As fast as they had rushed in, the three kittens came to an abrupt halt as the hairs on their body spiked while their tails straightened themselves. Their heads abruptly swerved to their right as they gazed in the direction of the couple.
Their sharp vicious eyes glistened in the darkness as their mouths drooled. As the youngest of the three began to move in the direction of the couple with the intention to devour them, the oldest kitten bit it above its neck and dragged it towards the stairs despite the meagre resistance that the youngest kitten offered.
The oldest kitten nudged the head of the youngest kitten and forced it to climb the steps one by one. Each of the steps was twice taller than their own height, but using their spring-like feline legs, the three kittens easily began to scale up the stairs.
The youngest kitten was at the front while the oldest kitten was at the end of the trio as they climbed up. After scaling up 4 steps, the oldest kitten glared towards the couple with a bloodthirsty gaze as it barely managed to control its urges and wiped away the drool that leaked out from its mouth and proceeded to move upwards.
In a battle-ready stance with their refills raised in the direction of the kittens, the couple felt a shiver run through their spines when the predatory feline gazed at them.
"That's strange," Anita muttered.
"Indeed. They didn't jump at us and proceeded to climb up the stairs." Prakash chimed in as he failed to put a lid on the strange behaviour displayed by the three kittens.
Every creature they encountered after they had become small tried to kill them and eat their bodies as if they were some heavenly delicacy, but these trio of kittens were the only exception.
'Flutter'
'Caw' 'Caw'
'Cuckoo'
'Chirp'
The air was suddenly filled with the strange cries of birds and insects that were so loud that they even drowned out the sounds of the rain.
The couple felt Goosebumps as they suddenly heard the multitude of cries of all sorts of birds and insects that looked as if they were panicking.
"We have to find out the reason." The couple nodded at each other as they rushed towards the door that lead out of their house.
As they approached the open door and gazed at the darkness filled surroundings outside, the couple were shocked to find multiple birds flying in and out of their visions. There were crows, eagles, a couple of parrots, and other miscellaneous birds that were unrecognizable due to the darkness that took off into the skies and proceeded to fly west as if they had all communicated with each other beforehand.
They also saw Shaggy munching on what appeared to be the remains of an Owl and also bit into the unfortunate birds that had crashed onto its body in their hurry to flee.
"An earthquake….followed by the cries of various birds and insects as they fly west…"
"D-Dear…? Don't tell me…" Anita muttered in disbelief as her face turned pale.
The couple lived in a large metropolitan city that went by the name of Chennai which was situated along the Eastern Coast of India. It was a major city that had a vibrant history of more than a thousand years. It was later drastically developed by the British East India Company when they ruled India to export goods through a sea route to the then mainland Great Britain and also acted as the capital of the entire southern part of the country.
The city had a rich history for sure, one that dabbled in art, culture, economy, and war, but it was also the city that had paved its way to existence after surviving through many trials and tribulations.
Anyone who had dabbled in their city's rich history would willingly list out many cruel wars that were waged on their land as one of the most terrifying phenomena that had occurred till date on the face of the Earth.
But, if the same question were to be asked to any of the senior citizens native to the city, then they would first state with a shivering body about the natural disaster that had struck the city just over a decade ago.
The 2004 India Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami, also known as the Boxing Day Tsunami occurred on 26th December 2004, with an epicentre off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. It was an undersea megathrust earthquake that registered a magnitude of 9.1-9.3 on the Mercalli scale.
A series of large Tsunami waves up to 30 metres (100 feet) high were created by the underwater seismic activity. The earthquake that resulted in the Tsunami was the third-largest ever recorded in history and had the longest duration of faulting ever observed; between 8 and 10 minutes. It caused the planet to vibrate as much as 10 millimetres (0.4 inches).
Before the actual Tsunami hit the Eastern Coast of India, people just witnessed the sea recede further back (about 1-2 kilometres in approx.) along the shore, but before the disaster management department could actually take the necessary measures and evacuate the citizens, the disaster struck home. Almost 2.5 lakh people died to it, caught unawares.
But surprisingly, casualties among other creatures were among the bare minimum. All the birds that could fly flew westwards, insects took off to the skies; cats, dogs, cows, and even rats ran west. Hence, a significant portion of them survived the calamity.
"A tsunami…" The couple came to a conclusion as they observed the phenomenon before their eyes that looked similar to what had been documented before; they were also in the city when the disaster hit them long ago, just lucky enough to be in a safe zone further west in the city.
Even though the couple couldn't see much in the dark, but through their ears and nose, they could make out the general situation.
"We have to get to the rooftop. Now!" Anita bellowed as she dragged Prakash with her as they sprinted towards the flight of stairs.
---------------------------------------
Two tiny munchkins were sprinting on the top of the handrails that spiralled along the edges of the steps all the way till the first floor of their house.
"So, it was possible after all!" Prakash exclaimed in joy as he gazed at the thin hair-like projections that slowly receded back into his body and turned into a gush of purple smoke that peacefully circulated in his body.
Under the careful guidance of Anita based on her previous experiences, Prakash could finally execute the appropriate transformation. It had taken him almost a minute to do so but it was well worth the time and effort.
They had chosen to climb to the top of the handrails because it was just a one-time endeavour. After that, it was only an inclined path that they needed to traverse which could be accomplished with just their physical abilities alone. It was also the least dangerous route since they needn't face off against the kittens.
The handrail was at least 3 feet high and even the agile spring legged trio of felines wouldn't be able to jump to such a height due to their young undeveloped bodies.
Had they tried to directly scale up the steps, it would take them too much time and effort not to mention getting pounced upon by the bloodthirsty felines.
"Woof"
The couple gazed towards their right as they saw a blur pass by them and a gush of wind accompanied behind it which was also followed by a stench of blood.
'Thud'
The blur suddenly tripped atop a step and fell down; only then could the couple take a detailed gaze upon the blurry figure. It was indeed Shaggy, with the body of a bird that oozed blood clutched between its canine jaws and its left eye slightly open that revealed a blurry iris from within.
As its sharp nose traced that familiar mesmerising aroma, its body shuddered in fright as it sprinted up the stairs, not even noticing the body of the bird that it had dropped.
'Tap' 'Tap' 'Tap'
The couple gazed with solemn expressions as Shaggy cautiously descended down the flight of stairs, one step at a time, sniffed the dead bird that it had dropped with its nose and picked it up with its jaws. Feeling the taste of the flesh of the bird and the blood that leaked into its throat, Shaggy once again sprinted upward, this time in a more careful manner. Its senses had long since picked up on the impending disaster; the only reason it had waited till now was to hunt some unfortunate prey to fill its empty rumbling stomach.
"Huff…Puff" Prakash gasped for breath as he finally stood at the very end of the handrail. They had finally reached the first floor of the house, after a lot of effort and having used a significant amount of their mystical transformation power.
The sight that presented itself before their eyes was in sharp contrast to the living room on the ground floor after the rainfall began to descend.
There was an open space before them at the end of which were three evenly spaced doors that were lodged into the brick walls, each leading into a different room.
The doors leading to each room were left ajar, possible due to the fact that there wasn't a reason to close them during the day when the activities of the house proceeded at full swing.
Their once dark surroundings were gradually lit up as light leaked out from the room on their left.
The couple were in such a hurry to come up because their house was located just a street away from the beach, behind a row of Sea-View Apartments. With an impending tsunami on their tails, they needed to find their son Akash fast and get all the vertical elevation that was practically possible within the time limit.
'Grrr'
'Meow'
'Grrr'
'Hsss'
Near the entrance to the illuminated room on the left sat Shaggy, leaking out threatening growls from time to time while 2 kittens were in a battle-ready stance at the entrance to the room on the right. The youngest of the trio of kittens currently lay sprawled inside the room on the right as it licked a long bloody gash on its stomach and cried out in pain from time to time.
Finally, the couple stood atop the handrails that were situated opposite to the room in the centre.
It was now a three-way standoff between an almost blind dog, two young kittens and two human munchkins.