Todd was dazed, as the impact of the ice cream truck had thrown him clear of Carrie. The impact had done little permanent damage to his small, compact rodent body.
What plunged him into terror was seeing that the remote had been smashed. Without it, how could he possibly change back? And seeing the active component carried off by a boy Carrie had transformed to a catgirl made it even worse. (Cats, ugh!)
The only thing he could figure to do was to make his way across the park and somehow get back to his lab. Maybe there was a way a hamster could recreate what he had done, at least to undo the change.
Slowly, the hamster that had been Todd began the long walk--the equivalent of a walk of many days for a human--to the campus.
But Todd didn't know anything about being a hamster, or any kind of small prey animal. He didn't follow the shadows, but walked across the grass in the daylight. Oh no, was his last thought as a cat pounced on the delicious walking package of meat.
Tasty, thought the alley cat.