Chapter 15

As a short bit of time went on, we all became close friends. Funny how disaster can bring cats so close together. We were like a team, helping everyone when they needed it. We all taught each other our hunting skills, which made us even better at catching prey. We had a pile of extra or leftover prey, right in the farthest corner of the den, so nothing would get to it easily without us seeing. There were two nests on the right side of the den, Sally's and Zach's.

It seemed that... Somehow, that mud cured Sally. I don't know how, but she seemed just right now. She wasn't coughing or sneezing, nothing. On the left side was mine and Sphynxia's. I was happy that our nests were close to each other... because I really liked her. We felt like we had a growing connection... one that I wanted to be more than just friends with.

She didn't appear to be catching on... but that was okay. I would often find myself stealing glances at her when I thought she wasn't looking, and I would try to be extra nice and helpful to her. I had an internal battle raging on, trying to determine if I should really tell her how I felt. Telling her would be the best way to get things off my chest... But I was afraid of how she would react, but at the same time, I wanted to see if she had thought maybe we could be...

𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦r...

𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰.

The night we finished making our nests, Sphynxia returned with a haul of prey. She caught four rabbits. She said there was a burrow of them, right next to one of the skinny trees if you walked about seven tree lengths deep into the forest that was beyond the yard of moorland we had outside our den. We all got full on just one rabbit that night, and to the day I'm about to tell you about - almost two days later, we still had two of them left, which is when we came up with the pile of prey idea.

The first night we slept in the den, the rain quickly turned into snow. 𝘓𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵. And now, the next day, it was midday again and I went out to look for prey. But what I really wanted to focus on was that our den was under a pathway, which must be the same pathway I and Sally crossed when we found our first den, right? So the town must be nearby, and I can get some scraps from the trash bins again!

I crouched, looking left and right. I was hunched over on the side of the pathway, the tall, snow-covered grass mostly covering me up if anything saw me. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘦! 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨? I stood up, my eyes flickering back and forth as I stared at the pathway again. It was also covered in snow. There were no horse-pulls in sight, and no rumbling in the ground that signaled one was coming.

I quickly inhaled half a breath and cantered across it, one of my back paws kicking a rock into the grass. I skidded and stopped as I reached the other side, almost falling into the deep ditch. I sprinted across the edge, hoping to find the town on the other side of the thick trees. I saw that the line of trees ended a bit far away from me, and I was thinking it was maybe where the start of the town was.

I quickened my pace, my heart quickening with it as I felt anticipation and excitement, but also a strange sense of nervousness. Maybe I really would find it! What if I found someone there while I was searching for scraps? What if cats claimed an alleyway for themselves and became territorial if I was there? What if I was lucky enough to find Jen? Or the alleyway we used to live in? Who knows...?

I ran until I reached the end of the trees, and I saw the human shelters open up in front of me. I stopped and took a few deep breaths, looking around. Everything felt so strange - yet familiar. Snow covered everything that I could see, the houses, the grass, the pavement, even some plastered on the windows. I could hear the sound of the wind whistling through the trees and the distant sound of humans.

I could see in front of me there was an old human house, seemingly abandoned, but I could smell humans' scent there. There were two garbage bins on the side of the house, filled to the brim with garbage.

I wanted to explore the town but...

I needed to get food for everyone else. We might be having some kittens around here soon.

𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵?

Just random weird thoughts again... I said to myself.

𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘴? 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘴? 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧! I shook my head and tried to focus on finding food scraps. 𝘓𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘨𝘰! I was a bit annoyed at myself. I trotted up to the garbage bins, crouching next to the left one and looking up at the top. I felt the feeling of the old cracked cement leave my paws as I leaped up onto it, right on top of all of the garbage. I stood there, surrounded by the smell of rotten food and damp cardboard.

I looked around, feeling a sense of accomplishment that I had made it to the top. I nudged my nose into the trash, sniffing around for anything besides the smell of wet, rotted wood. I tried to remember the smell of the food we had eaten in the alleyway... maybe I could remember the scent and see if I could smell it in here. Suddenly, the smell of something sweet wafted through the air. 𝘏𝘢𝘮, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬! I dug through the trash, making a racket in the process.

"Ugh, why does there have to be more trash than anycat can dig through?" I muttered loudly as I kicked a piece of glass out of the bin. I sighed and looked around, feeling frustrated. I then continued to dig through it, my paws feeling sore.

"𝘔𝘦𝘸!"

I stopped and my ears perked up as I heard the faintest sound. 𝘏𝘶𝘩?

I jumped up on the rim of the trash bin, as I was pretty deep in it. I looked around, trying to find the source of the sound. "...hello?"

"𝘔𝘦𝘸!"

A furry head peered up at me from the bottom of the bin.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯! 𝘈 𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘺 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯!

"What are you doing here?" I asked, a bit surprised. "I - who are you?" The kitten hissed. "I'm Oreo. What about you?" "I'm Jaxx." "Well... nice to meet you! What are you doing here?" "I'm not telling you!" He hissed, looking into my eyes with fear and anger. I sighed. "Ok, where are your parents, at least? You need to get home! You'll freeze in this weather!" The kitten didn't respond for a few seconds.

"I... Don't know... but she's not coming back!" I couldn't tell if the kitten was wailing or yelling-- somewhat a mix of both.

Who was 𝘴𝘩𝘦? His mother?

"Are you lost?" I asked the kitten, beginning to look at how skinny and small he looked. I hopped down from the bin. "I - you-!" He hissed, seemingly trying to find a reason to be mad at me. "Fine! I am..." The kitten looked sad but also frustrated. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘥?

"Well… you could come over to my den to stay warm. It's freezing out here!" I shuddered, puffing out my fur. The sides of the kitten's ears were frosted, pink, and numb looking, and his fur was matted to no end. "O-ok… sure," he huffed, his breath showing in the air. " I grabbed a few more scraps out of the trashcan before I picked up the shuddering, skinny kitten home.

His fur was coarse and there were a few bald spots on his pelt, and before I could spot anything more on the kitten, he let out an enormous sneeze, a bug falling out of his ear.

...

Yeah, this kitten needed to see Zach. He probably had ear mites. "Uh... what's your name?" I asked him through his thin fur. The kitten violently scratched at his ear, dirt falling out. "I'm -- Jaxx."

"Ew - What's with your ears?" I snorted. As I walked in, Windy's head perked up and she ran up to me. "Who's that?" She asked as I placed him down next to Zach, and curled up next to the tomcat was Sally. Zach looked at the kit with wonder and confusion, and a little bit of worry. "This is Jaxx. He will be staying with us. Also, Zach, do you have anything for ear mites? He definitely has them." Zach stood up, still confused, but beginning to understand the situation.

"Then he'll need chervil, comfrey root, snapdragon seeds, and wormwood. Windy, can you get the chervil and comfrey root?" He asked the blue-gray cat as she stopped licking the kitten's fur and turned to him. "Fine," she groaned. Both of the cats padded out of the den. "He's adorable!" Exclaimed Sally, lapping his cold ears. "Ow!" He complained. "I'll get you some food, Jaxx," I said, wanting to feed this poor hungry kitten.

He was going to live with us now - we needed to take care of him. I padded to the pile of rabbits, grabbing the biggest one I could see. With how small that kitten is, he'll be eating this rabbit all day! I thought. I padded up to him, dropping the rabbit right next to him. "Eat up. You need food." "No, I don't!" He snorted, sitting down with his back legs spread out in front of him. "I know you do," I said to him, padding up to the rabbit. I took a bite, my ears perking up as I did.

"See? It's good! It's not poison, I clearly didn't die." "And I probably won't then..." Jaxx meowed, padding up to the rabbit, and seemed a little more intrigued. He sat down next to it, slowly taking a bite of it as well. I watched as his eyes widened as he chewed. "Okay, this is my new favorite!" He muffled, looking at me with a serious look. "Aww, he loves it!" Sally purred, smiling at the kitten. He rolled his eyes, continuing to eat more of the rabbit.

Zach and Windy both came back into the den, with their mouths both stuffed full of plants. "I also got him some ragwort leaves for strength," Zach said, dropping the plants he had in his mouth next to where Windy dropped hers. Windy trotted up Jaxx, beginning to lick his fur as he ate. I thought he would bat her away, but instead he started purring. Zach started chewing up the herbs into a mix for him, as I watched Windy caringly clean the kitten's fur. I sighed and padded back to my nest, not sure what to feel.

I didn't get any scraps... I hope everyone else didn't mind.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨... 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭.