The Feral Colony, by Chad Duerksen, focuses on a group of feral cats, what happens to them, any how they handle the world falling apart around them.
In the beginning of the book, a lonely kitten is adopted from a shelter by a couple with a little girl who needs a friend. She becomes great friends with Charles (the cat), and he looks up to her as his protector. Then disaster hits. The little girl’s mom becomes infected by this airborne virus and kills the father. The little girl is killed by one of the infected right in front of Charles’s eyes. The nightmare begins. Charles , on his own, must fight to stay alive.
He meets up with a colony of feral cats and joins them. They fight against these humanimals (as the zombies are called by the cats). He stays with them in a junkyard until it is invaded by humanimals.
While they are on the run, they actually run into a human who isn’t infected, and she is determined to survive this mess. She befriends the cats, and though it takes them a bit of time, they accept her and fight for her.
The fight scenes are graphic but so intense that they trap you. Their characters of the young girl and the cats are fleshed out so well they become real. In fight scenes with the zombies, you’re obviously rooting for the cats, and whenever one of them dies, the tears begin to fall.
The cats have a lot of respect for their elderly citizens. They may move a lot slower and not be nearly as agile, but they are full of wisdom.
There are other survivors out there, but can any of them be trusted? The human that is with the cats found out the hard way that not all survivors can be trusted. Some of them are looking out only for themselves.
The ending is spectacular, but it is really the end? Is there a book number two on the way? Please let there be a sequel.
The story told in this book grabbed hold of my imagination and wouldn’t let go. It could have been the cats. I have six of them and anything about cats gets my attention. The cats were why I got the book, but when the “end of the world” started, well, that definitely had my attention, and most of it was being told from the POV of a cat. I couldn’t put the book down until I reached the ending and had no more to read. I highly recommend this one.
If you would like to own your own copy, I’ve provided an Amazon link below.
Amazon Link: The Feral Colony
Favorite Sentences:
The airborne virus had ridden the wind, infecting those at risk and endangering those immune in a different way, and while it may have been a war by name, the grim outcome was never in doubt.
A flurry of smells hit her at once: the stench of human body odor, at least two different kinds; the musty dog; something sweet, like fresh oranges; lingering garlic; and vanilla from a nearby candle.
Seeing the cat stumble, the shepherd staked toward her with confidence now, drool slinging wildly from its lips like shimmering liquid metal.
Bleed and thick pus bubbled out, flooding the empty sockets, and spilled down its hollow cheeks like blackberry yogurt.
She wore its putrid blood like a hydrating face mask, and the stolen ruffled shirt—price tag still hanging—was sopped clean through, clinging like glue to her slimy skin.
New Words Learned:
chawing – chewing
geosmin – a volatile organic compound that is formed especially by soil-dwelling bacteria and aquatic cyanobacteria and that may contribute to the earthy, pleasant odor of petrichor or impart a disagreeable, musty taste and odor to drinking water and certain fish
hematoma – a mass of usually clotted blood that forms in a tissue, organ, or body space as a result of a broken blood vessel
hypertrophic – Hypertrophy is excessive development of an organ or part, specifically increase in bulk (as by thickening of muscle fibers) without multiplication of parts. The adjective is hypertrophic.
permanence – durability
sibilated – hissed
sine wave – This is a physics term. It is a waveform that represents periodic oscillations in which the amplitude of displacement at each point is proportional to the sine of the phase angle of the displacement and that is visualized as a sine curve.
