Cyclops
Short story by Christopher Kocheck
Cyclops, a little grey mangy furball, rested its tiny head in Seth’s lap. Seth stroked the mutated one-eyed kitten out of a sense of duty. Ben sat across a makeshift fire, smiled, and returned to working on a broken sensor module.
The sewers always seemed louder at night. Drips, the faint crackle of the fire and Cyclops’s meows echoed in a sewage chamber they had made their home for the last few days. They would need to leave soon or risk being found by the Sludges — mutated people, if you could call them people anymore, that feasted on human flesh. Ben had told Seth about the zombie myths of the past and how people never thought they would become a reality.
Ben had two decades on Seth and seemed to know everything. He suggested naming the cat Cyclops after telling him of some ancient Greek myth. Seth liked the story but didn’t like the cat.
Sure, it was the only present he ever got. He only wished for something that could help them in their struggles and not for a burden. Maybe a mutant dog with a fierce scowl. Seth had been through many small tribes of humans but never stayed long, usually being run off by the Sludges or simply discarded by the people he thought that cared. Ben had become the closest thing he knew to a father. When Ben gave him the little furball that he had found in some old drainage pipe, Seth was elated. That elation quickly turned to worry. How would he take care of something so fragile in these dark sewers?
Seth looked up from the cat. He saw Ben’s eyes go wild from across the fire. Ben held up a fist — the sign that a proximity alarm had been triggered. The Sludges had found them. They grabbed their belongings. Seth placed Cyclops into his zipped-up jacket.
They ran through sewer tunnels, Ben in the lead.
“Faster!” Ben yelled.
Seth stumbled over a pipe and fell to the ground. Cyclops fell out of his jacket a few feet behind. The green glow of Sludge eyes pierced through the dark tunnel.
The little helpless kitten meowed. At that moment, Seth knew he could never leave it. He couldn’t do what others had done to him. He got up and ran back.
He scooped up the little cat into his chest and swiveled to run, but it was too late. A sludge had gotten its slimy paws on his shoulders, dragging him to the ground.
Seth collapsed. He cradled Cyclops in his arms. The kitten looked at him, its eyes glistening in the darkness. The cat’s tiny body began to vibrate and expand. Startled, Seth let go of the cat. He could see Cyclops huff up to over twice its body size.
Then it came. A shriek that pierced the sewers for miles. Seth covered his ears and scrunched into a ball. When he opened his eyes, the little cat was back to normal and licking its paw.
Ben had come back and stood over them, looking at the cat in awe.
The Sludges were gone, thwarted by the thing that Seth didn’t want. He cradled the cat and kissed its tiny head.
“I’ll never leave you,” he whispered.
