Sasha's ears perked up to the jingling of keys and she sprung awake from her nap. She looked towards the front door to see her father, buzzed in a drunken stupor trying to jam his car keys in an invisible slot in the door. Frowning, she got up and walked up to him, "Dad, do you need help?"

"I...I'm fine. Just need to drive to the liquor store to get some more beer." Sasha's dad slurred, stumbling around drunkenly and he dropped his keys and fumbled around for them, "Help me."

With a sigh, Sasha got up and handed her father the keys and opened the door for him, "There you go."

"Thanks." Her father slurred, slowly stumbling out of the door and into the hot summer night. Sasha watched as he made his way towards his car and got in, slamming the car door behind him. It took about seven or eight tries for him to finally fit his keys in the ignition and start the engine. As he exited the driveway, Sasha slowly waved him goodbye before closing the front door.

It was then that he took off into the night. As he drove down the road, he accelerated his car to about 80 miles per hour. His entire field of vision went black and a loud thump and a scream was heard. The scream woke him up from his alcohol induced stupor and he stepped out of his vehicle to see what he had hit. His vision was blurry and all he could make out was a lump of orange fur that was slowly breathing.

"Put the dang thing out of its misery." He slurred to himself, stumbling over to the trunk of the car and pulling out a tire iron. Raising the iron, he gave the orange lump a few good whacks and it stopped moving. Dropping the tire iron, Sasha's dad passed out in the grass.

About ten minutes later, the sound of police sirens and flashing red and blue lights disturbed the serene silence of the night as Tiger Arbelt was trying his best to fall asleep in his bed. Slowly getting up, Tiger groggily walked over to his window and stared out at the street, wincing at the flashing police lights, "What the howl is going on? What are people doing out so late?"

"Need I remind you that Marvin was out late at a Pridelands themed party for cats." Zach's voice called out from behind Tiger.

"Oh." Tiger shrugged, "So that explains what all the noise is about. Maybe some cat brought catnip to the party and got busted by the police."

"Or maybe someone got in an accident of some sort." Zach suggested.

Tiger snickered a little at Zach's reply, "Accident? Don't be silly, our neighborhood is as safe as a child's playpen. It's probably nothing. Let's just go back to bed and put it all behind us, all right?"

Zach sighed and hung his head, he didn't want to start an argument with Tiger so he just quietly agreed and made his way towards his room when there was a knock at the door. Jerry opened the door to see Officer Lindberg with a sullen look on his face, "Bill? Is something wrong?"

Zach slowly made his way down the stairs of the house and waited in the stairwell, listening in to the conversation.

Bill took a deep sigh. He didn't want to break the news to Jerry but he knew that he had to, "Jerry, I'm truly sorry for your loss." The officer then produced Marvin's bloodstained collar which was sealed in an evidence bag, "Your cat has been run over by a car."

Jerry looked absolutely floored by the news and Zach let out a gasp of shock, "No..."

"He was pronounced dead at the scene." Officer Lindberg explained, "He also appeared to have been beaten by a tire iron. Apparently, whoever hit him was trying to put him out of his misery."

Zach felt salty tears sting the edges of his yellow green eyes and start rolling down his muzzle as he watched Jerry break down and take the evidence bag containing Marvin's collar into his hands. Rubbing his eyes as he choked back a sob, Zach frantically scrambled up the stairs and made a mad dash to Tiger's room. He didn't care that his canine brother could potentially lash out at him for disturbing his slumber, he didn't want to wait til morning to break the news to him.

Entering Tiger's room, Zach violently shook the dog awake, "Wake up, Tiger! Wake up!"

"What is it now, Zach?" Tiger grumbled in irritation, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his paws.

"Marvin is dead!" Zach wailed frantically, tears falling like rain from his soft white face.

"WHAT?!"