CRAPPY-NESS ALERT!!!! XD

No, just kidding. I think it's GREAT!!!! XD

Read on and ENJOY!!!! :D XD

Chapter 1

I could not remember anything except this cell, deep in the alleys of the Twoleg towns. I had been living here all my life, or so it seemed.

This cell was actually just one in a row of cells. They were cages with no bottoms, but the tops and the frames were latched to the ground, so instead of a cage floor, we had to sleep on the concrete.

We were trained to hunt and withstand torture, so that when we were sold, we didn't just die of shock or anything. I hated it. I wanted to get out of here.

The one question was, how?

And I mean how as in how to get out of here by escaping or being set free, not being sold. Being sold was probably the absolute worst thing that I could imagine. I would be tortured and have to hunt, but this time, it would actually be real.

One of my friends had just been sold yesterday. Her masters named her Stupid. It's a stupid name, if you ask me, but we "slaves" have absolutely no say in the matter. Most of us were either bred here, in the breeding quarters (which are comfortable, I hear), or stolen from kittypets and "Clans." The "Clans," I've heard, are cats who try to dominate the forest with their cruel, fighting ways. It's been told that they're even worse than our masters here!

Supposedly, they're dictators and tyrants, but I don't know if I can believe that. Anywhere has got to be better than here. Right!?

As I was sitting there, brooding over this, some of the guards came through escorting a kit. She was small and disheveled. She was crying with pain and she had fresh scratches with blood oozing out of them. I guessed that she had just been stolen.

They shoved her roughly into the empty cage next to mine and snapped the latch shut. Then they left.

For the first time, I got a good look at this poor she-kit. She had long, fluffy blue-gray fur. She appeared to be a kittypet, and I guessed that she was a poor kit who had wandered too far out of her mother's backyard or play area and got snatched.

"Hi," I said tentatively. "What's your name? I'm Rose."

My friends and I had given each other names. The friend I was talking about before, who was named Stupid by her captors, had been called Lillia. I had named her that. She was a short-haired cream tabby. She had called me Rose. I am a small brown tabby she-cat with white paws, tail-tip, underbelly and ear-tips. Each day after a torture session and a lesson, my white areas are usually all red and stained with blood and dung. It looks very unsightly, and I'm always embarrassed to be seen like that.

She looked up at me nervously. I couldn't blame her. When I had been first stolen, I had been like that, too. Who was my enemy? Who was my friend? Although I was mostly over that now, and I was glad. That would never help me if I were to escape some day.

"I—I'm Poppy," she whispered.

"What happened?" I asked sympathetically.

"Well—" she paused. "Mother was taking us all into the forest for a walk, and she let us explore. However, I wandered a bit too far, and all of a sudden I was pounced on by a big gray and a smaller brown mass! I tried to get away, but I have never learned how to fight before, you see, and so I was taken away. Although I wailed for help, the big gray one shoved a stick down my throat and I was forced to be quiet." She let out a small mewl of terror.

"What else did they do to you?" I asked curiously. What had they done to this little kit?! She looked traumatized!!!

"Well, they got me far enough away, and flipped me over onto my back, and shoved their claws deep into my belly and pulled on my tail. It hurt!" She shook her head. "In fact, it still hurts. Look, I'm bleeding." She turned around to show me.

"Oh, no, that is not good," I said softly. She blinked at me.

"Then they shoved me into this place," she finished her story. "Do you know where we are?"

"Well, we're at the Slave Kit Agency, where they usually take kits and train them and sell them to be slaves. It's a horrible life, here." I shook my head. "And you usually never see anyone here again. You are taken far, far away from here, used as a slave. And you might never get free," I added sadly.

"Well, then we have to get free!" Poppy declared bravely.

"I hope so," I murmured softly.

Do you have ANY idea why they told them that the Clans were bad?!?! Please review me the answer!!!! XD