What might have happened? Should I do something?

This question is going to be ridiculous, fair warning. I realize no one may be able to provide an answer based on the limited information I have.

At around 5 this morning Matt and I were both awoken by a cat yowling and we both thought we’d dreamed it until we realized we’d both heard it. It was so loud. Like, I’m a heavy sleeper, and we don’t even live on the ground floor, and it woke me up. It sounded like a cat was getting murdered, or at least was in very severe pain. It yowled twice and then silence.

We had both been a little too sleepy to tell which direction it had come from. We figured it had come from outside and not from within the apartment, but I still found myself wondering…...what would I even do if some psychopath was in my apartment right now? The closest thing I had to a weapon in my bedroom was a rock.

It was too dark outside when we woke up for us to see anything out our window, but once it was light we didn’t see a corpse out there or anything.

Anyways….I would love to think maybe it was just a couple of feral cats doing the deed, or fighting even, but the thing that worries me is we only ever heard one cat. I just can’t shake the worry that some crazy person was outside harming a cat. Also, all the paranoid thoughts I had (Matt was having them too) when we weren’t certain whether the sound hadn’t come from inside the apartment made me realize that I probably should have some means to protect myself in that situation.

I really, really don’t want a gun. What’s the next best thing for protecting against a home invader? A baseball bat?

What, if anything, should I do to react to this situation? I’m worried for the kitty.