Out of Pattern

Sometime during that night, while the cloaked person was looking for cats to kill, Ella found that she couldn't sleep well. She tried forcing herself back to bed, but it didn't work. She sighed in irritation.

Oh, you idiot, she thought to herself. That's never going to work. It's already proven by research. I should do something else instead.

Maybe she could eat something so she'll feel sleepy? But she already promised herself that she wouldn't get midnight snacks. She'd love to have a calming herbal infusion right now, but they ran out, and she hasn't bought any recently.

While thinking of what else she could do to pass the time, she heard her dog Brownie barking like crazy outside.

"Oh no, who could it be?" she thought out loud. "It better not be some thief…"

She didn't know if she was going to encounter anything dangerous or not, so she took one of their frying pans to arm herself. She then walked carefully towards the front door, all the time keeping in mind not to make a sound.

However, by the time she was somewhat close to the door, she heard Brownie yelp.

"Brownie?!"

She rushed out of the house, just in time to see a cloaked person in the middle of strangling her dog while pinning it down to the ground. She then ran to the assailant, hoping to save her canine companion from his hold.

"Let go of Brownie, you!" she shouted while swinging the pan wildly.

The cloaked person suddenly turned their sights towards her and glared, not budging from his position. For a moment, Ella was intimidated. She didn't see the person's eyes, but she could somehow feel that, if she moved, right then and there, she would be next.

That moment was all it took for the intruder to twist the pet dog's neck and run away. Ella, having snapped out of her frozen state, tried to chase after him, to no avail. She may have been the active type, but she was no match for his speed, even more so that she was only in her pajamas and fluffy slippers.

She went back to her now-deceased pet, with the neck mangled because of the assailant's strong hands. At a loss, she could only weep while sitting on the lawn beside the body.

"I'm sorry, Brownie," she said in between sobs. "I… I should have saved you. I should have gone in!"

----------

"Mr. Ryne?! Mr. Ryne!"

The following morning, Ryne was woken up by one of the cats outside. It was an black mackerel and white cat with a kink in its tail and a naturally grumpy face. It was also someone unfamiliar to him, possibly hailing from one of the other colonies in the city.

He got up from the bed and went over to the window.

"Yes? What is it?"

"It's unfortunate, but I'm here to bring some bad news," said the visitor without much delay. After all, time was of the essence. "Some more cats are missing."

"Oh no…" uttered Ryne, partly feeling as if he has failed in his mission.

It seemed that the other cat had taken a hint of what he felt and tried to bring some form of consolation. "It doesn't do much to fret about it, sir. It's understandable, considering not everyone believes that there's a killer human on the loose. It's their fault that they didn't take the necessary precautions. You did what you could in trying to inform everyone."

Did they really?

The messenger continued his report. "By the way, there's something possibly even worse than our missing fellows, sir."

Worse? What could be worse than missing cats by now? He didn't quite know if his heart could take it, but he needed to know.

"Some of the dogs have also been killed," said the other cat.

"Dogs?"

"Yes, sir. Dogs."

Now, this somewhat threw him off. As far as he and his companions knew, the killer only targeted cats. And they wouldn't even know that they were being murdered if not for the fact that Nini and Fonmi had witnessed one such killing. Add to that the testimonies of the spirits of those who have been murdered.

"Don't tell me…" he thought to himself.

Suddenly his phone rang. It was Ella, the human he met near the police station. He nearly forgot that they exchanged numbers before they parted ways.

"Hello?" he said upon answering it.

"Hey, Spencer?" asked the voice on the other line. Sure enough, it was that lady.

"Yes?"

"I… I told you that I'll contact you when something new happened, right?" Said Ella, sounding a little… depressed compared to when they talked in front of the police station. "I have something, but I'd need to show you. I'll text you my address."

"Oh, okay…" said Ryne in response. "Are… Are you all right? You sound down."

"Yeah…" said the girl. "Well, not really. Does it really show in my voice? I'm really sorry."

"It's all right."

"I'll tell you about it when you get here. Bye for now."

Ryne could hear a bit of a sniff before Ella ended the call. She must have been crying about something. And recalling his conversation with her before this one, he feared that it might have something to do with her pet, or rather, her friend's.

He looked outside to see that the messenger was still there, looking intently at him and the device he held.

"That is a curious object."

"Oh, this?" said Ryne. "This is called a phone. Humans use it to talk to each other or send messages from a distance."

"I believe it would be interesting if we also had such."

"Humans haven't thought that we would need this, I suppose. I'd say we haven't either."

"I agree. This is perhaps the first time we would all be required to cooperate with each other towards a common goal. And with humans too, no less."

"Indeed."

It was around this time that Nini and the others have woken up as well.

"Good morning," said Nini. Prauza was still quite a mess, so he took the time to groom himself somewhere in the background while everyone else was talking. Fonmi got the idea that it was going to be a talk among the adults again, so he went to explore more of the room to pass the time.

"Good morning, Nini," said Ryne.

"Who's that?"

"Yes, I haven't introduced myself yet. Shekau is my name," answered the messenger cat. "I came here to inform Mr. Ryne of developments regarding cat disappearances."

Ryne's face went back to that of worry. "And it seems that it's not just us cats anymore."

Nini was taken slightly aback. "What do you mean?"

"Dogs are now involved in this case," said Shekau. "Quite a few of them were seen dead by our fellows."

"Just seen? You mean they're not hidden?"

"No. They're out in the open. We would like you to take a look at them."

Knowing that the dogs were left for dead for everyone to see made for an unpleasant surprise. And he knew that even the humans would find it unsettling.

Humans…

Ella!

"W-Wait!" exclaimed Ryne.

He saw Nini's look of surprise and Shekau's curious stare right after, and he blushed in embarrassment. He apologized soon after.

"S-Sorry about that. It's just that we need to do something before that. Is it all right?"

"I suppose the corpses aren't going to move elsewhere unless the humans get to them," said Shekau as if it was simply a fact.

"Where are we going, exactly?" asked Nini.

"Earlier, Ella, the human we met at the police station, called me," answered Ryne. "She wanted me to go to her place. It seems that she has some new information regarding this case."

"I see… All right."

"Well then, let us go there!" Said Prauza, who was done grooming himself.

"I'll be accompanying you for the time being, then," said Shekau. "In case I need to relay any of that information to the others."

"It's settled then," said Ryne. "Thank you."

The cats got ready to go out of the inn again, and this time they went off to Ella's house.