I Unintentionally Became Her Kitten

Chapter 42: The Rat’s Tongue

It was a shock when she brought us out to the garage and opened the Mercai’s door herself. I went to the passenger side and got in as she started it and clicked a button up on the visor. The garage door behind us began opening. She wasn’t waiting for security this time. I sat quietly as she backed out and turned the car around to drive down the long driveway. She also drove very fast down this road, and still down the rural back roads until we hit a more suburban area, where she slowed to the speed limit.

I watched the world go by and saw the city start to crop up around us, and then we left it again.

We were going in the same direction as the distribution facility, I realized. Maybe someone had stolen something again… but it hadn’t been treated with so much urgency last time… maybe someone stole two boxes of cocaine rather than one.

She pulled into the familiar building, the guard opening the gate for her without question. Once parked she turned to me.

“Open the glove compartment,” she directed.

I did so and it eased down gradually on some kind of mechanism that kept it from flopping around freely. Inside were the typical insurance papers and a manual but also an ordinary looking cardboard box.

“Take that,” she told me and I did so, finding it surprisingly heavy. She took it from me and used a nail to break the tape seal and pulled the box open.

I swallowed at the sheen of black metal there that she pulled out and offered to me.

“Just in case,” she explained.

My hand trembled a little as I took it from her, my fingers curling around the barrel gingerly. I didn’t know how guns worked. I mean I did, but not really. There were more parts than barrel, grip and trigger and I didn’t know what they did or what they were there for.

“You shouldn’t need to use it but I don’t know how long before Tye gets here and I don’t know if there’s going to be a hostile. I don’t want you in a situation where you can’t defend yourself. Do you understand?”

I nodded.

“It should have six rounds so you have six shots before it locks.”

I nodded again and let the weight press against my hand. There wasn’t really anywhere for me to put it. It was small but heavy, far heavier than I expected. 

Alisha got out first and waited as I climbed out, feeling incredibly unsure.

She took the gun from me again and turned me around, giving the waistband of my pants a tug.

The metal was cold as it pressed against my back and she pulled my shirt down over it so it was out of sight.

“There,” she said. “I know it’s uncomfortable but it’s only temporary.”

It was uncomfortable. The metal dug into my skin at the base of my spine where there was the least amount of fat and muscles to cushion it. I knew Alisha carried her gun in her purse and that would’ve been far preferable but I didn’t have a purse and my pockets weren’t big enough for a firearm.

She gave me an intense look as I turned around. There was definitely concern there. “Kitten,” she said.

I nodded, listening, keeping my eyes on hers. They were such a pretty grey-blue I wanted to let myself sink back into sappiness and loving her but there was a tension in her expression I knew was serious.

“This is not going to be pleasant. Do you understand?”

I nodded. I didn’t understand what was wrong. 

“If someone gets too close to you and I’m preoccupied, don’t be afraid to draw your weapon.”

I nodded again, feeling the metal bite against my spine.

“If someone asks you who you are, tell them you’re with me.”

I kept nodding, unsure of what else to say.

“And if you see too much… turn away but stay close, okay?”

“Okay,” I answered, with another nod.

She patted my head one last time before turning to walk toward the building’s entrance.

The guard just inside the door immediately pointed to the right and she stopped.

“Outside?” she asked.

“Against the outer wall,” he explained. His voice was deep and sank into every inch of this place. “They pulled a truck around to block the view.”

“Thank you,” Alisha said and turned us back around to go back out and follow the wall of the building until we rounded the corner.

There was a full truck there. The kind that delivered to large stores and warehouses.

I followed Alisha as she stepped over a thin median full of greenery into this other paved area I recognized as a turnaround for large vehicles. There was a smaller van type parked to obstruct the view from this angle as well. We went around it and it wasn’t until we had gotten around the front of the other truck that I understood why.

A man was slumped against the wall. Part of me denied he was dead at first, he could just be sleeping, but the blood was pooled beneath him, every inch of his front soaked with it. It looked like the bottom half of his face had been painted bright red, but it was all blood.

I could smell it once we were closer and stopped once I started to be able to see detail. There was no sign of a bullet hole that I could see.

Alisha glanced back at me and gave me a nod of approval as I went to stay closer against the wall. My stomach wasn’t doing good things, especially as the smell started to sink into my nose and mouth.

She continued on and a security guard hurried over from the truck bed and offered her a box of gloves.

She accepted a pair wordlessly and pulled her hair back into a quick bun before pulling them on. The guard spotted me and looked warily but he must’ve gathered I was with Alisha since he let it go and took a few paces back so Alisha had room to work.

She scrutinized the scene, moving her purse higher on her shoulder. The man looked a bit familiar to me somehow. I wasn’t sure why until I saw his left hand and the bandages encasing the stubs of two fingers.

This was the cocaine thief. But Alisha had spared him, there was no reason for him to get killed.

Alisha stepped into his blood, making my stomach a little more queasy as it held the impression of her foot as she stepped closer to the body, crouching down next to him.

The guard was watching over the scene uneasily and I noticed never made a move to come closer to me. Alisha made sure she was always somewhat between us even as she did her investigation, putting her gloved fingers against the guys neck. I felt it was pretty obvious he was gone. The blood loss alone was concerning but he was also uncomfortably still. No breathing. He was simply gone.

Alisha determined this as well and moved on to search through his clothes, red smears and smudges quickly covering her hands and forearms, past where the gloves protected. She didn’t flinch away from this, a determination to her movements as she pulled out a cellphone, also drenched and attempted to turn it on before tossing it vaguely in my direction. It spattered against the ground as it skittered across the pavement to a stop meter or so from my feet.

I swallowed again, looking at it. It almost looked like it had been dropped in a vat of raspberry sauce. 

She finished up with his clothes, pulling out a wallet as well and tossing it aside with the phone. Then she reached up to hold his face, turning it this way and that before finally forcing her fingers into his mouth. She pried it open, the muscles not cooperating with her and something slimy slithered out. She ignored it and opened the mouth wider, checking for something before turning her attention to the object.

More bile rose in my throat as she picked it up. At first I thought it was just congealed blood but saw a tail hanging down and a few whiskers stood out, bits of red clinging to them.

A rat, I realized. Someone had shoved a rat into this guy's mouth after doing whatever they did to make him bleed so much.

Alisha sighed and stood carefully, dropping the rat back to the ground.

She pulled the gloves off as she stepped out of the puddle and back onto clean pavement, though her shoes tracked dark smears with her. 

Then she pulled out her phone to send a few texts and then looked at me. Footsteps came from behind and I glanced up to see Tye hurrying over, not quite jogging but not really walking either. 

Alisha gave him a nod as he came up beside me.

“Is it the same one?” he asked after a brief examination.

“Yes,” Alisha said and reached down to pick up the wallet and phone with a fresh glove and pulled it in exactly like I would pick up dog shit off the sidewalk.

Tye checked his pockets before offering her a ziptop bag and repeated the process so no blood would get transferred off the two objects.

“I let clean-up know already,” Alisha said. “They should be here soon but there’s nothing else for us here.”

“What was the cause of death?” Tye asked.

“Tongue replaced with a rat,” Alisha explained.

Tye nodded, grim. 

Alisha looked at me then. “Sorry, Kitten. This is graphic.”

I saw her hand start to move to pet me but she stopped herself.

“I need to clean up a bit and then we can check the tapes,” she said. She began walking back around to the front of the building. Tye and I followed without question. The guards inside didn’t question either as we escorted her to the bathroom, right next to the break room.

We waited outside. I heard the water running for a long while and the squelching sound of someone absolutely scrubbing their hands as hard as they could. She came out with her arms and hands both still damp.

There was more silence as we then went to that back security room and scooted the guards manning the station out to the hallway. Alisha sat in that same chair and tiredly pulled up the feeds, flicking through them one after the other. I gathered there was a blind spot where that man was found since she didn’t pull up that feed of the murder. The best shot she got was the man wandering around the building's corner with a cigarette in his mouth and a lighter in hand. Another individual rounded the corner but they were dressed all in black and had a hood up over their head. As Alisha traced him back through feeds and tapes, there was never a good angle for identifying him until he was off the property, having come in through the gate in a car with tinted windows. Alisha looked at Tye and he left briefly, returning with the guard who was watching the gate.

All Alisha had to do was point to the image.

“It’s Daniel’s car,” the guard said. “I didn’t ask him to open the window.”

And then Alisha pulled up a second image of the hooded individual.

“Does that look like Daniel?” she asked.

He shook his head, looking anxious.

“Alright,” Alisha turned back to the screen and waved Tye and him off again. I saw the guard’s shoulders slump with relief as he was released back to his post.

Alisha’s body was taught until Tye came back.

“We should find Daniel, too,” she said. “If someone took his car he might be dead.”

Tye nodded. “Do you want to drop these off to Jess first?” he asked, still holding the bloody bag.

“Mm,” she agreed and began deleting video files.

Tye waited patiently. I stayed on my little office chair feeling the gun digging into my back if I tried getting more comfortable.

Alisha finished dumping the files from the past few hours and stood, finally pulling her hair free of its bun. She also opened a cabinet under the table area. There was a computer chugging away down there, audibly running its fan loudly in the tight space. She reached down and pulled something free, coming back with what looked like an external hard drive and slid it into her purse before reaching back down there and plugging in another one to replace it.

The backup, I figured.

She turned and I got up, taking it as a signal we were moving again. Tye stayed close as she walked down the narrow hall.

I probably should've stayed home, I realized. My stomach was still uneasy even if the morbid curiosity had kept me from tearing my eyes away.

Note: My updates might start getting sporadic as there has been some life things going on. But I hope you still enjoy!