I watched as my brother, the only family I had, ran into the forest. The cat next to me, Fuzz, seemed nice enough, but he wasn't my brother. Suddenly, a large twoleg bent down over me. I winced when he picked me up, but was too weak to fight. As he entered the twoleg nest, I blacked out.

When I woke, I was lying in a warm nest with stretchy white stuff wrapped around my stomach. I didn't know where I was or how I was still alive. All I knew was that my brother was gone and I was no longer part of BloodClan.

When I tried to sit up, the cat named Fuzz rushed over to me. "You shouldn't be moving. You were hurt really bad. What happened, anyway? Justbarley left before he could explain why you were hurt."

I turned my head away. "I don't want to talk about it. And his name is Barley. Not Justbarley. He's my brother and now I'll probably never see him again."

Fuzz looked puzzled for a second. "So his name is just Barley. Not Justbarley. Oh, that makes more sense! And just so you know, when you get better, I'll help you look for him if you want."

I looked up at him and almost told him that I would like that, but then I changed my mind. What if BloodClan found us while we were looking? There was no way I could expose Fuzz to that life. I shook my head before responding, "No. I appreciate the offer, but if the cats that tried to kill me find out I'm still alive, I'll never be safe, and neither will you."

He looked shocked for a second before nodding. "I noticed those looked like claw marks, but who would do that to you?"

I hissed in annoyance. "It was my own brothers. Not Barley. He was the nicest to me and took care of me, but Hoot and Jumper always were malicious. Actually, I guess they call themselves Snake and Ice now. It's all the same."

Fuzz jumped back. "You're brothers did this to you? How could they? I thought family meant everything! How could they hurt you and leave you for your brother to try and save?"

I laughed without humor. "I wasn't supposed to live. If they knew I was alive, they would probably come and kill me now. They don't like for things to go wrong." I sighed. "They were only following orders. Our leader, Scourge, does not allow cats to live in groups, unless it's a mother with young kits. When it was discovered that Barley and I were living together, they tried to punish him by killing me. Obviously they failed, but they must never know that."

Fuzz listened in horror to my story. I knew that his soft kittypet life was nothing like the life my brother and I had lived. I struggled to my feet. "Thank you for the help, but I should really be going now. I don't want to cause problems for you or your twoleg."

Fuzz jumped to his feet when I made my way towards the flap leading outside. "You can't leave! Barley asked me to take care of you! You can be safe here. No BloodClan cat has to know you survived if you don't want them to!"

I stared at the flap that led out of the twoleg nest for a moment before turning and padding back to the nest and lying back down. That was my first day with Fuzz and his twolegs.