His body smacked onto the cold floor, pain crashing through his muscles and joints. The injuries only made him more determined, and he sprang up, charging the tiger.
Before the bear or the eagle could make a move, he threw himself at the other cat, wrapping it in his paws. He braced his strong claws around its neck and squeezed as hard as he could, feeling the creature falter underneath him. He didn’t have time to finish the job … the bear was almost on him, and the eagle was diving from above.
He turned away from the tiger and leapt up, going for the eagle. It shrieked and flapped its wings madly to get out of reach. Henry spun, ready to launch himself at the bear.
He had miscalculated. Before he could turn, the bear swiped him, pushing him down so it could slap both paws on top of him to hold him down. Henry tried to get up, shaking his head to clear it, but he couldn’t move or see.
In that momentary pause, he heard the rushing of feet charging him. Before he could move, someone stabbed a needle into his neck. He roared, trying to throw the bear off, but it was too late. He had been injected with something.
There was a moment of complete confusion as Henry struggled again. The world seemed to have gone dark, and he worried something was wrong with his eyes. When light crept in from the edges, he realized they were blindfolding him.
“What?” he growled, trying to shake free of the bear’s grip. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Nothing you need to worry about,” the voice of the bear boomed over his head. Henry struggled, trying to shove the bear off, but something grabbed his arms.
“What the fuck? Where is Philodendron?” he roared. The minions just laughed. He could tell that the eagle and the tiger had shifted back to humans, but the bear had stayed in its animal shape to hold him still.
Henry struggled, but he couldn’t get free. As he continued to fight, his limbs became heavy, and he found he couldn’t open his eyes.
They drugged me.
For all he knew, they had poisoned him. He could be dying right now. The thought only brought him pain because he knew that if he died, he’d never see Olivia again.
He struggled against the darkness, fighting the seductive thrill of unconsciousness. The drug rushed through his veins, an icy tingle making him break out in cold sweat.
He was lifted off the ground but was barely aware of it. Nearby a loud bang jolted him, and he felt his own weight tossed lightly in the air as if he were a sack of bread. When he hit with a loudclang,he knew he was in the back of a truck.
“What’s going on?” he cried, his words muffled by the drugs and the rag on his face.
“Never you mind,” one of the minions said. “You just be a good kitty.”
Henry growled, trying to shift, but his mind and body were not connected. He was utterly helpless as he tried to crawl across the floor of the truck to take them on again.
“You’re being shipped,” one of them said, “across the country. We don’t doubt that you’ll break free, but by the time you do, it’ll be too late!”
“Too late for what?” his voice was muffled as he struggled to speak. All the minions did was laugh. To Henry, none of this was very funny at all.