The smoke filled the shelter fast, and the cats had nowhere to run.
Small bodies pressed against cold metal cages, eyes wide with fear, hearts racing as heat crept closer.
For them, this felt like the end of everything they had already survived.
Jose Aranda did not stop to think about himself.
He ran inside the burning shelter and opened cage after cage, coughing, dizzy, refusing to leave a single cat behind.
Each terrified soul mattered to him, even as flames grew stronger.
All 45 cats lived that night.
Jose was later hospitalized, shaken and exhausted, but alive.
Somewhere safe, the cats curled together, breathing again, their lives spared because one man chose compassion.
