World of Monsters

27. The Cat Came Back

     The Mayor ordered everyone to remain in their shelters for the remainder of the night and a little deep into the morning. Gabriel went to his dark room, while Pablo remained outside and kept an eye out. Pablo was standing on the wall, looking out with binoculars to check for the undead. The herd they diverted seemed to be long gone and the threat was thankfully gone. Pablo had other things on his mind, but he convinced himself to remain quiet and keep it to himself until nightfall. He was standing guard on the southern wall, keeping an eye out as the sun came up. There was a few straggling undead walking around, but the majority of them were gone. As he was watching this one undead walk away from their position, someone came up there to speak to him.

     "Mr. Mayor," Pablo said, as he put down his binoculars.

     "Please, call me Max." the mayor said, as he grabbed the binoculars to look for himself. "It's starting to look normal out there again. I can't believe how close we came to being swarmed."

     "You're telling me." Pablo said, sighing again. "I just got here, and I like it here. I would prefer not bugger off so soon."

     "I'm very hesitant to trust," Max admitted, "But I'm glad to have you here. Your help has been invaluable, and that's a total understatement."

     "After Denver, we were just happy to find anything." Pablo admitted.

     "How bad is it out there?" Max asked.

     "You don't want to know." Pablo answered, "What I saw out there in the west was the worst of humanity, at a time when we cannot afford to toss away so much life so recklessly. We are technically an endangered species, yet some of us are acting like there's still several billion of us walking around. Every survivor we have is precious, and we have to protect them as if the human race depends on it. No exceptions."

     "Well said," Max said, as he put the binoculars down. "I agree with that."

     "I hope so," Pablo said, "Because we can't afford to risk lowering our numbers. I just wish California thought about that too before taking action."

     "Is there something bothering you?" Max asked.

     "No," Pablo replied, "Why do you ask?"

     "You've been rather tense," Max observed.

     "I'll be alright," Pablo replied, "I'm just a little tired, and peckish."

     "I hear ya," Max said as he was heavy eyed as well. "I'm going to check up on the other points. I think we will give it a few more hours before letting everyone back out from the shelters."

     "Seems right," Pablo said, "See you around."

     Pablo watched as the Mayor walked away, and then he turned and noticed something he didn't notice earlier. That black cat was back, and it was sitting on a window ledge no more than ten feet away from his position. Pablo stared at the cat as he fought a desire to shoot the little fur ball with his silenced rifle. Good judgement got the best of him because he didn't do anything. He didn't shoot the cat because there was a chance that it was just a cat, and he didn't want to spook Max, as the last thing the mayor needed was someone complaining about him shooting a small animal.

     "What are you looking at?" he called out to the cat.

     The cat got up and stretched his back, before meowing at Pablo and scooting off the ledge and onto the ground running away.

     Pablo ignored it and stayed at his post until the curfew was finally lifted and everyone was allowed to come out of their shelter hours later as Max had suggested. Pablo was relieved a short time after that and he immediately went to Alyssa's place to check up on her and Diane. When he arrived, Alyssa could tell that something was bothering him, but didn't say anything until she finished making breakfast.