Mayenar carefully stalked the deserted streets of Torn City. Her ears twitched nervously beneath her wet hair, and the fur of her long feline tail stood on edge. Every shadow seemed to conceal some dreadful danger, every distant sound made her heart beat a little faster. This was bad. Oh, this was very, very bad!

Halloween. The most dangerous night of the year in Torn City, and here she was, all alone in the streets, with nothing but the darkness and the pouring rain for company.

Her fine feline nose twitched as she caught a familiar scent carried on the cold night air. Blood. Lots of blood. Its coppery stench mingled with the rain, heavy and oppressive, clinging to the pavement and drifting between the darkened buildings. Mayenar flattened her ears and hurried across an intersection, keeping close to the walls as she slipped from one pool of shadow to the next. Somewhere in the distance, gunfire rattled through the night, followed by a scream that ended rather abruptly.

Oh no. That sounded close!

She pressed herself against a damp brick wall and listened, her tail twitching anxiously behind her. There! A noise from just around the corner. A faint, wet gasp, followed by the unmistakable sound of someone struggling to breathe.

Mayenar cautiously peeked around the corner.

A young man lay sprawled on the pavement, his expensive body armor torn almost beyond recognition. A combat knife remained untouched in its holster, while the assault rifle that should have protected him lay several meters away in the gutter. His chest was a single horrible wound, his armor and flesh ripped apart by what looked suspiciously like a chainsaw. Blood pooled beneath him, slowly spreading through the rainwater as his last breaths rattled in his throat.

A chainsaw! Really! Of all the dreadful ways to die!

Mayenar swallowed nervously. Whoever had done this might still be nearby, and she certainly didn't want to encounter someone swinging a chainsaw around in the dark. She hurried past the unfortunate fellow, her little paws splashing through the puddles as she rounded the next corner.

And nearly stumbled headfirst into a pile of corpses.

Five people, perhaps six, had been stacked against a wall in a grotesque heap of tangled limbs. Several enormous meat hooks protruded from their bodies, apparently used to drag the unfortunate victims together. Someone had even arranged the bodies into a crude pyramid, with a bloodstained cardboard sign reading Happy Halloween! propped against the topmost corpse.

Mayenar stared in horror.

What sort of sick monster did something like this? What kind of horrible person went around stabbing people with meat hooks and then piling them up like discarded garbage?

Another burst of gunfire sounded somewhere beyond the buildings, followed by a distant explosion. Mayenar flinched, her ears flattening against her head. She could hear shouting now, screams and the dreadful revving of what might have been another chainsaw. The smell of blood seemed to be everywhere, and the streets were growing emptier by the minute.

Oh noes! This was terrible!

Her tail lashed back and forth in mounting agitation as she looked desperately up and down the deserted street. She had been looking forward to Halloween for weeks! She had made all her preparations, picked out her favorite equipment, and even skipped dinner to make sure she had plenty of time for the evening's festivities. And now this!

Everywhere she went, someone had gotten there first. The gunmen were shooting everyone, the chainsaw maniacs were chopping people to pieces, and apparently there was even some lunatic running around with a collection of meat hooks!

Mayenar clenched her little fists in utter despair, her whiskers trembling with indignation.

At this rate, there wouldn't be anyone left for HER to murder!