For my writing challenge, a story about my imaginary friend when I was a child. Please feel free to participate as well, I'd love to read a story about your imaginary friend when you had one (or if you still do).

My imaginary friend was named Cat Chris, and was an anthropomorphic feline character who had impressive speed and reflexes. He fought against an evil character named Slimeco, who inspired the earliest stages of Iugulare's infection. So you'll see infected creatures pop up in the story, but from a different villain than Iugulare.

Anyway, enjoy.

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The distant shore was slowly approaching in the early morning light. He stood on the edge of the boat, another ferrying him across. It was an island of horrors, as it harbored many production plants by that evil being named Slimeco. It was one source for many of the infected creatures that had begun spreading throughout the world. The facility needed to be shut down, or else Slimeco's domination of Earth would continue to spread.

He needed to be careful here. The island was crawling with infected creatures, all who would love to capture and infect Slimeco's enemy. Even the waters teemed with infected whales and dolphins. They watched the boat close by, unsure whether to attack or to wait. He was lucky they didn't knock him off the boat.

He can't swim. One of the few weaknesses of being a cat.

His feline ears perked and twitched, listening for any signs of danger. His eyes were locked on the distant horizon - green eyes with slit pupils. His fur was golden with brown stripes that lined his cheeks and arms. He wore loose clothing much like a martial artist, with some supplies on his belt. The less he had to carry, the faster he could be.

The boat drifted to the shore. "This is as far as I go.", the reptilian guide spoke, "I'll give you a half an hour, and then you're on your own." Chris nodded, and jumped off the boat onto the beach.

Chris moved quickly, being cautious as not to be detected. He hid behind a boulder and peeked over. A scout was already wandering around. A pronghorn, walking on two hooves instead of four. The white that should be fur was instead the thick infection being produced on the island. It stopped and sniffed the air, already catching Chris' scent. The infected being began to approach the boulder, eager to do it's master's bidding and spread the virus to others it could find.

The pronghorn jumped past the boulder, expecting to find someone there, but found nothing at all. The faint smell of the cat was there, though. It didn't consider looking upward, where Chris had climbed the rock wall. His movements were so fast that it was nearly impossible to even see him, he would have looked like a blur. "That was close...", Chris thought, and then began to ascend to the top of the rock face. The last thing he wanted was for one of those infected creatures to catch him. He only had a little medicine with him to fight the virus if he were infected. If he was exposed to too much...he didn't even want to consider the thought of changing into a mindless slave. He kept his mind off of it, and neared the top of the cliff.

The land evened out and he pulled himself up. Nearby was the stone wall that went around the facility, and he immediately saw that it was heavily guarded by infected animals. Chris was quick and rushed around the side of the wall without the guards noticing, although much like the pronghorn, they caught a whiff of his scent. He pressed against a stone wall and pulled out a grappling hook from his belt. Spinning the hook, he tossed it to the top of the wall. It caught hold of the top, and he tugged on it to make sure. Chris began to climb up it when one of the guards turned the corner. "Intruder!", the coyote shouted, and this startled Chris to where he lost his grip and fell onto the ground. Scrambling, he rushed away, but there was nowhere to run here, the infecteds were already after him. He skidded to a halt at the edge of the cliff, and turned to face the guards, who now numbered twenty or so. Taking a breath, he took out a small stick from his belt, which quickly rose in length to a staff. It was his favorite weapon, and he was exceptionally talented in defending himself, but he didn't know how long he could last against Slimeco's guards. The only other option would be to jump off the cliff, but he would fall into the sea below, which was suicide for him - he would surely drown or otherwise the infected sea creatures would get him.

He had no other choice. He had to stand his ground.

The infecteds rushed him - coyotes, reptiles, jaguars, and deer in species. Chris used his strength to swipe at them with the staff, some blows to the head knocked the guards unconscious, others only phased them. He was slowly being surrounded, and his endurance was depleting with each attack he held off.

It only took one mistake, he didn't keep his eye on one jaguar, who grabbed him and rubbed the infection into his side. Cringing, he kicked the cat off, but the virus was spreading and already was affecting his nerves. One of the coyotes took the chance to bite his shoulder, spreading more infection from it's lips. Chris stumbled backwards, the world was becoming a blur as his body went into shock. And then he misstepped and fell off the side of the cliff. The infected animals watched as he splashed into the water, and never came back up.

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"It can't end like this...", his mind was all that seemed to work at the time. He swiped relentlessly to try to swim up for air, but he didn't know how to maneuver in the water and continued to sink.

Water was already filling his lungs, and the infection continued to spread down his body. He was blacking out when something caught him. He felt the water rush past him quickly, as if something was pulling him.

Next thing he knew, he was on land. Choking, he spit out water and gasped for air. His eyes adjusted and he realized he was in a cavern. It must have been part of the island. Turning, he saw his rescuer - a dolphin...an infected dolphin. It must have mistaken him as an infected since the virus was on him, and saved him rather than kill him. Pleased that he was moving, the sea creature vanished under the water and left the cavern.

Chris didn't know how much time he had spent. Struggling, he pulled out the medicine he brought - a special herb that could fight off the virus. He only had a little available, so he took one leaf of it and ate it. The bitter taste was nothing compared to the relief it brought, as the infection stopped growing and subsided. He would still have the virus on his chest and shoulders, but it wouldn't grow any farther now that he had taken the medication.

He stood, woozy but able to maintain his balance. His staff was left on the shore as well, so he retrieved it, retracting it back to the original size that could fit on his belt. He didn't have any more time to waste, and at once walked deeper into the cavern, hoping it led into the facility.

After a few moments of walking, he found a ladder leading up to the building. It was only used for maintenance and they never expected anyone to break into the facility this way. It was perfect.

He climbed as quickly as he could, the pain in his shoulders reminding him that he was injured. He continued on, through the agony, and eventually made it to the top. There he opened a trap door and lifted himself up onto the main building.

There he saw the true face of horror. Countless animals on conveyor belts, struggling to break free but to no avail. They were led into small gas chambers where the virus filled their lungs. They came out writhing in pain, and moments later, their eyes were clouded, their bodies covered in white infection.

Chris ran over to the controls and began to pull levers and press buttons. At one point he made the conveyor belt move much faster, but soon he was able to stop the machine. He then took his staff and immediately began to smash the controls.

*Clap...clap...clap...*

He stopped, and looked over to the management room. There stood Slimeco, a man made purely of slime with a mechanical body that controlled him. "Well done, Cat Chris. Well done. You managed to shut down one of my infection processing plants. But there are dozens more out there that are fully operational. You may have slowed down my domination, but I will take over this planet sooner or later.", Slimeco spoke, his voice was deep and threatening.

"Not if I take you down first!", Chris shouted, and immediately rushed his rival. He jabbed at his face with the staff, but it simply passed through the goo.

"Heh heh heh...what now, Cat? You cannot possibly defeat me!", he laughed.

Chris jumped back. He then attacked his mechanical body, but the staff just bounced off without leaving a scratch. Nothing seemed to work.

He then had an idea, but it was risky. "I may not be able to defeat you...", Chris spoke, his hand maneuvering down to where his belt was, opening a latch. "...but I can slow you down!"

He pulled out the remaining herbs he brought with him, and pounced on Slimeco, shoving the leaves down his throat. "What the...? What are you--", Slimeco began, then gagged and fell to his knees. The herbs made his body start to fizzle and steam.

Chris took the opportunity to unhook as many of the uninfected animals from the conveyor belt. He and the survivors ran, leaving the writhing Slimeco behind. They burst through the doors, to many awaiting infecteds, but at this time they, too, were writhing and suffering as they were connected to Slimeco himself. The survivors ran past them without conflict.

They made it to the beach, where the original boatman was waiting. "Just in time...", he spoke, and Chris and the survivors loaded the boat, doing their part to row and escape the island.

Chris made a sigh of relief, and then cringed. The infection was starting to spread on him again, but the boatman handed him a leaf of the herb. "You must have gotten into some trouble on there.", he spoke. The cat nodded and ate the herb, his body healing rapidly.

The others would join him in his quest to shut down Slimeco's facilities. It would take a long time, but Chris would not give up on saving the world from the horrors Slimeco had planned. He would train and become stronger in time.