Strange Life of a Cat

Zheng Tan woke up to the disturbance of an intense turbulence, trampling, and cries of cats.

The effects of the drug had not completely worn off. When Zheng Tan opened his eyes he was still in a state of trance, not knowing where he was.

Beneath him was not the soft couch at the Jiaos’, instead he was surrounded by unfamiliar smells, panic and anxiety drifting in the air. Sounds of scolding mingled with cat cries caused a stir that made Zheng Tan’s head ache.

Bang!

Cages and cages full of cats were placed on the shelves.

Zheng Tan was tread on by other cats in the same cage a few times.

This time he was really awake.

He opened his eyes and looked around. This was a small room filled with the odor of urine and blood. Zheng Tan could see some steel cages and some makeshift bamboo and wooden cages on the shelf opposite him.

Zheng Tan moved his ears and was able to hear the dogs bark from next door. The dogs were barking louder than the cats.

He sighed, his body was still weak but it was alright to stand and move around.

The other cats in the cage was all robust, some even belonged to exotic cat breeds. Their furs were quite clean and had some luster to it, many had collars and pet tags around their neck. They all had good appearances.

With regards to Zheng Tan waking up, the cats in the cage didn’t pay any attention to him. Domesticated cats, especially those cats that had been kept for many years and had gained some intellectual spirituality, knew what awaited them.

Outside this room was a restaurant, the entire street was filled with this kind of restaurant and cuisine.

Nevertheless, even if they were intelligent they were no match for the humans, unable to find ways to save themselves in times of danger and could only cry. Perhaps they were stretching their luck, hoping that their owners could hear them.

Zheng Tan scanned through the number of cats in the cage. Most were not stray cats, despite their dirty fur and collars around their neck, Zheng Tan could spot the difference in the eyes of strays and domestic cats.

He looked at the cage again, on the good side, the lock was not complex, it was not the type of copper locks that needed a key. After all, a large iron lock or a small copper lock for each cage among the vast number of cages would be far too troublesome. Those cages made out of bamboo or wood had latched up locks.

Some cats extended their paws to pull at the locks of the cages, but since they were not too bright and not every cat had undergone the type of training Fatty did, no matter how they pulled at it, they still weren’t able to unlock the cage. This was nowhere near the window locks at home, to open these locks required some strength, the latches were tightly bolted so that ordinary cats wouldn’t be able to unlatch it.

This was effortless to Zheng Tan, however he was unsure when those traffickers would come in. According to reason, they had just come in to count the numbers and wouldn’t return again in a short time, but it’s always no loss to be careful since this was a matter of life and death.

There were no cameras installed in here, which was reasonable. Who would waste their money to install a camera in this kind of slum?

Zheng Tan stretched his ears out and listened attentively. There were footsteps walking to and fro and the sound of human talking outside the door. Zheng Tan found the voices familiar, he had heard them when he was in a daze and unconscious.

As the footsteps walked off into the distance, Zheng Tan pushed aside the cat at the cage opening and gave it a slap. That cat was bad tempered, snarling it’s teeth at Zheng Tan, but after suffering from that slap it moved away unwillingly.

Zheng Tan came to the opening and looked at the latch. It was the size of an adult’s pinky and needed to be turned an angle to unbolt.

He stuck his hands outside the cage, his paws turned when he touched the iron latch, with claws hooked onto the iron latch’s handle, he turned it up ninety degrees and pulled it to the left.

Due to the slap that Zheng Tan struck on the cat that was blocking the opening, the other cats in the cage all kept a distance from Zheng Tan. For that reason when Zheng Tan unlatched the cage and slipped out of the cage, he was able to lock it again before other cats pushed over.

It was not because Zheng Tan didn’t want to save them, he needed some time to observed the surrounding. He didn’t want to beat the grass and frighten the snakes away if he let those chaps out, it would damage his chance of escaping.

Seeing that Zheng Tan was out, the cats in the cages began a new round of cries. Some cats extended their claws to attempt to hook on the latch, but all was in vain.

Taking a deep breath, Zheng Tan examined about, then jumped up to the door and pulled at the door lock. It was locked, it was impossible to escape through the doors.

Other than the door, there was also a casement window in the small room. Wooden frames that had some cracks and the paint was flaking off so severely that he couldn’t able to identify it’s original color. The window was tightly shut, the bolt was in place. With the dust in the cracks, the iron rust on the blot and the stain smeared on the glass, it looked like it hadn’t been opened for a long time, only the center of the glass could still see the situation outside.

Zheng Tan walked over on the shelves, leaned against the window and took a look.

Outside the window was a narrow concrete road, the houses on this row had its’ back against the houses on the other side of the road. Only the back of the houses open up to this road. There were some large plastic bins on the side of the roads, piled with garbage that spilled over. In spite of being wrapped by plastic bags, you could still see some severed limbs, discarded carcasses and internal organs exposed, there were many flies that lingered above it.

Even when he had mentally prepared himself for this, when he really saw it, Zheng Tan could not help but shiver.

If he wasn’t able to wake up, in a few hours or at most a few days time, would he also become like that? His corpse disassembled or his skin stripped off and his bones removed?

However, now was not the time to become emotional, even if he had many doubts about his captivity, he needed to hold them down and concentrate on escaping.

Zheng Tan pulled at the window bolt. After being left unopened for a long time, the resistance from the iron rusts on the bolt and the fact that Zheng Tan had not fully recovered his strength, made it so it took some effort to open up the window.

It was around two or three in the afternoon, the sky was overcast and looked like it was about to rain. There was no one on the road.

Zheng Tan flipped out of the window, he was about to shut the window to prevent anyone from noticing the oddity, but after some thought, he left it open since he will return later and it would become inconvenient.

The room beside the room where the cats were locked was for the dogs, luckily that room’s window was open to let some air flow. Since dogs were unable to jump like cats, even if they were out of the cages they couldn’t slip out of the window.

There was no one inside, only the sound of cages and cages of dogs barking and biting at each other.

Just when Zheng Tan opened the window and looked in, a large terrier looked up at the window and saw Zheng Tan.

“Woof woof woof woof woof!”

Shut the f*ck up! Zheng Tan scratched his ears.

Dogs and cats were treated quite differently, some cages had a number of dogs crowded in there, some big in size and some fierce ones get their own cage.

The dog breeds ranged from small terriers like Pomeranian and Pekinese to larger ones like mutts, black backed, all sorts were available.

He wanted to open the cages, but it was hard to achieve.

It was not the issue with the locks, the cages in here were also mainly latched and bayonet locked, not too difficult to unlock.

The mutts crowed in some low cages, the narrow body of the cage made them unable to stand. They didn’t call out either, it seemed that they were not in a good psychological state, but Zheng Tan didn’t dare to open the cages unprepared. Who knew if those dogs would take a bite at him when they came out?

As for those that were barking in exultation, their eyes looked like they wanted to sink their teeth into him.

What should I do?

Zheng Tan looked around until finally his line of sight fell onto a thin iron bar left on one of the shelves. The front tip of the iron bar was sharpened and still had blood stains on it, there were also some ropes and iron wires next to it.

Zheng Tan entered the room, the dogs around him made him nervous. Many dogs had ferocious spirits, bellows came from their throat as they calculated how to tear Zheng Tan up.

Zheng Tan dragged the iron bar over and wrapped the wires around the bar, forming a loop of wire. Then he held the stick in his two hands and moved around while standing on his hind legs. Although it was quite difficult, it was not unmanageable if he walked slowly.

On the top of the shelf were placed some clubs and other pounding instruments, all covered in blood. Zheng Tan carefully walked on the top, the intense smell of blood making him almost vomit. Standing on top of the shelves, even if he opened the cages the dogs couldn’t do anything to Zheng Tan as they were unable to jump that high.

Zheng Tan lowered the stick next to the latch on the cage, the circular wire attached hooked onto the latch. He lifted the stick, turning the latch and then pulled it to the side.

With a clang, the gate of the cage was opened, the small dogs inside ran out and searched around for an exit.

Zheng Tan didn’t care to much about them, he continued to unlock the cages, The bayonet locked ones were easier to unlock, a few pokes and pulls would unlock it. Other than the lifting of sticks being tiresome, after few cages Zheng Tan had became an expert, opening them faster and faster.

However, if someone enters through the room at that moment, Zheng Tan would throw away the gadgets and flee, escape before all things.

Opening up all the cages, Zheng Tan didn’t linger any longer. The barking of dogs were too loud, some ferocious dogs had signs of going crazy, and the noises in there would easily attract the attention of those outside.

Jumping out the window, Zheng Tan returned to the room where the cats were locked. The window was left open, the cats all fled through the window.

After unlocking the last cage, Zheng Tan heard loud yelling from people outside. Clearly, the escaping cats from here had been discovered.

Zheng Tan rushed out the window, there was no shortcut nearby that he could immediately escape to. The residents around this place, even if they didn’t own a restaurant, they would still not let the cats slip away easily. Zheng Tan didn’t dare to hide here, he ran away as far as possible. There was only one thought his mind: escape this alleyway, escape from this place that had signs “xx hotpot” “xx cat meat/ dog meat/ rabbit meat cuisine “.

As Zheng Tan occupied himself with escaping, the young man that caught Zheng Tan was talking to a fifty-years old man.

“Uncle Gan, you had a great harvest this time.” The youngster passed him a cigarette and said.

The person that was referred to as “Uncle Gan” took the cigarette and lit it, he sucked a mouthful and answered: “Nothing much, not worth talking about.”

Uncle Gan was quite well-known in this area, he belonged to the earlier batch of people who caught dogs and stole cats, and had made a fortune from this. The younger generations learnt their skills off Uncle Gan, although not without a cost attached of course, they had to pay him tributes.

The youngster also learned from Uncle Gan, including the use of tranquilizers. He followed Uncle Gun on a number of dog hunting trips, his techniques were quite mature. Since he was a fast learner, he had done quite some jobs and earned a lot. Due to the SARS last year, he had also fallen into a low time for some period, but now he began to recover and busily started fishing for money.

“You could earn at least a hundred thousand a year, right?” Uncle Gan asked. Although it was a question, it was affirmative. He knew these things in this area plainly.

The young man smiled and didn’t answer immediately, he took an object out and showed it to Uncle Gan.

“Tranquilizer?” Uncle Gan gave a careless look, “looks alright, a little small, not too interesting and does have that texture in hand. These type of syringes are not easy to obtain either…Judging by the dose of this syringe, did you use it on a dog or a person?”

The young man laughed: “On a cat.”

Uncle Gan raised his brows, “Quite an accomplishment, used this to get a cat!”

His tone was filled with dismay. Uncle Gan always felt that cats were a stupid type of animal, their curious hunting nature could kill themselves, that’s what made them so easy to catch.

The youngster didn’t pay any heed to the sarcasm in Uncle Gan’s voice, “That cat was not a easy catch, it just won’t bite the bait. If I wasn’t in a hurry back, I wouldn’t have needed to use this. This trip with my uncle to the central cities, I got this tranquilizer as well as a BMQ to play around with.”

The young man said things that were false and true, as to how much money he had obtained from the last job he did, he didn’t mention a single word, if he said it he was bound to be forced to give him some.

Uncle Gan hummed, not treating the words of the youngster as truth. He paused for a second then said: ” I am heading out tomorrow for a big one, you interested?”

“Where to?” The young man asked.

Uncle Gan pointed west.

The young fellow fell silent. Although he did catch dogs and steal cats, and sometimes took jobs from a middle person and had beat some people up, but….he had never done illegal hunting before.

After he finished a cigarette, the young man threw the cigarette butt onto the floor and trampled on it with the tip of his shoe.

“Fine! This time let me broaden my horizon with Uncle Gan!”

Just as he finished speaking, he heard a fellow hurrying out from the shop, his arm dripping with blood….

“The dogs ran away! The cats as well, we’re done!!!”

Their shop was a restaurant and did wholesale business as well. Someone came and wanted to buy dogs, so the staff led him to see the dogs. Before he had reached the storeroom he heard that a business’s cats had fled, and was secretly giggling inside, but when he walked to the door and heard strange barking, he became perturbed. When he opened up the door, a big dog ran straight at him, if he didn’t react fast his arm would be gone.

When the young man heard what the staff said, his heart sank and he immediately ran over to check the situation out. He took two steps and turned to look at Uncle Gan. He hadn’t said a thing, and watched Uncle Gan dragging the dog catching tools from his truck.

“Let’s go, my hands are itching for a slaying, I can lend a hand to you guys. Those bastards are so restless.” Uncle Gan’s words were careless, but had a sense of crazy and cruel intention to kill.

Zheng Tan had no idea what was happening over at the restaurant, he only concentrated on running. However, he had used too much energy while opening the cages and the effects of the drugs hadn’t completely worn off yet, and soon he felt a wave of tiredness suddenly hit him head on.

Misfortunes never come singly.

The people behind him rode motorcycles and drove cars, catching the dogs and cats that had escaped on the way. It was not only that restaurant, other people on the street had joined the action.

The desperate cries of dogs, the sound of clubs hitting, they tortured Zheng Tan’s eardrums.

All Zheng Tan wanted to do right now was to leave this street, this “den of monsters” like place, but his feet stopped working, his heart no longer in pace. Before he fell down, Zheng Tan almost crawled into a corner.

This counts as out of the street, but listening the sound of footsteps that ran towards him, Zheng Tan scorned at the uselessness of god in such a situation. After a few deep breaths, he planned to dig into the rubbish pile on the corner to hideout when he recovers, although he was extremely unwilling, nothing was more important than saving his life.

Just when he crawled up and prepared to dive into the rubbish pile, a white figure appeared at the corner.

A few young men had nets, sacks and iron clubs in their hands, catching the escaped pets along the road. There were no family on the street that kept pets, so any cats and dogs they saw they caught, or they would give it a beating, it didn’t matter if they were dead or alive.

As they passed the corner, the young men saw a great Pyrenees squatting near the rubbish dump. Despite them catching every dog they set their eyes on, this one they didn’t dare to catch. It was a familiar face, owned by the child of a rich boss, they lived around here and not on this street.

They took another look at the great Pyrenees that squatted there snaring at them, and left. This big buddy always had poor attitudes to the people on this street.

After they left, a seventeen or eighteen years old girl rode past on her foldable bicycle, she waved her hands towards here, “Yujian, let’s go!”

“Woof!”

The great Pyrenees answered, it looked at Zheng Tan who was shielded inside then followed her in a light jog.

The numbing sensation was only temporary, after resting for a while, Zheng Tan’s legs regained consciousness. Perhaps it was the effect of the drug, or the aftereffect of it’s usage, but now he felt much better.

Zheng Tan pondered, he looked at the great Pyrenees that was running into the distance and followed it. He’s currently extremely tired and need a place to rest his feet. A dog owner’s household probably don’t eat dog meat? And most likely won’t eat cat meat, right? Anyhow it would be much safer than the people around here, as long as he didn’t get caught by the head of the family it would be fine.