Oh I hope that she will still be there and you can help her. It could even be that she escaped from a loving home and has been on her own looking for scraps to stay alive since she allowed you to pet her. Where I work we are near a couple of restaurants. In the past I used to see literally a dozen or more kitties out by the dumpsters. They were 100% feral and would run at the sight of me. I assume they were eating restaurant leftovers and many times cringed at the thought that they might go in the dumpster when it was trash day. I don't even want to think too much about that.