Chapter 4 The Arch

A half-hour later, Evernya crawled to the edge of the bed, reluctant to leave. This time Evernya paid extra attention to where her tail was as she hopped off the bed. Her gaze gravitated back toward the inviting dark green and black bed, but she forced herself out of the room with a monumental burst of mental strength.

As Evernya walked through the apartment, her mind wandered. Shouldn’t my tail lift in the air on its own, like a house cat? Apparently not, or I just haven’t gotten it to the point of being second nature yet. It’s hard to have to account for my tail with everything I do. My ears don’t bother me much at least, but that’s probably because it’s near-silent here. Anyway, onward to the next destination!

Evernya shoved the door to the apartment open with surprising ease. After glancing in both directions, she turned right down the hall to continue her journey.

After five minutes of walking down the hall, a weak compulsion to turn around attacked her mind. Why do I feel like I should stay away from this section? Evernya stopped for a moment, then took a few steps back as a test. An almost overwhelming feeling of relief descended upon her after she retreated a couple of meters. Evernya growled in anger as she spun on her heels toward the source. With a determined expression, Evernya trudged forward, ignoring the compulsion as best as she could. The need to turn around continued to strengthen as she marched down the hall.

A few minutes later, the hall opened up to reveal a giant vault door. Evernya stared up at the door, which was at least five meters tall and wide, made of black metal. Her eyes landed on the multi spoked wheel-like handle, as tall as she was. After finishing her observations, Evernya forced her way up to the door. Despite feeling an unnatural amount of unease, her curious side won out.

Evernya reached up to grab a spoke at chest height to open the door. Her thin arms strained, but the wheel refused to budge. Determined to succeed, the catgirl lifted her knees to her chest, bearing her full weight on the wheel. A grinding sound filled the hall as the wheel spun a quarter turn. Emboldened by her success, Evernya tried again, earning another quarter turn. Evernya continued to use her weight to spin the wheel until she heard a loud thunk after three full revolutions.

Evernya wiped the sweat dripping down her face with her trembling right arm as she stared up at the massive door. Luckily this side of the door doesn’t have a lock or opening it would be hopeless. I may be right about the lab being a bunker. This door is what I would put on a bunker.

The curious catgirl pulled with all her might, causing the door to open a few centimeters. Her ears flattened to protect themselves from the resulting ear piercing metal on metal screech. The screech reignited her headache, which Evernya embraced as it distracted her from the annoying compulsion weighing on her mind.

Evernya lasted only a minute before collapsing onto the concrete floor, exhausted with blood dripping from her ears. After another minute, her headache dissipated enough to think again. Her hands reached up to massage her sore ears, spreading a comforting warmth through her body as she rested her back against the wall.

Yeah, my ears are a lot more sensitive than human ears. I can see why my cats loved when I scratched them around their ears.

As she massaged her ears, she felt moisture. I think they may be bleeding now. Fantastic. I wish I had earplugs. Do they even make earplugs for my new ears? Somehow I doubt it.

After a few minutes, the ringing in her ears disappeared, allowing her to hear once more. With the disappearance of the ringing, the compulsion reasserted its domineering weight on her mind.

What is causing the need to turn around? I don’t hear anything on the other side, still as quiet as ever. Luckily I think I can squeeze through the gap I made. No need to torment my ears anymore. Evernya thought as she pushed back against the compulsion.

The young catgirl wiggled her body through the gap, just making it. One advantage of being small, I can squeeze through narrow places! Luckily, I’m not busty like my old body. Otherwise, that would have been quite an unpleasant experience. Though breasts squish, so I might have still made it through. Evernya thought as she stared down at the two mounds contained by a black sports bra.

Evernya then turned away from the door to investigate her surroundings, finding a long flight of stairs leading upward. As soon as Evernya faced the stairs, the compulsion blasted her with a potency several times stronger than before. On its own, her body turned back to the vault door.

Evernya shook her head while trembling in rage. With a growl, brightly glowing eyes and clenched fists, she spun toward the stairs and marched up, refusing to give in. Unfortunately, as Evernya ascended the stairs, the black bands that adorn her limbs and neck glowed with increased radiance.

At about halfway up the dozens of steps, her progress slowed as her body became sluggish, as if it weighed hundreds of kilograms. Despite the increased difficulty, Evernya pushed on, fueled by her anger. Three-quarters of the way up, her legs gave out, forcing her to crawl on her hands and knees. The last steps were a battle as she feebly crawled up with rapidly weakening muscles.

Finally, Evernya reached the top only to find a spacious open area with something bathing the room in white light. When her eyes landed on the blindingly bright white light, a couple dozen meters away, a fog she hadn’t noticed lifted from her mind. The Evernya’s eyes, which were growing dimmer by the second, instantly became frantic. She pushed her weakening body to the limit, crawling toward the light.

By the time she dragged herself close enough to see what the light was, Evernya could barely lift her arms. She stared at the arch, baffled. But somehow, she instinctively knew it was her way out. She used the last of her strength to reach out to the bright light that was still over ten meters away.

Far from her goal, Evernya’s hand fell limp on the gray concrete floor as her vision dimmed to black.

A few seconds later, three humanoid robots ascended the stairs, carrying a stretcher. They picked up the unconscious catgirl and strapped her to the stretcher. With their cargo secured, they descended back down the stairs and through the now gaping open vault door.

They continued to carry their charge down the hall, stopping in front of her hospital room. The door opened for them, allowing them to carry her into the room. After transplanting her on the bed, the robots left the room, taking the stretcher with them, leaving no evidence they were ever there.

Evernya awakened twelve hours later. Her eyes sprang open as she rocketed up to a seated position, frantically scanning the room. The events leading to her passing out played through her mind. Tears poured from her terrified eyes as coherent thought shut down. Evernya pulled her knees to her chest as her terrified eyes bathed the room in blue light.

Invisible shock waves blasted off her body but caused no damage to her surroundings. Like last time, the black bands on her wrists, ankles, and neck also glowed brighter as they absorbed her strength.

This time, however, Evernya noticed the growing bands, causing her panic to shift to red-hot fury. Her eyes glowed even brighter in response to her anger, but it was futile as the bands turned radiant, snuffing her out. She fell back, wholly drained with consciousness fading. Her last thought before she passed out was, it’s all because of the bands.

A few hours later, Evernya reawakened, exhausted. She remained still, too drained to move, staring at the ceiling as her thoughts raced. This whole time I should have been trying to leave! Why didn’t the idea of finding a way out even occur to me until I saw the glowing arch? Sure, I thought about what I would do once I left, but I never felt the need to leave. The sense that I needed to turn around also disappeared when I saw the arch. Is that the exit? I’ve never seen anything like it, but somehow, it feels like it’s the way out. Why did I tour this place? I even took detours instead of trying to find the exit. It doesn’t make sense.

Evernya strained her neck to glare down at the still glowing bands wrapped around her wrists. Then there are these bands! Every time I feel weak, they are glowing! Do they affect my thoughts too? Since I saw that arch, all I can think about is getting out of here, but before that, it almost felt like I wanted to live here. Do they keep me here in more ways than one?

Her head dropped to the pillow as her thoughts continued. What do I do now? Every time I get upset, these damn things knock me out! How do I get them off? Is there a key somewhere? I don’t see any way they could come off, though. They don’t have any openings. They are just a solid black band adhered to my skin like a tattoo. Getting these things off has to be the key to freedom, but how? Maybe the other direction will give me some answers.

After an hour of staring at the ceiling, enough of her strength returned to leave the bed. The first thing Evernya did was check the dresser to see if there were any other clothes. She pulled the top drawer open to reveal more folded pairs of sports bras and short shorts.

Seriously!? They filled the entire dresser with the same thing I am wearing! Did those people expect my body only to wear a sports bra and shorts that are basically underwear? Evernya fumed.

Evernya stomped her feet while growling in annoyance. What creeps! Not only did they give me the worst room in this place, but I also don’t get to wear real clothes!

The catgirl took a deep breath to calm herself before she lost control of her emotions. At least I have a change of clothes if I need it, but that involves seeing myself naked unless I change with my eyes closed. I’ll put changing off for now besides these things oddly don’t get dirty, and I don’t stink.

Evernya sniffed her armpit out of curiosity, only to find that she didn’t smell as in no scent at all. Why can’t I smell myself? With my sensitive nose, I should be able to pick up at least something! It’s impossible to be scentless! At the very least, I should be able to smell scents clinging to my body, but there is nothing! It’s like my body is a scent dead zone! Another strange thing about my new body! Unless it changes, at least I won’t have to deal with BO, so that’s a plus.

To distract herself, Evernya’s stuck her hand into the open dresser. On its own, her hand kneaded the silky smooth yet soft fabric. Entranced, the young catgirl purred as her worries washed away.

Several minutes later, Evernya returned to her senses, but she continued to knead the fabric without thinking. This stuff feels amazing. I take back what I said. I am more than happy to wear this outfit indefinitely.

Several more minutes passed before Evernya pulled her hand out of the dresser drawer. She stared down at the drawer with a reluctant expression. When I find a way to escape, I’ll come back for you. Evernya vowed before she turned her back to the dresser.

The determined catgirl exited her room again, this time turning left.