Here's 22.
Chapter 22
"Yeah. They do it to make room for more cats," Tortie explained. " You get 2 months, and if you aren't adopted in that time, you are put down."
"Well that's dumb! How are we supposed to get adopted if they kill us when we don't get adopted? It isn't our fault!" Nikki said exasperated.
"I know, but there's nothing you can do about it," Tortie sighed. "Until then, I'll just have to play with my toys." Nikki didn't reply, and just slinked away into the only cat tree.
The Next Morning
"Goodbye, Nikki," Tortie said between her tears.
"What's happening, Tortie," Nikki asked.
"Don't you remember? I'm getting put to sleep today!" she cried. They hugged each other for a long time, until the human approached the room, just as Tortie had anticpated.
"Hide!" Nikki warned.
"No," Tortie protested sadly. "There's no use. They'll find me anyway. There's no escaping my fate."
Nikki got in front of Tortie, and swatted and hissed at the human. However, he only bumped her with the net, picked up Tortie, and walked into a room down the hall.
"Tortie!" Nikki cried. Tortie didn't answer.
The human closed the door behind him. Nikki could still see all of the activity that was going on. He closed the curtains to it, so that no one could see inside, but Nikki could still hear and smell the stuff that was going on. She began to hear a strange, breathing noise- but it sounded- mechanical, like it was coming from a gas mask or something. Soon after, she smelled an odd smell, she couldn't describe it. She felt somewhat woozy, but was wide awake still. She heard a cry from Tortie- and that was it. The strange breathing noise stopped, and the smell slowly went away. The realization of what had just happened finally hit her.
"Tortie! TORTIE!!!" she cried, but it was useless. Tortie was already gone. The gas had already put her into the nap that would never end.
A month and a half passed. She didn't have much time left, but Nikki didn't care. She had lost interest in her life weeks ago. There was no one to keep her company, no one who loved her. The times she saw the humans were when they refilled her food and water, and changed the litter in the box she never used. She knew she was never going to see her friends again.
But one day, a human came up to her room. It was a young boy, about 4, who was pointing and whining- at Nikki? A worker then showed up, unlocked her room, and the boy came in. The worker and the woman with the boy stayed outside talking in their gibberish.
The boy approached loudly, and tried to grab Nikki. Being a feral cat by nature, she was very skittish and hid away in a corner. Suddenly, the boy grabbed her tail and yanked it towards him.
"Watch it, buddy," Nikki warned, swatting at the boy. He ignored her, most likely as her voice only came out in a meow, and grabbed her abdomen.
"That's it," Nikki shouted, jumping onto the boy's face and attacking him. He immediately began crying, while the worker and lady stopped talking, ran over to the boy, and yanked her off of his face.
"Hey, Rainforest," Nikki cried out to a parrot in the birds section that she could see.
"Yeah," he replied.
"Could you read this red paper for me," she requested. Nikki and Rainforest were quite fond of each other.
"It says,
DANGEROUS CAT: DO NOT APPROACH. Is to be put to sleep tomorrow for viciousness and aggression," he read.
To be continued