The Cat from Hell

"The Cat from Hell" is a horror short story by American writer Stephen King, first published in 1977. Halston, a professional hitman, is offered $12,000 (equivalent to $64,000 in 2025) to take out an unusual target—a cat. He accepts, despite being told that the cat was implicated in the murders of three people. He soon discovers that the cat is much more than it seems—the employer reveals that his company tortured and destroyed thousands of cats in the name of research, and he believes this cat is a feline emissary of revenge. While the hitman is driving toward a desolate place to kill it, the cat escapes confinement and eventually attacks him—crawling inside his body to finish the job—after he is temporarily paralyzed in the resulting accident.