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Post by 🍁Searipple101🍁 on Jun 15, 2018 18:41:57 GMT -5
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Chapter 1 Princess sat in the window of her twoleg home, sunning her luxurious, blue pelt in the golden rays and enjoying another peaceful day. She noticed Winter, one of the resident she-cats that the neighbors had. Winter was a strange cat to say the least. Ever since her one kit had been hit by a carriage she acted as though she had never known of the kit’s existence in the first place. She never talked about him, and when he was brought up she acted confused as to who he was. The other kits she had now talked to their brother still, as if he were really there. But, of course, there was never anything. That whole family was just crazy. What a pity, she thought.The blue she-cat sighed as she watched her neighboring queen pace around like mad in her garden, making rings around a palm tree. Why was she acting crazier than usual? Had a bee gotten into her food or something?Although, Princess could feel something within her too, something stirring deep within her bones. It was a slight uneasiness that continued to grow ever slowly the more she watched Winter pace. So, to alleviate the symptom, she simply jumped from the window ledge and went to her water bowl to lap up some cool liquid and calm her nerves.Yet, this did not work well. So, she tried to play and then rub on her twolegs as they watched the flashing box. But, she could feel their anxiety radiating from them, and it came from herself even more now. As she then looked up to the sky, from the view of the window, she noticed it turning dark, very quickly. She began to meow to her people, alerting them of the upcoming storm. However, the skies turn dark with churning, gray clouds, and rain began to spatter the windows so hard she worried they might break, sending a shower of shattered glass at her paws, before anything could be done.By the time her people understood what was wrong, it was too late. The storm was there, and it was raging. They frantically grabbed random objects, scrambling about the house like frightened kits. Princess was scared too, so she hid under the bed. She could see their feet underneath the small gap as they paced. Soon, they headed for the door. The she-cat crawled out from under her hiding place as they opened the door, but as she ran after them, they shut it behind them, and she was left here, alone. "No! I'm still in here! Don't leave without me!" she wailed then jumped up onto the back of the couch. She could barely see their figures climb into their carriage and then drive away through the heavy rain. She wanted desperately to go after them, but there was only so much a nebelung like her could do, she thought. Instead, she went back to the bed to hide under it and hopefully wait out the raging weather. Not much time had passed before she heard the whole den begin to creak and groan in the strong winds outside. Her body shook the first time she heard the boards loosen and began to be ripped away from the ceiling. She had never experienced fear like this before. A storm wasn't uncommon in this place she lived called Florida, she thought. This storm, however, one of this magnitude, was something she had not yet ever experienced. Then again, she was only 14 moons old. Maybe it had happened before she was born? But, either way, this storm was tearing her den apart and had sent her twolegs running. It was tearing down her world.She knew the den was coming apart as she cowered under the twoleg nest. Rain and wind were in the room before she knew it, attacking everything it could harshly. It was as if the sky itself was falling apart. Random bits of the house and other houses skidded across the floor and smacked into the walls with loud thuds, aiding the storm in ripping away more of the walls and ceiling.Thankfully, with a miracle, the bed she hid under didn't seem to move yet, beyond now nestling itself up into a corner. Yet, her heart pounded blood into her ears so loudly that it almost drowned out the whipping wind. She prayed to the stars that she survived this mess.Before she knew it, Princess’s paws were soaked with muddy water. The rain was collecting quickly inside the house and flowing down from overflowing rivers on higher ground. She hated getting her fur wet, but no matter where she went now it meant being soaked. Yet, the water quickly rose. She had no choice. The nebelung crawled out from under the nest and jumped up on it in the high winds, gripping her claws into the mattress as hard she could, the sheets already blown away for good. She pressed herself low to the bed and held on for dear life as the rain pelted her. Only heartbeats seemed to go by yet take forever before the whole nest began to float on the rapidly rising waters. And then, she was adrift.Squinting hard against the pelting rain she could see her once beautiful den she’d shared with her twolegs gone. Only bits of wall now remained, the rest having been torn apart from the foundation and ripped or washed away, just like she was being carried away by the strong currents now. Around her, the other dens were gone, as well. All of them were left in shambles and ruin, debris floating down and getting stuck on whatever was left to create garbage dams. All the houses were gone - all her neighbors and everything she knew. In moments it was all gone, just like that. Her heart wretched as she looked around, now noticing lifeless figures also bobbing in and out of the water. Princess gasped when she saw an all too familiar white she-cat getting tossed about in the churning water. Winter. She shut her amber eyes tight as she clung harder to the mattress which was her only lifeline. Though they had not been friends, it still was such a shock and hurt to see a cat she knew dead like this. And what did that mean for her kits?Thankfully, the rain began to slow soon after. However, the nest Princess had been riding on was now completely saturated in murky water and was beginning to sink slowly. She’d have to find something else to cling to soon, or some high ground to stay on. Then, something she had never expected to hear in a time like this hit her ears. A voice, a cat singing. She looked around in the now drizzle as she rode the waves, trying to pin point the sound by angling her ears on a swivel, as well. Then, she saw the source. Heading right for her was a tom with a pelt as black a raven’s. He rode a large log and was singing cheerfully as he floated down the churning water. “And I’ll just keep singing this song. As I ride this log all day long, all day long…”It all caught Princess off guard for sure, but she needed some help. And the sight of another cat, even if it was a clearly not-right-in-the-head tom, was a good sight to see. He was gaining ground on her now, but he was too busy singing to notice her yet, so she called out. “Hey! Over here!”The tom looked over, having been scanning the water to his other side. His eyes were a very vibrant blue and greeted her with odd and outgoing joy as they landed on her. “Hey! What are you doing on that twoleg nest? It’s gonna sink soon,” he informed her, his tone light like nothing was wrong, like the world hadn’t just been blown away and drowned.Princess felt a needle of irritation, but she pushed it aside. “I know,” she answered. “But it’s all I had to get onto. Can I come onto your log?” It was definitely a lot more stable, as long as balance was kept.“Sure, but you better hurry,” the tom told her, now floating right by her. Princess didn’t have much time to react, so she jumped and hit the end of the log, her claws digging into the wood. However, it being a log on water, the thing just rolled with her weight, sending her into the water. Murky depths filled her vision and nose as the she-cat began to scramble to get up onto the log again, panic engulfing her body. But, this only caused it to roll more and more. But, the tom quickly grabbed her and pulled her up, somehow able to steady himself enough on the wood and grab a flailing Princess by her pink collar as she finally got a good claw hold. It was as if his paws almost floated on air, never faltering as the log moved underneath him. He helped her onto the log, legs spread out to gain as much balance as possible as she laid there now, coughing and sputtering.“Geez. That was a close one,” the tom meowed to her, though still not seeming worried or bothered by much of anything. She could have died, but here he was acting like it was no big deal and still being chipper about everything. He gazed down at her then sniffed her head and neck. “Nice collar you got there. Kittypet, huh? I used to be one with my mother, but my father was a street cat, and he taught me a lot. Then I was taken to a new twoleg family and made a good friend who was a kittypet, too. She hated it outside, but I’ve always liked it a lot,” he told her as if making normal conversation.Princess looked up at the tom with a small growl of annoyance rumbling in her throat, now that the hacking up water had calmed down. “She was right to hate it outside,” she growled and got up then shook out her long pelt before beginning to groom it.“Name’s Kip, by the way,” he told her, turning now to face the direction they were going once more. “What’s yours?”She looked up from her grooming at his back but paused as something shocking caught her eye. He had almost no tail. Only a small stump remained where the whole thing used to be. That must be quite embarrassing for him, as a cat’s tail was their everything. A cat with little or not tail was usually bullied horribly and outcast. But, he had saved her life, so she would at least do him the curtesy of not mentioning it right now. And, oddly enough, something seemed familiar about it. Perhaps she had caught glimpses of him on the street outside her home before? “Princess,” she replied quietly and looked out around them again. Everything was still destroyed – she had hoped somehow everything would go back to normal suddenly, as if it was all a dream - and what wasn’t being swept away like them was gathering more debris and garbage. Limp bodies of things passed by them, too. Animals and other cats who hadn’t survived the initial storm. Even if they had, the current ongoing flood was still a major hazard. And it all sent unsettling chills down her spine.Yet, more pressing thoughts plagued her mind. Where would they end up now? Where were her twolegs? Were they okay? Would she ever see them again? What if she died out here? All of those inquiries swirled through her mind like these dark, churning waters. They sent her stomach into knots, causing her to feel as though she’d be sick. Or, maybe it was thanks to the disgusting water she’d swallowed while flailing to get on top of the log.Suddenly, a cry of pure fear interrupted her thoughts. It sounded like a kit desperately crying for help, and it sounded rather familiar. Princess looked around frantically for the source. Her eyes then landed on a white, gold, and black form bobbing about in the rapids of the water only a log-length away from them. “Cali!” She was one of Winter’s surviving kits, but that might not be the case for too much longer if she stayed in the dangerous liquid.“Kip, you have to go and save her!” Princess told him urgently.“I can’t,” Kip told her, putting his ears back in shame and regret. “Why can’t you?”“I can’t swim well!” Princess yelled back then looked back at the kit struggling to keep her head above the water. She paced slightly, trying to think of what to do to save the little kit. Finally, she said to Kip, “Help me back onto the log soon,” then plunged into the rush. The water was colder than she’d remembered from her first dip. But, like last time, she splashed about as she flailed. The strong current pulled her downstream while also trying to pull her head under. Waves washing and breaking up against her head did not help either. But, she let her instincts kick in, keeping her mind on trying to save the kit and barely keeping the panic rising up inside from taking over. She began to make her way to the weakening kit, slowly. Finally, as her muscles screamed from the exercise she was not used to, Princess reached Cali and grabbed her in her jaws just before the little one went under for the final time. Now, to get back to the log.She turned back, seeing that Kip could only really watch from where he stood on the log. “Come on! You can do it!” he called, trying to encourage her. It did put a little bit of extra energy into her legs and eased her mind a bit more so that she could actually swim a bit better back to the log. Thankfully, she made it to the back of the log and climbed on with Kip’s help then laid Cali down to pant. Cali sputtered and coughed, her fur clinging to her small frame. But she was alive.“Nice job!” Kip praised Princess happily. “You did it. You saved her. You’re a hero,” he told her with a small purr rumbling in his throat. He bent down to sniff Cali then. “Looks like she’s only about three moons old, too. She wouldn’t have lasted much longer.”“I know,” Princess rasped and spit out a bit of water herself. She took deep breath then and bent down to lick Cali’s patterned fur a few times. “Are you okay?’ she asked, concerned they might not be out of the woods yet with her.Cali coughed a bit more but then turned and looked up at Princess. “I think so,” she meowed with a raspy mew. “Thank you for saving me.” She got really sad then, the grief clouding her yellow eyes like the clouds covered the sky. “I wish my littlermates and mother were okay, though. I hope they are…”Princess put her ears back. She knew the fate of Winter already, but the other kits might still be alive, somehow, somewhere. Although, that possibility was a slim one. “I’m sure they’re all okay,” she told the little kit, not wanting to crush her hopes and little heart. “We need to worry about finding somewhere stable to stay for now anyway. That’s our biggest priority,” Kip chimed in from the front of the log, looking back at them. Princess nodded. “Yeah, we need to find some high ground to set up nests on or something. At least until all this water dries up,” she agreed. She looked down at Cali who seemed a bit confused. But, the older she-cat ignored it. Instead of dwelling on that, she began to scan the horizon for any stable ground high enough. Mostly, only broken dens, toppled electric trees and regular trees, and trash littered the viewing area. And, this was an area she did not know at all. Even if she could recognize it as a normal place without all the destruction and muddy water, she still wouldn’t know this place. She only knew the small neighborhood outside her twoleg den. This place was far away from that. She just hoped they could find a place to stay and be safe soon, so she could find her twolegs when this was all over. She prayed they were okay.✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠
Chapter 2
“So, any idea where we’re going?” Princess asked her black traveling companion. She had taken up position at the back of the log to sit, the little Cali sitting between her forepaws while she groomed the kit. The muddy, gross water was soaking the poor thing to the bone. Princess was just as soaked, but she wasn’t too worried about herself at the moment. “Nope,” came Kip’s quick and casual reply as he stood at the front of the log, looking out over the water, surveying the horizon. “I’ve never been down here before, and we just keep moving further and further away from what I know. But, hey, we’ll end up somewhere.” “Well, no duh. Of course, we’ll end up somewhere.” Princess rolled her eyes before continuing to give Cali smooth rasps of her tongue. The kit just sat there, looking down at her own tiny paws, too worried for her family to acknowledge anything else. Kip glanced back of them. “We just have to be optimistic. We’ll end up in a good place. You’ll see.” He hoped they did find Cali’s family, too, but he knew he had to be the optimistic one in this situation or things would really fall apart. But, that wasn’t hard for him, to be chipper and such. “Just hang in there.” They continued to float for some time, for what felt like ages, honestly. Princess was starting to get really antsy, tired of traveling further and further downstream and not being able to move much on the unstable log. It felt like a miracle when she finally spotted dry land in the upcoming distance. A large hill with trees and bushes laid right up ahead. If they could get close enough when the log passed around it, they might be able to jump onto the land. “Look!” she called out excitedly. “We can finally get off this dumb log. Thank the stars!” Cali, who had been previously trying to sleep, lifted her head to look at what all the excitement was about. Her own dim eyes lit up a bit when she spotted the approaching land mass. It was such a good sight among the murky depths, broken twoleg thins, and lifelessness. “Good spot! Get ready to jump,” Kip said to them and crouched down, ready to spring onto the solid ground once they got close enough. The current started to take the log right by their target, sweeping everything right around it. Thankfully, their transportation went pretty near it, and Kip was able to jump off and onto the land with ease, not so much as shaking the log. Princess thought he must be really light on his paws to not even rock their log. “Okay, Cali, here we go.” She scooped up the small she-kit in her jaws and bunched her muscles. Since it was so close of a jump, she didn’t have to put in too much effort, which was nice on her part. She easily stuck the landing and sent to log tumbling as it continued flowing down and away with the current. Cali was set down, and she looked back out over the water and then back at Princess. “What now? Do you think there’s anything to eat in this place?” she asked quietly. “Do you think my family might be here..?” “I don’t know,” Princess sighed and looked over at Kip. “What do you think?” She was pretty sure that they wouldn’t be finding any members of Cali’s family on this island, but they may find some food somewhere. Though, she wasn’t sure how they would open the cans without the magic opener. “You never know. We may find anything here,” the black tom replied with a small shrug and twitch of his whiskers. Cali looked on in Kip’s direction in confusion but said nothing. The tom simply winked at her then went off into the bushes. “Hey! Don’t just leave us here,” Princess called after him and began to follow. “Come on, Cali.” She glanced back to make sure the kit was following. When she was, the grown she-cat continued onward, following the sound of Kip’s footsteps. “If we go to the place that faces the water, where it splits the current, we might find something good there,” Kip said within the leaves. He couldn’t be seen but could be heard. “Like what?” Princess asked but got no reply. She kept walking, going through the brush until she came out to a small clearing with grass. Sure enough, it was where the land mass split the water current, sweeping liquid and trash going off both to the left and right, much more lazily because of the island. She padded from the bushes and gazed down onto the bank to find garbage and twigs washed up on the shore. Among them was a grey mound of fur. She gagged when she realized what it was. A drowned rat. “Disgusting!” “What?” Kip asked and walked over to it, bending over to sniff it. “It’s food, and if you don’t want to starve you should really eat it.” “I’d rather starve than eat that!” Princess retorted, wanting to hack at just the thought. Her, eat a filthy, drowned rat? Especially one that had been in that terrible water for who knows how long? Never! She outright refused. “What are you looking at?” Cali asked curiously and padded over. “Oh, cool! A rat!” The little kit went right up to it and grabbed its tail then started to drag the soggy prey further onto shore. “Don’t do that!” the nebelung shouted as if the rat would come back to life at any moment and consume the kit instead. Cali dropped the tail and looked to Princess with a titled head. “Why not? Rats are good. My siblings and I ate them a lot when the twolegs didn’t feed us enough.” “She’s right, you know?” Kip chimed in. “It’s good. You know you need to eat. It might not be that mushy stuff you are used to eating, house cat, but it’s food. You don’t know when we’ll find food again.” He knew he had a good point. Sadly, princess knew that, as well. Survival was everything right now. She had to survive so she could get back to her twolegs. She was sure they would come back to the den, or where it had been, soon enough. She had to be there to wait for them, or to meet them while they waited there for her. As repulsive as this drowned rat was, she had to eat it. She took a huge gulp and stared at it, mentally preparing herself to do the impossible. She would have to eat this street cat food. How disgusting, she kept thinking. Coming over slowly, she kept trying to tell herself inwardly that it was her pate her twolegs always gave her for dinner. It was just pate… Cali, meanwhile, had just started ripping into it and taking big bites, as big as her tiny jaws could take anyway. She seemed to really be enjoying it, too. With one last gulp, she older she-cat crouched down and bit into the red, juicy meat, expecting the most rotten and horrible taste ever. However, what hit her tongue was something amazing, not short of delicious. The savory, metallic flavor bathed her tongue like nothing ever had before. Turned out, her first taste of street cat food was the best thing she had ever eaten. It was even better than pate. Without a second thought, she tore into the meat with Cali, and they devoured the rat together, leaving only the sodden fur and white bones. Princess sat up after with a satisfied belly and licked her lips clean of the crimson from the meal. “Told ya it was good,” Kip mewed, sitting by the water and watching them with a sparkle in his blue eyes. He hadn’t even gotten a bite, but he didn’t seem to be bothered at all. Princess stiffened at his words for a moment then turned her head away. “Yeah, well, I just had to imagine it was my pate. You know, actual food,” she replied, brushing off his smug comment. Kip chuckled at her. “Sure, you did. We both know it was the best thing you’ve ever eaten. You can fool me that easily, or at all.” He stood and angled his ears as the sound of rustling came from the bushes. Princess heard it, too, and angled her ears, as well. She also stood over Cali, ready to protect her form anything that was lurking in the leaves. Although, she had no idea how to fight. If whatever was in there was dangerous at all, this would be interesting. The rustling continued for a moment before a white and black head poked out of the shrubbery. “Oh, so there are others here. I thought I heard you talking.” A lithe tom emerged fully, his green eyes calm as he gazed at Princess and Cali. His white coat was a little dirty, but with the black patches on it, it didn’t seem too bad. It was well kept otherwise, anyway. Princess had been ready for a fight, her long fur fluffed out and claws out, but once she saw it was just another cat she relaxed. A sigh escaped her jaws. “Thank goodness you’re just another cat.” “Indeed,” the new tom meowed. It seemed he hadn’t wanted a fight either, which was nice in Princess’s mind. “I am glad to see others have survived so far.” The she-cat looked him up and down. He seemed very relaxed, yet still held his head high with almost emotionless, green eyes. “Are you sure about that?” she asked, a bit skeptical. He didn’t look too happy. In fact, he looked as if nothing was wrong and he was about to retired to a exceptionally cozy bed, after eating pate. In a word, he acted regal. But, admittedly, also eerily calm. “You look like someone got dirt in your food,” Kip said suddenly with his ears back slightly. “Could at least be happy to find more survivors. Am I right?” “Yes,” he replied, paying no attention to Kip at all. “The group will be thrilled to see others have made it. Personally, I don’t know how long this island with sustain us with food since it’s only so big and now more cats are here, but I suppose there is safety in numbers.” “More cats?” Cali perked up at that. She had been cowering underneath Princess, but the mention of other cats got her attention. Maybe her family was already here! “Can you take us to them, please, Mister?” Excitement was once again coursing through the kit’s veins. The tom nodded. “Yes, but call me Fritz,” he replied and turned. “Come on.” His lithe form disappeared back into the bushes. The small group followed, Princess in the lead. They walked for a bit before the bushes opened up into a small clearing with trees forming a ring with raised, entangled roots. Three cats were already there, they saw, huddled up together in one giant nest of leaves, palm fronds, and moss. One, the only she-cat, had a resemblance to Fritz. She had a short, white coat that boasted one black patch over her left ear and a completely covered tail of black. However, her eyes were blue instead of green. Laying next to her were two toms. The bigger of the two, much bigger, was a dark gray like the storm clouds with black stripes covering his pelt. Long, white whiskers came from his muzzle. He looked over with narrowed, suspicious, green eyes. The second tom was a lighter gray and much smaller, boasting his own darker tabby markings. He looked on with slightly timid but bright, blue eyes. “This is my group,” Fritz announced. “The big one is Rugo, and the smaller tom next to him is his brother, Peppermint. The she-cat Cookie, and, no, we aren’t related.” He said that as if it came up a lot. It was probably everyone’s first impression when they saw the two together. “And then there’s Storm.” Cali really perked up then. “Storm?” she asked and looked to the group of cuddling cats. That was the name of one of her brothers! A pure white head appeared from behind Cookie at the she-kit’s squeak. His green eyes grew as big as moons when they met Cali. “Cali! You’re alive!” He climbed right over Cookie’s side to launch himself at his sister. He met her with a thump as he tackled her to the ground. They tumbled for a moment before stopping and wrapping their paws around each other’s necks, purrs rumbling from their throats. Cali couldn’t believe it. Storm was alive! She was so happy and began to lick his head while she laid under him, as he had landed on top of her. He nuzzled his head into her fur happily. “I knew you were okay,” she purred. “I knew you’d be alive!” Storm got off her to let her up but still stayed pressed up into her fur, so happy to have his sister back. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” he said and continued to purr. “Do you know what happened to Mom and the others?” Cali asked then. “Do you know where they are?” If Storm was here then the others had to be around, too, right? Storm stopped purring then and pulled away to look at her with sadness in his eyes. His ears went back, and he shook his head, gaze going to the ground. “They didn’t make it.” His reply was quiet. Cali’s expression and ears fell. “Wh-what do you mean they didn’t make it?” she asked, joy quickly being replaced with grief. “How do you know?” They could still be alive, right? Somewhere out there? They had to be… “I saw them all,” Storm muttered. “Our brothers. They were all…just floating there.” He shook his head as if to try and rid his mind of the foreboding memory. “It was awful…” Cali’s world fell apart then. They were all gone? All three of her other brothers gone just like that? She was so happy Storm had survived, but the others were dead? “What about Mom…?” She hesitated to ask that, but she had to know if he’d seen her, too. “I don’t know. Last I saw her she was being swept away by the water, calling for us…” He shook his head again, not wanting to talk about this anymore. “We will see them again, Storm,” Cali decided. “Mom might be out there still, and we will see our brothers again. Just like how we still see Gator.” She knew, even if they were all dead, she’d still see them. Gator had always come to visit them after he was hit by that carriage. “Maybe,” her brother sighed. He looked back at her. “And, Cali, don’t call me Storm anymore. I don’t want to be named after the thing that killed our brothers. Just call me Stone now. Okay?” She was a bit confused but nodded. “Yeah, okay. Stone then,” she said then looked over as Princess came over. “Um, I have something very hard to tell you two…” She would regret this immensely, but it had to be done. They couldn’t go on wishing on false hope that their mother would be coming back them, or that their dead siblings would still be visiting them. She had to take a deep breath as their big eyes were solely on her. “I saw your mother… Winter…she’s dead. I’m so sorry.” The words were hard to choke out, like they wanted to stay stuck in her throat forever, but she forced them. “And your brothers aren’t coming back to see you. They’re dead, too. Dead cats don’t come back.” Stone just looked down then let out a wail of despair. That was to be expected after just hearing his mother was dead, after already knowing all his siblings, except his only sister, were also dead. However, Cali gave a very unexpected response. She puffed out her chest and looked to Princess with anger boiling up in her tiny body. “They will come back to see us!” she stated. “Gator always came back to talk to us, especially me. He’ll come back again, and the others will come back with him.” Her small tail lashed the air behind her. Princess wasn’t sure what to say to that. It was sad really; this young kit actually thought her dead family was coming back to talk to her. She was right about her thoughts before, the family was crazy. But, maybe it was just some kind of coping mechanism or something? She hoped so. “Alright, let’s calm down here.” Cookie padded over and licked Stone’s head once then Cali’s. “Come on, it’s getting late. We should all go to sleep. We will need our energy for tomorrow.” Her mew was gentle, and she gave equally as gentle nudges to the kits with her muzzle, directing them over to the large nest and other cats. Fritz had already settled himself down into the pile. The two kits made their way over together, but Cali cast an angry glance back at Princess before settling down next to her brother and the three toms. Cookie watched them go then turned her attention to Princess. “I’m sorry you had to tell them,” she sighed. “But, you were right to. As much as the truth hurts, they had to know. What’s your name, by the way?” She nodded, not happy about what she’d done but knowing it was the right thing. “Uh, Princess,” she answered then looked to the black tom by her. “And this is Kip.” Cookie nodded at first but looked to the side a bit awkwardly when she introduced Kip. “Right. Well, you had better come to bed, too. We all need our strength.” With that, she turned and went to the accumulative nest and settled down with the others. What was that all about? Princess wasn’t sure, but whatever, it was weird, but it was nothing to dwell on. Kip was a pretty weird name anyway, so it was probably that. She went to the nest and took her place at the edge, not really wanting to touch any of these strange cats. They might be in the same group now, but she could bet most of them were street cats, and fancy house cats like her, a pure-blood, did not touch street cats unless absolutely necessary. She did notice Kip was still sitting where he’d been, in the grass and away from the nest. Was he not going to come to sleep? She didn’t even have to ask before he answered, “I’ll be up for a bit. Go ahead and sleep.” She just looked on in slight confusion but nodded. If he wasn’t going to sleep, then that wasn’t her problem. She simply rested her head on her paws and closed her eyes, soon slipping off into a different realm.✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠
Chapter 3 The next morning was a warm one. The rain had completely subsided, and the sun was out. Still, this didn’t stop the flood water from raging on. Fritz stood by the edge of the water, gazing down into its murky depths as it swept past their island sanctuary. “It appears to have only gone down a whisker-length,” he sighed.Cookie came over and looked, too. Her ears back a bit, disappointed. “I was hoping it would have gone down more. Last time this happened, it was down at least a tail-length by now.”Princess sat back, further on land and groomed herself but listened. Her ears perked up a bit at what the other she-cat uttered. “Last time?” So, this had happened before?Cookie turned to her and nodded. “A terrible storm like this one happened a few seasons again, too. It wrecked a lot, but last time we only got hit by the edge of it. We weren’t right in the middle of it like this time.” She turned her eyes back to the water. “Maybe that’s why the current is still so high.”“Makes sense,” Fritz meowed and shrugged. He didn’t seem too concerned, or he was hiding it very well. “Either way, we need to try and find food. We should explore the island in its entirety and see if we can scrounge up something to eat.”“Good, I’m starving,” Rugo chimed in then from he sat near his brother, Peppermint. His bulky form towered over the much smaller tom, but they were still very close. “The kits should have something to eat, as well.”Stone and Cali were huddled together. Cali hadn’t really talked to anybody but her brother since she found out her mother, and possibly the whole rest of her family, were dead. She simply just looked down at her paws sadly while Stone tried to comfort her and spoke for her. At the mention of food, Cali didn’t even move. But, Stone did speak up. “Yeah, food would be nice.”“Well, we’d have to find it first,” Kip said and shrugged. Princess rolled her eyes. Obviously, they would have to find it first, she thought. This tom was just too good at stating the obvious. “Well, then we need to get searching. The more time we waste, the hungrier we’re all going to be,” she said and continued to lick her plumy tail. Her poor pelt had gotten so muddy and sodden. Rugo looked over and narrowed his eyes. “Then you better get off your tail and actually start looking with us,” he told her. Princess looked up and narrowed her eyes back. “Are you joking? I’m not about to work. I don’t get my own food. Others have to bring it to me,” she stated firmly. That’s how it had always been. “Just find a can, open it, and bring it back to me. Easy.”Rugo stared at her in disbelief for a moment but then burst out laughing. His shoulders heaved up and down as he laughed and everyone else stared. “That’s hilarious!”Princess’s ears got hot but also went back as her tail began to twitch. “What are you laughing at?” she demanded in a huff. “What’s so funny, huh?”“You!” the big tom laughed. “You actually think we’re going to just do all the work and bring food back to you when you did nothing? Ha! It’s even funnier that you think we’re going to get some kittypet food. If you want to eat, you gotta hunt it, or you can just go ahead and starve, but boy is that funny.” He shook his head and continued to chuckle, not able to help himself. “Your name might be Princess, but you ain’t no royal, entitled cat. You’re in same the situation as all of us, so we’re all equal. Have fun it your little delusion.”He turned and padded away. Peppermint looked back to Princess quietly but soon followed his brother. He looked more shy than anything, honestly, he hadn’t laughed but only watched on in silence. He hadn’t said much at all yet, honestly.When Princess looked around, fritz had already left, and Cookie was just walking off with the kits, probably going to try and teach them how to hunt. Or she didn’t want to leave them alone with princess right now.Kip was still sitting where he had been, also watching in silence. Once everyone else left, Princess lashed her tail and walked over to the water, looking down into it. She wished she could see her reflection to see how she looked. She was angry, of course, from Rugo embarrassing her. “Who does he think he is?” she asked in a growl down into the water. “I’m a pureblood nebelung, and he’s some dirty street cat! I am royalty practically!”Kip put his ears back slightly and walked over to her, coming to stand by her side. “I’m a street cat, you know? Do you think I’m just some dirty peasant or something?”Princess looked over at him, looking the jet-black tom up and down a moment before shaking her head and sighing a bit. “Not exactly. I don’t normally associate with street cats, but you did save my life. I can at least acknowledge that,” she answered, calming down slowly.“Well, even if I didn’t, I’m still a cat just like you. And we’re all in this same situation together,” Kip told her, taking a seat now as he gazed down into the liquid muck. “No one cat is better than another now. We’re all the same. We have to work together to survive, or risk dying.”Princess shook her head. “I can’t. Purebloods shouldn’t associate with street cats like them. It’s just not right.” It’s what her mother and father had told her so many times. And she was always scolded when she broke that rule, the most important rule.“And it’s not right to treat other cats badly because of where you or they come from,” Kip replied then sighed. “What about me? Do you associate with me just because I helped you out before?”Princess looked away, not sure. “I…I don’t know,” she answered after a heartbeat of pause. “You’re different. I don’t know how, but there’s something about you that’s just different from them.”The black tom shook his head. “No, there isn’t. You just want to believe there is, but there’s nothing different about me at all from them, not when it comes to us all being cats. When it comes right down to it, you and they are all the same, just cats trying to survive,” he told her then rose back to his paws. “Should I just leave you to think now?”The words hit her pretty hard, somewhere she hadn’t ever really known was apart of her before. It was quite weird. She looked over to him and shook her head. “No. I...” She had to take a huge gulp, essentially trying very hard to swallow all the pride she’d grown up with. “I need your help,” the blue she-cat finally managed to squeak out.Kip’s ears perked up, and he tilted his head to the side. His stubby tail lifted happily. “Yeah, okay. What kind of help then?” he asked, very glad she’s admitted to needing it. This was the first step.Princess took another gulp and looked down at her paws, shuffling them in the dirty grass. “I don’t…I…” Why was this so hard to say? It was supposed to be simple, just some simple words. It shouldn’t be this hard! “I can’t…hunt…”Kip waited patiently, but then the words finally came out accompanied by how embarrassed about it she looked, he couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh yeah, I knew that. I can help you out,” he mewed, even purring a bit. “It’s not too hard, really.”He walked away a bit then crouched down into a hunter’s crouch. “Just do this when you see prey. Keep your eyes locked on it and get down then slowly creep forward when it’s unaware.” He began to slowly make his way forward, his side to her so she could see everything he was doing.Princess felt her ears go hot again as he laughed at her, too. Why was everybody laughing at her? But, it was a bit of a relief when he began to demonstrate how the hunt. She watched carefully then got down. “Uh, like this?”Kip stood straight and came over. He began to inspect her posture. “Yeah,” he reported, checking her form and making sure her tail and belly weren’t touching the ground but were still as low as they could go. “Are you sure you haven’t done this before, because you’re a natural at it.”Princess straightened and puffed out her chest at the compliment, already getting a big head about it. “Well, it only makes sense that a cat like me would have such a natural talent for these kinds of things,” she said proudly, pointing her nose to the air.Kip rolled his eyes. “Alright, but now you have to actually find some prey and catch it,” he told her. The tom turned to the bushes and flicked his stump of a tail for her to follow. “Let’s go and see what we can find.”Princess followed him, glad to let him go first and clear out the brush for her by pushing it aside. However, she did hiss a few times as a stray branch snagged her fur and tore some out. “I hate it out here. Nature is ruining my perfect coat!” she complained as another twig snagged her flank.“Well, you’re gonna just have to get used to that. Nature commands us, we don’t command it,” Kip told her lightheartedly. Of course, he didn’t have any such pelt problem with such a short coat like his.He stopped and pricked his ears forward when eh heard a bit of rustling up ahead. Princess did the same thing at the exact same time. “I hear it,” she whispered, suddenly no longer caring so much about her fur. Her belly began to rumble at the thought of food. Of course, she’d still very much prefer her canned food the twolegs gave her, but she was hungry, and that rat before, however disgusting on the outside, had tasted so good inside. Something inside her – her instincts – told her to try and get whatever prey was ahead.Kip and her sniffed the air together, opening their mouths to get a better scent. “I think it’s a mouse,” Princess said. She knew what they smelled like form when some had entered her home before, but they had been quickly taken care of by traps set up by her twolegs.Kip nodded. “The it’s right in that bush there,” he whispered back, nodding. Some green leaves were rustling about at the bottom, and soon a tiny, brown head poked out. Its nose and whiskers twitched as it sniffed the air. Luckily, the wind was on the cats’ side, so it didn’t seem to notice them while they stood still. The tiny creature then began to sniff around in the grass for its own food.Without a word, Princess started to creep forward towards it just like she had been told to do. Her belly and tail were just above the ground and her ears back as she moved slowly towards her quarry. The mouse had no idea what was happening, going about its business. Once she felt she was close enough, the she-cat sprang. However, pouncing wasn’t something she had ever practiced, so she overshot it and crashed right into the bush as the mouse quickly fled. Princess let out a yowl and thrashed in the branches, getting snagged and caught all around as the bush grasped at her long fur. Kip quickly came over but made no move to help her out. “Are you okay?” he asked, disappointed the mouse had gotten away but more worried about her. “Do I look okay?” she snapped back, still thrashing. “Get me out of here!” the snobby she-cat demanded then broke a single twig to free her forepaw of it.Kip’s ears went back, and he shook his head, sitting down. “You got yourself in there, so you’ll have to get yourself out,” he meowed, watching. “You idiot! Help me!”“Just calm down and stop thrashing so much. You’re only making things worse,” he told her calmly.Princess didn’t listen right away and kept squirming for another few moments before getting tired and stopping, huffing. “Fine. Now what?” she inquired, irritated.“Now just slowly pull your forepaws out one at a time, then your hide legs. After that, shift your weight forward so you fall out of the bush on your feet.”She huffed but followed his instructions, pulling her left forepaw out first, breaking some twigs off as she did so. Bits of the bush stayed tangled in her fur, but she got her other forepaw out next. Carefully, she got all four legs out and then tossed herself out of the bush, her tail still stuck, but with her paws on the grass again, she could easily pull it out. The bad thing, though, was a lot of fur had also gotten pulled out of her coat and stayed stuck in the bush forever.“There ya go!” Kip praised, giving her a joyful blink.“Shut up,” she muttered then sat down and began to use her teeth to pry out the bits of bush that still remained on her. Just then, a broad, gray head emerged from the undergrowth adjacent to them, a squirrel dangling from his jaws. Rugo padded into the tiny clearing they were in, Peppermint following behind with nothing. The squirrel was dropped so Rugo could chuckle a bit at Princess. “We thought we heard some shrill shrieking,” he teased.Princess hissed at him. “Shut up! Nobody asked you.”Peppermint shrunk back a bit at the hiss, hiding behind his much bigger and braver brother, but Rugo didn’t so much as flinch, not scared of a cat only half his size and so prissy. “You really need to work on your attitude problem, you know that?” he asked calmly. Before Princess could even reply, a sharp cry came from the distance.All four cats looked in the direction it came from. “What the stars was that?” Rugo asked. He picked up the squirrel and headed quickly towards the sound, Peppermint following right behind.“We should go and see, too,” Kip said, not giving Princess time to argue as he left. She sighed and began to follow. “Wait for me,” she called, picking up the pace.As they went, a groan began to become audible. It wasn’t too long before they came to Cookie lying in some leaves, her forepaw very bloody and twisted. It looked almost mangled. The two kits were by her with nothing but worry on their faces, but they had no idea what to do as she laid there in pain.“What happened?” Kip asked but got no answer from her. However, when Rugo dropped his squirrel and asked the same exact question, she answered. “A gator my size was sneaking up on the kits. I swiped at it, but it caught my paw and bit it then started to spin. I managed to use my other paw and claw it in the eye, and it left. But my leg…” Cookie rasped out then groaned again. “It hurts so bad.”“You have to help her!” Stone said to Rugo. “Do something!”Rugo put his ears back, confused and upset. “I don’t know what to do.”“Well, you can’t let her just bleed here!” Stone snapped, the tiny kit’s pelt puffing up.Princess could only look on in horror and disgust. It felt like she’d be sick soon, seeing Cookie’s forepaw so shredded and twisted and covered in red. She had to look away.Peppermint looked around for something, anything, to use to help. He noticed some cobwebs strung up messily in a nearby bush and some ferns. He then looked to Princess’s fur and noticed the bits of twigs stuck in it. Maybe, just maybe…They probably couldn’t fix her paw so it’d be like normal, but maybe he could stop the bleeding. The small tom when to the cobweb and began to gather it all on his paw. “Princess, I need you to pull out some of your fur,” he told her as he gathered the webbing. The bleu she-cat looked upa t him in surprise and opened her jaws to protest, but he suddenly wasn’t so shy and snapped back at her, “Don’t argue, just do it!”Admittedly, she was caught off guard by the timid tom’s sudden demand, but she reluctantly began to rip out tufts of her fur and drop them by her own feet. “What’s this for?” she asked in between bites.“I’m going to try and stop the bleeding,” Peppermint answered, gathering the last little silk strands of web. Once that we finished, he went to Cookie. “Bring the fur over here.”Rugo did that, going over and picking up the removed tufts then bringing them over to his brother. He watched in anticipation and wonder as Peppermint began to clump the fur and webs together around her injured paw.He worked quickly, using the fur as extra absorbent material and the cobwebs to also help and keep it all in place around her paw. He wove them carefully and patted them on lightly. The bleeding did slow a lot, but Cookie was still moaning in pain. “I heard somewhere that poppy seeds can be used to help with pain,” he said then looked around. “Someone, find me some poppy seeds!”“I got them.” Fritz padded from the ferns with the top of a poppy plant in his jaws. He came over and dropped it at Peppermint’s feet. “I figured we’d need these when I heard the shrieking.”Peppermint nodded his thanks and got a couple seeds out, not entirely sure how many to use. So, he’d start with two. He put them on a leaf and nudged it over to Cookie’s nose. “Eat these. They should help the pain,” he told her gently.Cookie had been still and moaning the whole time the tom worked. But, now she opened her eyes and licked up the few seeds then crunched them and rested again. Pretty soon, she did stop moaning, settling down.“How did you know all this would work? That the webs and fur would stop the bleeding, or the seeds would help the pain?” Princess asked quietly after a moment. Peppermint looked over to her and shrugged slightly. “I didn’t. It just all seemed logical,” he replied and looked back to Cookie who was resting a little more peacefully now.“Some street cats know that poppy seeds can help stop pain,” Fritz chimed in. “But I never heard of a cat using cobwebs and fur to stop bleeding before.”“That’s my brother for you. He might not be big and strong or intimidating, but he’s probably the smartest cat you could ever meet,” Rugo meowed proudly. Peppermint just shook his head, not wanting the praise right now. He was still worried about Cookie.“She probably won’t be able to walk for a bit, so we should all rest here,” Peppermint advised. He looked at the squirrel his brother had caught. “Is this the only prey we have?”Fritz shook his head. “I got a couple birds, too. I’ll go and get them. We will rest here for a while,” he decided and left to gather his own catches.Stone and Cali stayed by Cookie’s side as she took ragged but steady breaths. They both looked so worried for her and curled up by her belly for their own comfort and hers. Princess just looked on sadly. It really didn’t take long for Fritz to come back with two blue birds dangling from his jaws. They were a pretty common bird of the area. He dropped them and looked around to the other cats. “Perhaps we should split these as best as possible,” he suggested. “The kits should get one of these birds; they can share.”Rugo nodded. “I’ll share this squirrel with my brother and Cookie.”“You can have the last bird with Fritz,” Peppermint told Princess.“A bird? House cats don’t eat birds,” Princess stated, turning her nose away. Her stomach did growl then, but she tried to ignore it and hoped the other did, as well.“Right… Welp, I guess you can just go hungry then,” Rugo meowed, not caring too much anyway. He only wanted his brother to eat right now. Peppermint was his only true priority. The large tom started to dig into his squirrel. Peppermint soon joined him while Fritz and the kits started to eat the birds. Cookie had just fallen asleep.Princess looked on with narrowed eyes, too proud to eat their food right now, despite her hunger. She looked to Kip. “Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked, her tail twitching.Kip merely shook his head. “No.”She narrowed her eyes further but then turned and padded away, going back to the water to stare in it some more and think. Kip, naturally, followed in silence. They both sat down on the island’s edge, staring down into the water. Their reflections still didn’t show. Princess sighed sadly. “I just want to go home,” she said quietly. “I miss my twolegs, and their canned food, lying in my fluffy bed, only watching the outside form the window instead of actually being out here… It’s so icky and…scary out here,” she admitted.“I know it is. It makes sense that it is to a housecat like yourself,” Kip told her with a soft tone. “Only having to watch things happen but knowing you were safe behind the glass… it definitely has to be a lit different and scary to actually be out here.”“I don’t like all the mud and stuff, too. I want to find my towlegs again, but what if they see my pelt all dirty and messed up and not want me around anymore? They always hated dirty, too…”Kip shook his head. “Don’t think like that. I know they cared about you, not for your fur or for your pure blood, but for you. That’s just how family is. They love you no matter what, not what you look like,” he told her. “I’m sure they’d be thrilled to have you back.”Princess swallowed. “But…they just rushed out and left me…when the storm came,” she confessed sadly. “They left me behind…”Kip had to think about that one a bit. “Well, maybe they had no choice? Maybe they had to get out quick or risk all of you going down?” he suggested. “It’s not ideal that they left you, but maybe it was the hardest thing they ever had to do. Maybe it broke their hearts to do it.”“Maybe,” she sighed. “I do want to see them again, if even to just know why they left without me. But, I mostly want things to just go back to the way they were before the storm, to normal.”“They will eventually,” Kip assured her. “We just have to keep moving forward and trying our best to survive and help each other.”Princess thought and nodded. “Yeah, I know you’re right.” There was a pause of silence before she spoke up again. “I’m sorry for being so snobby. I really am just scared.”Kip shook his head. “Don’t apologize to me. Tell that to the others.”“I will, later. Right now, I just want to be here for a bit and let them eat.” Her stomach growled again, yet she did nothing about it. “You should go and eat before everything’s gone,” she told Kip, glancing over at him.The black tom shook his head. “Nah. I don’t eat unless you do,” he replied. “That’s just how family works, and as far as I’m concerned, we’re in this together, so we’re family now.”Princess couldn’t help but feel a bit better hearing him say that. It was odd, her being friends with a street cat, much less having him call her family. It went against everything she’d been taught. Yet, it felt right in a way. It felt good, even a bit familiar. “Thanks,” she mewed softly and looked back to the water. “I just hope you’re right about everything. I hope I can find my twolegs, and they’ll still want me back.”“They will,” Kip responded. “Trust me.”✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠
Chapter 4 Three sunrises had come and gone since Cookie’s paw was mangled. In that time, the flood waters had gone down a significant amount, yet food was growing scarcer for the cats inhabiting the island. The sun now hung high up in the sky, just past its very peak, and the cats gathered to discuss what to do next. “I think we should try to find more ground to move to,” Peppermint suggested quietly, shuffling his paws and gazing down upon them as he spoke. His shy demeanor hadn’t changed a bit, unless it came to taking care of Cookie’s wound. Rugo nodded agreement to his brother’s statement. “Prey here is all but gone. Only the passing birds are any source of food for us here anymore.” “But what about the water?” Princess inquired, not too keen on the idea of having to go too near it anymore. Sure, the current had clamed down, but that didn’t mean she would be able to swim well enough, or that she wanted to get her nice coat all dirty and soaked again. “Can Cookie even swim?” That was another problem entirely. “I can try,” Cookie chimed in from where she laid in the large nest of moss and palm fronds. “I’ve gotten better at walking on three legs.” She had been practicing under Peppermint’s careful watch, hobbling about on her three good paws around the nest. “I don’t think getting your paw in that dirty water is a good idea,” Peppermint told her, a little bolder about what he was saying now. The small tom seemed to have confidence, usually, when it came to Cookie’s injury, or anything medical. Stone had gotten a thorn in his paw last moonrise, and Peppermint had taken care of it just fine. He had sort of become the group’s medic. Cookie sighed and shrugged. “Well, we can’t stay here all the time, can we? Rugo is right when he says that prey here is getting very scarce,” she told him. “If we want to survive, there is no choice,” Fritz mewed then swiped a paw over his ear, grooming himself. “Perhaps, however, it would be more beneficial to send scouts out who can swim to find viable ground. There are other islands emerging now, and I have noticed some iguanas on some of them, in the distance.” “An iguana would be a hard catch, but if we could manage to get one then it would feed us all pretty well,” Rugo meowed, thinking out loud. Princess looked on in confusion. What was an iguana? Kip gave her an amused purr, seeing her look. “You know, spiny lizards, the ones that climb trees.” The she-cat nodded, now understanding. She’d only seem then from windows, so she had no idea what they were, but maybe she had heard the name ‘iguana’ somewhere before. “Isn’t there an island way up the water that’s been there for a while?” Cali spoke up then. “I remember seeing it when we floated down here on the log. It was just too far to reach, but maybe since the water is calmer now, we could go there. Probably has more prey,” the kit suggested. “We can see it from the far shore here, too.” The adults looked at her in slight surprise. “Wow. That’s a really smart idea,” Cookie told her with a purr. She had taken up the job of watching the kits, growing closer to both. “We aren’t swimming that far,” Stone told her sister firmly then. “You can’t even swim hardly.” He was very protective of his sister. “Neither can you,” Cali retorted, puffing out her little chest. “Exactly.” Stone gave her a harder stare, not going to argue about this too much. His only priority was keeping Cali, his only remaining family, safe. “Alright you two, stop it. Neither of you are swimming over there,” Cookie told them then gave each kit a lick on the head. “Relax.” “I do like the idea of sending scouts, though,” Kip meowed. It was a very smart idea. If they sent scouts out to different places, then they could all meet back up and decide the best place to move everyone to. “I don’t care where we go as long as I can get back to where my twoleg’s den was. I have to find them,” Princess said, looking down and spacing down as her eyes landed on her paws. The pink collar was still hanging around her neck, and it was a constant reminder that she had to get back to her family. “So, are going to be sending scouts out then?” Rugo asked, looking around the small groups of cats. Most of them seemed to nod agreement. “Okay then, who’s going where?” “I’ll go to the one on right of this place,” Fritz volunteered. “It’s been there for a while, and I have seen iguanas there.” He didn’t expect to find too much there, but an iguana would still be good for them. Rugo nodded. “I can take the one that popped up right upwater from us,” he decided. “If there are any gators there, I can take them on pretty well with my size.” He was pretty big, but he was also overconfident about his strength and size, puffing out his chest. Still, nobody argued, knowing it’d be futile anyway. “I’m going to stay here to watch Cookie and the kits,” Peppermint decided. He wasn’t very confident in his swimming, and especially not his fighting abilities. But, he could watch his patient and some kits. “You and I should go to that big island then,” Kip suggested to Princess, causing her fur to lift a bit. “You know I can’t swim well,” she retorted, putting her ears back when he just shrugged in response. “Do you want me to drown or something?” “No, of course not,” Kip answered, shaking his head. “But you swam well enough to save Cali, and you can swim well enough again to make it to that island. You need to get better anyway. How do you expect to find your twolegs again if you can’t swim to get back to your house?” he asked of her. “We both know it would take at least a moon for all this water to dry up, and that’s if it doesn’t rain again before.” Princess narrowed her eyes at him, obviously not at all happy with what h said, but she knew he was right. “Fine, we’ll take the big island,” she mumbled, now grumpy about it. The others stared at her like she was crazy but nodded. They had kind of gotten used to the arguments, but it was a weird thing for a cat to not know how to swim at all when they were full grown. The kits had an excuse, and so did Cookie. And, any current could take little Peppermint away. Thank the stars the water was calm anyway. “It’s settled then,” Fritz said and got up, finishing his bath. “We will all explore our islands and meet back here before the moon rises,” he decided, looking around at the other cats. They all nodded. “Be careful, everyone. Remember that there are gators in these waters, and snakes. Maybe more.” With that, he turned and left through the undergrowth. The Rugo left, as well, and Princess and Kip headed to the edge of the island, upstream and left, in their perspective. The two cats stopped at the very edge of the water, looking out at the large island in the distance. It was a decent length swim, trash and things still floating lazily In the now still liquid. Yet, it was still just as murky and muddy as day one. “How am I going to do this?” she asked Kip with some anger. “My coat will get ruined again, and I’ll have to spend forever getting it clean again. No way I’ll make it all the way over there anyway!” Kip sighed and rolled his eyes. “Your coat isn’t the only thing that matters here, Princess,” the tom told her. “What about the kits? The lives of the other cats?” he asked. “Don’t they mean anything? We need to explore the island to find food. And, it’ll get you a little closer to your twolegs, won’t it?” Princess looked down, tail twitching. “Why can’t we just let the others explore that island? I’m sure Fritz and Rugo are great swimmers and can make it there easily,” she replied, looking for any excuse possible. “They’re perfectly capable.” “And so are you,” Kip responded more plainly. “You swam before to save Cali. Every cat can swim. I know you know this deep down. I know you know I’m right.” With that, he walked down into the water and began swimming away from her and towards the island. “Besides, do you think the others will want to keep you around if you never do anything to help them?” That was the tipping point for her. “Fine!” She took a deep breath, looking down into the water, still very hesitant. Working up the courage, she started to slowly dip her forepaws into he murky depths, wading carefully down into the water. It was chilly and soaked right into her pelt, making her feel so gross. “I hate this.” “You’ll get used to it,” Kip called back, easily making his way further and further away, causing the she-cat to panic a little. “Hey, don’t leave me back here!” she called to him but stopped once the water was up to her neck, scared to go further. “You can do it,” the tom said over his shoulder. “Just claw then kick. Claw the water then kick it. I know you can do it.” His blue eyes gleamed with encouragement for her as he floated there in the water, not even disturbing it with ripples at all. “Just stay calm.” Princess took another few deep breaths, reciting the instructions in her head. Claw the water then kick it. Stay calm. With a burst of forceful confidence, she pushed off the land mass her claws were clinging to, thrusting herself out into deeper water. However, as her paws no longer touched solid ground, panic started to fill her heart. “I can’t do it! Help, Kip!” She began to thrash, paws flailing in the water and causing a lot of splashing. Kip swam back over but could do nothing to physically help her. “Calm down,” he told her firmly. “Claw and kick, breathe normally. This is how you drown, by panicking, so stop it!” It took a few moments as she listened to him repeat the phrase ‘claw and kick and breathe’ to her before she finally was able to calm down enough to try and listen. She really had to focus on it, but eventually she was swimming decently through the water and towards the island, huffing with all the exercise. Kip swam easily right alongside her, talking to her the whole time. “Claw and kick and breathe,” he kept repeating calmly. Soon, they found themselves on the island’s shore. Princess dragged herself onto it, panting heavily. She had never done so much exercise in her life! It took her a bit to regain a more normal respiration rate, and she shook out her sodden pelt. “Well, we made it. But my pelt’s so disgusting again…” Kip rolled his eyes. “Quit complaining. You did it. You swam all the way over here,” he praised her. “I’m proud of you,” he purred then looked back to the water to see a pair of eyes and a snout poking out of the water, watching them. “Looks like it was just in time, too. We have a visitor.” Princess saw it too, all the heat going out of her body. She felt cold as she stared into the predator’s soulless gaze. “Come on, let’s get away from the shore,” Kip suggested. “It won’t come far onto the island. Gators don’t like land all too much and are slow on it.” He nudged her then headed off further inland. Princess felt as if her paws were frozen to the spots they were, but as Kip began to walk away she snapped out of her trance. Instead of staring at the danger, she followed him quickly away from it. “I hate all of this so much…” she muttered. “What? The swimming and gators?” the tom asked, glancing over at her. “All of it!” she almost snapped then sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s just all so horrible and scary. The water is so dark, the gators almost took Cookie’s paw, food is so hard to come by, and I may never see my twolegs again…” “You will,” Kip told her. He would have offered his tail to her flank if he had a longer one, but since his stump could do no such thing, he nudged her shoulder with his head. “Don’t worry. We may be lost out here, but if we stick together and keep heading upstream, we will find your home again. Your twolegs should be there, waiting for you. They’ll be so happy to have you back, too, I’m sure.” “Thanks. I just wish I wasn’t so useless either.” She couldn’t hunt, could barely swim, and was so scared that all she could do was be snippy about everything. “Well, then you need to stop worrying about your coat so much and think more like how you did when you rescued Cali,” Kip told her. “If you think about others like that then you can do a lot of amazing things. You’ll see.” “But how-“ Before she could finish the question, the two cats stopped in their tracks as they came face to face with the large, blocky muzzle of a dog. It stood there before them, looking down at them with some drool hanging from its floppy, black jowls. Princess let out a shriek and froze on the spot with Kip, causing the dog to jump a little, but then the beast seemed to crouch down as if to spring at them like a cat on prey. It let out a loud bark at them, tail wagging behind its bulky form. “Tyrant?’ A cat’s voice came from the tall grass to the side, and it only took a moment for another cat to emerge from the plants. However, she was completely hairless, showing completely pink skin and many wrinkles within. She looked to the dog and then to two invading cats. “Oh, you’ve found someone else. How lovely,” she said rather happily. The dog let out another loud bark, tail wagging faster now. He took a step to the naked cat and gave her a large lick with a pink tongue. “Alright, calm down. You’re spooking her. Look at that poor nebelung,” the she-cat said and padded over to Princess. “It’s alright, dear. He won’t hurt you. He’s really a very gentle dog,” she assured her fellow she-cat. “My name is Cleo, by the way. And this is Tyrant, my brother. He’s a pitbull. It’s very nice to meet you.” Princess gulped, very unsure. Her gaze flicked to Cleo before quickly going back to the large chunk of dog muscle in front of her. “Y-your br-rother?” she stammered, still extremely scared. Her soaked coat was fluffed up as far as it would go already. Cleo nodded. “Oh, yes. We grew up together,” she explained. “He’s helped me a lot, and I’ve helped him. You don’t have to be blood to be family. He even saved me from the raging torrent at the start of this all,” she explained. “He’s a very strong swimmer.” Tyrant let out a series of quieter but still pretty loud barks to which Cleo nodded. “Yes, that is true,” she said with a slight chuckle. Princess glanced back to Cleo, ever so slowly calming down and allowing her fur to lie flatter again since this behemoth of a dog wasn’t attacking. “You said I was a nebelung, right?” she asked Cleo, eyes still on Tyrant as he sat down. “Yes. That is your breed, right?” Cleo asked, tilting her head slightly. “You show all characteristics of one anyway. You’re definitely not a snowshoe, and I wouldn’t say Persian either.” “I am a nebelung, but nobody else can tell by looking at me,” Princess said, curious how Cleo could tell. The word ‘breed’ did confuse her a bit, though. “Well, I don’t think your twolegs studied cat and dog breeds, did they?” she asked. “Ours did. I’m a sphinx, a hairless breed.” Princess nodded slowly. “Okay…” Seeing Cleo was still very weird, and frankly, she was kind of ugly. She couldn’t imagine herself losing her luxurious, blue coat. But now she knew what she’d look like without it, and the thought horrified her. “Okay, so, um…” Princess gulped, still watching Tyrant closely. “Do you have any other…friends on this island?” she asked. Cleo shook her head. “No. No other cats or dogs have come by besides you,” she told her. “But I am glad to see more have survived the Great Storm.” “More than just us,” Princess said and glanced at Kip, who was still just as petrified as she was. “There are others on that island that way,” she flicked her tail towards their home island, “and they’re looking for better island snow. Ours is pretty much out of food.” “Oh, well, this one has some still,” Cleo told her. “You’re more than welcome to stay here with us. Right, Tyrant?” He barked again. “He says it’ll be nice to meet more new friends.” “You can understand him?” Princess asked, more shocked about that than anything else, even though Cleo had been talking to the dog for a while now. It was just such a weird concept. Cleo nodded her bald head. “Of course. I’m surprised more cats can’t speak to dogs like this, honestly,” she replied. “Of course you are,” Princess muttered then took a deep breath. “Well, I suppose we should get back to the main island and tell the others it’s okay to come here. But that gator might still be there…” “A gator in the water? Was all that splashing you?” the hairless she-cat inquired. “Makes sense a gator would be around then. They’re really attracted to that kind of thing. As long as you don’t splash and make too much noise in the water, they’ll usually leave you alone, or so I’ve observed.” Princess nodded. “Good to know,” she sighed. But it was way easier said than done to not splash so much in the water. She shook her head. “Whatever. Thanks for not letting your…brother eat us.” Cleo laughed at that, finding it very funny. “He would never eat a cat,” she chuckled. “I assure you, he is a very sweet and gentle dog. He’s only ever vicious when it comes to protecting others. Isn’t that right, buddy?” Tyrant barked at her, seeming to agree. He stood up and then lifted his head, angling his clipped ears to listen for something. The cats did the same, hearing the sound of another cat yelling for help. They all glanced to each other before taking off in the direction of the cries for help. Speeding through the tall grass and weeds, they all soon emerge to see a reddish-orange she-cat perched atop a floating log, surrounded by three gators. She was swiping at them to no avail as they all floated around her, the closest one she swiped at opening it mouth slightly, showing all of its jagged teeth and letting out a menacing hiss.✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠
Chapter 5
“What do we do?” Princess asked half frantically as she watched the other she-cat on the log try to fight off the large reptiles by herself as she perched precariously on the floating log. It was so terrifying to watch. At any moment that log could roll, and the cat would go flying into the water and jaws of death. Even if one of the gators got smart enough to bump it she could go down.“We have to help somehow,” Kip said but paced, unsure of how exactly to do that. “Um, maybe if we get the gator’s attention? So they come after us and not her,” he suggested, scared but willing. “They’re a lot slower on land.”Princess looked form him and back out to the she-cat on the log, unsure. Just then, a gator bumped into the log with its snout, making it rock violently as the fellow cat gripped on for dear life. “Okay.”She had to think for a moment how to do this, though. Splashing! When she had been splashing in the water earlier it had attracted one. Maybe it would get the attention of these ones then too.The blue she-cat made her way to the water’s edge and began to swipe at the water with her forepaw, causing some splashing and noise but not enough to really grab the gators’ interest. But it did help when the others joined in. Cleo and Tyrant both started to splash in the water with their paws, Tyrant making a lot of flying water and noise especially.“It’s working!” Kip informed, watching the gators start to look over towards them instead of the other cat. “They’re coming this way.”It was harder to see the shapes moving towards them through all the flying water, but the cats and dog soon backed up as the reptiles came for them, hissing and one snapping very near them. The cat on the log took this time to flee, getting off the log and swimming much more silently towards the island, but making a large circle around the gators. Once she was out of sight and probably on land, the group hurried in her direction.“Hello?” Cleo called out as they pushed through the tall grass. “Domestic short-hair?” Tyrant padded along behind her, panting heavily like most dogs did. Princess and Kip were at her side, glancing around and waiting for a response.“Over here,” came a voice just up ahead. Once the group emerged into what used to be a twoleg garden, they found the she-cat sitting in the shorter grass, soaked but alive. “Thanks for the help.” She rasped her tongue along her firry fur and then swiped it over her ear.“It was a pleasure. I’d hate to see a fellow cat go down to one of those things,” Cleo responded. “My name is Cleo, and this is my brother, Tyrant.” She gestured with her head up to the dog. Who gave a bark in reply, as if he was greeting her too.“Rose,” the strange cat answered, not at all afraid of Tyrant. She had been saved by this dog, after all. “And you are?” she looked to Princess.Princess gave her name but then glanced at Kip. Why was she ignoring him? Whatever, that wasn’t her problem. He could deal with it. “So, you’re not at all weirded out by the fact we have a dog with us or anything? Most cats would be, right?”She definitely had been the first time, and still kind of was. It was one thing to be around street cats, but a dog too? Everything was just falling apart at the seams way too fast.“Hm? No. I’ve been around dogs before,” Rose responded casually. “Not all of them are bad. You get to meet a lot of new ones when you live at the shelter.”“The shelter?” Princess had very vaguely heard about that place. It was supposed to be a slaughter house for cats and dogs who didn’t have twolegs. But, as far as she knew, it was only a myth.Rose nodded. “Yeah. You know, where you go when you don’t live with twolegs?” She tilted her head to the side a bit. “So you can get some of your own? Cats and dogs come and go in there all the time as more and more get adopted.”Princess put her ears back, confused and skeptical. “Adopted? Get twolegs of your own?” That made no sense at all!Rose just rolled her eyes. “I can explain it later.” She continued on with her bathing, wanting to get the gross water out of her fur as soon as possible.“The group did chat for a bit longer before deciding to all head back to the main island for now and meet up with the rest of the group. Obviously, these other two cats, and regrettably the dog, would be joining them. There was safety in numbers, after all. It would just be a trip to see how the others reacted to having a dog with them.They all made it back just fine and met up back at the little camp. Fritz and Rugo were already back, Cookie, Peppermint, and the kits waiting there, too. Everyone looked over as Princess and the other cats came into the camp view. “Welcome back. Took ya long enough,” Rugo remarked but was happy to see them alive and okay. He was simply giving her a hard time, teasing Princess. “And I see you brought some friends.”“Welcome to the group,” Cookie meowed, genuinely happy to see other survivors. She laid in the nest still, her paw wrapped up in even more cobweb but seemingly okay for the time being. Though, some presence of pain did hint in her voice. Fritz and the kits looked on in slight horror and shock.“Thank you,” Cleo said politely. She noticed the looks of the others and rolled her eyes. “I’m supposed to be like this. I’m a hairless breed,” she sighed, having gotten those kinds of looks many times before. “Right,” was all Fritz said and shook his head, still weirded out by it. “And your names are…?”The two new she-cats gave their names, to which Fritz simply nodded. Rugo sighed. “He’s Fritz. Don’t mind him too much. He’s just a weird stick in the mud,” he told the ladies. “I’m Rugo, this is my brother Peppermint. That’s Cookie, Stone, and Cali.”“Rose,” the reddish she-cat meowed. “And Cleo. And before you all freak out, we have another friend with us.”Cleo nodded. “Oh yes, he’s very friendly, I assure you. Just stay calm, okay?” The group gave her an odd look but some nodded. “Okay, Tyrant. Come on out,” she called. The pitbull emerged from the grass, tail wagging so madly it broke some of the grass stalks.Rugo immediately let out a hiss and puffed up, moving to stand in front of Peppermint. “You brought a dog?” He was not at all happy with this decision. “Are you absolutely dead in the brain?” The others didn’t seem too happy either, puffing or tensing up, as well. Except for Fritz. He stayed relatively calm, just watching the others as he sat there. He figured since the dog really wasn’t doing anything, and they had said he was friendly, there was no real reason to get worked up.“Whoa, calm down,” Cleo told them, a bit irritated. She had just told them he was friendly! “He’s not going to hurt anyone. Just relax. He’s very gentle.”“How can that thing be gentle? Look at its teeth!” Rugo exclaimed, not at all inclined to let his fur lie flat once more. The tom was just waiting for this mountain of a creature to lunge at them with gnashing jaws and flinging slobber.“How can you be so quick to judge?” Cleo retorted, taking a step forward. “I come here, and you stare at me like I’m some kind of ugly monster. Then he comes here, and you act like he’s going to rip your faces off. We haven’t done a thing to make you think like that. How about you don’t judge us so quickly?” She puffed out her naked, pink chest.The cats looked to each other, unsure. Princess sighed. “I was the same way, but this dog helped us and hasn’t done a thing to try and hurt us yet,” she told them. “As much as I still don’t like associating with a dog, he’s not that bad.”Rose nodded. “Without him and these other cats I would be dead, eaten alive by gators,” she stepped up. “Not all dogs are bad, and in this situation where the world is dangerous and full of death, we need to stick together to survive through this.”“Very well,” Fritz spoke up nonchalantly. “If that’s over with now, we need to report our findings on the other islands, about food and other assets to help us survive.”Rugo narrowed his eyes at Tyrant who only sat down and kept panting. Slowly, his fur laid down again, but he kept eyes on the dog. “Mine wasn’t good at all. Nothing but the occasionally bird, just like this place.” He looked to fritz, as did the others.“About the same,” the black and white tom sighed, disappointed about that. They all turned to Princess then.She shuffled her paws in the grass. “Well, with finding these two and saving Rose, there wasn’t really any thought to explore the island,” she half muttered, embarrassed.“That’s fine,” Cleo chimed in. “If you’re looking for food and such, the island we were on has plenty of it. It’s quite large at this point with the water level going down, so there’s ample room, too.” She looked up at Tyrant who gave a couple barks. “Yeah, definitely. We’d be more than happy to take you all to it.”The group looked at each other, silently agreeing. It sounded like the best option, and honestly was the best option at this point. “We’ll go now then,” Rugo decided then looked back at Cookie. “Are you going to be okay to make it to the island?”“I can stand at least,” Cookie replied, hauling herself up. She had to keep her mangled paw lifted in the air, but she did manage. Peppermint went right to her side, giving her support with his own little body. “Just stay away from me and my sister,” Stone huffed, looking up at Tyrant. He was protectively in front of Cali, who at this point just went back to being sad about the loss of the rest of her family. Tyrant wasn’t even a concern anymore.“Let’s go then,” Fritz announced and headed off, letting Cleo take the lead as the others followed. Princess stayed close to Kip, still watching Cleo and Tyrant rather closely.“I don’t like being around a dog so much,” she whispered to her jet-black companion. “It feels wrong, and I bet he’ll turn on us when we least expect it.”Kip shook his head. “I don’t care for dogs much either, but if he wanted to hurt us then he would have done it by now. He clearly enjoys Cleo’s company anyway,” he said quietly back. “I think we should really give him a chance. After all, he did help us save Rose.”Princess wasn’t too convinced yet. She would let the beast hang around, but he was still disgusting. She would be seen near him as little as possible, she decided. When they all got to the water’s edge, they began to cross, and she let out an irritated sigh. “How many times do I have to get my pelt soaked and dirty today?”“As many times as it takes to live,” Rugo responded, even if she wasn’t talking to him in particular. He stayed with Cookie for now, going to go last with her so they were sure she’d make it.Princess huffed but dipped her legs in the water, looking out for gators, but nothing was appearing on the surface. Fritz and Rose grabbed a kit each and crossed with them to the big island. Cleo, Peppermint, and Tyrant went with them as she just watched, really not wanting to swim again. Even if she was getting better, it still scared her, and she really did hate to soak her fur so much in this icky liquid.“Come on, it’s not that bad,” Kip told her and got right into the water, starting to swim with ease like always. “You can do it. It’s just one more time right now.”She huffed but went further in, swimming through the water until she and Kip and reached the other side. Once on shore, she turned to watch Rugo coming up behind them with Cookie. Cookie was struggling and seemed to be in pain as she awkwardly swam along, causing some splashing. But Rugo stayed right by her side, supporting her, his muscles rippling underneath his tabby pelt.They got over half way there when something started to surface in the water a little ways away. “Gator!” The thing’s eyes and snout showed just above the water for only a moment before dipping back down in the murk.Both swimming cats looked back in time to see it right before it sank, and they started to panic. Rugo pushed Cookie along faster as she half thrashed in the water now, unable to swim correctly due to her injury. The panic and absolute fear in their eyes was evident.Tyrant suddenly jumped in the water then, swimming out to meet them. He grabbed Cookie by the back of the neck like a mother would do with her kit and turned to swim back to shore with Rugo in tow. However, he suddenly was pulled under the water, a short screech barely escaping his jaws before he disappeared. Bubbles were all that was left in his wake. No more disturbance, no blood, just a few bubbles.Tyrant brought Cookie safely to shore and set her down gently, but she just panted and stared at the water where Rugo had just been. He had just died trying to help her, and that could have easily been her instead. “Are you okay?” Cleo asked the white and black she-cat worriedly, but Cookie could do nothing but stare with her jaws agape. Words would not come to her tongue, and her mind reeled with guilt and shock and horror.A loud wail erupted from beside them. Peppermint stood on the shore, his nose to the air as he cried for his lost brother. They had survived the Great Storm only for him to be taken out like this. Why? “Rugo!”Princess and Kip bowed their heads in silence, not sure what to say if they could offer any words at all. There really just was no easing this type of situation. One of their own had just gone down, either eaten or drowned, while trying to help a fellow cat.“We need to keep moving,” Fritz piped up then, serious as ever. He seemed to show no remorse or any sense of loss for watching the large tom get dragged down into the depths to his death. Nothing. “If we stay here it may come back for us, or more might come. We need to get further inland.” With that, he turned and padded away.Rose followed him, but Cleo had to try and nudge Peppermint away from the shore he continued to wail for his brother. He didn’t want to leave or move. The kits followed the other two, coaxing Cookie away with them.“How could this happen?” Princess asked quietly, just as stunned as Cookie almost. “He’s just…gone.”“Gators are nasty creatures,” Kip replied with some venom to his voice. “But Fritz is right that we need to move more inland. If we stay here we may just join him at the bottom of this reservoir.” He nudged her shoulder then turned. “Come on.”With heavy paws, the blue she-cat moved away from her space and began to follow, but she kept her head turned to stare at the water over her shoulder like Rugo might somehow miraculously appear once more, emerging from the water battered but alive. But, no such thing was going to happen, and she knew that. He was gone.✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠
Chapter 6 As the sun beat down on the group, they trudged solemnly more inland. With Rugo now unable to provide support for Cookie, the heavily grieving Peppermint provided his assistance instead. This was the only thing keeping the small tom going now, helping the crippled she-cat. As they all walked, their sodden pelts dripped with muddy water like flowing tears cried for their fallen friend. “We should find a place to rest,” Fritz said from the head of the group, his voice as sturdy and tone as blunt and serious as ever. It was as if nothing had even happened; nothing with him changed. “No, we need to keep moving,” Princess retorted, now agitated due to the death. Instead of grieving her mind chose to be angry. “I am going to make it back to my home and find my twolegs.” Fritz stopped in his tracks and turned back to the she-cat. “Your twolegs? The ones who gave you that tattered collar around your neck? The ones who left you to flee the storm by themselves? There’s no point going back to them. They won’t take you back, and you don’t need them anyway.” He lifted his nose to the air and turned away from her. The other cats watched with sad faces. Princess’s fur bristled. “They didn’t have time to get me!” she snapped at him. “They love me, and they would be delighted to have me back and know I was alive. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re just jealous because I actually have others who like me,” she stated. The others in the background gasped. Kip came up to Princess and whispered in her ear cautiously. “I don’t think you should be saying such things. That’s a little too far…” Unlike what had been expected, Fritz just shrugged. “I don’t need anyone to like me. I’m fine all on my own. It’s how it’s always been. I’m only in this group now because there’s safety in numbers in this dangerous, broken world,” the black and white tom replied calmly, glancing over his shoulder with a cold, emerald gaze. “But, rest assured, once things go relatively back to normal then I will be out of everyone’s fur once more.” With that, he continued onward just as confidently as before. This tom made her blood boil, but Princess tried to maintain her composer. “We’re going to keep moving,” she growled back at him. Glancing back at the others, she was met with their uncertain and avoiding gazes. They merely wanted to stay out of the squabble right after Rugo’s death. “If we stay here for too long then this place will run out of food, too. Who knows what dangers are on this island anyway?” “And who knows what’s out there?” Peppermint piped up with a narrowed, hard gaze. “My brother just died crossing the water. Who knows who else could die trying to cross again?” the small tom half hissed. “I’m not crossing that river of blood if I don’t have to. Besides, Cookie can’t swim well right now anyway.” The black and white she-cat nodded slightly, avoiding speaking words to aid in the argument. Her paw was clearly not in a good condition to be swimming, or trying to. Cleo knew there were no real dangers on this island, but wanting to also not get involved she simply nodded agreement. Rose sighed. “We should all rest, before we do anything else,” she decided, going to be the voice of reason here since Princess had completely ignored Kip’s advice. “We’re all hungry, tired, and sad. Arguing won’t help anything. It only tears us apart and makes us weaker. We can talk about what to do once we’ve eaten and slept and had some time to think,” the red feline decided, a commanding firmness to her tone. Princess gave rose a hard stare but only turned and flicked her plumy, wet tail at her instead of snapping. She stuck her nose in the air and trudged off across the short, green grass with kip following close behind. “Who does she think she is? Who does Fritz think he is? I need to get back to my den!” Princess ranted to Kip who padded along beside her with an unsure and sad expression. “I mean, I know we have to survive, obviously. But I actually need to get somewhere. I’m not some filthy, homeless street cat like them!” Kip put his ears back sadly. “Gee, thanks,” he muttered, hurt by her insult. She looked to him and softened a bit, sighing. “I didn’t mean that, not about you anyway. Not all street cats are so bad,” she told him, not wanting to take back what she had said but also not wanting to hurt him. “I’m just angry.” “I couldn’t tell,” Kip said meowed sarcastically then shook his head. “You know they have a point. We do need to rest and eat here. I’m aware of how badly you want to get back to your twolegs, but are you even sure they will be there waiting for you once you get back?” he inquired. “Of course, I’m sure,” Princess replied, but her tone said otherwise, as did her uncertain gaze at the ground. “They love me. They gave me this collar and took care of me for as long as I can remember.” “But how much exactly do you remember?” Kip asked, pausing from walking and watching her. The blue cat stopped a few steps ahead of him and looked back with her head tilted a bit in confusion. “What do you mean by that?” “You’ll see,” Kip replied in a sigh. The black tom continued to walk, going past his female companion now as she watched with a more confused gaze than ever. What was that supposed to mean? He was so weird, she thought. Princess did continue to walk with him, but she really had no idea where they were going, and she only now realized that they had just been wandering in a random direction with no particular destination. The two walked in silence for some time before coming to the end of the island, the tip closest to where Princess had come from, the most up-current part of the island. There to greet them was a graveyard of broken twoleg dens half-sticking out of the still, muddy waters. Bits of walls, roofs, and other debris littered the depths. Branches and other garbage floated idly on top, and electric trees with their black vines jutted out randomly, some tore up and splintering. In the distance, on what was now the shambles of a den sat a fat, pink creature. Its big, leaf-shaped ears flopped over its face with its flat nose barely sniffing the air as the poor thing baked in the sun. “What is that thing?” Princess asked Kip, revolted by its strange and grotesque appearance. But, the odd thing was it was wearing a collar like her. Was it with twolegs once? “I’m not sure,” Kip replied, just as confused as his blue companion. “It looks like it has a collar, too, but I have no idea what sort of creature that thing is. And I’d rather not find out, if I’m being honest here.” It could easily be dangerous. Princess could nod her agreement to that. Maybe one of the others would know what it was? Just then, she heard Rose calling to everyone that she had caught an iguana and to come eat. The two cats looked to each other then followed the call. Nestled by a fallen palm tree, Cookie and the kits laid in a quickly made nest, already eating from the large lizard, along with Fritz. Peppermint simply laid nearby, head on his paws and back curled to everyone else. He was too depressed to eat right now. Princess and Kip stopped and watched. “Do you think there’s enough for us?” she asked Kip quietly. “There’s enough for you,” he answered. “I’m not going to eat any right now.” “What? You have to eat, or you’ll starve!” the she-cat protested. “Is that what you want? To starve? You didn’t eat last time either.” Kip shook his head. “No, of course not,” the black tom answered calmly and casually. “I’m just not hungry right now.” “That is the biggest pile of dung I’ve ever heard in my life!” she exclaimed. “You need to eat! In fact, I haven’t seen you eat once yet, and it’s been well over two sunrises. You need to eat.” “I can’t,” Kip replied with his ears going back. “Trust me on this. I just can’t eat right now.” “Um, is everything okay?” Cleo asked. She had just come back to the group with Tyrant, another iguana in the dog’s jaws. However, she had heard the whole one-sided conversation. “Tell kip he needs to eat,” Princess demanded of Cleo, her tail lashing a few times in the air, which flicked tiny water droplets about. Cleo looked at her like she was mad then looked at Tyrant with just as much confusion. The dog dropped the prey and panted at her, not knowing what was even going on. He could speak to Cleo, but not so much anyone else. “What? What’s wrong?” Princess asked, still wanting her to tell Kip that he needed to eat. “Just tell him that he has to eat, too!” Cleo continued to stare at Princess like she was mad. Then, she glanced at the other cats around who had stopped eating their meals and sulking to stare in confusion at the blue she-cat, as well. “Uh…” Frtiz sighed, a bit irritated. “Alright, it’s time for a talk,” he meowed and padded over to the disgruntled Princess. “I’m not going to let this madness go on any longer. Princess, this ‘Kip’ character you keep going on about doesn’t exist,” he stated plainly, coming to stand in front of her, his expression mostly blank but still showing that irritation as his tail tip also twitched. “We’ve humored you long enough now.” The blue feline gasped, shocked by Fritz’s wild delusion. “What the stars do you mean he doesn’t exist? He’s sitting right here!” she retorted, flicking her tail towards the black tom. “He’s always been around. He helped me and Cal, and he’s been a better friend than any of you have.” Fritz rolled his eyes. “Okay, so you say he’s right there then?” he asked then padded over to right beside Kip and swiped a paw at him. Princess fully expected the black tom to cry out from the sharp claws raking his pelt, yet the paw…it went right through him. It was as if the tom she had known was a ghost. The black and white tom narrowed his yes at Princess as her jaw gaped open in complete shock. “You’ve just been conjuring up some fictional character this whole time, claiming he was real. Do you realize how much you’ve just been talking to yourself? Arguing with yourself?” he demanded. “We all just figured you were traumatized by the Great Storm, but now I’m pretty sure you’re just crazy, making up fantastical illusions in your own head and projected into reality through your eyes. But know the truth when I say this. Kip isn't real.”✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠
Chapter 7 Just like when the storm had ravaged her home and everything she knew, the world around her came crashing down at his words. Kip wasn’t real? What she saw with Fritz’s paw going right through Kip’s body only solidified the fact. Once again, she felt lost as that kind of big reality hit her, shattering the illusion created by her own, desperate mind.
“B-but I don’t understand…” The words simply fell out of the nebelung’s mouth, her own ears absent of the sound itself.
“the great Storm must have been a pretty big scare for you, correct? Losing everything you’ve ever known can be quite traumatic. Your subconscious mind must have conjured Kip up to help yourself cope with everything,” Fritz deduced. “I’ve heard that it could happen sometimes with traumatic experiences.” He turned his attention over to the little kit Cali. “I bet it was what was happening with her, too, when she said she’d see her dead brother.”
Princess shook her head. “No! That can’t be! I’ve felt him. Kip helped me onto a log at the very start of all of this. He curled up with me before when we all slept,” she argued, desperate to not be insane, as she felt she would otherwise be if it did so turn out that her companion had not been real this whole time.
“You probably only thought that you could feel him there. If you think it to be true, then it becomes so, but only for you,” Fritz countered simply and shrugged. “Nobody else could ever see or hear him. There must have been things that made your own conscious mind skeptical of his existence, right? Subtle clues in your time?”
Princess’s gaze fell to the ground, eyes narrowing a bit as her brain reeled but soon came up with the instances he was talking about. Now that she thought about it, Kip hadn’t rocked that log at all at the very beginning of this all. He never once made it waver. And when swimming, he never even made a single ripple in the water, nor a sound or splash. He never ate or drank, never touched any of the other cats, hunted, or helped her save the others. She had done it all and didn’t question why he did nothing of the sorts. Nobody ever talked to him or even looked directly at him either. Not once.
“Come on, princess,” Kip’s soft mew came to her, making her look up at his now fading body. He had gone from a solid black shape to a now transparent gray, almost like smoke. “We both knew deep down I was never really here.”
“But how?” she asked, feeling a kind of grief well up inside her. The cat she had grown to be friends with, to trust, to enjoy being around… He was just a simple trick of her own diluted mind.
“Think back, way back. Way back to when you were only a kit,” the black tom’s apparition mewed. “When you had only just come to your twolegs. Remember sitting on that window ledge, looking out at the sunny day and being so sad to leave your mother and siblings?”
The thought was fuzzy as he spoke, but gradually became a little more clear. Like he said, she remembered sitting on a window ledge at her new home with the same twolegs who had left without her to flee the storm sunrises ago. “I see it,” she told him, eyes closed now as she dug deep into her own mind.
She sat there, staring out at the garden and the thunderpath beyond, carriages occasionally going past and the scents of the outside world wafting in through the thin screen. She missed her littermates and mother dearly. And the new house scared her a little with its unfamiliar surroundings. But then, a young tom cat, only a couple moons older than her, appeared from behind a bush in her new garden.
She called out to him, demanding to know what he was doing in her new territory, prideful despite her fears. The tom looked to her and gave a purr then made his way over to the screen, jumping onto a shiny pillar, on the other side of the window. He found her amusing already and introduced himself as Kip. She told him her new name of Princess, and pretty soon the two were great friends. He told her stories of his street cat life.
Kip met her every single sunrise at the window to tell her of his adventures of a free yet dangerous life outside. He had so much spunk and character, and he put every ounce of that into narrating his tales for her, even acting them out on his own like a play just for her. She grew to love the stories and even him, but to fear the outside and other street cats by the way he described most as selfish and only looking out for themselves from his own personal experiences.
“You used to always look forward to my stories,” Kip sighed to her in the present. “And you know I looked forward to seeing you every sunrise to tell them to you. But then I left for good one day…”
Princess clenched her jaw, the jogging memory slamming itself into her. “I remember…” Her voice trembled a little. “We had just finished talking, and you were going to cross the thunderpath like usual. But then…” She choked up for a moment, having to take a deep breath to go on. “Then I called out to you to tell you…my feelings. I had been working up the courage for so long, wanting to tell you how much I really enjoyed your visits, your tales, and you… You were my best friend, and I wanted to be with you. But as you turned to call back…” She couldn’t say it.
Kip nodded. “I got hit by a silent monster right before your eyes. I was gone in a heartbeat, but you knew how happy I was to hear your words right before it happened. I died happy, but I died while you watched nonetheless.” His own tone had become somber and quiet.
Princess held back a wail at the memory. She had been so shocked, devastated, and heart broken. But, most of all, she had been guilty. She had blamed herself for his death, the death of the tom she loved, of her dearest friend.
“Open your eyes now,” Kip whispered into her ear, his breath no longer tickling her hairs, nor his comforting scent coming to fill her nose.
Princess reluctantly opened her eyes and lifted her head to see the whole group staring at her with unsure, confused, and even sympathetic expressions. She looked to Fritz who merely shook his head.
“So, I was just crazy all this time…” she muttered, turning her gaze back to her own paws. “A crazy housecat who desperately wanted somebody to be there for her through the pain.” But, now, it hurt twice as bad. It was as if she had lost her best friend all over again, along with her home and family.
“No, you’re not crazy.” Rose stepped forward and made her way over to her. “You were never crazy. You were just scared and needed somebody to be there for you when nobody could be. So, who better to be there for you than the one who had helped you before, who you know cared about you? There is nothing wrong with needing a friend, any kind of friend,” she told her softly but with a firmness to her meow.
Kip nuzzled her, but Princess no longer could feel it. She could no more feel the softness of his fur or the warmth of his body. “I will always be with you, any time you need help. Even on that day, I never truly left you,” he told her, looking at her with the softest, most loving gaze a tom could give while he faded away completely before her eyes. But, right before his apparition disappeared completely, she could swear she saw the shimmering of stars within his night sky pelt.
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Chapter 8 While the rest of the group ate, Princess couldn’t bring herself to do so. Neither could Peppermint, honestly. While he laid by Cookie, she simply sat hunched over away from the group, her back to them as she looked down into a small puddle at her own reflection. Now, she could not stop thinking about Kip, the real one from long ago. His stories and words kept echoing in her mind, along with the vision of his death. She remembered him teaching her how to actually hunt from beyond the window, showing her the crouch and revealing instructions along with the movements. She could recall his lessons on swimming, too. He never had the water for it, but he still demonstrated and instructed as best he could. It occurred to her now that she had pulled those pieces of memory when she’d needed them most after the Great Storm. She had swum to save Cali and swum to get to island. She had hunted to get prey, and it all was after getting instruction and demonstration from Kip. It really did feel like she had lost him again. Cleo padded up behind her, her soft pawsteps accompanied by Tyrant’s lumbering ones. A hunk of iguana meat was dropped at the blue she-cat’s paws. “You should eat something. We’ve decided to keep moving up-current soon,” Cleo regaled to her. Princess barely turned her head to look over at her, gaze tired and sorrowful. “Why?” she inquired quietly. “I thought everyone wanted to make camp and stay here as long as we could.” She didn’t even pay attention to the food brought to her, not at all having an appetite. “Well, Cali and Stone wanted to go, as well. They hope the rest of their family is up there, around where your den was,” Cleo answered. She felt so bad for the poor she-cat. Even if they had had some differences before, that didn’t matter now. They were all living beings and all in this adventure together. “There may be more food up that way anyway. And, we all go washed away from that way, down here.” “But what about Cookie’s paw? It’s dangerous to swim in that water with the gators around. Rugo was eaten not long ago at all, remember?” It was yet another tragic to have happened in this whole mess. Cleo nodded solemnly. “Yes, we’re aware of that. But it seems from observations that the gators are attracted to splashing. As long as we keep clam in the water, we should be fairly safe,” she explained. “We will try to have Cookie ride on Tyrant’s back when we cross, while the kits continue to be carried whoever’s jaws.” Princess didn’t know how well that would all actually work out, but then again all she could think about currently were negative outcomes and memories. “Okay. Let me know when we’re leaving then,” she meowed, tone never changing. “Thanks.” Cleo nodded and padded away, but Tyrant stayed seated right where he was by her for a moment. He suddenly leaned over and gave her a big lick on the back, causing her fur to stick up in wet spikes. Princess jumped up, spinning to face him with her fur ruffled. “What do you think you’re doing? Don’t lick me! It’s disgusting!” she snapped at the bog dog, no fear to be had. Tyrant merely wagged his tail while panting then left to follow Cleo. The look on his dopey face as he left almost seemed smug, like he knew something she didn’t. The she-cat watched him go but couldn’t help but feel a bit better, like she had been herself again for a split moment. It was nice to know others cared anyway. Even if one of them was a giant, gross dog. Her gaze fell to the meat Cleo had given her, metallic scent wafting into her nose. Her stomach growled, hungry for it. So, with a sigh, she finally crouched down and began to eat it, expecting a weird flavor; street cat food still was not her thing. Yet, once more, the kittypet was surprised to find the taste delicious as it filled her mouth, bathing her tongue. It wasn’t long before she scarfed the whole thing down. That moonrise, the group gathered together in a new makeshift nest made from leaves and ferns. Cookie laid with the kits and Peppermint by her side. Near her was Cleo nestled in Tyrant’s paws, against his broad chest and under his thick neck to keep warm and safe. Fritz was by himself, along with Rose, but they still remained close to the others by small lengths. Princess, now without the illusion of Kip’s presence, also laid by herself in the nest. “So,” Cleo piped up. “How did you all come to be in this group anyway? How’d you survive the storm and find each other?” she asked everyone, still being one of the newest members of the little clan. “I honestly don’t know how I survived the storm,” Rose replied. “All I know is I was being taken into a monster by the shelter people, but I escaped. I got knocked out by something and woke up inside of a tree, just a tail-length above the roaring water.” She shrugged. “Then I tried to just survive and find food once things calmed down a bit.” “Shelter people?” Cleo inquired, unsure of what that meant. Nobody else seemed to know either. “Yeah. You know, the shelter? Where cats and dogs go when they don’t have families to go with twolegs?” Rose almost couldn’t believe they didn’t get it. “Well, anyway, I hate monsters, so I didn’t want to get loaded into it. I knew the storm was coming, but I had no idea where that thing was going to go. Everyone was so scared. My holder’s door was loose, so I rammed against it and was free. In hindsight, the shelter people were probably taking us to safety, but I was too scared to think about it then. I just ran and somehow passed out to wake up in that tree.” “Huh. That’s interesting.” Cleo looked to Peppermint then as he chimed in quietly, his mew depressed. “Rugo and I were looking for food when we felt it coming. We jumped into a garbage can right in time and just kind of rode out the flood in it. It was so terrifying, but Rugo was so strong through it all…” His blue eyes gazed down at the ground and Cookie nudge him lightly with her muzzle. She was kind of the mother of the group at this point. “I was with my humans,” she looked around as everyone gave her more confused looks, and she sighed. “Twolegs then. We were inside the den, but they were really scared. They put me in my carrier, and we got into the carriage and left the den. The wind was wiping the carriage around so much as we fled. But then we came to this huge den. I mean it was the biggest den you could ever even imagine. They got out and started to argue with some other Twolegs. I have no idea what they were saying besides my name a couple of times.” She paused, her eyes growing dark and sad. “Then they got me out of the carrier and yelled at me angrily. I had no idea what I’d done, but I realized they were just trying to get me to run away, because only heartbeats later the water came… It consumed everything, even my family… I nearly drowned but managed to cling to a floating tree and rode it. But they, my humans, were gone.” Everyone looked down for a moment, sad for her. “I’m sorry,” Peppermint mewed to her, nuzzling her this time. She closed her eyes as they held their heads together. “We were with our mother and littermates,” Stone piped up sadly. “It was so scary. She tried to get us to go inside the den, but we didn’t know why. We could feel the storm coming, but none of us knew what it really was. So, we didn’t all listen.” He shook his head. “How could we be so dumb?” Cali took over then, staying against her brother. “The wind and waters came and shook everything then swept it away. It swept us away, all of us apart. I thought I was gonna drown. I almost did… But Princess found me pretty soon after and helped me.” She gave the bleu she-cat a grateful nod, as grateful as she could right now anyway. “I just climbed into a can and rode the waves,” Stone muttered, clearly very upset and guilty about not listening to his mother before. He knew she was dead now, too, so that didn’t help. The rest of his siblings were probably also gone, either drowned in the rapids or beaten by them. Fritz didn’t give much consideration for the feelings as he spoke up, unsurprisingly. “When my fur stood up from the storm, I instantly went as high up as I could. I climbed the biggest tree in the area and waited things out. It shook violently, and the roots eventually gave way, but I clung the branch I was on for dear life. Ended up riding it down the waves, eventually meeting up with Cookie on that first island we were on, where Rugo, Peppermint, Stone found us. And then Cali and Princess. Thankfully, only the wind could get us there, but as long as we stayed low it was alright,” he told everyone, almost casually. To him, none of it seemed like too big of a deal. “These all sound so horrifying and interesting,” Cleo meowed then glanced up at her doggy companion. “Tyrant and I lived with a pair who liked to study cat and dog breeds. There were others with us. A Siamese tom, Chang, and two other dogs. Both of them were rottweilers, male named Hiti and a female called Tiki. They were littermates. None of them made it…” She bowed her head, and Tyrant let out a whine. She took a deep breath to actually recall the story of how it all happened. “We were all inside and getting ready to leave, but it was too late. We had waited too long. The wind tore the roof off our den. We all huddled together in the underground part of our den. Everyone was shaking and so scared. Our twolegs held us all so tightly and told us we’d be okay, but we weren’t. The water flooded us all out. Tyrant always was a good swimmer, and he grabbed me in his mouth and started to try and swim in the rushing water. The others weren’t as good or lucky, some getting hit by debris floating in the water, others getting knocked into hard walls… Tyrant just barely navigated through it all safely. He got a few cuts from it, but he got us both to a tiny island where we were safe together. I would have died without him.” The bare she-cat snuggled deeper into the big dog’s embrace while he began to lick her. “He’s a pretty big hero then,” Rose meowed, watching them. “He helped save me from those gators when I was found, saved you, and helped Cookie across the water to this island. I always knew not all dogs were bad, but I guess some are actually pretty great, too.” Cleo nodded. “Yes. Thank you,” she responded, letting Tyrant lick her. It must have been comforting, Princess thought. Then, the attention was called onto her. “How did you survive?” the sphinx inquired. “Oh, um…” Princess didn’t like remembering. She hated the memory of her twolegs just abandoning her at the den. Sure, there had been sense in them all dying, but they just ran out without even a second thought towards her. She sighed and took a deep breath to build up the courage to talk, to really admit her family had left her to die. “I was left in the den while my twolegs…left. I was so terrified as everything I knew started to get stripped away by the wind. I tried to hide. When the water came too, though, I had to get on something higher up. I climbed on my twoleg’s nest. Thankfully, it began to float. The current carried me away as the home I knew so well, for so long, crumbled. I floated for a bit before the nest started to slowly sink. It was getting too soggy, I guess. I don’t really know why it was sinking, but it was. I never could swim without having properly learned, so I started to panic when I heard sing-“ She stopped herself. She hadn’t really thought of it before, but Kip singing on that log hadn’t happened. Not really. It couldn’t have if he never had been really there. However, she never would have noticed the log without it. But either way, she couldn’t tell them anymore that Kip had saved her. “I, uh…I heard a bird singing and saw it was perched on a log that was floating right for me. I jumped on the log as it passed by and managed to stay on it until I saw Cali and helped her, then came to that first island.” It felt like lying, but the truth hadn’t happened either. Everyone nodded. “Sounds like we’ve all had our fair share of traumatic experiences with his storm,” Cookie said then yawned. “But we should all get some sleep now. If we’re moving again tomorrow, I want to actually have the energy to do so.” “How is your paw, by the way?” Princess asked then, a bit concerned for her. For once, though, she really showing it. Cookie looked down at the white and blue patch work Peppermint had done on it. The cobwebs were now raggedy and a little discolored, and the fur had come out a bit, but the whole thing was still holding together well enough. “It’s doing okay, thanks,” she answered, a bit happier to have been asked. Princess simply nodded. “Peppermint is really smart. I wouldn’t have made it without him.” She gave a slight purr to the tom beside her. Peppermint still had so much grief darkening his eyes, but at the she-cat’s compliment he couldn’t help but look away in slight embarrassment. “I had to do something,” he responded in a murmur, to which some others chuckled. “Alright, let’s get some sleep,” Fritz announced. “We move at sunrise, after we eat. Try to get as much rest as you can.” He curled up by himself, and the others did the same but with each other. Princess stayed by herself now like Fritz and Rose. Without thinking about it, her head tipped back so her eyes could gaze upon the glittering stars above. Even without Kip by her side now, without his fake warmth, she could still sense a bit of comfort in the air around her. Like an aura of love. His body and scent and warmth might have been fake, but the comfort the black tom had provided for her was real. Not even for a heartbeat had it been just another illusion. “Goodnight, Kip. Thank you for everything,” she whispered to the sky above before placing head on her paws and closing her eyes, falling into welcome darkness.✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠
Chapter 9 After eating, the small garrison of cats and a single dog began to head out. The sun was low in the sky, indicating just how early in the day it was. Yet, its rays were still warm on their pelts. As each one got into the water to swim to the next growing island, the rank stench of its polluted contents churned full stomachs and clung to their fur.
“I hate this! Why can’t all this water just leave already?” Rose complained, wading into it behind Fritz, who was leading.
“None of us like it, but it’s just how things are. All we can do is keep pressing forward,” the black and white tom told her, a bit annoyed by her complaints. She had done nothing but complain all sunrise so far, in their short, awakened time.
“Still. It’s disgusting, especially to groom out of my fur,” the reddish she-cat continued, getting further into her bane.
“I feel the same way,” Princess chimed in from behind, only dipping her paws in for a moment, pausing there before continuing in. “This stuff is horrible. It’s taking way too long to dry up, and it smells like death itself. Not to mention the awful taste.”
“Yeah, who knows what’s actually in it…” Peppermint came in behind Princess with Tyrant carrying Cookie in his jaws. They didn’t want her to cause so much splashing a gator came like before, so this was the best way to ferry her across water. The newly elected medical tom also felt this was better for her damaged paw anyway, as the wound was still healing and did not need any gunk in it to give infection.
“Could be worse,” Stone piped up, riding on Tyrant’s broad head while Cali was carried by Cleo.
“How could this possibly get any worse?” Princess asked, turning her head to see the high and mighty kit.
“I don’t know, but it could happen,” Stone replied simply and shrugged. “I just don’t want it to, so Cali can be safe. And the rest of us.” The little tom was for sure his sister’s protector. Meanwhile, Cali tended to still be silent, driven to do so by the death of the rest of her whole family.
“Shut up and swim,” Fritz called back, already half way to the new island.
The others gave irritated sighs but did as they were told. One by one, they landed on the new shore of a forested island. Unlike the others with only sparse surviving trees and shrubs, this one had thick undergrowth and tall trees. Sure, some of the mighty arbors had fallen over or broken, but many still stood tall, anchored deep within the sloping earth.
“Hopefully, there will be something worthwhile on top of this hill,” Rose meowed, gazing up the steeper slope.
“Maybe we will be able to see some familiar land from up there,” Princess suggested to the group. “Maybe my home.” Or, at least, what was left of it.
Cleo nodded her agreement. “If we know exactly where we are going, then it’ll be a lot easier to go there. Plus, I don’t considerably enjoy wandering aimlessly on a whim.”
Peppermint began to climb the grassy hill a few steps. “Well, only one way to find out.”
The others nodded and began to follow, glancing around as they did so. It seemed this island had been mostly untouched by the raging waters on the day of the storm. Perhaps it was because it had such a high slope, high enough to keep most of it from water’s reach.
Cleo looked back when she heard huffing to see Cali and Stone lagging behind, struggling to continue further up when they were only a quarter of the way there. But, they were still just young kits. “Do you guys need some help?” she offered, already beginning to make her way back down to them.
“No!” Stone blurted out, puffing out his chest but continuing to huff. “It’s just a dumb climb. We can do it.”
“If you can’t do something, it’s okay to admit it,” Cleo told the little gray tom. “Cookie has to be carried by Tyrant because of her paw. She can’t climb this, but she isn’t putting up such a fuss about it, now is she?” The hairless she-cat made her way back down to the kits, Rose following.
With a lot of protest, Cleo scooped up the tom-kit in her jaws while Rose now carried Cali. Stone, instead of falling limp like his sister instinctively had, struggled. “Put me down! I can do it!”
She didn’t listen and carried Stone all the way up the hill, reaching the top just a bit behind the others. At the sight, she put her ears back in disappointment and let the kit down. “This isn’t helpful…” Before them all were more trees and dense undergrowth, Nowhere, was a view to get their bearings. Just more forested land.
“Mouse dung!” Fritz exclaimed, for probably the first time losing his cool. His tail lashed the air behind him while he glanced around for any possible break in the foliage. But, there were no obvious ones.
Princess was about to ask kip what he thought about the whole situation, even turning her head to where she thought he’d be. However, at the last second, opening her jaws, she remembered that he was not real and would not be there. At this memory, she shut her mouth once more and placed her ears back sadly, looking at the ground. Even if he had not been real to the world, he had been real to her. Not having him around anymore was going to be difficult.
“Do you hear that?” Peppermint asked the others, pricking his ears forward. The others did the same and listened, hearing something crashing through the plants. Tyrant began to growl, moving to stand in front of Cookie and Cleo protectively since they were by his legs.
“Something’s coming this way, something big!” Rose exclaimed. Fear began to grip the group.
“Get up in the trees!” Fritz ordered them. He began to scale one of the tall oaks, sending a shower of falling bark shards in his wake.
“I can’t!” Cookie whined, terrified as the crashing got louder. She knew there was no way she was going to be able to climb a tree with her paw the way it was. She couldn’t even walk on it!
The others continued to go up into the trees, Princess included. “I’m sorry,” she told the black and white she-cat. She was now the only one left on the ground with Tyrant. “Try finding a place to hide!”
Cookie looked around frantically, thankfully finding a hole in the roots of a maple tree. She hurried over to it and slipped inside, barely able to completely fit into the tiny space. But, she was in.
Just then, the beast causing all the noise and panic was revealed. A big black and white dog burst forth from the grasp of plants, snarling. Foamy saliva dripped from its jaws, its dirty white pelt covered in many black spots.
“A dalmatian?” Cleo meowed from the trees. “Be careful, Tyrant!” Any dog threatening them would be a terror, but she especially did not want a taller dog fighting the companion she considered a brother.
Tyrant snarled back at it, lip raised and showing his fangs. He barked at it a few times, speaking with it, but it didn’t want to talk much. It merely growled back at him after barking once.
“What are they saying?” Peppermint inquired fearfully from the branch next to Cleo.
“Tyrant is trying to calm the other dog down, saying we’re his friends. But this one is really hungry and not having it…” the hairless she-cat replied, clinging tightly to her branch.
Suddenly, the dalmatian lunged at Tyrant, latching its jaws onto his shoulder. The pit let out a yelp but quickly changed it into a battle snarl and bit down hard on its foreleg. He began to shake his head then, causing scarlet to flow forth and shower the ground.
The white dog let go and yelped, a sickening snap echoing throughout the trees. But, Tyrant did not let up. He continued to hold on and shake until the enemy grabbed hold of one of his ears and shook, too. This shredded Tyrant’s floppy ear, making him let go.
The two jumped away but started to circle each other, going around the small area between trees. Without any warning, the enemy lunged, but this time it went for the tree Cookie was hiding in. It had spotted her. Its leg was very injured and made it limp now, but it was not giving up, desperately hungry and willing to die to get Cookie as a treat.
She let out a squeak as the dog’s jaws snapped shut just a whisker-length from her face. Tyrant had grabbed onto its tail, holding back the dalmatian from killing Cookie in an instant. Cookie recoiled further into the roots as much as she could – which wasn’t much.
The dog turned to snarl at Tyrant once more then spun and bit down on his chest. Tyrant wasn’t having it anymore. He reared up on his hind legs and slammed a forepaw onto the enemy’s head then sunk his teeth into the back of its neck, shaking once again.
This was the final straw for the dalmatian. It yelped and whimpered for mercy. The heartbeat it was let go, its tail tucked between its legs, and it headed off back into the undergrowth and shadows, limping heavily and whimpering.
Tyrant barked after it, declaring it to never come near any of them again as he stood tall. His ear was still bleeding and very mangled now with other wounds on his body, but he didn’t seem to notice any of it.
Slowly, the cats came down to the ground and out of hiding. “Are you alright?” Cleo asked their protector, worried for him. Tryant barked once. Cleo just nodded then rubbed her head lightly on his leg. “Thank you.”
“We need to find some cobwebs and marigold, if we can,” Peppermint meowed. “I think it’s doing a good job with keeping infection at bay in Cookie’s paw. So, it should hopefully help with Tyrant’s wounds, as well.”
“Sounds good to me. Fan out but stay very close,” Fritz told everyone. This place was obviously quite dangerous if another, not-so-friendly dog was lurking around. Even with Tyrant there, it was still extremely risky. This dog could only be in one place at a time. Hopefully, things would go better now.✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠
Chapter 10
Princess felt fear well up in her belly as the others started to spread out and disappear into various directions. This was not a good idea. Tyrant stayed where he was with Cookie and the kits. She watched them as the dog laid down and began to lick the wounds that he could reach.
With a deep, shaky breath, the blue she-cat turned and glanced around before slowly padding off. She moved along with careful pawsteps, being as quiet as physically possible. Even still, her heart raced, and she feared that the dog, or any predator, would hear it pounding within the ribs which held it inside her chest. She cast quick glances as every single shadow and any indication of noise or rustling leaf around her. Every single noise and dark patch seemed like it would be a threat to her terror-drowning mind.
Eventually, the gray feline managed to make it some distance away from her initial site, not even caring to notice when stray twigs and thorns snatched away some of her luxurious pelt. However, hope rose up rapidly in her heart when the vision of a twoleg den came into view.
Her head broke free of the forested area to show her the high, white structure. It looked battered by the high winds like every other structure in the storm, but this one was still standing and looked like it still had mostly-in-tact walls from this side.
Princes, without even thinking, bounded over to the house, tail flagging in the air. Maybe there were twolegs in there who could help them? She knew the vet could fix anything, so if they could persuade the twolegs to take Tyrant and Cookie, then they’d be okay in no time. Maybe they could even help her find her own family!
Extra energy coursed through her veins as she picked up speed. This could be her chance to go home! As she neared the home, however, the hope and happiness sank with her heart. From where she had been looking from the side, the home looked relatively fine. But, upon getting closer and rounding the front more, she saw just how bad it had been beaten by the Great Storm.
Her paws slowed to a stop in front of the once nice illusion. The entire other half of the den, the one that had been previously hidden from her vision by the good side, was collapsed inward. Beams of wood stuck up everywhere and splintered with chunks of wall and garbage littering the wreckage further. It looked as if one side of the home had been shielded from the storm, while the other was fully exposed. She did see a twoleg in there, but no way would it be getting her own from under the wood it rested.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Great… Now what?” She glanced around but decided to head closer to the broken den anyway. “Maybe there will be some marigold in the garden somewhere around it?” she thought out loud but then stopped in her tracks and hung her head, gritting her teeth a bit in frustration. “If only I actually knew what it looked like!” With a quick swipe, she sent a rock tumbling away. “Mouse dung!”
“Who’s there?” a deep meow demanded from the rubble. Princess looked up to see a large tom emerge from the broken bits like a spirit from the body, but he was clearly solid and very much alive. And huge!
The newcomer looked down at her with judgmental, yellow eyes. Well-kempt tiger tabby fur flowed in the breeze like long, thick blades of grass. He jumped down from his high, broken perch to meet her on the grass. He was even bigger up close! Almost as big as Tyrant even, and this greatly frightened Princess. If they were to fight, nothing was stopping him from killing her.
“What are you doing on my territory?” he asked her, his deep mew shaking her to the very core. He didn’t seem too angry but still not happy to see her here.
Princess placed her ears back and took a step backwards, tail close to her body. “Uh, I-I…uh…” She couldn’t manage to pull the words out of her throat. Another step back and then another.
The tom tilted his head to the side a bit as he watched. “You said something about marigold, right? Why do you need it?” he asked, his tone now seeming a little less harsh but still keeping his guard up.
“Some of my friends…” Princess managed to squeak out then had swallow before continuing any further. “They’re hurt.” Maybe if he knew she had friends with her, he’d be less inclined to attack her. It’s be stupid on his part to hurt her if there were others who could outnumber him.
His eyes narrowed, but they did so in a pondering manner. “Marigold helps with injuries? Do you think it could help with this?” he asked, as if a flip in his attitude had been switched, then turned to show his side to her. Underneath the thick fur showed a patch of pink and red, a scraped kind of wound.
Intimidation still flowed throughout her body, but she nodded slightly. “Probably. We have a cat who knows some things,” she told him, watching him carefully.
He perked up at this, all judgment and wariness gone in an instant. “Awesome! Let’s grab some, and then you can take me to this miracle cat,” he told her in a rather upbeat way. Without waiting for any sort of response, he turned and made his way around the good side of the den to the back.
Princess’s heart was still pounding hard against her chest. She didn’t even want to take the chance right now, so once he was out of view, she bolted back the way she’d come. No way would she stick around longer than needed with this mountain of a cat.
Once back with the few others, she panted and padded over to them to sit down. “Why are you out of breath?” Cookie asked her, concerned. “Did you find that dog again?”
The blue cat shook her head. “No. There was another cat, like a monster of one. He was huge. I just ran,” she answered, eyes still wide from it all.
“We can take him,” Storm proclaimed and puffed out of his little chest. “No cat can beat us. We’re the best team there is!” He looked to his sister. “Right, Cali?”
The small she-kit simply nodded, still not really speaking or anything after learning the news of her family’s death. While her brother was full of energy and wished to defend and be mighty, she only seemed to want to disappear from existence.
Princess did feel bad for the kit, but she was still coming down from the adrenaline rush. However, the rush just came right back as the bushes nearby rustled. Had that tom followed her? Thankfully, it was only Cleo coming back with some cobwebs on her paw with Peppermint in toe.
“I don’t think there’s going to be any marigold on this island, not around here,” Peppermint sighed, sounding half-defeated. “It really only tends to grow where twolegs live, and there’s no signs of that life here.”
Princess bit her lip a bit. Should she speak up? But what about that other tom? Would it really be worth it? Probably not. More wounds to fix a few existing ones didn’t seem like a good trade in her mind.
“Oh well. I guess this will have to do. It’ll at least stop the bleeding,” the new medicine cat meowed and hobbled over to Tyrant, webs wrapped around his forepaw, along with Cleo’s. Cleo told her companion to let Peppermint work and to hold still. Tyrant laid down and watched as Peppermint began to apply a few strands of web to his ear first. “Princess, can I borrow some fur again? It’s really good at stopping the blood flow because of how thick it is.”
Princess put her ears back further, but this time not out of guilt but irritation. Why was it always her fur? Sure, she was the only long-haired cat there, but still! Why not find more cobwebs? The wounds weren’t even bleeding that much anymore. And, at this rate, she’d have no fur left. It was already really patchy, with only tufts of long fur sticking out randomly since they kept using it and sticks stole more of it, too.
Before she could respond, a familiar meow, though muffled now, sent her heart sinking like a stone in pond water. “Hey, why’d you leave?” The oversized tom from before emerged from the foliage. In his jaws was rested a bundle of gold and orange flowers, held by the stems. “I got the marigold.”
The others looked from him to Princess then back to him. He padded over to her and right up to Tyrant and the others. He dropped the flowers then looked at all of them with a light, friendly gaze.
Cleo tilted her head a bit. “Princess, do you know this tom?” she asked, curious but not nearly as scared. Maybe because Tyrant was here?
“No!” She shook her head quickly. “I just ran into him while looking for the marigold, but I didn’t want him to come back here… He could be dangerous. I mean, look at him! He’s huge!”
Cleo gave her a flat and irritated look of disappointment. “When are you going to learn that looks don’t mean a thing?” She sighed and shook her head then padded right up to the tom and looked up at him. “My name is Cleo. Who might you be?” she inquired politely.
The tom looked down at her much smaller, balder form. He seemed to be as phased by her appearance as she was of his. “Thor,” he replied, being just as polite with his tone after setting the flowers on the ground by his paws.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Thor,” Cleo meowed to him. Her gaze went to the marigold. “Do you think we’d be able to borrow some of those? My brother Tyrant needs some for keeping away infection, according to Peppermint.” She nodded to the respective group members.
Thor nodded. “Sure thing, if he can take a look at my side, too,” he told her. They were then interrupted by Storm.
The tom-kit ran straight up to Thor’s foreleg and began to swipe at him with outstretched claws. “You’ll never hurt my sister!” he growled as he attacked mostly fur, even getting a claw tangled up in it.
“Storm, get back here! He’s clearly friendly,” Cookie scolded him from where she laid by Tyrant with Cali by her side.
Thor chuckled and picked up his leg, pulling the stuck Storm with him for a moment before the kit fell free. “You’re a tough one, aren’t you?” he asked the kit, amused. “But you lack brains. You can’t just go fighting anyone you want. Someone as big as me especially could take you down in a single swipe. It’s just not smart to pick a fight with me.”
“I could take you down in a heartbeat!” Storm snapped back, jumping onto his paws once more. He was about to lunge again, but Cleo used her paw to knock the kit onto his side with a shove.
“Go back to Cookie right now,” she told him firmly. “He’s going to be our friend, and we don’t hurt friends, right?”
Storm narrowed his eyes at Thor but did turn and go back to Cookie and his sister while grumbling. He was so humiliated.
“Sorry about that. He lost his mother and siblings in the storm, and now he’s so bent on protecting his last sister Cali, no matter what,” Cleo told him sadly and sighed. “I feel so bad for them.”
Thor nodded, understanding. “I lost my twolegs in the storm, too. And my home. I get it. He only wants to keep safe what he has left.” He picked up a marigold flower. “But let’s not dwell right now and get these wounds treated.” He padded over to Peppermint and handed over the flower. The gray tom gratefully accepted it and began to really work, now even taking Thor’s fur instead of Princess’s.
Princess just looked on in silence, watching everything play out. Well, Thor didn’t seem like a bad cat so far, but he still very much scared her because of his size.
The others slowly started to accumulate back into the little site, coming up with either some more cobwebs or completely empty paws. It seemed that Thor was the only one to bring the marigold. And the others were warming up to the new tom pretty quickly, all except for Princess herself and Fritz. Fritz kept giving him a mistrusting look every time he laid eyes on the big tom.
Eventually, all wounds were treated, and the group got to talking with Thor. “Is there any way to see more land around here?” Cleo inquired. “Such as looking for more islands in the water?”
Thor shrugged. “I can imagine, but I’m not entirely sure. I’ve been with my twoleg since the storm. I know he’s gone, but it’s been hard to really leave him…” He looked down with a sad gaze for a moment but quickly shook it off, or pushed it down for the time being. “But I guess now is a good time to let him just rest. I had a feeling I’d need to help some cats soon. Maybe you guys are it.”
Rose nodded. “Maybe. You’d know this land here better than we would anyway,” she pointed out. Most of the others nodded their heads in agreement.
“Yeah. I’ll help you guys out.” The tabby tom rose to his paws and flicked his tail in the direction his den resided. “We should start by going this way. I know your group hasn’t passed by my house yet, or I would have seen you a long time ago. There are some cliffs that way anyway. Maybe, if the trees are blown down enough, you can see what you’re looking for.”
“Then let’s not waste anymore light,” Fritz said abruptly and began padding off, taking the lead.
Princess watched with slight suspicion and curiosity. Did he really not trust Thor like she didn’t, or was he just jealous since it seemed the newcomer could lead just as well as him? Thor definitely offered good help and some, hopefully good, information. Even if she didn’t trust the tom, part of her really wanted him to turn out to be a good cat. They needed all the help they could get.
The group started to head out, Thor being kind and supporting Cookie as they marched out. For once, Princess aided in carrying one of the kits, Cali.
The trip itself was pretty uneventful to Princess. The only thing she really did was walk at the back of the group and listen to the others ask Thor questions like how long he’d lived around here, about his twoleg, and his life’s story. Apparently, he was a simple kittypet who lived with his one twoleg and a few birds, oddly enough.
“Okay, it should be right up here,” Thor told them after a bit then stopped soon after. Before him laid a vast area and sheer drop off of rock. Trees bent and broken cleared a view for the cats of the land ahead.
Princess stepped up and set Cali down, looking out with wide eyes. It was so breath taking! Rolling hills covered in trees and flooded swamps laid in wait. But, beyond it was what really made her heart skip a beat. A tall mountain, connecting to the very cliff they stood on, spiraled into the clouds.
“We’re almost there! I know that mountain!” she exclaimed excitedly. The journey would still be long and hard, but with this particular mountain in sight, she knew exactly where to go to get back home, and hopefully meet up with her twolegs. It was so far, yet still so close!
✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠
Chapter 11
“Okay, so we just need to make it near that mountain?” Rose asked. “It’s a long way, but at least we have somewhere to set our sights on.” The mountain itself was a good source of moral.
Cookie sighed, a bit depressed. “I don’t know if I’ll make it that far with my paw like it is.” She got so tired so easily with only having three usable paws now and having to keep the injured one above the ground. Limping along and knowing her paw would never go back to normal also was depressing.
“You can do it,” Cali told her with a little mew beside her. “I know you can.”
The kit’s encouragement was cute, especially since she didn’t talk too much. “Thanks, Cali. I will try my best,” the she-cat promised.
“Best not to drag our paws now,” Thor said with a chipper tone and tail high. “The sooner we get moving, the sooner we can get there.”
“No, we should hunt first,” Fritz argued, eyes slightly narrowed. He didn’t like this Thor cat just waltzing into the group and taking it over. “It’s been too long since we’ve eaten, and we need the strength.”
Cleo chimed in. “Agreed.” It had been a while, so it was best to eat before moving off.
“Yeah, I’m hungry,” Stone complained, pouting a bit.
Thor shrugged. “I already ate, but fine. I can help hunt,” he offered with no problem. “Best places to do that are down there in those woods below us and the tall grass in my back garden. Lots of mice love it there.”
“We’ll go to the woods,” Fritz decided, pride in his mew since everyone seemed to agree to his plan of hunting instead of Thor’s idea.
Thor shook his head. “I don’t think that’s best,” he meowed. “It’s a good hunting spot, but it’s dangerous down there. Lots of wild foxes, coyotes, and raccoons. Better to stay in our group while down there, honestly.”
“Then why’d you mention it?” Fritz asked, hissing a bit. “Forget it. We’ll hunt in the garden then. Whatever is safer, but I doubt we will find enough mice for us all, especially the mutt.” He glanced back at Tyrant who simply panted.
“We will get what we can then,” Princess decided, pitching in her say. “We will all share, even if it’s a single bite per cat…and dog. It’ll at least be something over nothing. And if we happen to find something in the woods while we travel then even better.”
Inside her, she could feel Kip there. His presence was lingering within her body and mind, giving her ideas and lending her strength. She had no idea how since he wasn’t real, but perhaps the mere thought of him gave her strength and confidence? Either way, she had said what she wanted and did it without hesitation.
“Sounds good to me. We need strength, and something is better than nothing.” Peppermint nodded after speaking then turned his attention to Thor. “Take us to your garden. It’d be rude to go without you leading,” the smaller tom told him.
“Sure thing,” Thor meowed and led them away. He went to the back garden and stopped. The grass there was tall, as if it hadn’t been cut in a moon before the storm even came, unlike the gardens Princess knew.
As she looked upon the garden, she was saddened and a bit disgusted. The grass was way too high and could easily house snakes. The fence which had been around it, once tall and straight, was now crooked, broken, and just plain missing in some places. How could anyone let their garden get like this? Clearly, the neglect happened much before the storm.
“Alright, let’s do this,” the blue she-cat sighed, not too thrilled about it. She was still a very new and rusty hunter. So, the idea of hunting alone was something she did not desire. And now, the former kittypet would have to hunt in front of the others. She could already feel the embarrassment coming in waves.
Most everyone went into the tall grass and began to look for any signs of prey. Some of the others stayed outside the perimeter to catch anything that might try to escape. Princess was among those who entered the garden.
Within moments of listening, the sound of skittering feet through the grass hit her ears. Just as told, many mice were hiding out in the garden vegetation. One came into view of the wind-parted blades, unaware of another presence yet.
Without thinking, Princess lunged for it, but the rodent quickly dashed away out of view, escaping death by tail-lengths. The blue cat landed hard on her paws yet grasped no prey, and, because of this, she cursed out loud.
“Having some trouble?” Thor called from somewhere to her side. His form was not visible, but he was decently close by the sound of things.
“No!” Princess retorted with a snarky attitude. A wave of heat washed over her, tingling the tips of her ears. She sat up and puffed her chest, tail flicking in the air. “Mind your own business.”
“Come on, you know how to do this.”
Princess’s heart leapt from her chest as the voice came from behind her suddenly. She spun around on her paws to see a very welcome familiar face. Before her sat the transparent, starry form of Kip.
His blue gaze softened on her but glinted with amusement at her quickly dying freight. “It looks like you need some hunting help again.”
Eyes wide, the she-cat stared at her illusory friend. “Ho-how are you here? I thought you were dead, or all in my mind?” She really wasn’t entirely sure which one. Evidence pointed to both being a possibility. But, she shook her head furiously. “No, you’re not here. You’re not real. I’m just crazy…”
Kip shook his own head but much more calmly. “No, you’re not crazy. I told you I would always be with you, didn’t I?” The dark tom padded over to her, coming to stand to the point their noses almost touched. “I never lied to you.”
Many emotions swirled within the she-cat now, rising rapidly throughout her body. Happiness, sorrow, denial, acceptance; they all battled for dominance in her heart and mind. Yet, joy and acceptance of his presence won out as the scent she had come to find comfort and courage in caressed her nose. “How are you here?” she asked once more, though much less demandingly.
“I’m needed,” Kip replied, perhaps rather vaguely, but he felt there was no more explanation for that necessary. Instead, the spiritual tom changed the subject. “You need to remember how to hunt. I know you’re not too well versed in it yet, but you can do a lot better than just pouncing sloppily. So, I’ll remind you how.”
Princess felt warmth in her ears again, hot embarrassment. So, he had seen her blunder? What if others had? The she-cat turned her head around to both sides, scanning the grass for any signs of spying eyes or rustling from laughter. But, neither of them showed.
“Crouch,” Kip ordered, getting right into it. “Crouch with your belly and tail just above the ground, head low.”
“But there’s no prey in sight,” she protested, being the ever stubborn kittypet she was.
“Doesn’t matter. Some can come at any time, or you can go find it yourself, so you should be ready. You know, to actually catch it this time.” He gave her an ornery look, and, had he still had more of his tail than a small stump, she was sure it would have been twitching playfully.
Princess rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fine,” she stated, attitude still there. Following commands, she crouched low to the ground with her head down and furry belly and plumy tail just above the dirt and blade bases.
“Good. Now, what do we do next?” the black cat asked, watching her with growing pride. Truly there or not, his emotion was real.
“Swivel the ears and listen for prey,” Princess responded then did just that. Her ears went from one direction to another, trying to focus on the sound of skittering paws instead of the chatting of Rose and Thor beyond some of the grass and Cookie with Peppermint even further beyond. Then, there it was. Close to her, on the right, she could make out the paws of a mouse moving then coming to a stop. It was probably sniffing the air or ground for food. How ironic that it would soon be food itself.
It was easy to tell by the look in her eyes she had found her quarry. Kip nodded once curtly then turned his head into the direction. “Okay, now what? Show me,” he told his companion.
Without a word, she she-cat began to move. Gingerly, she crept forward, placing her paws so lightly on the ground that not a sound was produced. Even Kip was nothing in her view as her gaze fixed on the grass ahead, almost as if she had supernatural x-ray vision and could see the mouse through it.
On the other side of some blades, her nose and face poked through to be with a mouse now chewing away on a small seed. The creature’s back was to her while it munched away. Before it knew to even look back, paws landed square on its back, and a killing bite was delivered to the neck. Triumphantly, Princess held up her catch.
“Good job! I knew you could do it,” Kip purred, appearing beside her once more in a sitting position. Instead of walking, now the mist of him seemed to teleport. But, that didn’t even matter compared to the pride on his face.
Despite her denial before that still tried to claw its way into her brain, the look on his face and in his eyes brought genuine warmth in her heart. “Thanks,” she said softly. A pause came, and then she spoke up again. “I miss you, you know?”
Kip nodded lightly. “I know, but like I said, I’m always here for you. I’m always around.” He padded over to her again, this time coming to stand by her side. “I might not have a physical form, but that doesn’t mean I’m not real to you. I will always be here to give you comfort, guidance, and the confidence I know that’s inside you.” With that, a purr, and a rub on the cheek she could physically feel, he vanished.
Princess allowed her eyes to flutter shut as his lingering scent and the sensation on her cheek ebbed away. Real or not to the world, he was definitely still real to her. Now alone once more, or perhaps not, the she-cat gathered her prey and took it to Peppermint and Cookie and the kits to watch, since they weren’t doing any hunting.
The other cats did this as well. Princess continued to hunt after, catching more and more mice and a couple shrews and birds. Soon, the group had a hefty pile of fresh-kill stocked up for all. Everyone gathered around and distributed the food as evenly as possible, chowing down hungrily. Compared to what they had all eaten before and the quantity, this was a feast. Thankfully, so much prey was drawn to Thor’s high up, dry garden, preferring that over flooded islands and forests.
“So, who were you talking to?” Thor asked Princess, sitting across from her with meat hanging from his mouth as he chewed.
Princess wrinkled her nose at him, disgusted by his eating habits. How could any cats eat in such a horrid manner? Even when the group was half starving they had more etiquette! “No one,” she stated a bit defensively, also annoyed.
Thor clearly didn’t believe her, but he just rolled his eyes at her. “Whatever,” he meowed and continued to eat, also making a lot of noise as he did so.
Cleo looked up at the sky and swallowed a mouthful. “Clouds are gathering. Dark ones. It might rain again,” she reported with dread. The foreshadowing clouds rolled across the blue sky slowly, causing a devouring gray overhead.
The others looked up at the inclination, all getting worried faces. “We will stay up here then,” Fritz decided firmly. “Up here it can’t flood, so no matter how hard it rains, we won’t get washed away a second time.”
“That may be true, but we have no real shelter,” Cleo pointed out. “I don’t think Thor’s old den will provide us with much protection. No offense, Thor.”
The tiger tom shrugged. “It’s fine. It has a few small caves in it now, but I don’t think it would it you all,” he replied. “It’s probably better to look for something in the trees. Maybe make a quick den out of undergrowth or something. You guys ever do that before?”
Everyone shook their heads. Either they had lived in shelters already built by nature, or twolegs had provided the shelter for them. But, that was fine.
“I’ve done it a lot for fun. I’ll show you guys how to do it,” Thor said with a chipper purr.
For a split second, Princess saw some of Kip in him, but she quickly pushed that thought away and went back to eating. This slob of a cat would never be anything like Kip.
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Chapter 12
“Okay, what should we do first?” asked Cleo, turning to Thor. Her tail swished to brush a fern off her back while others simply engulfed her and the group.
Thor moved to take her place while she moved then bit off the very frond that brushed against her back. “We need to find a decent spot to build off of, but we can also gather materials right now, like this fern here,” the tiger tabby informed. “But, lucky for all of you, I have built many dens before, so they might still be standing if we’re lucky. We may just to reinforce them a little.”
He glanced around and picked up the fern frond before padding off into the thicket, the others following. They didn’t have to go too far. Thor stopped at a half-broken-down den of sticks which had been tangled among a thorn bush.
“Is this one of them?” Cookie asked, limping over to the small build. “It looks like it could fit three of us at once, but it will definitely need a new roof,” she stated, her eyes glossing over all the holes within the structure.
The large tom nodded and set the frond lateral on the den. He brought a paw up to secure it within some of the poking out twigs. “There. That’ll help. Now, we only need some more of these and other bracken and large leaves. Then, it’ll be ready for someone to sleep in, or a few of you, I guess.” It was big enough for him alone, but others would sleep in it they’d be better off to save effort looking for too many more dens.
“Sounds good,” Rose meowed and headed off to gather more fern fronds in particular. Cleo and Tyrant went to do the same. Fritz wasn’t as happy to, but he left to do the same.
Princess watched with both fascination and skepticism. Would this little thing really protect them from the rain and wind? Why not take some of the more sturdy nooks in Thor’s twoleg’s broken den? This was an issue she felt the need to bring up. “What about your den? The one you lived in before the storm?” Her chest puffed out a bit. “I’m aware that you said there wouldn’t be enough for all of us and whatever, but can’t some of us at least stay in there? I assume you will be yourself, correct?”
Thor looked to her with a slight bit of confusion but then shrugged. “Uh, yeah. Some of you can stay with me in there. I just figured you all wanted to stick together,” he mewed.
“Best that you stay in there with he kits then,” Peppermint told Cookie. Cali was staying by Cookie’s side, but Stone had already gone off near by to gather stuff for the brush dens. Thankfully, he stayed with Rose, so he wasn’t just off on his own.
“Why?” the black and white she-cat inquired with a tilt of her head and slight narrowing of her eyes. “I want to stay out here. I don’t want to be sleeping where a twoleg died. That’s just wrong.”
“But it’s safer there,” Peppermint argued, putting his ears slightly, nervous to argue but trying to take care of her.
Cookie puffed out her chest now, much like Princess had when confronting Thor. “How do you figure? If you’re worried about rain then don’t be. It’s rain, not fire. It won’t hurt me if I get a little wet. We’ve been swimming in that gunk water for how long now anyway?” she retorted back. “Even if this thing falls on me, it’s not gonna kill me. But that other den for sure would crush me. Besides, I want to help rebuild this place. Leaves and bracken aren’t heavy, so don’t say anything about that either.”
Peppermint opened his jaws to speak, but he closed them again and looked down, ears going back further as he sunk into himself slightly, hunching.
“That’s what I thought,” Cookie meowed and nodded, satisfied she had won so easily. “I want to stay here, and I will.” She did get softer after finishing her statements, though. “I appreciate you looking out for me, Peppermint, but I can still take care of myself when it comes to picking a place to sleep.” She did go over to him then and nudged his shoulder. “You’re a good friend, and medicine cat.”
Peppermint allowed himself to relax once more and even managed a tiny purr at her. “Yeah, I’m sorry. But I do like the sound of that. ‘Medicine Cat.’” It sounded like he was really smart and helpful, which for him was a very nice thing. All he wanted to be was helpful.
“Aw, that’s so sweet,” Thor said with a purr, slightly teasing them but also meaning those words at the same time. It was a cute thing to watch them make up like that.
Princess just sighed and shook her head. “Well, I’m still going to go and sleep in the already-built shelter.” With that and her nose to the air, she turned, flicking her tail, and padded off back to the twoleg den shambles.
“That wasn’t very nice,” Kip mewed to her, padding beside her and fazing right through invading undergrowth.
“I don’t care. I can be a little rude if I want. Nobody is kind and polite all the time, not even you,” the snobby she-cat replied, keeping her voice down now that se knew he wasn’t real, probably. He at least wasn’t physically there.
Kip tilted his head to the side slightly. “Well, I don’t ever recall a time when I wasn’t kind to you or the others, but okay. I suppose you’re right. But, even so, you should try harder to be less stuck up,” he told her bluntly yet kept his tone light. “They don’t have to keep you with them, you know?”
Princess stopped in her tracks and spun to face him, fur starting to bristle. “What do you mean by that?” she blurted out with a hiss. “Are you saying they don’t want me around? I’m an asset to them! They need me!” She felt her claws digging into the soggy earth below, tail lashing behind.
Kip put his ears back a little, like Peppermint had done, but not in nearly such a submissive way. Kip was simply trying to keep calm and not work the she-cat before him up any more than she already was. “How?” he inquired of her. “You’re still grasping hunting, you’re not helping rebuild any shelters, and you’re just being rude to everyone. You’ve risked your life to save Cali from drowning in the beginning and helped Rose by luring away the gators, but what have you really done for the group as a whole?” he asked and let his ears go back up high. “Listen, you’re a good cat inside, but when it comes to the group in general, you don’t do anything for them. You only do things for yourself. When you do hunt, it’s for yourself. When we swim, you don’t help with the kits or Cookie. When fights break out with other creatures, Tyrant has to do all thee work. I know that last one no one else really helps either, but still. When it comes to the group, you’re selfish, but they are still kind to you and keep you around. They don’t have to, ya know?”
Princess couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I am part of this group!” she hissed back at him in his transparent face. “They like me and having me around. Without me then they wouldn’t have found the marigold and Thor. Cali would be dead without me. And Cookie probably would be too without my fur. You don’t know what the stars you’re saying!” She whipped around and stalked off. How dare he say those things to her? He was supposed to be her friend!
Just then, the sky cracked with loud, booming thunder and a bright streak of lightning. Not even a heartbeat later the rain started to fall, hard. Large droplets splattered the ground and all things below the black clouds from which the storm came.
Princess’ pelt quickly clung to her small frame, showing just how small she really was under it all. She gasped at the sudden downpour and began running to the den to find a place to take shelter. It really wasn’t far or hard to find a nice little, dry space under a large wooden beam and some shattered wall.
The blue feline nestled herself within the offered space, curling up as she did so. She could just barely fit inside with a bit of extra space around her. However, shaking off or licking herself dry wouldn’t be an option.
The rain fell hard and heavy mere whiskers from her face, and, soon, another crack crashed through the sky. It sounded as if the sky itself was breaking and about to fall apart. Still, even with the intense noise going on externally, internally Kip’s voice echoed in her mind. He was not with her at the moment, but his words were.
“I help the group,” she muttered to herself while placing her head on her paws. However, she knew deep down in her hear that that was not the truth. Guilt began to well up inside her, much like the surging waters had from the first storm. Her mind started to wander.
The others would be frantically trying to get the shelter rebuilt, now drenched and beaten up by the rain. The kits would get really cold. Tyrant couldn’t possibly fit into any of those makeshift shelters either. And Cookie’s wrapped up paw would get soaked, which couldn’t possibly be good for it ever. Did they ever even replace the webs and fur shoved onto it? Or did they really simply add more on once it started to wear off and tatter? They shouldn’t probably fully replace it all soon, especially after swimming in that gunk that was water so often…
Princess’ eyes looked hard at the ground, deep in serious thought. He was right. Kip was always right. Even if he wasn’t real, his reasoning and support was. It always had been, even now. She had to go and help the others. It was time to stop being so selfish.
Gathering herself up, she emerged from the little piece of shelter she had found to face the new storm, and her own selfishness. Without even a second thought, Princess took off to the others, bounding quickly.
The rain battered her face and pelt mercilessly as she ran, blurring her vision. She had to squint to even see a little bit in the blinding drenching. But she pressed on quickly, doing her best to dodge hanging thorn tendrils and sticks until she made it back to the group.
As predicted, cats were frantically trying to build up the shelter and another one close by. Back and forth they went, biting off fern frons and bracken or picking up large leaves and scraps of moss from the forest floor. Everyone was helping, and every single one of them was soaked to the bone. Even Thor looked smaller due to his plastered pelt as he took donations of materials and weaved them quickly into the first shelter.
Princess narrowed her eyes further and decided to go to the other close shelter to do the same. She took her place by it and took a moss scrap from Cali. Even she was helping. Cali looked up at her, a bit confused. But, she soon gave a tiny nod of appreciation and understanding as Princes copied Thor’s methods and wove the moss into the framework of the second shelter. Then, Cali was off again, Rose taking her place and handing off a piece of bracken.
Together, the whole group and everyone in it worked tirelessly to build the shelters tough in the midst of the cracking thunder and blinding lightning, rain drowning them once more. With it all, water did start to pool in places along the ground, but it only got so high before running off to a new, lower location. It wouldn’t hurt them, yet still provided plenty of incentive to get these shelters done as fast as possible.
Thankfully, with all the help and their fast pace, it didn’t take too long to finish both shelters, plus another one made against a fallen tree for Tyrant and Cleo. They took their place in it, while Cookie and Peppermint took the first shelter. Fritz and Rose took the last one. Thor went to his old den quickly. They were about to all rearrange in the leafy dens for the kits when Princess stopped them.
“I have the perfect place for you guys,” she told them. “Come on, hurry!” She bounded off in the direction of Thor, but she did turn back several times to make sure the kits followed. Thankfully, they were, tails high and heads low.
But, it was hard to see. So, Princess put her tail in Stone’s face. “Grab on. Cali, hold onto his tail. We’ll go together, so nobody gets lost,” she told them. They did as told and clasped gently onto each others’ tails then continued to move at a brisk pace.
The she-cat led them to the hole she’d found and nosed them both in. They were smaller, so they fit perfectly inside, and it was very dry. Even the other shelters were wet inside from not having finished roofs when the rain started to fail. However, some, but not much room remained in this shelter.
She thought for a moment before curling up at the entrance, blocking most of it with half her body still sticking out in the rain, her back. “There. Now rain will come in, and if any predators come by, they’ll have to answer to me,” she meowed confidently.
They both looked at her with surprise, not understanding why she had done this. “Uh, thanks,” Stone said, still confused and a little skeptical, but he did start to groom his sister then to dry her off a little, as she was shaking from cold.
Princess watched for only a moment before she began to rasp her tongue over Stone’s pelt, reverse the direction his fur was going. “Do it like this, and it’ll dry faster,” she informer the little tom. He nodded and started to doing the same to Cali. Cali said nothing but even began to lick the older she-cat’s formerly plumy tail, forming a grooming, drying triangle.
As this happened, Princess’ back was still being bombarded by rain, but she still felt warm, warmth coming from inside. It felt good to help like this, and the kits, Cali included, let out quiet purrs above thee roaring rain. Kip had been right, as usual. And, this, she was so glad of.
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Chapter 13
The storm had raged on for an entire sunrise and sunset, drenching the whole landscape once more. In its already saturated state, this only caused another excess in flooding. As such, the group of cats had to wait another two sunrises for the water level to go down enough there was some visible land in the swamp, down in the valley. No longer could they wait, for the prey on this island was also growing scarce.
“Alright, I say now is the time we move on,” Fritz meowed, standing on the steep slope which overlooked their destined valley. “If we wait much longer there won’t be enough food for us all.”
“I doubt there’s any more down there,” Cleo piped up, coming to stand beside the tom with Tyrant looming over her. “It’ll all have drowned or been washed away.”
“Plus,” Thor chimed in, “it’s really dangerous down there with gators.”
“They will have mostly been washed away, too,” Fritz argued, shaking his head slightly. “We don’t really have a choice. Dangerous or not, we have to risk it. Our prey here is already running really dry. We’ve gorged ourselves on the mice, and birds are too difficult to catch since they all stay up in the trees.” He glanced at the group for a moment before gazing back out at the flooded valley. “This is our only real logical choice.”
Princess sat back as she listened to the cats discuss. She had grown closer to the two little kits in the past couple days, but they still very much preferred Cookie. Cookie sat beside her with Stone by her side and Cali tucked securely underneath her white chest, careful of the she-cat’s injured paw. Cookie for sure was their new mother figure.
“Do you think we will be moving down there?” Princess asked her, glancing to the other she-cat. Frankly, she had grown a bit closer to all the cats of the group over their time on this island, and after realizing just how selfish she had been before.
“Yes, by the sound of it,” Cookie answered then looked to her paw. “I just hope I can do this,” she sighed.
On her other side, Peppermint licked her cheek. “You can,” he told her gently with a purr. “You’ve been healing really well, and you’re a very strong cat.”
Evidently, Princess wasn’t the only one to have grown a little closer to others. Peppermint and Cookie had been spending much more time together, and they were much more affectionate. Everyone was fairly certain they’d become mates soon.
Cookie purred back softly. “Thanks. I’ll try my best,” she told him and nudged him happily with her cheek.
To which Stone rolled his eyes and turned away slightly. “Gross,” he mumbled.
“It’s cute,” Cali responded to this, still shy as ever but managing to let a bit of joy shine through. It really was sweet in her mind to see two cats falling in love.
Cookie nodded with a purr. “You’ll see, Stone. Pretty soon you’ll be doing the same thing to a she-cat or another tom,” she told him. “You’ll find a really pretty and nice one, or handsome and kind one, and you’ll want to be with her and lick and snuggle him or her all the time.”
“Nu-uh!” Stone protested then wrinkled his nose in disgust. “I won’t like anyone like that. It’s gross.” This only caused Cookie to give him an amused chuckle. He was so cute.
“Alright,” Rose spoke up loudly. “Looks like we’re moving out, so let’s go.” She had been sitting back and listening to the conversation of the cats near the slope. At hearing the verdict, she was ready go.
Everyone got up, and they all moved carefully down the slope together. At the bottom was exactly what they had though – an overly soggy swamp with little to no real dry land. At least, a lot of trees had fallen over, which would provide a lot of things to walk and jump along.
“Yuck! This is disgusting!” Princess blurted out, more mellow but still hating the fact of getting dirty had to be necessary. The mud sucked her paws into it and clung to her long fur with each step she took. “I’m never going to get this all out!” The worst part was how watery yet thick it was, creating the best possible substance to do the job of ruining her clean pelt.
“Yeah, it’s not glamorous, but we have to do this,” Cleo pointed out, though actually enjoying it. The mud felt so nice on her pink skin. It had been previously hot and was getting red from all the sun, but the mud felt so nice and cooled her off.
Tyrant trudged along behind her, Cookie and the kits riding on his broad shoulders and sturdy back. He only got his paws muddy, while the cats had it occasionally also touching their bellies. He didn’t seem to complain at all.
“You know,” I’ve been thinking,” Rose meowed as she followed along the lead cats, Thor and Fritz. “We could get new names, new images.”
“What? What do you mean?” Thor asked, glancing over his shoulder at her then moving forward again, mud clinging to his fur probably worst of all.
“Like, the storm took away our old lives, so we can take this opportunity to make something good out of tragedy. Make our lives anew, get new names if we want. It doesn’t matter who we once were, only who we are now,” the red she-cat explained. “Maybe I can even find some twolegs when we get to our destination.”
“I don’t think I wanna change my name,” Cleo said from behind.
Rose shrugged, pausing for a heartbeat, then took another tiring step. “That’s fine,” she mewed. “You don’t have to change your name. I’m just saying this might be a good opportunity to make yourself new again. Stone already changed his name, right? I wanna change mine. I still like Rose, but something that more accurately represents my personality,” she said then thought. “I can be firry and keep blazing through whatever happens. I like Roseflame.”
“If you say so,” Fritz said from ahead, sounding irritated. But, it was obvious the annoyance was derived from the mud. “Roseflame.”
“I’m keeping my name,” Princess decided, and the others seemed to agree for now. They all liked their names and would keep them, for a while at least.
“I like the idea, but I like my name,” Cookie meowed as she looked down at them, her hurt paw bent awkwardly outward. “Roseflame is really pretty, too.” This compliment received a ‘thank you’ from the orange tabby herself.
“Okay, I need to rest,” Thor panted then, usually a pretty tough cat but tired from having to lug weighted paws.
“Me too,” Princes huffed, still not used to such physical exertion anyway. She hauled herself up onto a semi-dry spot of land. But, ti was only big enough for a couple more cats.
Tyrant took up that space himself and laid down, panting with his tongue lolling about. Cleo and Roseflame took a spot onto a fallen tree, Fritz and Thor following with Peppermint.
“I feel bad for you guys,” Cookie said with a sympathetic look from where she stayed on Thor’s back. “I wish we could all get across easier.”
“Easy for you to say,” Frtiz muttered.
“Hey, it’s not my fault I can’t walk through this stuff,” Cookie retorted, not liking his attitude.
“Yeah, I know. I’m just not happy at the moment,” Fritz sighed, making that his version of a ‘sorry.’ Nobody would get any more out of him anyway, so they didn’t try.
Roseflame shook her head. “We just need to co-“ her statement was cut off as jaws clamped down onto her hindquarters, replacing the words with a pain-filled and shocked screech as she was dragged down into the muddy water. Bubbles soon followed.
Panic quickly ensued, after a brief moment of shocked stares. “Gators!” Peppermint cried at the top of his lungs. Rigged, scaly backs began to emerge out of the deeper pools of water surrounding their muddy trail and resting spot, along with beady eyes and mouths full of jagged teeth.
Tyrant jumped up with he cats still on his back but Stone falling off with an ‘oof.’ Tyrant freaked out and began to just run ahead through the mud, Cali desperately clinging onto his back for dear life. Cookie jumped off just in time but let out a yowl as she landed on her injured paw.
Princess jumped up and scrambled up the nearest tree, nearly getting her tail chomped down on by a gator. It missed by just a whisker. Her heart pounded as hard as it had when the Great Storm first came and blew her home away. Now, her life was almost ripped away.
Thor and Fritz scrambled away, jumping from log to log together, trying to avoid the numerous gators that just seemed to keep appearing out of nowhere. They soon went up trees, too.
Stone, having the wind knocked out of him, laid on the tiny island as a gator crawled out from the muck towards him hungrily. He stared in terror as the massive beast opened it jaws as it lunged for him.
A blur of black and white entered his vision, and another loud screech of pure pain echoed. Cookie dug her claws into the sodden ground as the gator dragged her down into the water, leaving Stone to watch in utter horror, knowing that should have full well been him. “Cookie!”
“Cookie!” Peppermint echoed from the log he was standing on. His eyes reflected nothing but sorrow and a broken heart, the horror rapidly being replaced by it. In a heartbeat, those emotions were taken over by a hollowness, his blue eyes falling to the ground.
His brother was gone, taken by one of these beasts. Now, his new love was taken from him the same way. What was the point of continuing now? Even if he made it to their destination of where Princess and the kits had lived, what was waiting there for him? He had no twolegs, no brother, no love, no family. What was left? What was the point?
“Peppermint!” Stone’s fearful cry snapped him out of his daze. “Behind you!” Another gator was approaching him now, and Stone was trying to warn him. Peppermint turned in time to see it and jumped out of the way. Without thinking, he ran to Stone and scooped him up in his jaws then took off.
He bounded down a fallen log and then up a near by tree, all with Stone curled up in his jaws despite his now larger, growing size. The small tom, running on pure adrenaline, managed to carry the younger tom to safety. But once in the tree, he set the tom down and began to sob at the loss of Cookie, and Roseflame.
The gators below stayed close, almost seeming to circle the cats in the trees. “Now what?” Thor asked, a couple trees away from the two toms and Princess.
“We have to wait for them to leave,” Fritz growled, staring down the large reptiles with nothing but rage and hate and anger.
“They took Rose and Cookie…” Princess uttered, in complete shock. With the flick of a tail the two she-cats were just gone. She couldn’t even comprehend what really had taken place almost.
“Wait, where’s Cleo?” Thor asked, looking around almost frantically to try and spot her pink form. But, she was nowhere to be found.
“I don’t know,” Fritz said and looked around too, also unable to spot her. “We can only assume one of those things got her…”
“They’re gone,” Princess kept mumbling, eyes staring off into nothing at the ground.
“Hey!” Fritz snapped at her to get the blue she-cat’s attention. He only barely managed that. “It’s awful, but we have to stay focused. We have to find a way out of this situation. I know I said we had to wait, but I don’t think they’re going anywhere any time soon. We can’t stay up in these trees too long.” He glanced to the other cats but turned his attention mostly to Peppermint as he wailed loudly from heartache.
“It’s hopeless! They’re dead! We’re dead! There’s no hope anymore!” the gray tabby yelled, the pain cracking his voice.
“No, we’re not. Not yet,” Fritz meowed firmly. “We’re stuck in a hard place, but that doesn’t mean dead. This isn’t an excuse to give up, no matter how badly we want to. They wouldn’t want us to, right?” he asked with a determined, hard gaze. “We can’t let their sacrifices be in vain.”
“Sacrifices?” Peppermint growled. “Roseflame didn’t sacrifice anything. They just took her! Cookie didn’t need to die either; she should still be here! She made it this far with a twisted leg! She deserves to be here more than any of us. Oh yeah, and Tyrant took off somewhere with Cali, so we’ll probably never seem again either! Not to mention that none of us have any idea where Cleo is, if she’s even still alive at all and not eaten, too.” He stood up on his branch. “What are we gonna do anyway? Hop from tree to tree like squirrels?” he asked sarcastically.
Thor looked to Fritz, peeking around the trunk of the tree they shared. “You know, that’s not a bad idea,” he said and stood up on his own branch. “The trees are pretty close together. Maybe we could actually jump from branch to branch, at least until we get some distance between us and those gators.” He looked ahead and noticed a whole patch of fallen trees entangled in each other. “There,” he meowed and nodded towards it. “Those things will never be able to get us in there. They can’t climb. If we make it there we can at least rest and think without having these things right underneath us. Who knows how long until these things leave anyway?”
“We’ll have to do it,” Fritz agreed and stood up, too. “Princess, how good are you at jumping?” he asked her form across a stretch of water.
She blinked a few times, trying to force herself out of her dazed state. “Uh, pretty good,” she answered rather quietly. “I jumped around on stuff all the time when I had my twolegs…”
“Good enough,” Fritz said then turned his attention to Stone. “You’re going to have to give it your best shot,” he said, knowing just how young he was and how much smaller. It’d be harder for him to jump these longer distances.
Stone stood up, holding his head high and puffing out his chest. “I can do it. I have to find my sister,” he meowed firmly. Obvious grief laid behind his green eyes, but he had to try and be strong. He had to find Cali and make sure she was safe. She was all he really had anymore, now that Cookie was gone.
“Alright,” Thor breathed out then took another, deeper breath. He bunched his legs together and wiggled his haunches a bit then launched himself into the air. He made it pretty easily to the next tree branch of the tree in front of him, sighing after. “Okay, now you’re turn,” he told Fritz, turning back to him.
Fritz pressed himself to the tree trunk as he stepped over onto the branch Thor had previously been at. He took his position and crouched then jumped, but not quite far enough. His front claws hooked onto the target branch, scrapping down as the force of the jump and his weight dragged him down. He began to scrabble for a good hold to pull himself back up, but Thor leaned down and grabbed the white and black tom by the scruff, hauling him up onto the branch with him.
Fritz’s eyes were wide for a moment as he climbed up. Once on sturdy wood, he panted. “Thanks.” He swallowed hard then looked over to Princess. “You have to go next. You’re the furthest from the tree pile,” he called to her.
Princess gulped and looked down at the gators lying in wait below her. If she, or any of them fell doing this, they would surely be dead. Just like Cookie and Roseflame. They’d be dragged down into the murky depths, muddy water filling their noses and lungs, drowning them as they were pulled apart…
“Hey! Snap out of it!” Thor called over to her firmly. “You can do it.” He gave her a confident nod. “You got this. I believe in you.”
She took a deep breath and gulped again then nodded to him. “Okay…” she breathed out, her voice shaking along with her legs. “I can do it. I can do it…” She locked her gaze onto the nearest branch of another tree then bunched up her muscles. Then, she lunged, involuntarily squeezing her eyes shut as she flung herself through the air. With a thud she landed perfectly onto the new branch, claws instantly digging in to keep her there. She opened her eyes and looked around. “I did it. I did it!” she meowed with momentary happiness and relief.
“Good,” Thor said and nodded to her. “I’m proud of you.” He turned his attention then to Peppermint and Stone.
Peppermint didn’t want to do this, but he knew he had to. He knew just staying there would do no good, and he really couldn’t just let himself die. “I’ll keep your memories alive with me,” he whispered, hoping that somehow, somewhere, Cookie and Rugo would hear him. In a quick motion he leaped, easily making it to the next branch. He may have been small, but he could definitely jump.
Stone watched then got himself ready, locking his gaze on Peppermint’s new branch as everyone watched in anticipation. It was a further jump with a wider gap. If he was short at all there was no way to help him. Peppermint wouldn’t be able to grab him, and he’d fall to watery grave. “I’m coming to find you, Cali,” he said then jumped with all his might.
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Chapter 14 A gray blur went flying through the air, paws outstretched as far as they would go and eyes fixed on the target. But, even with such preparations, he fell short. Down Stone started to fall, sinking in the air much like his name sank in water. “Stone!” Princess found herself screaming his name as he plummeted to the gators below. They opened their mouths, ready to receive a new meal. However, the small cat managed to, by some miracle, land on the back of one instead of in its jaws. His claws sunk into the tough, leathery scales, heart pounding hard in his ears. Only a moment was taken to comprehend what had happened before he bolted for the nearest tree again. Without any hesitation, he scrambled up into it, sending a shower of bark descended to the flooded swamp below. As if by another sort of miracle, the tree he’d climbed ended up being the one he’d been trying to jump to. The other cats could only watch in horror and stunned silence as the scenes unfolded before them. Finally, Stone was safe once more within the embrace of a tree. “Oh my stars, are you okay?” Princess asked him, deep concern in her voice. After witnessing the deaths of both Roseflame and Cookie, having to watch another of their little clan die… She just couldn’t handle the thought. It took a few heartbeats for Stone to answer. Fear and Adrenaline were rushing through his veins like the flood waters before. As he calmed down, the tom’s mind couldn’t even remember what all had exactly happened. It’d all occurred so fast. ”Uh… I-I think so…” he managed to stammer out. A collective sigh of relief came from the remaining cats. “Okay, we have to keep going,” Fritz meowed, looking ahead now to the trees they still needed to traverse. “We have to keep moving. Before those gators realize what we’re up to.” “Can you give me a moment?” Stone snapped at the other tom. “I almost died!” “We don’t have a moment,” Fritz replied, not snapping back but using his same authoritative tone as always. “Once those gators figure out what we’re doing they’ll be following us, and then we’ll never get to any form of real safety. We have to move. Now.” Stone gave the tom a glare, but Fritz didn’t even acknowledge it. He instead bunched his muscles and leapt to the next branch in a new tree. Thor looked sympathetic for young Stone, but Fritz had a good point. They had to move. So, the large tom followed, too. Peppermint did whisper something to Stone, them still sharing the same tree. It seemed to put Stone at ease a bit, and he nodded. Then, Peppermint followed the others and jumped to a new tree. This one was closer, so, with a sigh, he followed rather easily. Princess watched each of them jump, really paying attention to how they jumped. She did not want to see another cat fall short and plummet again. That had made her heart break free of her chest once already. “Princess, we have to go!” Thor called back to her. “Come on. We aren’t leaving anyone behind.” He had already gone to another tree, now sort of leading the group in their crusade. Princess looked to him then took a breath and nodded. “I’m coming,” she called back, hew mew shaky. In fact, her entire body was shaking now, as if she were merely a leaf in the breeze. It seemed the fear had gotten to her more so than originally thought. Unwisely, the she-cat stole a glance down, causing her claws to hook further into the bark of the tree. Essentially, this locked her in place. “I… I don’t think I can move,” she called to the toms ahead. Her muscles, hard as she tried to will them, were stiff and rigid. She was not going anywhere. Thor and Fritz looked at each other, Peppermint and Stone doing the same. “I’ll come back to get you,” Thor decided then began to make his way back. He was a big cat, so the longer leaps weren’t as much of a problem for him. Though, it still racked the she-cat’s nerves. “No!” Princess didn’t want Thor to risk his life coming back for her. “Ju-st leave me.” She saw no way she’d be moving, and she didn’t want someone else to come back for her and possibly get hurt or worse because of it. Thor didn’t respond, and there were no other protests. He simply made his way over to her, having to pause to figure out how to actually get to her. Before, he and Fritz had been in the tree across a tiny clear space, but now he had to get across it to her. To fix this, the tom ended up going further beyond their original tree and then circled back to her. He came up behind her on the branch she clung to so desperately. “Hey, it’s okay,” he mewed to her, trying to keep his voice soothing and calm. “We’re going to do this, together. Okay?” He gave her a gentle nudge to encourage her to move on, hoping it would work. “I can’t sheath my claws,” Princess informed him, putting her ears back to show her upset. “It’s okay. You just need to relax a little bit,” Thor told her calmly. He then, to her surprise, began to groom her lightly on the neck. The tom had to try something quickly to get her to move, and grooming was always relaxing. Even more to Princess’ surprise, her tense muscles slowly started to relax. Something about the rhythmic rasps of his tongue on her long fur allowed the fear to gradually ebb away, to a degree. It was enough for her claws to retract slightly, so she wasn’t stuck within the tree itself. Thor noticed this and ceased his grooming. “Okay, we’re making progress. Now, you need to walk to the end of this branch and aim for that one,” he told her, flicking his plumy tail in the direction. “It’s not even a far jump. You can do this easily.” Princess glanced back to him and then to the target tree. He was right; it really was not that far of a leap if she walked out on the current perch a bit. But, it was the thought of falling like Stone had that scared her. “I-“ Thor wasn’t about to let her give him any more doubt. “You can do this.” He gave her another gentle nudge forward from her haunches. “Go on. I’m right behind you.” The others were a little further ahead now, having jumped to a few more trees, but they did wait to look back and watch. Princess caught their eyes and took a deep breath, gathering all the courage she had in her little, fluffy body. “Alright,” she breathed, letting out her deep breath. “I can do this…” With some more encouragement from Thor, she bunched her muscles and jumped. As stated before, she easily made it over, to her delight. “Yes!” “Good, now let’s keep going,” the tabby meowed as he followed along behind her. Together, they made their way to the rest of their remaining group. After that, everyone continued onward. Eventually, the small group was able to make it far enough away from the gator gang to be able to descend the heights. But, by this time, all cats were exhausted after jumping around so much and having the adrenaline travel their bodies. “Well, we’re decently safe now,” Peppermint commented, panting slightly. He laid down on the little spec of dry land the group found themselves on. This time, it was a small hill, a little higher up. This eased the cats a bit, knowing it’d be harder for more gators to sneak up on them, unlike at the last land mass they’d been on. “For now,” Fritz responded, also letting out light pants. “But we can’t get too comfortable. We can’t let our guards down. Last time we did, even a little bit, we lost two.” Though he had a relatively uncaring mask on, there was something deep within his eyes that showed grief for those missing. At least, it appeared to be hidden grief. Princess wanted to say something when she heard a cry for help in the distance. Her ears perked up, as did Stone’s. They both knew exactly who it was calling out. “Cali!” Stone yelled then, without another word, took off in the direction of the scream, bounding over logs and stumbling through mud.✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠
Chapter 15 “Stone, wait!” try as she might, Princess’ calls did nothing to stop the young tom. He had to save his sister, with or without help. Princess turned to the other toms, in clear distress as her eyes grow big as moons. “We have to go after him,” she blurted. “If we do then we have a huge risk of getting caught ourselves,” Peppermint argued, not finding it worth it right now. “I don’t want to lose any more, but he’s already gone. And, judging by that cry, Cali is probably already gone, too.” The tabby’s blue eyes showed no signs of hope any longer. Even his shy, quiet mew had vanished. It was as if Cookie’s death had also killed him, morphing the once timid and sensitive tom into a cold stone as quick as a flash flood. “No, we have to go after him and help,” Thor disagreed, giving the much smaller a tom a hard stare. “He’s one of us, and so is Cali. We don’t know if Cali’s dead yet, so we have to help if there’s any chance she’s still alive.” Fritz nodded his agreement. “There’s been no cry from Stone yet, so he’s most likely still okay, too.” The tom turned to watch the brambles Stone had disappeared behind. “But we’re wasting time.” With that, he bounded off, leaping onto a stump and then to another log. “If you’re coming then hurry. If not, you’ll get left behind.” He was taking no nonsense. Princess hurried after without question or even a second glance. Never had she thought she’d care so much for a group of cats. Yes, it was still a huge work in progress, but Kip had really taught her something important. Now, she would put that skill to use. With clumsy paws, the she-cat stayed on Fritz’s tail. With every jump, she found herself stumbling or sliding on the uneven, slick surfaces the water-logged swamp had to offer. “Whoa!” One hindpaw slipped on a mossy rock, causing the blue cat to almost topple over backwards. However, something soft caught her. She glanced back to find Thor there, holding her haunches up with his massive head, amusement in his eyes. “I got you,” he told her with his deep mew then helped her regain her footing. “Thanks,” she panted under her breath, very tired from all the previous jumping in the trees and now this. But, when another cry rang out ahead, this time from a dog, adrenaline reclaimed its place in her and other cats’ veins. They raced onwards, quickly nearing the brambles and soon sliding under a small tunnel made in them. Upon coming out the other side, all four cats – Peppermint had no choice but to follow, so he was also present behind – were met with a grisly sight. Before them was a land covered in red. Everywhere, streaks and splatters decorated the marshy earth, like a horrific art piece. Yet, the creators were still going at it, adding more to the work. The body of a smaller, white dog already laid motionless in the moss. Mud and blood caking its long fur with a vicious snarl still on its face. Tyrant shook another black dog violently by the scruff of its neck, while it yelped and whined. Yet, another brown dog, slightly large than Tyrant, latched onto the friendly canine’s hind leg. This action, in turn, made poor Tyrant yelp in agony and let its first assailant go. Suddenly, a small blur of white and tan launched onto the brown dog’s back, claws raking rapidly. The dog spun, and its attacker jumped off, fur puffed out to its full potential with an audible hiss accompanying. Cali already had a gash on her side, shallow but nasty looking. Before the brown dog could attack the young she-cat, Tyrant latched himself onto its hind leg now, returning the favor and shaking violently once more. Then, a sickening crack echoed. And, the enemy rolled onto its back in a submissive response, the leg now dangling at an awkward angle. Tyrant had no time to stand tall, however, as the first dog grabbed onto his neck, black muzzle melding with more black and red. Tyrant tried to yelp once more, yet no sound other than a rasp came from his throat with jaws clamped around it. Nothing but fear and pain showed in his brown eyes as he was dragged to the ground. Princess launched herself at the black dog, no thoughts in her mind, only instinct. She had never really fought a moment in her life, but now was not the time to remember that. Now was the time for action, to do all she could to help. It was as if something completely new had possessed her as she raked long claws down the dog’s side. Her body was not her own while she spun onto her back for only a moment while simultaneously gripping onto the dog’s belly to propel herself under it and out the other side. Hurt, the dog let go of Tyrant to confront its newest threat, but it whipped its head around to the side Princess had just been on, not the one she’d moved to. This gave her plenty of time to get out of range while Cali threw herself onto its back and Thor joined in with blows to the muzzle. Seeing its friend now in danger, the brown dog tried to get up. Its back leg was broken for sure, but even so, it lifted itself up with the leg in the air. Prepared to rejoin the fray, it bunched its muscles but never got far. Fritz attacked from the side, and even Peppermint joined in with blows to its haunches, targeting the broken area for extra damage. Overwhelmed from the bombardment of cats, the two dogs raced off as fast as they could through the mud, tails between their legs with a trail of loud yelps. Princess actually chased after them a few tail-lengths, long fur puffed out and plumy tail high. “Yeah, you better run! Don’t ever bother us again, flea-bags!” she hissed after them, watching them go for a moment longer before turning back to her group. Tyrant still laid on the ground, his side rising and falling rapidly but shallowly. He had sustained a high number of wounds, ranging from bite marks to gashes all across his body, but the wound on his neck was the most severe. It bled a dangerous amount, crimson trickling like a brook to the moss as soft whines escaped his throat. Most of the cats gathered around him, looking on but not sure what to do, or if anything could even be done. But, Princess wasn’t going to have them simply watch their friend die, dog or not. “Peppermint, pull out my fur. We need to patch up the wound on his neck,” she ordered the tom firmly. the tone in her voice and look in her eyes showed a completely different cat than before, one with much more confidence and an incentive to care. “We are NOT going to let him die here.” Peppermint wanted to protest, feeling it was already too late, but how could he argue? The way she was acting, he frankly didn’t want to try to defy her. So, the tom began to claw out clumps of her silky fur, forming a pile of blue. Princess simply sat there for it to happen, hardly even flinching. “Thor, Fritz, go and find cobwebs, as many as you can. Hurry.” Both toms headed off with no trouble, splitting up to cover more ground for more possible webs. “Cali,” the young she-cat was still tense with fur and claws out, “where’s Stone? Is he alright?” Princess had a sinking feeling in her stomach that the tom was already dead, as he hadn’t been seen in battle, nor now that things had calmed down. Cali turned and padded off quickly. “He’s down here,” she mewed, worry now emanating as adrenaline faded. Princess made sure with a quick glance that Peppermint had collected enough fur before following the younger she-cat. They rounded a small crest on their new little island to find Stone lying on the ground, sides heaving with pain. He seemed fine, though, other than a few puncture wounds of canine teeth around his haunches. “Stone.” The blue-gray she-cat padded to him quickly while Cali took her place by his muzzle. “What’s wrong? Can’t you stand?” she asked him worriedly, looking his body up and down. Maybe there was a bad wound underneath him? But then, why would he be lying on it? Stone had his eyes closed but opened them to look at Princess weakly. “I can’t feel my back legs,” he half-rasped between breaths. “I can’t move them.”
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