Teddycats (14 page)

BILL WOKE WITH
a chilly jostle. At first it felt like a freak cold front rushing through the savanna, brushing his body with stark wind. But then a dreaded metallic scent filled his snout, and his predicament came into sharper focus: He was trapped, surrounded on all sides by steely mesh. And then there was a second dreaded scent that told him, without question, that a human was at the handle.

His suspicions had been right all along. They
were
being followed! If only he had trusted his instincts. If only he
had
instincts! Once again his anger at the Elders reared its head. Life in Cloud Kingdom had softened his body and dulled his senses. No wonder the rescue mission had been one disaster after another. No wonder Felix was gone. Now there would only be three of them left, forced to fend for themselves in arid, hostile territory.

Bill hurled his body against the cage. He saw that
he was still at the site that they'd settled on for the night. He could see Luke and Omar begin to stir. Diego was a heavy sleeper—he could snooze right through an earthquake.

“Luke! Omar!” Bill hissed. “The humans—”

He froze mid-sentence. The last thing he wanted was for the humans to find his friends, too. Just because he was in a tight spot didn't mean they were
all
finished.

“What's going on, Bill?” Omar said, still sluggish after a scattered sleep.

“Stay away,” Bill whispered urgently. “Lay low!”

Luke's eyes snapped open and immediately filled with fright. “Bill! What do we do?”

There was no time. Suddenly, Bill was up in the air. The human had lifted the cage. Bill tried to stay steady as the steel beneath him began to pitch. His friends were frantic.

“We'll find you, Bill!” Luke screeched.

“Just hang on!” said Omar.

Diego finally woke and, after a quick read of the situation, clamped paws over Omar's and Luke's gaping mouths and tucked down behind a tuft of coarse desert grass.

Already Bill felt far away. He wanted to believe that he would see his friends again, that things would be all right in the end, but then he thought about Jack and all the troubles they had already struggled to overcome. It
didn't seem like there could be much luck left over.

“Just remember what Felix said!” Bill shouted as the human, faceless and impossibly strong, carried him away.

BILL HAD NEVER
been locked up before. He missed his family—his mother's endless tenderness, his father's stirring, steadfast stoicism—but he wouldn't want them to see him this way, helpless and scared.

Through the steel, he realized that they'd reached the edge of the savanna. His captor's long legs and quick stride had brought them back to the jungle faster than he could have even imagined.
No wonder we couldn't catch the humans
, he thought, slumped haplessly in a corner of the cage.

The mission felt doomed. He had been forced to abandon his friends, leaving them high and dry. Bill curled up as the cage swayed, careful not to flash a claw.

Bill was looking for landmarks, trying to memorize the human's route as they continued through the jungle. He was already planning an escape, collecting intelligence. There was no way he would meet Jack's same fate. He hadn't come this far to fall prey to the same greasy, stomping devils that snatched Elena, junked the jungle, and seemed hell-bent on ruining everything. A part of him couldn't wait to see Joe again, face to face. He would rip the ivory from Joe's neck, the
gold from Joe's teeth, the fur and skin from Joe's shoulders and feet.

The human was breathing hard as they approached a clearing. Then, Bill's eyes grew wide as he saw what was inside the clearing. A glowing white orb, surrounded by smaller outposts, all bustling with activity. He had never seen anything like it. It was noisy. The whine of bright lights and the hum of cold air. Above all, a loud, constant grinding sound. Bill scanned the premises for familiar human sights—the fire pit, unnatural debris, rusted metal husks—but this human den was tidy and sleek.

The human set the cage down outside one of the smaller structures, a shiny box on stilts, and released its grip on the handle. Bill surprised himself by feeling abandoned. The unknown future felt certain to be far worse. His father had even warned him once about how creatures learn to love their captors. Bill had never understood that—especially given the way his father fought for the Elders—until now.

More humans crisscrossed the clearing. They were shrouded in some kind of bright white material, and their faces were hidden by veils of some kind of mossy mesh that was attached to coverings on their heads. Bill recognized a smell from the last human site, though not as sharp as before. And there was no smoke, no fire. What had the humans become since they left their last post? Bill's panic bloomed once more.
The cage seemed to contract around him. The urge to flee was so strong, concentrated in the tense muscles of his shoulders, that he thought he might be able to plow straight through the steel bars. But when he tried, all he got was a sore snout.

The human—
his
human—returned and picked the cage back up. Bill was disappointed by the wave of relief that washed over him. Together they climbed the steps to the box, and the human opened it and went inside. The interior was washed with white light. Bill blinked. More cages. The human unlatched Bill's and ushered him into a larger one. There was a vessel of food on the floor, and water dripped from some kind of suspended container, attached to the walls of the cage. Bill offered an unconvincing snarl in return as the human locked the new cage and walked away.

Bill hadn't had anything approaching a real meal in days, so maybe his taste was distorted, but the water was warm but clean, the food dry but surprisingly tasty. He dug in.

When the food was all gone and the resulting fog of gratitude lifted, he took stock of his surroundings. The white room was lined with cages containing animals of all stripes and sizes. Most were snoozing or otherwise silent. Bill recognized the quiet from other dull, desperate situations. He didn't expect instant camaraderie, just felt like making his presence known.

“Uh, does anybody know where we are?” he asked.

“Hi, Bill!” said a chipper voice.

Bill's head shot up. There, in the cage directly across from him, was Elena.

BILL'S BRAIN WENT
blank for a moment, as white and empty as the long bright light that ran the length of the room's ceiling. As the daze faded, his focus zoomed in on Elena's tiny face, squeezed between the bars of her cage and seemingly unscathed.

“Elena, you're alive!”

“Oh, Bill, I'm so happy to see you!”

The familiar giddiness of her voice sent a spike of pleasure up Bill's spine. He couldn't believe it! Just when he thought all was lost, Elena was found. But what good was he to her now? How could he help if they were both in cages? Bill decided to leave that for later. Elena was alive and well. That was a good enough start.

“You wouldn't believe it, Elena,” Bill said. “I told the Elders we had to find you, so we left Cloud Kingdom. We've been all over the jungle. We got lost, we went over a waterfall, we found a human den, and then Felix . . . well, Felix's gone.”

Bill paused for a moment to catch his breath. “But I knew we'd find you, Elena. The humans caught me in the savanna, and for a second I thought it was all over, but here you are!”

“Here I am,” said Elena, smiling.

Bill wondered why she was in such good spirits. Luke's account of human imprisonment had been dark and brutal, but Elena didn't seem injured or mistreated. Maybe she was too young to realize the danger she was in; maybe she didn't know what the humans were after.

He pressed on, babbling with relief. “Don't worry, we're going to get out of here. I promised your family I would get you back, and I stand by my promises. I don't care how many cages they trap us in, we're getting out of here, and then we'll bring the rest of the Teddycats someplace safe. You'll see, Elena. Things are looking up!”

“Okay, Bill,” she said.

He had forgotten how young Elena was. She was just a baby. Still, there were things he needed to know from her.

“I have to ask you some questions, Elena,” he said, his voice slower and softer. “How long have you been here?”

“I fell down!” Elena said.

“I know! I was there. Boy, that was scary! I'm so glad you're okay. Now, have the humans been giving you enough to eat?”

“The food here is good!” Elena said.

“Yeah, it's not half bad, is it?” Bill murmured.

He wasn't getting a lot of useful information, but he decided to try one last time. The first step toward escape was figuring out the humans' schedule. “Speaking of that, when do the humans bring the food and water? Think really hard, Elena. When do they go to sleep?”

Elena looked confused.

“Okay,” Bill said. There would be more time to pry. Maybe too much time. “Never mind that for now. Do you have any friends here?”

“Of course she does,” said a low, loopy voice.

Bill twisted his head, hopeful yet wary. “Who said that?”

HENRI WAS A
hulking spider monkey with a wise tenor that reminded Bill of Felix. His tail curled up behind him, instinctively looped around an invisible branch. As the longest-serving facility inmate, he organized a mini-orientation so Bill could meet the others.

“All right now,” Henri said. “When I say your name, introduce yourself to our new friend.”

There was a general clucking of consent.

“Duffy,” said Henri.

Silence.

“
Duffy
,” Henri said again.

“He's sleeping,” another voice said.

“He was just up,” said Henri, annoyed.

The voice dropped to a whisper. “I think he's narcoleptic.”

“Duffy!”

Henri had a stern caretaker's shout, the kind that bolted through the air like lightning. Bill had been on the receiving end of more than a few of those.

“Who?” a new voice said. “What?”

“Say something about yourself,” said Henri.

Duffy was a sloth, sweet and slow. The whispering gossip was Miguel, a small frog, apologetically poisonous and rippled with wild colors. There was also Vic, a sneering vampire bat; a snooty ocelot named Edgar; and finally, Coco, an aloof macaw.

At last it was Bill's turn to break the ice.

“Well, I don't really know where to begin,” Bill said. “Elena was snatched by a human, and a gang of us formed a search party. I had just about given up when I was snatched myself, and here we are, reunited at last.”

“Funny how that works out,” Henri said. “Allow me to extend a warm welcome.”

“Thanks,” Bill said. “But I won't be here long. Elena and I are going to bust out.”

The other animals laughed.

“Good luck to you both,” Henri said, after the screeching and hooting subsided.

“So what kind of place is this?” Bill asked, ignoring the sarcasm. “Elena wasn't able to tell me much.”

“She hasn't been here long,” Henri said. “And they've treated her well so far. But . . .”

“But what?”

“Well, we've all got something the humans want. Once you figure out what that is, the writing's on the wall. Some of us are exotic pets. Others are trophies. Others possess properties that could be used as weapons.”

“Sorry!” Miguel said.

“And some of us are simply rare,” Edgar said. “The stuff of legends.”

Bill nodded. “I've heard some stories,” he said softly. “We lost another Teddycat, Jack, to the humans. We think they were after his claws.” He gulped, fighting back a roil of deep unease. His limbs felt light, out of his control. “They probably pulled 'em right out.”

“I'm sorry to hear that,” Henri said. “And I'm sorry for your loss.”

“They want to extract my poison and put it in a dart!” Miguel said.

“I fell asleep,” Duffy said, “and when I woke up, I was here.”

“Yes, we know the story,” said Coco.

“You might want to find a new one,” said Edgar, more resigned than cruel.

“There's no escape,” Vic hissed. His teeth were frightful, fang-like and too large for his face. “Once the humans have you, you belong to them. They'll lock you in a cage, chop you up, cook you in a stew. They'll cut off
your horns, hooves, or tusks and grind 'em into powder.”

“That's enough,” said Henri, his voice another bolt of lightning. “You know, Vic, at a certain point it just becomes counterproductive.”

“I'm simply schooling the boy,” Vic said, retreating into the private darkness of his folded wings.

“No, I need to hear this,” Bill said. “I need to know everything.”

The animals told Bill what little they knew about their location in the jungle. Much of what they said felt fused with the fears they had already listed: The humans were ransacking the jungle, seeking game and gold, hunting and collecting.

“Your man Jack,” Henri said. “He's the clue. What the humans did, they'll do to you.”

“The humans came into our cave with burning sticks,” Vic said. “Many of us choked to death on the smoke, while a few fled out into the light and right into their trap. I am the only one who survived transport. Some, like Henri, believe that I should not tell you these truths. But these truths are all we have.”

Henri sighed. “Thank you, Vic.”

OTHER THAN THE
unknowns of their ultimate fate, every other aspect of this human site seemed to run like clockwork. Food and water was replenished every
day, at approximately the same time. Of course the notion of time itself had become a bit slippery, with long stretches of bright, artificial light dulling the animals' instincts and abilities. There was only one window, small and mostly blocked by brush. Only hints of daylight scratched through, and nothing at night.

Some of the animals seemed squarely institutionalized, in thrall to their captors, just as Bill's father had warned. Duffy was a prime example. He was fat and happy, completely at home in his cage. Bill feared that Elena might lean this way. She was young and forgetful, easily influenced and open to suggestion, too young to judge motives or character. After all, she had followed Bill down from Cloud Kingdom. Now he needed her to follow him once more.

At night, the light clicked off without warning. One by one, the animals dropped off into a deep, almost artificial sleep. The room was cold and lonely. Duffy's snores rattled their cages. Bill bid Elena good night, but he could tell she was already dreaming. So he curled up, wondering how Luke, Omar, and Diego were doing. For all he knew the humans had gotten them, too, taken them to another site. Or maybe they were still out there, dying of thirst in the middle of the savanna. Or maybe they were leading the humans straight to Cloud Kingdom.

Bill was tired and afraid. His head ached. The mission as first imagined—sneaking into the humans' camp, breaking into and out of multiple cages, busting
out Elena without detection—now seemed laughable. The humans had the speed, strength, and motive to demolish Cloud Kingdom in a matter of hours. They could lock every Teddycat in a cage, imprison the entire species, or just ransack the place, plucking claws one by one at their leisure.

He had to warn the others. But first, he needed to escape. Well, before even that he needed a good night's rest. Hopefully his predicament wouldn't seem so dire in the morning. He curled up and tried to sleep.