For the short story Sci-Fi competition

The characters and theme of this story are taken from "What a Way to Go" - a story which isn't on wattpad currently

Mike rubbed his tail against Bella and purred.

"I've lost count of how many times I've been inside," he said. She licked her paw and narrowed her eyes at him. Both looked at the protein gel in the corner of the overcrowded prison with disgust. There was no way either of them were going to give their captors the satisfaction of eating it.

This was Death Row. There were more than thirty felines here.

All in for the same crime.

Murder.

"Me too," she meowed. "I hate being stuck in this place."

The floor of the prison began to slide upwards. The walls were lurching. As the floor began to rattle the felines gradually woke up. The air was filled with the sound of agitated meows.

"We're on death row!" Mike hissed. He arched his back. None of the others seemed to realise what was happening. They blithely sat there licking themselves.

The death penalty had been brought back four years ago, in a desperate attempt to curb the skyrocketing murders of rodents by felines. Like every other initiative aimed in this direction, nothing worked. Felines refused to consume the protein gel generously provided for them by the state.

More drastic measures, it was decided, needed to be taken.

The floor continued moving upwards. The ceiling opened, blinding the felines with the light of the midday sun and the blazing heat of Death Valley, California. Some of them jumped onto the ledge and made a run for it, meowing.

As Mike gazed up at the dessicated landscape, at the rocky plains which seemed to stretch for miles, his carnivorous stomach lurched. He could see what few of them had spotted.

A huge robot loomed down at them. A green beam emanated from its eye and passed over the rocky ground.

One by one, his cellmates began to disappear.

Where were they going?

With panic rising in his throat he turned around and saw two humans with guns, specially designed feline handcuffs hanging from their belts. He saw them step towards him. Satisfied.

"This laser's working well," one of the humans said.

"Fantastic," the other human said. "Humane, quick, efficient. They hardly know they're gone."

"The testing stage is over. Passed with flying colours. We're going to make a lot of money from this baby."

His eyes blazed. He sprang across the hot sand. His paws were burning. The two humans sprang back, terrified. Everyone knew what vicious killers felines were. His claws extended as he leapt for one of the men's legs and began to dart up towards his face.

"No!" the human gasped, staggering back, his eyes wide with fear. "No!"

"Call for backup," the other man yelled, dropping the robot's remote control in fright; it dashed against the rocks. Bella saw it moving and started turning it over in her paws. The robot stopped dead in its tracks. Its laser beam vanished.  

"We have an escape situation. An escape situation, I repeat!"  

Mike clawed at the man's face. He clambered onto his head. From his vantage point he watched his fellow felines scamper off into different directions. Some of them climbed onto the now-disabled 1000-watt fence, jumped into the prison officers' compound. Some of them slithered further into the vast empty expanse of desert.

"No!" the man gasped, his arms and legs scratched and bleeding. Sweat poured down his face from the heat. "No! Let me go! Please!"

As Bella tossed the remote control around in her paw, she gave a start; the robot began to move again. But as the other man walked towards her, the beam burned through him. He simply disappeared. Mike ripped his claws from the first man's clothing and jumped off his back, abandoning him to his fate.

Together they walked towards the compound.

They were free.

Free to kill again.