Well, then, welcome to my new story! Unfair labor; chapter 1. Listen, listen; I know it's short, and Petalkit might seem like a Mary Sue; but if she is, I apologize! I know some of you hate that. Still.... all flames WILL be used to roast marshmallows. I'd prefer (even if it's harsh! :D ) criticism.

Anyway, READ AND REVIEW!!!!

Unfair Labor

Petalkit is originally from WindClan. When she is kit-napped by ruthless rogue cats and forced to hunt for them and be tortured by them, will she survive? More importantly, can she ever get back to her home?

Chapter 1

A golden-brown tom slunk into the dark clearing, surrounded by gorse bushes. He was on a mission. He carefully padded past a den full of grown cats, and stepped into a warm, milky-smelling den.

He sniffed the air. Ah, the nursery. He sniffed the air again. And lots of kittens! Lots of kittens for me to take, he thought. But which one should I choose?

He sniffed around the pile of kittens and mothers and finally chose a small scrawny golden, black-and-white spotted female kitten. A tortoiseshell, this one is. She'll do. Female kittens were always more fun to torture, because they didn't always learn to fight back. In fact, very rarely did a female slave learn how to fight back against her torturers. She would have an examination every day, and one of the cats in their group had a mind-reading power. She would examine the kit's mind and past for that day, and then, if the kitten was caught doing anything, well…. suspicious…. a torture session, or a lesson, as the tom called it, ensued.

Time to go, he suddenly realized. The sun would rise soon.

He slunk out of the den, and then out of the clearing full of cats, and raced away with his prized possession—the kitten!—in his jaws.

***

I woke up to a sharp pain in my tail.

"Ow!" I mewed, pitifully.

"Finally, you're awake," spat a voice. I looked up. I saw a huge golden-brown tabby tom towering above me. One of his huge paws were raised, and big, blood-spattered claws poked not-so-subtly out of the pads. I whimpered.

"Oh, shut up!" a female voice answered. A she-cat, I thought. Someone nicer? I turned toward her. "Mommy, mommy!" I mewled.

"Oh, shut up!" she said again, and raked small but sharp claws down my face. I mewled in terror. It hurt! Blood slowly welled out of the scratches and it trickled down my face.

"Who—who are you?!" I stammered. Then I trembled as I saw three more cats melt out of the shadows of trees behind me. I looked up at the sky. Dawn was coming.

"Do you want to know our names or the agency?" the she-cat growled.

"Umm, both please," I stammered again.

"I am Thorn," the huge golden-brown tabby tom growled.

"And I am Vixen," the small black she-cat who had clawed me earlier said proudly.

"I am Lunar," a big white tom hissed at me.

"I am Rose," a small brown tabby she-cat with white paws, tail-tip, underbelly and ear-tips said to me, not unkindly. Well, she looks nice.

"And I am Rock," the largest gray tom that I had ever seen said. He towered above the others, and had huge paws and big dark gray claws that stuck out of the sockets, even sheathed.

"And we all come from the Rock Agency," Vixen said, glancing up at Rock. He nodded. "Rock is the cat who makes up our agency; h-he brings us all together."

"Very good," Rock said, nodding appreciatively. "And now, for the test. We will name you Bug as we have nothing else to call you, and Foxdung isn't nearly as good. Bug, lie on your belly in front of me."

I trembled, but did as I was told. What was happening to me?

"Next, we will test your silence range." He raised a huge forepaw above me. What kind of test is this? I wondered. Hmm, maybe I can go if I do not cry out. A dumb idea, but maybe it would work!

Long, sharp claws sunk themselves into my chest and slowly raked their way down to my tail. Then they came harder, dragging upward from my tail to my chest. Next, Vixen stepped forward. She sunk sharp claws into my face, creating deep gouges around my eyes and nose. Thorn tugged on my tail. Lunar clawed at my ears. Suddenly, Rock's claws ripped a chunk of skin out of my underbelly. I cried out in pain, and scrambled to get away. I managed to get around them but suddenly a big paw held me down. It flipped me over onto my back and soon I was staring up at Thorn.

"I shall do the engraving," Rock announced. "Tigerstar, we present to you this slave placed in our care. Now she must carry the true symbol of any Rock Agency slave and you shall get an offering of her skin and blood every moon." I started to scream in pain and writhe underneath Thorn's paws as he started to claw, very carefully though, around the space in the middle of the front of my neck. When he was done, I was bleeding.

"There," he announced again. "All done."

I squirmed on the ground uncomfortably. These were some mean cats. I wanted my mommy!

But, as I soon realized, the only problem was that I might never get away.

So what would I do now?