**WARNING: Profanity and Sensitive subjects**
I updated this draft, but other editors may become present soon.
THIRD UPDATE- 2023 will be this book's publication year, so that updates may take place without notice. The project began on 07/24/17 with a completion date of 12/01/20. Editing for publication began not long after on 01/15/21, with the third (and likely final) draft going into effect 01/08/23. As the book is updated, please continue to enjoy it before it is published, and most chapters will be removed from the internet by its planned publication time of Spring/Summer 2023.
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Knock. Knock. Knock. Zilly was hooked on a never-ending noise continuing to echo throughout a quiet dream, getting louder as the pink cat's paws thudded against the ground.
Zilly. Zilly... An insistent voice had interrupted the tranquil nature of her dream.
"Zilly." The voice murmured. "Someone's at the door."
It was her fiancée, Marcie May, who was trying to sleep next to her, but also seemed to have been knocked out of it by the knocking at the door. But yet, as the two approached it, they began to learn a difference in reality...
The sound wasn't knocking at all, Zilly realized, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. It was scratching!
"Zilly, thank goodness you're awake." A gray tomcat gasped, panting before fumbling for something on his back- a box of cigarettes.
In response, Zilly swiped at the other angrily, making him tremble in fear as he stood back, with his fur standing up and his muscles stiff.
"Dennis, you told me you'd quit smoking! Get it together; you have a good streak going. Now, what's the problem?"
Relaxing his fur and exhaling, Dennis nodded again.
"There's been an issue at the town square, and Grayson and Doc can't seem to calm her down..."
"I knew a dog and a cat wouldn't make a good pair of leaders," Marcie remarked, stretching with a yawn before grooming one of her light green paws.
"Darling, we've talked about this! This is my son we're talking about- he and his best friend are managing just fine," Zilly replied calmly. "I'm sure it has nothing to do with that; enough with the discrimination, and get up already."
"Fair enough. I'm sorry. I sounded like a real Sector B cat for a moment... and you know how they feel about us together."
Sector B, also known to the citizens of the planet Catya as "Sector Bizarre", was a small group of cats on the outskirts of the mainland who had... certain "privileges"- as some would say less bluntly. For that reason, no cat wanted to venture into Sector B, and all cats were advised to stay away from the area. The majority of the population, however, lived in Sector A, or "Sector Alpha".
"Dennis, who's this 'she'?" Zilly then asked, nodding to Marcie so she could follow along, a bit anxious at her fiancée's obvious crankiness.
Then again, Dennis must have woken her up before she wanted to be awake, which does, indeed, make others cranky. Marcie did tend to wake up on the early side, though... So it must have been very early in the morning. Zilly realized, almost feeling pitiful at this point.
Dennis took a deep breath and sighed before replying once more-
"It's... It's Uranus, Zilly."
"Uranus? She's been causing all sorts of problems! If she doesn't stop, I'll have to convince Doc to send her to Sector B formally!"
Dennis and Marcie gasped nearby her.
"Sector B... Zilly, we can't be cruel enough to do that- they'd tear her apart... alive," Marcie whispered.
"It doesn't seem like it would be a problem to me; she'd fit right in," Zilly replied.
"Honestly, Zilly..."
The three of them walked out of Zilly and Marcie's small home. It was made of sticks and paper; fastened with mud, stones, and straw; and was large enough to fit a couple of visitors. It may have seemed like a low-class residence this way, but to Zilly and Marcie, it was their home and an excellent achievement for all cat-kind.
As the three approached the town, they could hear a loud yelling over a megaphone.
"...we shall no longer suffer this way!"
"Oh, no... Uranus, not again..." Zilly groaned, slapping her paw against her face.
"Has she been let into the catnip field again?" Marcie muttered behind her.
"Ugh, I hope not... The only ones allowed there are the ones with the medical keys..."
"Calm down, Uranus! And get off that podium!" Zilly and Marcie could see Doc yelling at the pale blue cat. A white and rainbow-colored dog nodded in approval as she shook her head slowly.
"Why? Is this your precious podium, Doc?!" She demanded in her unusual voice. Her voice sounded slightly robotic, which made her sound different from the rest of the Catyan population.
"Yes! It's mine too! And that was set up today for Ayame to come and perform-"
"Ugh... Ayame Kotogame. She's just a useless piece of garbage. Why do you like her songs anyway? We'll see who likes her now after I do this..."
Zilly, Marcie, and Dennis watched with horrified glances as Uranus grabbed a hammer and smashed the podium to pieces.
"Here! Take that!" She shouted.
Grayson's eyes widened in horror. His heart-shaped pupils broke in half. "M-my podium... I spent all night fixing it after the last incident..."
Doc growled under his breath. "Now you've gone too far, Uranus! The fish tank, radio station, and now our podium? You're insane!"
"Our podium? Try yours, and it should only be yours, Mr. President Doc. He's a dog. Dogs can't do anything right in this world of cats. Any other species can't make an impact on us."
Doc hissed. "Let me remind you that Grayson is your leader as well. Although Ayame's a hologram of a human being, she has given us worthwhile music and entertainment! Your pathetic speeches and protests can't top that by a long shot!"
Uranus growled. "Take that back, you little-"
"Stop!" Zilly hissed.
"M-mother... um... did... Dennis bother you again to come here?" Doc stammered nervously.
"Zilly! Thank the stars, you're here. I don't think I liked where that conversation was going!" A golden cat exclaimed, trembling as she spoke- Zilly's childhood friend.
Grayson looked up while holding the damaged wood from the podium.
"Aw, your mommy is here to save you?"
"Have you been sniffing catnip again, Uranus?" Dennis muttered.
"Kandice had let me into the catnip fields," Uranus giggled, fumbling with her speech as she dizzily gazed at the crowd while pointing at the golden cat.
"You what?!" The cats screeched toward her as she was busy fiddling with her necklace.
"Look, I'm sorry. Yes, I did it. But not willingly."
"You so did it willingly! You were all, 'Sure, Uranus! I'll let you into the catnip field'!"
The crowd gasped and glared in Kandice's direction.
"Uh, that's because you practically blackmailed me! You told me you'd throw Sandra into the volcano if I didn't let you in! It wasn't right, you know I have a medical condition, and I was only given that key for emergencies by Doc and Grayson!"
This time, the crowd glanced at Uranus angrily.
"Maybe you're hallucinatin'..." Uranus added an accent to her words.
Sydney Hayes, an inspector, hissed behind them. "Hey! That's not nice!" She had a southern accent, which wasn't bad, though she was constantly criticized.
"Y'all know I can't speak your common language, er... Accent... Whatever I mean!"
"Keep dreamin', Sydney..." She held out the last syllable.
"Y'all take that back!"
Uranus ignored her and continued to hold out the syllable.
As the two bickered, a loud shout from Doc silenced them.
"Enough! I will not have my people damaging the good name of this planet! Catyan citizens, we must all be orderly! There is no reason to cause such chaos and panic!"
All of a sudden, a booming sound echoed throughout the small world.
There was a scream from beyond the town square. A purple cat rushed towards them. Her yellow eyes and patches of darker purple fur were visible, making her seem to be Marcie and Zilly's adopted daughter, Violet.
"Oh, my stars..! The volcano! It's erupting! Oh no! Oh, help!"
"Violet! Calm down; you're not helping us by screaming like that!" Marcie hissed.
"B-But Mom! It opened this weird black thing... and it... it sucked all the others in! Blu, Ani, and Starburst got in there- even Ayame; it's awful..!"
"What?!" Zilly gasped.
"Zilly, I suggest we check this out immediately," Grayson replied, finally letting go of the wood scraps from his podium.
"Goddamnit, Violet, pull yourself together!" Dennis yelled and shook her frail body.
"Seems Dennis has this covered," Marcie mumbled sarcastically.
"It's getting bigger..!" A yell echoed as the volcano erupted yet again.
The four who had been en route rushed more in the direction of the screams, their eyes and mouths gaping at the sight- a black hole in the middle of the volcano... and some of the cats on the scene had gotten too close in the end and were swept away...
"Damn it!" Doc yelled. "There go another few of the cats on our planet. Mother, what shall we do?"
It was interesting to hear Doc's voice differently; usually, he had a monotone voice and came across as very apathetic.
"You don't need to ask me. You're the president now, not Marcie and I."
"But as a former leader, you must know what to do in this emergency!"
Hesitantly, Zilly nodded and looked toward the others who had remained.
"We need to investigate. You four can come with me. Dennis and the others are keeping this under control, it seems."
Zilly's eyes darted around before Doc, Grayson, and Marcie followed behind her.
"We can't have any more cats be killed or swept away. It took two of my sons. My sons!"
Nearby, Mount Silly-san was a large portal.
Silly was one of Zilly's daughters of the eleven children she had. Doc named the mountain after Silly to gain her approval. She requested "Silly-san" because she influenced some culture that no cat understood.
Silly stood nearby; her strangely colored pupils shone toward her parental figures and leaders.
"Oh, Oka-sans! Doc! Grayson! Thank goodness!" She panted. "I tried to save the others, but they're gone! Every one of them! The pull was so strong!"
The four seemed bewildered by the statement. Alas, it was true.
A piercing scream echoed next to them as another cat slipped in.
"Mercedes!" Silly yowled.
She cried out in terror. "Please help! Oh, stars! Oh, no!"
Silly grabbed her paw. "I got you, Mercedes! Hold on- what- whoa..!"
Silly began to slip. She eventually couldn't keep her grasp, and Mercedes slipped and fell down the portal with a scream.
"Mercedes! No! I have to go save her..."
"Leave her, Silly." Doc mewed in his monotone voice. "She's gone. There's nothing we can do."
"No. Let her go." Grayson barked softly.
"What?! Grayson, are you crazy?"
"She seems keen on saving her. We can't leave anyone behind. We can afford to take a chance if Mercedes is alive there."
"But what if she dies?!"
"If I die... Nominate Mace-kun in my place." She replied softly, nodding to Grayson in gratitude before jumping into the portal.
"No..!" Doc whispered.
"This was her choice, Doc. We couldn't have stopped her, no matter what we said in the end." Grayson whispered, giving him a comforting hug.
"But she was my sister... I lost her and Blu in a day."
Zilly looked towards him pitifully. She may not have understood the pain of losing a sibling, but she understood the pain of losing a child...
Uranus rushed up to them. "Hey! What's happening up here?!"
"Like you want to know," Grayson growled, continuing to comfort Doc, who was grieving for his lost siblings.
"Earthquake! Everyone get down..!"
The entire ground shook as Dennis sounded the warning.
"Oh no..!" Grayson yelped as the portal grew, and he lost his balance, slipping inside as if he could not have regained it in time. Marcie, Zilly, and Doc looked on in horror as the portal grew, and as they heard Grayson's whines of fear fade out, they could only assume he was gone too.
"Grayson..! No!" Doc gasped. "I need to-..! No... Silly is gone... Blu is gone, and Grayson... Now he's gone..."
"One of you grab this rope. I want to see if I can grab him."
"Why are you being nice all of a sudden?" Doc growled.
"I... I figured it was the least I could do... You know... Since I broke his podium..."
Good, Zilly thought. This could be a good thing. The effects of the catnip must've worn off at this point...
The three cats grabbed the rope and stepped back firmly.
"Here I go..!" Uranus yowled as she plunged into the portal.
The three looked forward with no words. They became even more horrified as they heard her voice again.
"...oh, stars, I am still falling..!"
"Well," Zilly muttered. "This is a long rope."
The rope continued to slide against their paws, and Zilly could only grit her teeth against the rope burn, desperately hanging on as if her life depended on it.
"Ack!" Uranus yowled before piping up again. "Wait..! I think I see him... Wait, no; he's falling- Ow!"
A loud crash startled the three as the heavy weight on the rope had suddenly been lifted.
"Damn it..." Marcie muttered as they pulled the rope up. It had snapped entirely. Uranus? Gone too. "Damn it!" Marcie shouted louder, throwing the string into the portal.
"Mother, I believe... I should be with him, you know?" Doc whispered, approaching the portal.
"What are you saying, Doc?" Zilly whispered, afraid of what he was implying.
"Silly, Blu, Grayson, Uranus... how many more must I watch die?!"
"Doc..."
"I need to do this. I am the president. Or... so I was."
"Stop it. You're scaring me. Son..?" Zilly's voice began to drop, knowing what his intentions were.
"Take my place. Lead our people. I know you retired long ago... But you still have so long of a lifespan, m-mother. I can't do anything without Grayson beside me. You have Marcie. She loves you, and you have each other. It's only necessary if I'm... If I'm with someone I feel closest to."
"No... Wait..."
"You're a magnificent cat, mother... You know that, don't you?" Doc replied before falling back into the portal with a rare smile.
"Doc!" Zilly shouted pitifully. "Don't... do this..!"
"We have to move on, Zilly..." Marcie sighed. "There's nothing we can do about these casualties. We need to run. Now."
The two ran back into Sector A, where many cats looked at them in worry.
"Mom... Where's Doc? And Grayson?" Bandit called, taking his bandana off his face and showing his brown eyes.
"Doc and Grayson... Were sucked into the portal."
Anxious muttering spread throughout the crowd.
"What do we do now?" Kandice asked.
Zilly swallowed and muttered, "I know this procedure hasn't been, well... Rehearsed as much yet... But... we have to evacuate the planet. Now."
The cats ran away, screaming and scrambling to get into an escape pod.
"I didn't know we had these, Zilly."
"That's because it's for emergencies only, and we've never had an emergency before... Until now."
One by one, the pods launched into the air. They are safe now, Zilly thought, with a rushing feeling of ease and relief.
"Everyone seems to be gone now..." Marcie muttered, looking around and checking the homes. The houses on Catya were beginning to get torn up by the portal as they confirmed no cats remained on the planet but them.
Zilly looked in the portal's direction, hoping it didn't cause the deaths of all those cats... as it sure did more than just a number to their homes.
"Zilly, if we stay here any longer, that portal will kill us too. Sure, it may have been the cause of the casualties of so many cats, but... we need to stay alive and lead our planet... For their sake."
"You're right," Zilly nodded, trying not to look back as she watched the house she and Marcie made so many memories of getting torn apart.
Marcie then ran and turned the emergency door, overriding the controls immediately as the door unlocked.
"Get in. We need to go now. The planet has already suffered nine casualties that we've had to witness... It doesn't need any more than that."
Zilly nodded reluctantly and stepped in. Her eyes glistened, clouded with the grief and sadness of losing so many of her friends and family.
"Don't give up hope, Zilly. They'll always be in your heart."
"I guess so..." She replied as Marcie stepped in and sat beside her, placing her paw onto her fiancée's.
The pod closed, and they flew into the air as it started to launch.
"Hopefully, they'll be okay..."
Marcie gasped in terror. "What the fuck is this?!"
"Don't freak out; I'm just saying that-"
"No... no, no! Are you seeing this?!" Marcie interrupted with her paw resting on the window.
"What do you mean..?"
Zilly confirmed what Marcie had seen. "Oh, fuck!" She shouted.
All the pods were flying into the portal- oh, stars, no!
They could hear soft screams while continuing to fly into the portal.
"Listen, everyone! Get out of your pods now!" Zilly shouted, abruptly opening the pod a little.
Unfortunately, nobody heard them.
"We need to go, too!" Marcie called. "Open the door!"
"Damn it! The door's jammed like this! It won't budge!"
"Oh, no... not us too..."
They couldn't get out in time, and soon, the portal sucked them in.
Zilly glanced into Marcie's heterochromatic eyes for the last time, holding her paws tightly.
"I love you, Marcie." She whispered.
Before they knew it, everything surrounding them had darkened.
Where are we? What is this? They both thought while looking around discombobulatingly.
Feeling debris fall on her legs, Zilly shuddered. Nobody was holding her paws anymore... And a surge of incredible heat exploded throughout the pod. She had to accept her fate- and the future of every Catyan citizen.
The ending was there, and it came prepared and not alone, with its many friends named terror, despair, grief, and destruction.
And there was only one thing that could be heard through the not-so-lulling absence of light, though not from Marcie, which discomforted Zilly and made her feel as though, in panic, she had to say it...
"Shit!"