CHAPTER SIXTEEN ~ HALLOWEEN STORY TIME **CLAWS OF TERROR** A BRAND NEW BASIL AND THE B TEAM ADVENTURE FOR 2024

Claws of Terror is an action-packed and immersive adventure that takes mew on a journey through a world of danger and excitement. With vivid and detailed descriptions of the intense battles and spine-tingling encounters, the story draws mew in, making mew feel as though mew are right there with The B Team, fighting for survival.

HANG ON TIGHT GUYS, THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE WILD NIGHT!!!

If mew missed the start of this brand-new adventure click the link below:

Chapter One   Chapter Two   Chapter Three    Chapter Four    Chapter Five

Chapter Six    Chapter Seven    Chapter Eight     Chapter Nine     Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven     Chapter Twelve     Chapter Thirteen     Chapter Fourteen     Chapter Fifteen

 

Chapter Sixteen

POOF! And It Was Gone

Why is it, when everything goes to fluff, it happens in seconds? The last few hours of my life were a whirlwind of the weirdest and wholly indescribable events I had ever experienced. In that moment, all I wanted to do was get back to BBHQ.

          “.... Seven... Six...” Astrid continued the countdown as we hurtled out of the TTTB door, and ran as fast as we could for cover.

“Over there!” I yelled, spying a rather rocky outcrop. And while it was not an ideal place to take cover, it was better than nothing.

We raced towards the rocks, and Astrid, who seemed to have had a personality upgrade and not a particularly nice one at that, had turned on the exterior speakers.

“... Five... Run, Basil Run!” she chimed. “... Four... Tick Tock little cats...”

Reaching the rocks, we slid around the back in a hail of dust and hunkered down.

“Three... Not long now!” Astrid laughed.

Yes, the A.I. actually laughed. “Everyone stay down!” I instructed.

“Two...” Astrid hollered gleefully. “Are you ready for the end? ONE!”

There was an almighty tearing sound, like the very fabric of the universe was being ripped apart.

Using a retractable pocket periscope, I opened it up and positioned it so I could see above the rocks without having to stick my head above and into the blast line.

Lightning struck the ground all around the TTTB. It thundered and boomed, and the ground quaked. Melvyn burst out crying, and Amber picked the kitten up, cradling him gently as she sang her favourite lullaby.

Four little kittens lost at sea,

Basil, Snowie, Posie and me,

We bobbed up and down in our little boat,

So happy that we were staying afloat,

Along came a ship and scooped us up,

And we couldn’t believe our epic luck! 

The day got better, and the sun went down,

The next day we docked in a brand new town,

Snowie was thrilled, and Posie was chilled,

As we all went ashore and Basil got grilled,

The Port Master said, papers please,

Basil said, sorry, ours got eaten by fleas!

 

We all got thrown into kitty jail

But Basil said, I think we should bail

We made our escape undercover of dark

And really, it was such a fabulous lark!

The next day, we hitched a lift,

Heading north and widening the rift.

 

The journey was long, but fabulous fun,

And later that day we watched the setting sun

Early next morning the journey was complete,

We jumped off the trailer, landing on our feet,

Basil spied some gates and pointed there,

Saying rather loudly, with much flare,

We’ve arrived, and this is our new home,

Let’s go inside and hope the beds are made of comfy foam!

 

Four little kittens lost at sea,

Basil, Snowie, Posie and me,

Waifs and strays and left behinds

Now all had a home, forever and all time!

 

Melvyn sniffled. “Is that true, Aunty Amber? Were mew really lost at sea?”

“No sweetie, but it makes me laugh to sing it,” Amber replied softly.

A high pitched squeaking sound rang out, getting more and more intense. The TTTB appeared to shrink while the intense squeal grew louder and louder until there was a deafening pop, and the TTTB disappeared in a flash of light.

“What the fluff?” I said.

Humphrey, who’d also been watching, said. “POOF! And it was gone!”

Fudge peered around over the rocks. “What just happened?”

“And what happened to the colossal explosion I was expecting?” Smooch asked, popping up from behind the rocks.

I shrugged, shaking my head. “This doesn’t make any sense at all!”

“Sense maybe not, but here mew are!” a strange voice said from behind us.

>^.^<

          Posie and Pandora stood in the churchyard, watching as more and more zombie cats stumbled across the fog-filled field. The air was filled with the stench of death and decay as the shufflers headed blindly to their location. They had been trying to get hold of Basil through the comms unit, but the line was as dead as three-day-old roadkill.

Miss Warts and Mogs were conferring telepathically and Pandora didn’t want to interrupt, so she said to Posie. “Do mew think that these are the shufflers from the bunker?”

Posie thought about this for a moment and then, in the distance, a gut churning roar filled the air and an orange flare lit up the sky right above BBHQ.

“Oh, that doesn’t look good!” Posie said. “Do mew have an iPaw in your bag?”

Pandora rummaged through her bag and a few moments later, pulled out a small tablet. She passed it to Posie, who began tapping on the screen. She pulled up the security feed from the Control Room and scrutinised the myriad of screens, then noticing that the drones were still active, she focussed on their feeds showing the garden of BBHQ.

“Jumpin’ juniper berries!” she exclaimed. “Just look at that!”

Pandora peered at the feed. “Oh My Cod!”

Mogs and Miss Warts headed over and watched the unfolding drama. They whooped and cheered as Vera transformed and incinerated the A.I. dinosaurs and then went after the naked necromancer, who was now stumbling along Main Street towards the church. He kept stopping and waving his broken, crystal-tipped wand at the huge white hybrid dragon, though nothing happened, and he was left screaming like a pansy in a tornado.

Vera just snorted in utter contempt, and a blast of fire surged towards the screaming man.

“Well, mew don’t see that every day now. Do mew?” Posie snickered.

“I don’t think I ever want to see that again!” Pandora grimaced at the sight.

Mogs asked. “What’s Vera going to do next?”

Pandora and Posie both shrugged.

Miss Warts abruptly spun around as something hit her back.

“Duck!” she shouted.

“Where?” Posie asked.

“No, duck!” Pandora said, yanking her paw and pulling her down behind a large headstone.

A barrage of rocks and stones hurtled through the air.

Pandora peered around the edge of the tall gravestone and saw the Red Wing Raptors hurling rocks from the other side of the church wall.  

“I can’t believe they’re picking up the stones between their teeth and chucking them at us!” Posie raged. “The fluffing nerve of it! Mew come in here and do that mew scaly red lizards!”

A huge boulder landed right next to her and Pandora said. “Posie, taunting them like that might not be a good idea!”

“Are mew kidding me?” Posie grinned. “If they step foot on this hallowed ground, they’re toast!”

“True,” Pandora conceded. “But if they manage to hit any of us with one of those rocks, we might be toast too!”

“Mew speak for yourselves. I’m already dead. What can they do to me?” Posie replied.

“We’d like to stay living!” Miss Warts retorted.

“Yes!” Pandora agreed.

“Oh, I see your point. Sorry about that.” Posie conceded rather sheepishly.

“Hmmmmm,” Pandora grizzled.

Mogs, who’d just narrowly avoided being smacked on the head with a large branch, said. “Is the church open? I think we’d be safer in there.”

“Good point,” Posie mused, let me go and check. She tapped her EMD and instantly returned to her ghostly form. She zipped across the misty graveyard towards the church doors landing in the small, stone porch. Tapping her EMD again and transforming into a physical form, she lifted the latch on the large oak door. The door swung open on creaking hinges, and she cautiously looked inside, ensuring it was empty as a small light flickered within.

Pandora, Miss Warts and Mogs ran towards the open door, zig-zagging their way between grave stones as the barrage continued. Running inside, Posie slammed the door behind them and dropped the latch.

“We should be safer in here.” She said, letting out a sigh of relief.

Mogs whirled around and looked directly towards the altar, which was glowing bright red. “I think we need to leave. NOW!”

>^.^<

          “Who are mew?” I demanded as a small, stooped figure in a tatty robe hobbled towards us with the aid of a cabbage stalk.

Smooch, Parsley and Fudge had their weapons raised and The M-Unit stood behind them with weapons ready.

The robed figure waved his paw, and the weapons flew into the air, hovering just out of reach.

“Need those, mew do not,” the crusty voice said.

“Look dude,” I said trying to keep my voice even, as I could see this purrson was really, really old, and I think it’s most important to show your elders much respect. “I don’t know who the fluff mew are, or even where we were precisely, but we are having a particularly horrible day and...”

“Safe mew are,” the hooded figure said as he stopped in front of me and pushed the hood of his robe back.

“Jumpin’ juniper berries!” I gasped.

“Whoa!” come the collective response.

The ancient Sphynx cat gave us a toothless grin. His exceedingly bald, wrinkled skin crinkled even more as his black eyes twinkled in the dimming light.

“Meow-Da my name be,” said the ancient cat.

I must admit, I was a little lost for words. Humphrey stepped forward and nudged me as the silence grew. “Many apologies, oh great one,” I said reverently, and bowed slightly. “It is an honour of the highest magnitude to be in your presence.”

Meow-Da came closer and said. “Waiting a long time for mew, I have.”

I glanced over my shoulder at Bomber; he gave me a one shoulder shrug and said. “This event definitely wasn’t on the data cube.”

I thought, ‘Finally, some good news. This means the other timeline is no longer in play, and we have a chance.’

“Meow-da,” I said. “My name is...”

“Commander Basil, mew are, and your team, this is,” he said as he lifted his cabbage stalk and pointed at everyone in turn. “Know mew all, I do. Waiting a long time for this event, I have.”

“OK,” I answered. “Can mew help us?”

“Why I am here, this is,” Meow-Da answered. “Follow me, mew need to. Dark coming, danger lurking. Hurry, we must.”

He pulled his hood back over his head, turned and began to walk away.

Glancing at my team, Smooch said sarcastically. “He seems nice. Are we going with him?”

Fudge cuffed him around the ear. “Stop it dude!”

The guns that were hanging in the air dropped to the ground with a clatter.

“Let’s go. What choice have we got?” I said. “We’re in the Thirteenth Parallel on an unidentified planet with unknown threats, and this nice old chap says he’s been waiting for us; it would be rude not to go.”

A blood curdling howl sounded in the distance, followed by several more and I said. “Chop, chop, time to make a move and quick sharp too.”

**AND CUT**

Guys, mew know how we roll, so many apologies to cut it right there, but we will say, fluff me, and fluffing fluff, it’s just so bonkers!!! MOL 

Who is this Meow-Da purrson and can he be trusted?

Where the fluff is mew in the Thirteenth Parallel?

and

What the fluff is happening inside the church?

If mew would like to read Chapter 17, let us know in the comments, as OH MY CAT, this is getting wilder each week. In fact, it’s the P.A. has decided to stay in bed in a reclined position as it’s all just too much! MOL

  Remember, this story is for mew, and mew decide if it continues.

Don’t forget to check out yesterday’s Cats have Purroblems Too post if mew missed it, and we’ll be back tomorrow with some more Midweek News.

In the meantime...

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team 

Click Here to go to Chapter 17

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