"PO!" SOMEONE WAS shaking my shoulders. Sitting up, I looked wearily around.
"Hello?" I said, rubbing the sleep out
of my eyes. Suddenly snapping awake, I turned to the spotted Kougra perched
in front of me.
"CALI! Oh my god, you don't know how happy
I am to see you! Is Tazz OK? Who did you come with? When are we leaving?" I
was so excited, the thought of escaping and getting home to my friends and family
again, hoping that last time wasn't the last time.
Cali lowered her eyes-the first sign that
threw me off. Sighing, I placed a paw on her shoulders.
"It's okay--you were captured too, weren't
you. Ah, well...some things you've gotta live with, I suppose. Where's Tazz?"
"Tazz is still asleep," she motioned to
a lump of blankets rising and falling every few seconds. "He's fine, though.
We have to get out of here."
"No, really?" I retorted sarcastically
and sat down with my head in my paws.
We sat in silence for hours--we seemed
to have trouble talking these days. Finally, when I looked up and was about
to say something, I saw Cali asleep, leaning up against one side of the tube.
"Sweet dreams," I whispered.
***
It had been probably a week now we'd been in the enclosure, talking little
and eating, cautiously, the food that appeared while we slept each night.
As far as we could tell, there was no way
out of the tube, it was sealed indefinitely. I sifted through the pictures I'd
taken-Cali had brought them for me. Sighing, I remembered how innocent I'd been-never
knowing it would end in this.
Suddenly, there was a flashing light in
one corner-something I'd never seen before. It glittered on and off, and, as
suddenly as it started, it stopped.
At one end of the tunnel, a door slowly
slid up and opened. Silently this all happened, but since we'd seen the light
all three of us had our eyes on the intruder.
It was Branston. I was hoping never to
see that face again.
"Hello," he snarled. "Did you miss me?"
I felt like slapping him. "We didn't, and
we won't when you're in jail either," I replied.
Rolling his eyes, he stepped forward. "I
got your friends-the first five-to eat the sludge. It will all be over for them
soon. You wouldn't like to join them?" He wafted the sludge under my nose.
"Ugh-what's that smell?" I paused for the
right amount of time, sniffing once or twice. "Oh, I know-I thought it was the
sludge, but it's actually you, Branston."
Despite the situation, I heard Cali try
to unsuccessfully hold in a snicker.
I heard a smack, and Cali shut up. Without
looking behind me, I knew it was Tazz hitting Cali-he did that often to her
and me.
"Ah, well, they lost it," he said to no
one in particular. "It actually crossed my mind to set them free-after brainwashing
them first, of course-but now, no. I can't let such dangerous pets free-you're
coming with me. All of you."
On a last verge of hope, I called out with
all my might: "Now's when we need you, Aisha Thieves! If you're here and near"-this
is when my voice started to falter-"we'd need you know."
Everyone, even Branston, seemed to wait
in silence for a few moments, waiting. After nearly a full minute had passed,
Cali hung her head and Tazz lowered his eyes-obviously they'd given up hope.
Branston wrapped a talon around my neck,
but I wasn't going to give up as easily as he wanted me to. "NO!" I screamed,
kicking and flailing my arms.
"Tazz!" I called. "We're not supposed to
give up! Even if we don't have the heart go on! Right? Isn't that what you told
me? And Cali! The last of the cheetah Kougresses, right? And you're both just
giving up?" My eyes were tearing up now. "I thought I knew you," for the last
sentence, I averted my eyes to the ground. "I though I knew you."
Tazz, after letting what I'd said sink
in, began to shake with anger. "You're right! We don't give up!" He stomped
his foot on the ground. "We never surrender."
Cali pawed at the ground restlessly. "And
we don't live our lives in fear."
With a quick glance at each other, they
pounced on Branston giving me time to escape from his talon. When I was free,
they dashed over to me to look at the gash on my neck. It wasn't serious, just
a scrape.
Branston was making his way toward us,
claws raised. He was ready to get rid of us now, not wait-he was furious.
I took a deep breath and prepared for the
blow--I was ready for anything, and I was not going to end in fear.
There was a snarl and a hiss-obviously
from an Aisha. I glanced at Tazz, but he was glancing, equally as puzzled, at
me.
Branston let out a cry of pain as the two
shadow Aishas pounced on him from behind. With one carefully aimed scratch,
Branston fell to the ground, unconscious.
When they saw their job was done, the Aishas
dashed out without letting us say thank you. However, I couldn't let ultimate
gratitude like that go unsaid.
"Thank you," I whispered as Tazz, Cali
and I made our way out through the still-open tunnel door, closing it behind
us and trapping Branston inside.
We found the tunnel leading to the camp-in
the lake. Surprised we were when we stepped into water, but luckily it didn't
take us long to get to the surface.
"That's why he didn't want us swimming,"
I said as we walked toward the main offices.
I picked up the phone in the office, took
a deep breath, and dialed the number. The familiar voice picked up on the other
line, and I nearly sighed with the relief.
"Omni? It's me. I want you to come pick
me up."
***
After explaining everything ten times to various officials-and Ev and Omni,
of course-I was finally able to sit back and relax. I thanked Ev a million times
over-if she hadn't noticed the Aisha Thieves in the background, who knew where
we'd be now-strapped under the ray, most likely.
I received hundreds of phone calls that
weekend I came back, and the few four or five hours of sleep I got each night
weren't enough. Then, Sunday afternoon, I disconnected the phone so I could
get at least one decent nights sleep.
A few days later, the NeoPolice found the
first set of pets in horrible shape. They were all over the news along with
Tazz, Cali, and I. We directed the Police also to where we'd locked in Branston,
and now he's safely away in the NeoJail.
A snippet from the article I saved:
Eight pets, Polayo, Calixzo, Tazzmar, Kolic,
Mayllynn, Nekaliko, Sweet_Koneko, and Mercedes_Kitten innocently signed up for
Camp Neko at the beginning of this summer. Only, Polayo, Calixzo, and Tazzmar
ever made it to the camp, however. The story is an interesting one-one that
will be told for years on end. Who knows when it will be forgotten?
And I know one thing for sure-whoever wrote
the brochure, even if it was Branston or Doctor Sloth, was very right. I did
make the best friends I could ever make (other than Ev, of course) and it is
a summer I'll never forget.
Never.
The End
Camp Neko, obviously, was closed down and there are no plans of it being open
next summer. When I have more spare time and spare Neopoints, however, I do plan
on opening it up again-not for its original purpose, of course. Cali, Tazz, Ev
and I are now inseparable. There's something about surviving that summer together-even
though Ev wasn't there physically-that brought us all even closer. So there it
is-the summer of a lifetime. Our story, the first real adventure of my life. I
didn't have to travel far from home to have it, but Cali, Tazz, Ev and I were
heroes all the same. | 
