me.
I jump around the big stones in the search of nicer people and birds and mice. I don’t crawl under the rocks. I see many have been crushed underneath them and I don’t plan on sharing that fate.
I hear gunshots. They scare me, even though I know it only hits the bad people. Bang Bang Bang. Click.
“Oh no!”
I see a little human run away from the bad people. The bad people ignore me, but they attack those that are nice to me. The human holds the gun but doesn’t make it shoot anymore. I think she might be about seven years old. Humans take so long to grow up. I guess it’s because they’re bigger. I am fascinated by the dangling tufts on her funny hat, so I follow her. We take shelter in an empty house. The bad people couldn’t open the door, but the girl could. It is good to have the hot sun off my black fur. She locks the door and just looks at me.
“I’m out of bullets.” She says. I walk up to her to brush her legs. She put the gun into the little bag she got with her, so she could pet me. “You’re lucky, kitty, they don’t try to eat you.”
We go into the kitchen. Most of the food in the fridge had gone bad, she takes whatever is still good. She even finds a can of food humans never eat.
“I guess you’re hungry too.” She takes a can opener out of a drawer. It takes her a while to get it open with one hand. The other one was missing. Sometimes, fights with the bad people can get really bad, but I think hands grow back for humans. Their lives are so long that it’s hard to say what is permanent and what isn’t. No matter, I only care about the food. She put the open can on the floor, pets me again and goes looking for more bullets.
The food tastes good. I hear the door creaking open. Did the bad people learn to open them? I kept eating when they came in. I hear the girl scream upstairs. I take another bite.