Chapter II - A Heartwarming Welcome

Waking up was painful. Not that much worse than on Monday morning, but it was a close runner-up.

Whatever Joseph was lying on, it was shaking violently. He heard a faraway humming sound, coming from somewhere below.

Joe's body was sore to the extreme. He grunted and slowly turned on his side. Underneath his hands, he felt a solid metal floor.

Consciousness was rapidly coming back. The shaking was getting worse with every second, and Joe could swear he heard a sound - very similar to a loud explosion - somewhere in front of him.

He forced himself to stand up. Quick glance at his surroundings revealed that his beaten body woke up inside of a long corridor. The walls, ceiling, and floor were made out of some sort of metal. He saw the doors on both sides of this corridor.

The image of a submarine from the movie he saw sprung within his mind. It was the only thing he had ever seen, that could provide at least a faint comparison to the unknown place we woke up in. The biggest difference, he noticed, was that the corridor was more spacious, without any visible pipes or valves.

Behind him, at the end of the corridor, there was a different door, one that looked sturdy, heavy, and imposing. It was sealed shut, with several bars and bolts on it. On the wall next to it, Joe saw a surprisingly familiar yellow triangle with a not-so-familiar black sign on it. At least, he was pretty sure that gear with a swirl inside of it was not a part of a standard hazard signs list.

The place around him began shaking again, reminding him that he still had no idea what was going on. Joseph began quickly walking to the opposite end of the corridor, away from the marked door.

The curiosity got the best of him, however, as he decided to quickly peek behind one of the doors on the sides. He leaned on the door that was closest to him, grabbed the handle, and pushed it in.

His initial suspicions had aligned with reality. Inside there were several bunk beds, three levels each. The small wardrobe was tucked into the corner of the room. He also noticed a small wooden table, with various things lying all around it on the floor. Joe inspected a couple of items and, to his own surprise, recognized typical everyday bread, a slice of cheese, and a number of glass bottles among the junk.

The familiar-looking food managed to calm him down a bit, however, the main problem was still there. He had no idea where he was, what happened to Nick and Ekaterina, why this place is shaking, and why does it feel like there is something dangerous outside. He never saw nor heard a single living soul either.

Joseph glanced around for anything that he could use to protect himself. The only remotely useful weapon was a shovel, tucked underneath a mattress on one of the beds.

The place was no longer shaking. However, as Joe was coming closer to the end of the corridor, he heard the distant sounds of explosions, multiple people running around, and someone screaming. He also picked up on barely discernible voices - mostly loud and demanding.

It seems there was no end to revelations - Joe was stunned for a moment, after realizing that the voice he heard was, in fact, speaking in English! Well, mostly. The accent didn't sound like any natural one he knew - weird and alien, with the emphasis on wrong vowels and with some completely unfamiliar words mixed in. Still, the spark of hope fired up his spirit. Motivated, Joe relaxed his clutch on a shovel and hastened his step.

He was almost at the end of a corridor when he heard loud sounds coming from the corner right in front of him as if someone was running down on the metal stairs. The mysterious person turned around, and Joe stumbled headfirst into the man.

…Except it wasn’t a man.

Joseph got a full view of this large, two meters tall humanoid creature, covered in black fur and wearing clothes he had never seen before. It’s face was similar to a lynx - large oval green eyes, with vertical pupils. The person was carefully scanning Joe, watching his every move. The metal sheet was covering the creature’s chest. The dark green duster-like coat was hanging down from it’s shoulders. The fur was very unique looking - folded like small snake-like scales. The ears of the creature were arching slightly further back, closer to the center, and were longer than normal cat ears.

Joe noticed adorable tufts at the edges of this person's ears.

Joseph’s thoughts were stumbling around in his head, trying to process this dump of information. His eyes shifted lower and confusion immediately forced itself out of his mind.

The creature was armed. With a reliably recognizable sword and a pistol.

And it was pointing a gun straight at him.

Joseph was still unsure what to do; however, the higher gears of his brain kicked in. He lowered the shovel down, keeping himself from just dropping it, as it could prompt the creature to shoot him on spot.

“U-um…”

The intruder didn’t have the patience to wait.

Joseph didn’t even see the swing.

The world exploded in pain. Joe felt something hard-hitting his head, and then his back, his ears ringing and his vision fading. Before losing consciousness, his mind noticed a weird set of words appearing at the corner of his vision, unaffected by his state, clear and readable:

Status: Unconscious.

*****

I really need to get up… Go to work… Uh, five more seconds…

For the second time in the last thirty or so minutes, Joe was waking up in pain.

He felt a soft fabric underneath. His head was lying on a slightly stiff pillow. Joe moved his left hand further from the body until he could touch a cold, round piece of metal. By connecting all the clues together, one could conclude that the object Joe was lying on was, in fact, a normal bed, made out of metal.

Thank you very much, Doctor Watson…

His head was still ringing. As his mind was struggling with waking up, Joe opened his eyes.

He regretted it instantly. A bright lamp was standing right next to his left ear. Headache forced Joe to shut his eyes again.

Sounds of someone rustling nearby invaded his precious headspace, depriving him of any hope of simply sleeping through this whole nonsense. Not that sleeping on someone’s bed, in the middle of potentially dangerous nowhere, was any wiser.

He figured he should be thankful, that he was only knocked out and not shot. A hole in the body is much harder to get rid of, after all.

Joe opened his eyes for a second time.

The room was dimly lit. The only sources of light were a couple of handheld lanterns. One was standing right beside him, on the small wooden stool near his left ear. It wasn’t actually close enough to blind him either - it was standing a good half of a meter away. He probably just opened his eyes too quickly.

There was not a single soul near him.

A faint smell of alcohol drew his attention. On his left, at the edge of the room just one bed away, there was a grey cabinet with a lock on it. The smell was coming from its direction. Near the cabinet, Joe noticed a clean table, a metal drawer, another cabinet, and a sink.

Joe forced himself up. He winced as his head loudly protested this rash action, but otherwise, he was feeling better. His fingers ran across the edge of the stool. It was pretty clean, without a single speck of dust. There were nine more empty beds, lined up near the walls, almost perfectly symmetrical.

It looks like a hospital room, Joe thought to himself. He also realized that the only thing he had on him was his underwear. Documents, his phone, and his wallet had also vanished into an unknown.

If this was really a room for medical treatment, and not some sophisticated and complex torture-slash-prison place, then nurses probably took everything with them. Joe, however, knew that he shouldn’t assume anything until he gets a better idea about his situation.

The rustling returned. A pair of yellow eyes were staring at him from the neighboring bed.

Just a normal black cat.

Joe shivered mentally. The unnerving, non-blinking stare gave him an impression that the cat was scanning him inside out.

Black cat made a weird sound as if laughing at his discomfort. It jumped, gracefully landing right on the edge of his bed.

The cat had no smell, he realized.

“How do you feel?”

Its - hers - voice was smooth. Relaxing. Soothing enough to almost send Joe back into sleep without a care in the world.

And in this exact case, he gladly would.

Because cat having a girl’s voice wasn’t the main problem.

“...What?”

He blamed it on his trauma. He was hearing voices now, and that was logical.

“I was asking how you feel. Is it not normal to express concern to a fellow living being for you?”

Joe stared at the black cat with wide eyes.

The cat stared back.

*****

“It’s just formal politeness. Which cave did you crawl out from, so that the basic rules of proper etiquette elude you?”

Cat suddenly gasped, as if remembering something important.

“I’m sorry! I totally forgot that these brutes whacked you on the head! I was only teasing, promise!”

Having someone being concerned about you felt great, even if said someone was just an illusion.

“It’s fine… just a little headache, that’s all. Thank you. Honestly, a talking cat is too much even for me, but… thank you.”

Talking with a ghost from your head was a weird feeling, but Joe went from a submarine-like place to being almost shot and then knocked out, to waking up in a room that by all accounts looked like a typical hospital room. Lanterns weren’t exactly fitting into this image, but that was just one thing he was willing to overlook.

He wasn’t really sure if he was entirely sane, or not. The entire scenario from the beginning seemed like a random sequence of events - like a crazy dream. It was easy to chalk up everything to a simple imagination…

…If it wasn’t for the feeling of metal on his fingers, persistent alcohol smell, and the fact that his head was still hurting - thankfully, not as much as before.

He also, admittedly, was very curious about the events that transpired.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sneeze. Joe focused his attention on a black cat, opening his mouth to ask if she was okay, but was quickly interrupted.

“Are y-”

“Talking cat?” His illusionary (real?) talking companion scratched behind her ear. “I’m not just a cat, I’ll have you know! What, have you never heard about… what were you, humans, calling us?… Naji! Yeah, have you never seen naji before?”

“No… I don’t think so, no.”

The cat stared him in the eyes. Seems like something suspicious caught her attention.

“Have you heard of Incarnates, even?”

Joe shook his head.

The cat's tail was wiggling back and forth. She squinted her yellow eyes as if she was in deep thought.

“Interesting… Captain says that naji are very popular in stories… so he was either lying, or your memories got damaged way harder than Crunchy thought…”

Joe really wanted to ask about those people, but this cat kept talking.

“...Or you actually don’t know anything at all. Which is very suspicious.”

A laugh escaped from his lips.

“What am I, a spy, now? I just got whacked by a huge cat with two legs, wearing a metal plate, woke up and started talking with a demon or spirit, or naji, whatever you are…”

The black cat squinted her eyes. Was it supposed to be a pity, or something else, he wasn’t entirely sure.

“...But I have absolutely no idea where I am, why I am here, and what even happened to me. Really, I wish I knew anything myself…”

He felt a small paw touching his hand. A warm and soft feeling spread through his body, his rapidly changing thoughts forming a clear picture. The lingering headache slowly disappeared. Joe felt refreshed, his mind was focused and ready for any new revelations that could be thrown his way.

At least, he hoped the last part would be true.