An Apocalyptic Invasion

probably the bloodiest event ever

Carlos was definitely not okay.
After he said that, I felt a shiver run down my spine. It sounded so ominous, and I wasn't sure who he was referring to.
He turned back to Bri and smiled at her. "Come on. We have some preparing to do."
After they left, I slowly walked up the stairs, gripping the rail for support.
When I appeared back in the lobby, Tommy frowned with concern. "Whoa. Are you okay?"
My ears were ringing, so I didn't hear him completely. "I- no, actually."
"Did anything happen?"
"Everything. EVERYTHING happened."
I felt faint, and almost fell if Tommy didn't hoist me up.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Carlos... h- he killed someone."
"He always does that."
"No, this was different."
I described the entire process to him. His face went white, and I thought he was going to pass out himself.
"His killings got worse. Oh, my god."
"Now do you know why?"
He rubbed his eyes. "Here's what we're going to do. He might do the same thing tomorrow, so let's see if that happens in front of the others."
"We're not telling them?"
"Sam, what you just saw is proof that he isn't okay. He literally just tortured and ripped out a woman's organs."
"You're right."
He rubbed my back. "We'll be fine. All we have to do is just wait."

The next day, I heard some excited roars.
Looking out the window, I saw Catwings swarming into the arena, their tails flicking in excitement.
I poked my head out the bedroom and saw Carlos leading Tristan and his friends outside.
"What's going on?"
Todd stepped out of his room, stretching and yawning.
"I think the fight is about to happen."
"Fight?"
"The other gangs need to prove their worth."
"Okay."
"Should we eat breakfast?"
"We need energy to see whatever is going to happen."
Breakfast was pretty quick. We sat with our friends and ate some delicious pancakes.
I noticed Mike carrying a plate and walking out the kitchen.
"Hey, Mike."
"Sup kiddo."
"Who's that for?"
"Marissa. I wanted to help her out since her fiancée isn't doing well."
"You noticed too?"
He nodded with a grim expression. "He isn't doing okay mentally. I've been through that before, and it hurts to deal with it."
"He's too prideful."
"Right. We all get like that eventually."
With that said, he went into Carlos's room.
Todd set his plate into the dishwasher. "Ready?"
"You're not gonna change?"
He stretched out his leg and wriggled his toes. "I think they're fine. It's just pajamas."
"In that case, I'm not changing either."
We went outside and into the arena, where hundreds of Catwings were sitting, waiting for the big event.
Jhaufyther waved at me, then nudged Hazefhur, who was stuffing his face with food. He saw, smiled sheepishly, then continued eating.
There was a balcony a good distance from the ground; standing next to each other was Slaughlitte and Nova.
"What's she doing up there?" Todd asked.
"She's an announcer, along with Slaughlitte."
"Announcing what?"
I was about to reply when a large metal door slowly rolled upwards.
Tristan and his friends nervously walked out, and I noticed Ryan start to sweat when he saw all the Catwings.
Their eyes were fixed on them now, tails curled in excitement.
"Meet the first group everybody," Slaughlitte called. "Caught and imprisoned, they will battle it out to see who is worthy of living."
"Battle?" I heard Ryan murmur.
"Oh, you didn't know?" Nova stared straight down at him. "You're fighting another group- a rival gang, to be specific. Come on out."
Another door opened, and the other gang was pushed out by a long staff, which retreated into the darkness.
"I didn't expect you guys to live," Tristan taunted.
Shaun glared at him. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you don't."
"Didn't you have a friend named Olivia?" I whispered to Todd.
"She escaped," he whispered back.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Haven't seen her since Malia died."
"That's your younger twin sister, right?"
He nodded. "Kyrie. And the other girl is Amanda."
"How well do you know her?"
"Barely. I only know her through Kyrie."
"For the first battle, let's see if these people can fight a Catwing and win."
"WHAT?" Kyrie yelled.
"Scared?" Ryan said.
"No. It's just-"
They didn't even give her time to talk. Jhaufyther and his friends ran out of the doors and rushed towards them.
"Todd, they might die."
"So?"
I stared at him. "What do you mean 'so?'"
"They made my life a living hell- and I'm not talking regular sibling shit. They're the reason why I was in a gang; I was trying to get away from them because they got me in trouble so often."
Hazefhur took off into the air, and Ryan started firing arrows at him.
"How did he learn to shoot a bow?"
Todd shrugged. "Beats me."
The white and tabby Catwing easily dodged the arrows but didn't make an attempt to hurt him.
Carlos was leaning against the doorway, his arms crossed. He was watching everything with interest.
Jhaufyther snapped at Ryan, who easily dodged and rolled under his legs.
Hazefhur was weaving in the air like a furry snake, and Tristan tried to his best to hit him with arrows.
The other girl, who was with Todd's younger siblings, literally ran for it under Littefhur.
He didn't like that very much, so he swatted her aside and would have hit a wall if Todd didn't catch her.
Again, disclaimer: It's going to get very bloody.
Suddenly, more people rushed out and immediately fell to the ground, then got back up again.
The Catwings roared with excitement as Carlos ran forward and into the midst of them.
I saw a figure hop between the walls and land on top of one of the towers, watching with curiosity.
Looks like she decided to come, I thought.
An evil grin spread across CJ's face as he said, "Alright, you all are prisoners that the Catwings caught. Get in a straight line."
Once they did, he carved the sides of each of the prisoners.
Immediately after, he shot them three times in the head and one time in the abdomen.
As they were writhing around in pain and dying, he spun his spear around and went down stabbing them in the stomach.
Blood spurted, turning the sand red. He dug his hands into the holes that he made and ripped out their organs, tossing them aside.
Then he straightened and waved the Catwings over. "Free snacks for all of you! Then make sure to clean up after yourself to continue letting the participants fight."
They yowled with joy and zoomed to the bodies, then started rolling around and feasting on it.
During the entire torturing, Kaitlyn turned toward Tristan and buried her face in his chest, her chest heaving with quiet sobs. He just kept his eyes on the Catwings with a blank expression.
Stella and Ryan were looking on in horror, while Carlos was just enjoying everything with a huge grin on his face.
Once the feasting was done, the Catwings drunkenly flew back up to their seats.
I need to clarify something here: They obviously react differently to catnip and blood, but they both get drunk on it.
With catnip, they're the exact same to people doing drugs. With blood, just picture a bunch of middle-aged man having a brawl after drinking some beer.
Anyway, after they were settled, the five got back from hovering in the sky and slowly landed onto the scarlet sand.
The shock of the Catwings running towards them made the gangs come back to their senses.
As Ryan and Tristan were fighting to avoid Jhaufyther's claws, that's when it happened.
Jhaufyther was focusing on Stella, who was spinning and dodging his tail whip.
Kaitlyn managed to climb onto Littefhur's back and started to move towards Tristan.
With a small hand flick, Carlos motioned to Hazefhur.
An expression of absolute disdain appeared on the Catwing's face. He whirled toward Amanda and shot a blast of fire towards her.
It quickly engulfed her, causing her to scream and roll around.
Good thing sand isn't flammable, or else the fire would have spread.
As if that wasn't enough, Carlos started beating the ever-living SHIT out of her.
The combination of the punches and fire on her, Amanda eventually stopped fighting and laid on the ground as she was burnt to a crisp.
Hazefhur and Carlos nodded at each other with satisfaction.
I didn't how to feel. Carlos just quickened the process of Amanda's death, and he was the one to get her burned in the first place.
"He's getting worse," I whispered to Todd.
"No shit. He just caused her to turn into ashes."
Kyrie screamed with rage, and she threw herself at Carlos.
He grabbed her arm and started slamming her repeatedly to the ground until she started fighting to breathe.
He stopped and let her go. She crawled to the other side and sat there, clutching her shirt.
"Anyone else wants to try to interrupt?" he demanded.
He glared at Shaun, who wisely looked down.
"Good. And if you do, I won't hesitate to kill you like I did to the prisoners."
With that said, he stepped back to let the Catwings continue fighting.
The rest of the members were clearly motivated over the thought of death, because they fought like demons.
In the end, however, the Catwings obviously won. Jhaufyther pinned Tristan to the ground, and he had to admit defeat.
As the Catwings were getting ready to fly away, Carlos motioned for them to stop.
They sat back down with confused expressions.
"It has come to my attention that one of these gangs is plotting to kill me," he began.
Gasps and murmurs of shock rippled through the crowd.
"It's them," Ryan declared, pointing at Shaun and Kyrie.
Carlos nodded. "Exactly right. And what do we do with people who are traitors?"
"Execute them!" the Catwings cried gleefully.
I locked eyes with Todd, and he had the same horrified expression as I did.
"WHAT?" Kyrie screamed. "We're not- how did you-"
"Oh, I got it from a very trustworthy source."
I didn't know who he was talking about until I saw Shaun lower his head.
Kyrie punched him. "Why did you tell him?!"
"He was so nice," he murmured. "He promised that he would give us a lot of money."
"And you spilled the tea for that?"
He looked at her with an anguished expression. "I'm so sorry."
"Kneel."
Kyrie and Shaun slowly got to their knees.
He was about to swing his scythe when he suddenly stopped. "You know what? I think it's better if they witness someone they love die. That's punishment enough- but of course, they have to die as well after that."
Mike and Garth brought out a girl with chains tied around her torso and arms. Her jeans were completely ripped, and she had scratch marks on her arms.
"O-Olivia?"
"Oh, you recognize her?"
Shaun nodded. "She used to babysit us when we were kids. But then... the stupid plague happened."
"Yes, yes, and your loved ones died; big deal. Do you think she deserves to die?"
"I'd rather let myself die than her," Kyrie declared.
CJ's eyebrows raised. "Oh! Then I guess you die first."
Olivia screamed through her gagged mouth as he swung the scythe.
Kyrie's head rolled onto the ground, and a Catwing swiftly snatched it up.
Then he went to Shaun.
"Carlos, stop."
He slowly raised his head to look at me and mouthed This is what you get.
After Shaun was dead, he then went to Olivia.
"Do you want to live?"
She nodded desperately.
He sighed. "You seem like a good person. You haven't planned anything... yet."
He flicked his hand, and the brothers took Olivia away.
"Thank you for watching, everyone. Go back home and get drunk on blood; I'll see you another time."
The Catwings waved goodbye as they flew off into the blue sky, including Slaughlitte.
Nova glided down from the balcony and faced CJ. "That wasn't necessary."
"Oh, really? I think it was very necessary. I was taking care of traitors."
"They were plotting for a good reason."
He glared at her, and for the first time since I met her she seemed scared of him.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked quietly.
She regained her composure. "I speak for everyone when I say that you're going off the rails."
He snorted. "You think I don't know that? Why do you think I'm doing all of this?"
"It is not a healthy way to cope."
"Let me do my own thing," he snapped. "You do yours."
He stormed out of the arena.
Riley flew down from the tower. I could tell she was disturbed.
"He just... does he really have that in him?"
"Yes." Nova laced her fingers through hers. "It'll all come crashing down eventually."
"You said that last time," Todd said. "It wasn't true at all."
"I'm sure this time," she promised. "Sooner or later, he'll harm himself for good- and we won't see him again."
Those words were left being pondered over. I didn't know what she meant by that: if he was going to kill himself, die, or disappear completely.
As it turns out, he would go in the most unexpected way possible.