Wang Teng's sister clutched her stomach. When she saw the cat crawling toward her, she lifted her foot and stomped on it.
She stomped on it several times, cursing all the while, then kicked it away with one last blow.
The cat landed at Wang Teng's younger brother's feet.
He leaped back in fright, but the cat seemed to have caught its claws in his pant leg and stayed there, dangling.
The boy shrieked and snatched the kitchen knife from his mother's hand. He jabbed at the cat wildly, then used the blade to pry open its mangled body.
The family panted heavily as they stared at the cat's corpse, then at the blood smeared across the floor.
After a while, the middle-aged man punched his daughter on the head.
The middle-aged woman hurried to shield her. "She's still injured! What are you doing?"
"It's all because of the thing she brought home!"
"Get me a shot, Mom! Call an ambulance! Hurry, I need to go to the hospital and get a shot! That cat must have rabies!" Wang Teng's sister wailed.
The middle-aged man looked at the wound on his hand, his anger flaring. He raised his fist again.
"Call an ambulance! Please, call an ambulance!"
The middle-aged woman stood in front of him, then shouted at Wang Teng's younger brother and toward the other side of the room.
Wang Teng's younger brother ran to the desk, picked up his phone, and made a call.
"Meow—!" A piercing cat's cry came through the phone's speaker, so loud that everyone could hear it.
The family froze.
"Meow."
"Meow—"
"Meow, meow."
The cats' cries came from every direction, like a horde of cats yowling in heat as they surrounded the house.
I looked toward the balcony window.
Outside, cats leaped onto