Utterly Mad

Catnip sent L for wire and continued her work. She didn't really need the wire, but she did want to get L out of the way for a bit. A bit of time to herself to think things over and plan. There was the instructions about not being alone to worry about, but Catnip wasn't worried. There were plenty of people coming in and out to run errands or get direction that she wasn't too concerned. The sun moved across the sky and cast it's semi circle of light into the egg shaped rotunda, moving the spotlight thus created slowly until it had changed to a dull orange and settled warmth onto her bare leg. Catnip closed her eyes and let her mind wander. Just a bit of comfort in her life, the warm early evening sun reminding her of Kathrine's tail draped over her lap like a bundle of divine fluff. It made Catnip's heart ache for home. With the stone in her bag though, she had a balm for that ache. A reminder that home was closer than ever, and that all she needed to do was make a move to get back.

A cold gust brought her back around. Somehow, time had passed faster than she thought. Was it possible that she'd dozed off? Of course it was, the sun always made her feel drowzy. How long? Not asleep, but alone. How long had she been alone? If someone had been by, they would have woken her and brought her around to her work. Silence. Too much silence. Not even the sound of wind over the main shaft hole in the ceiling. All at once, the mixed smells of rotten wood, filth, and the low sour aroma of mold seemed to fill the room. Catnip hopped to her feet and gave the emergency generator a once over. She and L had poured over it all day, and all the remained was to slide the alternator housing into place and snap the clips down. Somewhere across the chamber, something shifted horribly. To Catnip, it's movements sounded a bit like the rustling of old pages or the sound of dried dead skin rubbing against more dead skin. It had come for her, and if the breeze hadn't stirred her, it would have fallen upon her as she dozed. The housing clicked into place and Catnip slapped it's clips into place before spinning on her heels and bolting from the darkened room.

"L! George! Tenny!" She screamed, flying down the curved hall with all the speed she could muster. It was the same feeling, the feeling of being harried by something in the dark under Kings Court. Catnip was thankful that this time there was no voice pounding it's way into her consciousness and forcing it's way into her thoughts. Light ahead, spot lights and camp fires and the murmur of many voices. Catnip burst from the facility like a storm and bolted across the grounds towards the spotlights, towards the painted line marking the firing line.

Someone grabbed her by the arm while another caught her by the waist. Catnip shrieked and struggled, wanting desperately to get to the spotlights, get to safety. Then she realized who it was that grabbed her. L and another Misling. The turrets had already painted her with their little targeting lasers, little red points picking out points on her chest and midriff ready to put so many holes should she cross the line. L and young misling had snagged her inches from crossing over the point of no return.

"W-what's going on?" Catnip asked, "I thought you went to get wire?" L looked at her gravely and reached into her own bag for the wire she'd procured just before everything had gone wrong yet again. Catnip saw it on her face, was suddenly aware of some great uneasiness among those around her. "What happened?"

L worked her muzzle nervously, then said slowly, "Felecia's disappeared... Probably... Dead... They found her coveralls shredded up down near the pit..."

"Nobody heard a thing..." George said. He pushed his way through the crowd and said, "The screamers would have sounded off if she'd fallen in."

"So..." Catnip said tentatively, still shocked from her close encounter, her close shave, and now the latest in bleak news.

"So somebody has done a sloppy job of covering up." Someone finished, "Who's in charge now?"

"George, Catnip, and Ms. Parsons..." L explained, "What's left to do?"

George had finished the last of his fortification earlier that afternoon, he explained, and before she'd vanished Felicia had claimed that she thought she knew what had happened in the infirmary. He also had it from Tenny herself that the wiring work was basically finished. That only left Catnip's portion.

"It's done." She said, "Just prime it and start it and we can start pumping the water out. Then I can put the cell in and start the upper rotor." She didn't tell them about what she'd seen upon waking. That thing sliding around in the wind chamber, reaching out to infect and choke the life from her. The horror of it still stuck with her, but something else seemed to strike her as odd about the memory. Something important, a small but vital detail. It had moved around like a pile of rags, but there had been another detail she couldn't quite put her finger on. When Catnip tried to seek it out, her mind would shy away from it.

"We are set then. Hopefully Felecia turns up, but..." George said, trailing off at the end. He didn't have to say it. That if Felecia did turn up, there wasn't much hope of her being in any condition to lead them anymore.