Housepets: The Meowtrix, Chapter One
Chapter One
Siren blared, cutting sharply through the city night as
police cars raced down the streets. At
least a dozen of them careened through traffic, swerving around corners and
going well over the speed limit before screeching to a stop in front of an
abandoned building. The police officers,
a random mixture of dogs and cats, scrambled out of their cars, hurrying to
form a barrier around the entrance, water pistols in paw.
"All right," Sargent Ralph announced, "I want a team in
there to flush her out! Any volunteers?"
A symphony of nervous mumbling broke out as the officers
waited for someone else to volunteer.
"Oh, come on!" Sargent Ralph yelled. "It's just a cat! A girl cat!
Are you telling me none of you think you can take her down?"
"I don't," one officer said, raising his hand.
"Yeah, me neither," said a second.
"Can we go home now?" asked a third.
Sargent Ralph slapped his forehead in exasperation before
pointing out officers at random, "You, you, you, you, and you," he said, "You're
all going in there!"
"What about you?" one of the officers asked.
"Don't ask questions, boy!" Sargent Ralph thundered. "Just get in there and get her out!"
As the team of officers awkwardly shuffled their way into
the building, another car pulled up to the perimeter. The doors opened, and three identical Siamese
cats stepped out. All three of them were
wearing green suits, sunglasses, and had radios plugged into their ears. Slowly, with an almost unnatural grace, they
made their way to the entrance.
"You were ordered to wait, Sargent Ralph," said the cat in
front.
"You took too long getting here," Sargent Ralph argued.
The cat reached up and adjusted his sunglasses, "Those
orders were for your protection."
Sargent Ralph chuckled, "I think my men can take down one
little cat. A girl cat!"
The three cats exchanged a glance, and wordlessly made their
way into the building.
"I sent a team inside!" Sargent Ralph called after
them. "They're bringing her down now!"
The first cat turned around, "No, Sargent Ralph, your
officers are already soaked."
Inside the building, the team of officers slowly made their
way to the third floor, shaking with fear.
They came to a door halfway down the hallway.
"I don't want to do this," one officer whined.
"It's dark in here!" another whimpered.
For a moment, all the officers just stood there, staring at
the door. Finally, one of them stepped
forward.
"Okay, guys, let's just get this over with. On three, okay?" The others nodded. "One... Two... Three!"
With that, the officer kicked the door, which exploded
inwards. Acting a lot braver than they
felt, the team rushed inside, pointing their water pistols at the lone figure
inside.
It was a cat, but her fur gleamed an unnatural shade of
purple in the dim light. She sat in a
chair, her back to the officers.
"Paws up!" one of the officers shouted.
Slowly, the cat raised her paws above her head. The squad all breathed a sigh of relief,
hardly able to believe that she had given up so easily.
But then, in one lightning quick motion, the cat spun around
and kicked her chair at them. The police
let out a high pitched scream of terror as the chair smacked their comrades
firmly in their faces, knocking them over backwards. They pointed their water pistols at her and
desperately began pulling the triggers, sending streams of water flying at the
cat.
Before their eyes, the purple cat leaped into the air, and
began to run across the wall, evading the water without a drop getting on her
shiny leather outfit. With a flip, she
landed back on the floor and punched one of the officers so hard that he flew backwards,
knocking the two other officers behind him over as well. Spinning around, she landed a powerful kick
on another officer. Then she jumped up,
performing a midair split to kick the last two remaining officers in their
faces. Landing back on the ground, she
took off from the room, leaving behind a room full of moaning police officers.
"That was awesome," one of them croaked as she slammed the
door shut behind her.
But as the purple cat entered the hallway, one of the suited
Siamese cats appeared at the top of the stairs.
His face expressionless, he pulled out his own water pistol and began
firing at her. The cat rolled to avoid
being hit, and took off in the opposite direction. The window at the other end of the hall was
open, and she leaped through it, sailing out of the building and straight into
the next one. She hit the floor hard,
rolling a few feet before tumbling down the stairs. She struck the wall at the bottom of the
stairway, and a ceramic vase toppled off of its shelf, crashing on top of her
head.
"Oooh," she moaned, rubbing her head as she stood up, "that
was a horrible idea."
Her cell phone began to ring, and she answered it.
"Are you all right, Grapity?" the voice on the other end
asked.
"I'm fine," she answered.
"Where's my exit?"
"Go outside, there will be a phone booth at the street
corner."
"Aw," the cat whined, "I was hoping I'd get to jump between
a few buildings first!"
"Not now, Grapity," the voice reprimanded her, but then it
paused. "Okay, maybe later. But right now you need to get out of there!"
"Ugh, fine," the cat grumped before hanging up the
phone. With that, she ran the rest of
the way down the stairs and out through the door. Sure enough, there was a telephone booth just
a few yards away. As the cat began to
make her way towards it, the sound of screeching tires filled the air, and a
massive dump truck rounded the corner, aiming itself directly at the telephone
booth. One of the suited cats was seated
inside.
"Oh, come on," the cat muttered. "That's just overkill!"
But then she started to run.
The truck's tires squealed on the pavement, sending it flying towards
the phone booth. The cat put on a
desperate burst of speed, threw the door open, and picked up the phone just as
the truck smashed into the side, going straight through the booth and into the
building behind it.
Once the dust had settled, the cat stepped out of the truck
and went to inspect the rubble. There
was no body.
"She got out," he said as his companions came to join him.
"It doesn't matter," the second one said. "We know who they're targeting."
The third one nodded, "His name is Nutto."
There was a moment of suspenseful silence, and then the
first cat snickered.
"Nutto," he muttered, turning to lead the others away. "What a stupid name."