"Stop, no please!"

The black tom with the strange collar snarled, holding down a stout, short, black-and-white tom, claws unsheathed. He leaned down, jaws piecing neck fur, quickly skin.

"I'm innocent, I tell you! Innocent! Innocent!"

The small cat's cry ended in a gurgle, blood seeping out from extended jaws. His eyelids slunk half-closed, amber eyes losing the spark of terror. Oscar, his murderer, cooly lifted his jaws. The dark blood reached just below his eye. He looked at the cat on top of the dumpster, sitting down calmly.

Dodge nodded, looking at each of his associates- his son, Harley, and a newcomer to Twolegplace, white all over save for his tail. They both nodded, Harley only after a moment's hesitation. He looked absolutely terrified, though Hutch couldn't be sure.

"Good catch, Oscar," Dodge muttered like murder wasn't a big deal.

Hutch suppressed a shudder and a retch. He couldn't believe Harley would refer to a former member as prey the second he betrayed him. Thought he betrayed him, rather. Hutch made a mental note of the mangled tom

Snooky. Thrown to the streets once his Twolegs had a child who was allergic. He wasn't good at hunting mice and thought himself above dumpster diver. Dodge forced him to join the Clowder via threat of death and yet….

"Any objections?" Dodge asked, coldly scanning each and every cat gathered around. He didn't wait for more than a few heartbeats for response. No one dared break the strained, grieving silence. Dodge chuckled, "Good," he purred, "Clowder meeting dismissed."

Hutch trotted backward from the alley he sat in. As soon as he was out of eye and earshot, he couldn't' risk getting seen or heard, he ran like a bullet. He ran and he ran and he ran until it felt like his lungs would burst.

He then crashed into the shoulder of a cat, and was about to shoot of again- but the cat didn't smell of Clower, he smelled… familiar. Like the Twolegplace before the Clowder ruled.

The stranger snarled, then stopped when he saw Hutch shaking.

"Goodness," he muttered, "What happened to you?" He opened his jaws a bit to scent, retching almost immediately. "Christ! You smell just like…." realization lit his gaze, "Dodge. You poor soul, come in!"

Hutch obeyed, too scared to find out what might happen otherwise. The cat lead him down through a crack in a metal wall, down rickety wooden stairs. Lots of cats sat in the dark clearing, old kittypets that Hutch used to know before their Twolegs couldn't keep them. Rose and Lily and Bella, still smelled so strongly of house. Fleas on a white pelt under the motor oil and dust scent of every other stranger cat.

Seeing these old kittypets made Hutch's heart ache. Many moons ago, before his Twolegs went away without him, he was friends with many more kittypets. Macgyver, Billy, Ebony and Harvey. They were gone most time during the day and then they just disappeared. Hutch figured one of the Clowder killed them in offering, but it hurt too much to remember.

The stout tom brought Hutch up to a patchy-pelted brown tom, grooming himself atop a big box.

"Stick!" he called.

Stick stopped licking, then snorted as Hutch's strong Clowder scent reached him. "You've brought one of Dodge's gang here, Shorty? What, are you trying to weed us out?"

"This cat was running away, Stick. He was terrified! Just look at him!" Shorty gave him a glance, sitting down and elbowing his shoulder.

Hutch cleared his throat, "Dodge calls it The Clowder now. And I'm… I'm trying to get out."

Stick hummed, hopping down, giving his pelt a through sniff. "Hmm… I don't trust you a lick. I'll let you stay but if you give us away to Dodge, I'll find you and I'll kill you myself."

"Come now, Stick," Shorty purred with amusement.

Stick lashed his thin tail, "I need to keep my cats safe, Shorty. We've had enough trouble with Dodge."

As the two squabbled, Hutch opted to find a solid place to sleep. He decided to lay in front of a gray tom, who looked like he was already doing. Hutch circled and flopped down, but before he could fall into sleep knowing he'd be save, the tom spoke.

"Trouble with Dodge, hm? I know how to feel. One of his cats tore my eye out and let me get captured by a Cutter," he purred, "Stick and his gang will be glad to help you defeat him should you wish. Tell him you know Percy," he finished, trotting off.

Hutch nodded, knowing Percy couldn't see him. The words hung hollow in his ears, though he knew his heart was saving him. He fell asleep the second his head hit his paws, and reopened his eyes in a silver-blue forest.

"I now name you Snookthorn of Skyclan."

"Hm. No, thanks, I'm fine being Snooky."

Hutch spun around, pricking his ears. Snooky? He crouch and looked through the leaves of a soft bush. Snooky sat in front of a huge, red tortoiseshell. Hutch couldn't stop himself, legs shaking, to come out from the bush. The two noticed immediately.

"Hutch!" Snooky exclaimed, standing and wagging his tail like a puppy. It then dropped back, "Have you died too?"

The big she-cat shook her head. Hutch looked around, eyes wide, unsure if this place was beautiful and meant for peace or the lying gateway to suffering. "Wh-where am I?"

"You're in Starclan. Skyclan's Starclan," answered the tortoiseshell, "My name is Maplestar. What are you doing here?"

Snooky gasped, "Hutch! You're here because you were in Skyclan! You were Shortwhisker!"

Hutch shuddered a bit at the name, "And you did too? And Leafstar named you Snookthorn?" Snooky nodded excitedly, and Maplestar went right back to trying to name him. Hutch didn't pay much attention, his attention was caught through the bushes again.

A silver-gray tabby sat, ears pricked, to a skinner gray-and-white tom. Echosong, Hutch soon realized. He took a few kittensteps closer, but not enough that Maplestar or Snooky would notice. He pricked his ears.

"The darkness will shatter the swift," said the tom, "then it will go on to demolish the trees and skies above. The darkness will not stop until it's hunger is filled, and it will only feel full one it consumes the air, water, storm and shadow- unless the darkness is destroyed."

The last word was only a whisper, as the world started shattering to black around Hutch, he shot up in the same building he was in last night, Percy across from him. He gulped in dry throat, and looked up through a shattered window on the wall. Sunlight shot unevenly through it. Hutch stood.

He was going to find Skyclan.