Chapter 5

Junhong woke up the next morning to a ray of sun blinding him in the eye. He groaned, lifting a paw to cover his face, feeling like he’d barely slept an hour. He eventually gave up on sleep, and groggily got up, stretching his limbs (something he had come to love doing since becoming a cat). He trotted over to the dumpster, jumping up to glance in. However, it was empty, and Junhong immediately started panicking. Had the alley cat abandoned him, with no intention to help him, after all?

However, his panic was short-lived, because minutes later the alley cat returned. He gave Junhong a cursory look, then trotted towards the fence dividing the alleyway in half.

“Ready, kid?” he called over his shoulder, causing Junhong to scrambled to catch up.

They travelled for what seemed like ages, leaving the busy, populated part of the city and travelling into quieter, suburban neighborhoods. Once they’d passed the neighborhoods of large houses, unhong’s nose started twitching. A new scent drifted through the air, and he paused for a second to fully take it in. The alley cat glanced behind him, and noting Junhong’s reaction, remarked, “That’s the facility smell. Well, a bit of it, anyways. If that bothers you, you’re outta luck.”

Junhong just wrinkled his nose and continued on without complaint, because he recalled the cat saying that he wouldn’t go any further once they started smelling their destination. He wasn’t about to remind his guide of this.

However, it wasn’t long before they stopped, and the alley cat turned to him. “You smell that?” he started, to which Junhong put his nose in the air and immediately regretted the long sniff he took. The scent had magnified at some point, though Junhong hadn’t realized until now.

“That’s the smell you want to follow. I ain’t going any further,” he muttered. He his tail and bounded away, turning only to give Junhong one last remark. “Kid, good luck. You’ll need it in that damn place. Nothing good ever happens there.” With that, he disappeared.

Junhong gulped, but kept going, following the scent that rapidly became unbearable. It took him through a barren field (which to him, seemed ominous) and through a line of trees that sloped into a gentle hill. On the other side of the hill the trees stopped abruptly, giving way to a high fence, behind which was a stone wall. It reminded Junhong of a prison, and he shuddered to think what could possibly happen in there that would require such a heavy stone wall. From his angle, he could see the pure white building it protected. It looked ordinary, like any other building, except for the large tower that rose up through the middle. On closer inspection, Junhong realized that it wasn’t a tower, but instead some sort of rod.

Junhong circled the entire facility, trying to find some way in. He found a small hole in the fencing, just big enough for him to slip through, but that’s as far as he got. The only entrance through the giant wall was a giant metal door he’d spotted on the far side, and it looked like the only way in or out was through a marked vehicle, which he’d spotted leaving.

He figured his best bet would be to wait for a car to come by, then sneak through the gate with it, so he settled himself down next to the gate, hidden by the dry grass and weeds that were growing along the wall.

Junhong ended up dozing off; the sun’s warmth had lulled him to sleep, and he was only pulled out of it by the sound of an engine approaching. He blinked awake, noting that the sun was no longer shining on him, blocked by the wall, which meant quite some time had passed.

He studied the large truck as it passed the fence and approached the wall. After a minute of waiting, Junhong practically felt the vibrations of the gate as they swung inwards. Taking the chance, he scampered in as the truck drove through, flinching only slightly when the large door slammed shut behind the truck.

He was in.

Junhong scanned the area around him, and watched as the truck stopped in front of the white building. He ran over and hid under the truck. He watched as the door opened to reveal two people dressed in all white, and looking an awful lot like the scientists he’d seen in movies. The driver got out of the truck and opened the back, and the three proceeded to unload the items.

Junhong waited until the coast was clear before slipping in the door, though he jumped at the sound of the metal gate opening, signaling that someone was entering the complex again. He hurriedly disappeared inside, not wanting to get caught by the newcomers.

He wandered the corridors for a while, which weren’t as light as he’d expected them to be; considering the bright white of the exterior, he’d expected the interior to have a similar bright white theme going on. Instead, the hallways were dim, with dimmer embedded on the walls rather than typical fluorescent lights on the ceiling.

He was expecting to run into people, but luck seemed to be on his side; not once did he come across anyone. However, this only made him more nervous. He also had yet to find anything that wasn’t corridor. Were there no rooms or offices in this complex? He knew he was getting more and more lost the more turns he made onto various hallways; this place was a maze. Every so often when he turned a corner he spied little knobs jutting out of the wall, just above his head. He had no idea what they were for, but he didn’t swell on it.

He probably spent a good half hour just walking around trying to find ANYTHING. Perhaps he should have waited and followed one of those people at the entrance. They clearly knew where they were going.

After some time, Junhong’s ears picked up sound coming from his left; someone was coming. He huddled into a corner, hoping the shadows would conceal him, and waited. He would follow whoever this person was.

It wasn’t long before the person arrived; it turned out to be the man who’d initially opened the doors to the facility. He was carrying a large box, and Junhong could tell he was straining from the weight. After the man passed, he followed quietly. After a few expert turns, they arrived at what looked like the center of the maze; there were at least four hallways leading to this place. At the center, however, was two elevators. They were transparent, other than a thick black strip which reached the man’s knee, that ran around the bottom of each elevator.

The elevator dinged and opened, and Junhong followed the man in, thanking whoever was