| Chapter Thirty |
It was as if the click of the lock’s surrender was instead a gunshot signaling the start of a race. Or a battle.
Shakaza moved almost too fast to see. She was done with stealth and skulking in shadows. She was in plain view, tail
burning with the adrenaline rush, doing what she did best: teaching humans that they had once again vastly
underestimated her. In a bound or two she was up an access ladder and at the control cluster that opened the rear hatch
of the old cargo plane. The humans were shouting and coming after her, but they were much too late.
The door was open and the humans were not ready for it. Papers and small unsecured items blew out of the back of the
plane, the wind worse than before since the pilot had not slowed down in preparation. The humans had no choice but to
give up on Shakaza, they had to find something to hold on to. Tezaka silently communicated, Don’t forget Jozay.
I never forget, Brother. You should be imploring me not to ignore the poor cub. Despite the ominous tone Kaza’s mental
voice had taken, she got into a claw-assisted low crawl back to the cage and the child’s harness containing the bagged
and bound Jozay. She had almost reached it when she was interrupted by a mental reflex triggered by her brother who
apparently saw something that she didn’t. She followed the reflex, jumping high into the air and digging her claws into the
side wall of the crate, sticking there for a moment like some giant furry bug.
She scrambled up the side of the crate to the top, processing what was going on as she moved. The human called Kodi,
in blatant disregard of his own safety, had stumbled to the crate and had grabbed onto Kaza’s tail. It had to be searing
his hand terribly, but he held on. Kaza had no choice but to trigger the crate’s launching mechanism and hang on for the
ride. Zak’s calculations told her that Kodi would either hang on as the crate fell out of the plane or merely stumble in the
near-hurricane force wind. Either way, he would surely fall out the back and to his death. Despite all of Kaza’s talk, she
had no wish to actually kill a human master, but it appeared unavoidable. Then something unexpected happened that
changed literally everything.
Jozay bit onto Kodi’s opposite sleeve with a death grip. Kodi did indeed hold onto the burning tail, and Jozay’s grip kept
him safely upright. So as Kaza tripped the launch switch along the track and held onto the parachute cord connecting it
to the rail, Kodi ended up dragging her right off the crate. The crate continued on along the track and out of the
plane…with a severed parachute cord.
Kaza, enraged, clawed Kodi’s hand and he finally let go, the pain reflex overrid his conscious muscle control. This
unfortunately led to Shakaza flying uncontrollably out of the plane and into the open air. The foolproof plan had quickly
proved to be a fatal miscalculation.
Kodi reared back and shifted his grip to the harness itself. Jozay looked him in the eye and called out as lout as he
could, praying to Sozo that the human could understand him. “Let me loose!”
The human shook his head no. “I promised I’d protect you!”
“My friends need me! In the name of Sozo set me free!”
The veterinarian didn’t consciously respond, but Jozay saw his eyes widen. Kodi slipped and fell, his grip on Jozay’s
harness compromised. He scrambled for a handhold, and clamped his good hand down hard on the release buckle of
the harness. Jozay squirmed out of the seat and was dive-bombing out of the plane before Kodi knew what was
happening.
Shakaza moved almost too fast to see. She was done with stealth and skulking in shadows. She was in plain view, tail
burning with the adrenaline rush, doing what she did best: teaching humans that they had once again vastly
underestimated her. In a bound or two she was up an access ladder and at the control cluster that opened the rear hatch
of the old cargo plane. The humans were shouting and coming after her, but they were much too late.
The door was open and the humans were not ready for it. Papers and small unsecured items blew out of the back of the
plane, the wind worse than before since the pilot had not slowed down in preparation. The humans had no choice but to
give up on Shakaza, they had to find something to hold on to. Tezaka silently communicated, Don’t forget Jozay.
I never forget, Brother. You should be imploring me not to ignore the poor cub. Despite the ominous tone Kaza’s mental
voice had taken, she got into a claw-assisted low crawl back to the cage and the child’s harness containing the bagged
and bound Jozay. She had almost reached it when she was interrupted by a mental reflex triggered by her brother who
apparently saw something that she didn’t. She followed the reflex, jumping high into the air and digging her claws into the
side wall of the crate, sticking there for a moment like some giant furry bug.
She scrambled up the side of the crate to the top, processing what was going on as she moved. The human called Kodi,
in blatant disregard of his own safety, had stumbled to the crate and had grabbed onto Kaza’s tail. It had to be searing
his hand terribly, but he held on. Kaza had no choice but to trigger the crate’s launching mechanism and hang on for the
ride. Zak’s calculations told her that Kodi would either hang on as the crate fell out of the plane or merely stumble in the
near-hurricane force wind. Either way, he would surely fall out the back and to his death. Despite all of Kaza’s talk, she
had no wish to actually kill a human master, but it appeared unavoidable. Then something unexpected happened that
changed literally everything.
Jozay bit onto Kodi’s opposite sleeve with a death grip. Kodi did indeed hold onto the burning tail, and Jozay’s grip kept
him safely upright. So as Kaza tripped the launch switch along the track and held onto the parachute cord connecting it
to the rail, Kodi ended up dragging her right off the crate. The crate continued on along the track and out of the
plane…with a severed parachute cord.
Kaza, enraged, clawed Kodi’s hand and he finally let go, the pain reflex overrid his conscious muscle control. This
unfortunately led to Shakaza flying uncontrollably out of the plane and into the open air. The foolproof plan had quickly
proved to be a fatal miscalculation.
Kodi reared back and shifted his grip to the harness itself. Jozay looked him in the eye and called out as lout as he
could, praying to Sozo that the human could understand him. “Let me loose!”
The human shook his head no. “I promised I’d protect you!”
“My friends need me! In the name of Sozo set me free!”
The veterinarian didn’t consciously respond, but Jozay saw his eyes widen. Kodi slipped and fell, his grip on Jozay’s
harness compromised. He scrambled for a handhold, and clamped his good hand down hard on the release buckle of
the harness. Jozay squirmed out of the seat and was dive-bombing out of the plane before Kodi knew what was
happening.
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