"Things will get worse before they get better. That's what I have come to known. It's not always easy to understand why the bad things happen to begin with, though. Some are fortunate to figure it out early on in their life. For me, I didn't realize it until I returned to the Clans. But by the time I realized it...things had begun to spiral out of my control.
I can still remember that day when my eyes were truly opened. When the world opened up and showed how truly wicked it could be. I was so young then."
To say she was unprepared would be an understatement. The snow had started to melt the following day, giving Campion just enough time to slip out and catch a skinny hare- it too, struggling to feed itself through the sudden onslaught of snow.
But it only stayed melted for a few days. And that was a half moon ago.
Greykit sat at the entrance of their rapidly cooling den, Queenie laying amonst the twoleg things. She was coughing lightly- the cold air probably did her old body no good.
Outside the snow continued to fall late into the evening. It should have still been light out, but with the thick grey clouds of ice overhead, it was nearly dark as moon-high. Campion had left sometime earlier in the day again.
Greykit's whiskers twitched with each touch of the falling snow. She sneezed lightly as a flake landed on her nose. She padded with her paw to the melted spot before backing up a few paces, further inside.
Queenie lay curled up into a tight ball. With her large untamed fluff she looked like dust ball. Though with each cough she shook lightly.
"I wish it would get warmer soon. That cough doesn't sound good." Greykit called from the opening. Queenie only snorted in response, scowling a bit before another cough escaped her.
"Snow weather." The elder couched out. She shifted on her paws and turned around, her behind now facing the young kit. She was in a cranky mood, so Greykit decided it was best to keep her thoughts to herself today.
The young kit looked back outside to the fast approaching night. The snow fall seemed to be thinning, though there seemed to be no chance of the current temperature staying where it was. It would certainly get cold tonight.
I hope Campion is okay.
Almost as if her thoughts were a magnet, the todd trotted over the horizon. In the dark, his brilliant red color could be mistaken for a dark brown, but either way against the snow he stood out like a birch tree between maples.
As he drew closer, Greykit could make out something in his jaws. It's shape unfamiliar to her- but it was something alright. A wave of relief washed over Greykit at this thought.
Despite Queenie's important lesson not to long ago, Greykit had really begun to understand what hunger felt like. Yes, before she had been hungry- but she had never been starving. The adults did well in caring for her though- she could not deny this.
With every meal- no matter how small she would get her fill first, and the elders would split. At first Greykit didn't pick up on this ritual- but by the third measly mole she caught onto it, and paced herself to eat less so they would have more.
Campion trotted over the last of the small slopes and made a quick dash for the entrance. He entered, nearly stepping over Greykit. She yelped in surprise by the carelessness of her mentor.
Campion dropped what he was holding and called out "Ey Queenie." Greykit turned on her paws and bounded over with two quick hops, landing beside what Campion had managed to find.
"What?" Queenie meowed, keeping her backside facing the other two. Greykit padded around Campion's paws and sniffed the strange...thing.
It was twoleg made, a clear wrapping of sorts with streaks of red and blue on the front. Greykit could make out something within the wrap.
"Ah' went an dug around the Tall Hunter rubbish… it ain't much but…" his voice trailed off as he pulled back the clear wrapping with his paw showing what was contained inside.
Whatever it was, Greykit stepped back. Her nose wrinkled at the slightly sour and bitter smell it ammited. The 'food' Campion had brought back had gone bad and turned into Crowfood.
Queenie must have smelled it from where she sat as well because her ears flattened- more so then they already are. She hissed and peered over her shoulder, her eyes gleaming with annoyance and anger only an elder could express.
"You want me to eat carrion-scraps?" she snapped. Campion raised his head, forcing back a bark in his throat. He stamped at the ground with his front left paw- nearly hitting the pile of rotten twoleg scraps.
"There ain't nothin' out there. The flappers an the coyotes pickin' up all the good stuff- not to mention there be another todd runnin' an skippin' about. An those cats past the raa chasing off anyone who has a second thought about stepping over." Campion barked and growled. Greykit stepped back away from the bickering elders. She wouldn't interject, but at the moment she couldn't care less what she ate- as long as she could eat it.
With all the worry Queenie was making the other day, I don't see why she is being picky- I mean, Campion's ribs are starting to show!
Greykit was also quite sure Queenie's ribs would be visible under that mass of fur by now- and she could recall the nights she slept up against the elder's flank, listening to the groans of hunger pains that jabbed at the sleeping pallas.
"What about…" Queenie started but stopped. "Nevermind." She turned her head away.
The tension snapped like a twig, a new atmosphere replaced the aggressive feelings the adults had. There was a long silence- so Greykit decided to break it.
"What about what?" She echoed, looking up to her mother-like figure. Queenie's whiskers and nose twitched. She turned back to face the fence. Her front paws clawed at the ground lightly. After another long and suspense filled silence Campion spoke.
"It be your call, Queenie."
"It's too early in the season." The pallas responded, her paws still nervously kneading the earth in front of her.
"The snow an' the cold don't care that it's early in the season." the fox resorted. Greykit tried to follow along to the elders deliberate over their next move, though they spoke so vague that the young kit had a hard time understanding. Why couldn't they be straight forward? What didn't they want her to know?
Queenie took a deep breath, fighting back the coughing fit that lay within her. She shook herself once before she looked back to her dear friend.
"Do what you must."
Campion bent down and picked up the twoleg clear object, containing the rotten food and arose. He shook out his back legs and prepared for another journey out. He reached the exit and dropped the mess at his paws.
"Lass come with me."
The kit and the elder both perked their ears. Greykit leaped up and over to her mentor's side, her tail held high in the air and a smile on her face.
"Do you need help?" She asked. The todd nodded and without another word picked up the messy twoleg crowfood bundle. He stepped outside and started on his way, carving a path out of the snow for Greykit to follow through. As she left she thought she could hear Queenie muttering out something under her breath… but she wouldn't know. Her voice was cut off by the coughing fit she had been holding in for a while.
…
Campion and Greykit did not walk far. In fact only a few twoleg nest over.
They arrived in a familiar area. A place where Greykit recalled much and early practice in her combat abilities- which was mostly her trying to knock Campion over with no avail. She smiled at these memories, and in all honesty could not wait to New-Leaf. She would be bigger then. And perhaps she could managed to at least budge the fox over a few mouse lengths.
Campion raised his tail to stop Greykit in her tracks. Greykit did as she was commanded and watched as her mentor did a light and swift trot to a twisted tree that hang low to the ground. He reached the base, and dropped the twoleg crowfood. Carefully with his front left paw he peeled back the cover and let the crowfood be exposed to the world.
Campion looked back, and called out to Greykit "Walk in mah pawsteps."
She nodded, and began to take very careful and wide steps. She moved slowly- there was so much distance in Campion's steps that she was afraid she would fall from losing her balance. But with careful determination, she reached her mentors side without disrupting or leaving any paw prints.
When she reached him, she felt her scruff being grabbed. She was lifted up and over the crowfood against the tree.
"Climb." He yapped out, his voice muffled through her fur. Greykit swung her body slightly and grasped the bark between her claws. She heaved herself up and felt Campion let go of her scruff.
"How high?" She mewed as she reached the first low hanging branch. Campion tilted his head, examining the tree before he answered.
"Ah… 'bout another leap up." He called. Greykit looked up to the branch above her and leaped- nearly slipping on the surprisingly icy surface. She wrapped her paws around the side of the branch and held it firmly in her grasp. She looked down at her mentor who gave her a quick nod of approval, his comforting smirk on his face.
"Beautiful lil' twistah'." He complimented her, and then turned to walk to the funny smelling creek- which had now frozen over. He slipped into the reeds which had turned yellow and brown by the cold. His red pelt seemed to be covered perfectly by them.
I hope there is squirrels out. Greykit thought to herself as she felt the last of the snowflakes fall upon her head. She looked up at the grey clouds overhead. No longer spitting out more snow- but still thick as ever.
Eventually she felt herself drift off into another time and place- her sleep. She couldn't recall when she had closed her eyes, or what had compelled her to fall asleep. Perhaps being cold had done it- but no matter. The soft crunching of snow pulled her from the cold sleep.
She blinked once, twice… and suppress a yawn. She expected to hear Campion recall her from her post, the footfalls belonging to him. But to her surprise when she looked down, she did not see his brilliant red color anywhere. Instead she saw a familiar- yet very skinny shape and color of a black and white pelt.
The old tom with the short cropped tail and patchy fur had arrived. Greykit gulped, and pressed herself into the branch. This was his tree. The one he had taken swings at her to defend.
The old tom cat was hesitant. He looked all around him as he took slow and careful steps from around the side of the twoleg nest and over to the twisted tree Greykit sat in. The crowfood still lay under the branches, shielded from the snow and exposed to all.
To a tom cat like him, or any creature that seemed so lanky and skinny, it must have smelled as alluring as a fat pigeon. Greykit could see his ribs- his bony cheeks and shoulders. He had no twoleg owners, he had no clan. He was alone, and alone in leaf-bare was difficult.
A pang of sympathy hit the young kit. How could she and her clanmates have been so picky with their food when cats were withering away to nothing on their own?
The tom had seemed to have forgotten to check his surroundings as he hunched down and began to nip at the crowfood. Or at least it started as a nip. Within heartbeats he was scarfing down the mess with quick and large bites. He seemed so focused on the food that he did not noticed Campion emerging from the same path that he did.
Greykit blinked in surprise and turned back to look at the reeds- then back at her mentor. He must have traveled over the ice to avoid rustling the plants.
But what was he doing now? Perhaps he was going to chase the longer away?
Greykit leaned forward slightly, disturbing snow on the branch and having it fall below. The small pile was enough to alert the tom for he stopped gorging himself and looked up. They're eyes made contact.
"You?" He yeowled up. He only looked at her for a moment before he turned to examine the area around him. And that's when he and Campion made eye-contact.
Like a startled bird he took off- a white streak in the sea of snow.
"Lass- after him!" Campion barked out his command and took off in long bounds. Greykit dropped from the branch and landed in the snow- which she quickly regretted. The soft ground messed up her ability to land, and a sharp pain traveled up to her old wound. She would ignore it for now.
She took off running in the path left by the other two. The tom struggled to keep his bounds in rhythm as the snow tripped him up. But he still ran with his ears pinned and his fur spiked. He screeched a warning out to the cold night air as he kicked up a snowstorm behind his leaps and bounds.
Campion panted as he followed, though he did not struggle through the snow due to his longer legs. He was built for this. And yet, he seemed to be pacing himself.
Now Greykit, she struggled through. Her bounds and leaps shook her body as she tried desperately to keep up with her mentor. She was small- her legs were short. And the snow was thick. They were disappearing out of view as a slope arose in front of them.
"W-wait!" Greykit called to Campion as she surged forward, still fighting the snow. The adults reached the incline and the true struggling began. The tom forced himself up, slipping on the mounds. Campion leaped in a great bound and landed only a fox length behind the tom. He barked and yipped, snapping and screeching in his strange fox-noises. He snapped- he barked. He snapped again. And again. The fourth snap he bit ahold of the tom's outstretched hind leg.
Campion pulled him back and bit ahold of the back bone hard- Greykit thought she could hear a crunch. Though through her panting and the noises- and now the ringing of her left ear once again she couldn't be quite sure.
The tom cried out and spun on his backside. He scratched and battered at Campion's face furiously causing the todd to let go. Campion slid back, the snow underneath him giving away. He tumbled over, slipping past Greykit and down to the lower ends of the incline.
The tom took this chance and turned to climb up the rest of the way, leaving a crimson streak in the snow behind him.
"Don't let 'em go!" She could hear Campion yell from the bottom as he recovered.
Greykit's eyes widened. She jumped into the moved snow Campion's rolling form had left, and climbed up. Her claws hooking into the earth and flattened grass.
The tom disappeared over the top of the hill. Greykit continued on and in a few heart beats also reached the top of the hill. The tom had already slid down the other side and was now hobbling up. He looked back, his eyes fearful when he saw her.
"Please.. Have mercy I didn't know it was your food!" He cried out. He still backed up, his back arched and tail between his legs. His bleeding leg lay lame under him, and dragged through the snow which melted under the warm blood.
"I can make it up to you- I can find something for you! You can have the tree- all of my territory I'll go. I'll-"
Campion made it up and beside Greykit. The sight of the fox sent a new wave of terror through the ragged tom. He yeowled and turned on his heels. He darted out, running onto the snow covered thunderpath.
Greykit bunched her muscles to jump forward but Campion suddenly held her down with his body. Greykit was pinned down into the snow, the weight of her mentor kept her down.
"Hey what are you..!" Greykit started, meowing out in confusion but the roaring of something great filled her ears. It was not the ringing, the sound did not come from her mind. Her head spun around as a large and great red monster roared on by. It's thunderous black paws and glowing eyes left streaks as it tore over the thunderpath. It didn't slow down as it passed, it didn't even hesitate to mow down the struggling tom who had only made it a third of the way across the path.
Greykit heard the 'thunk" and the "crunch" merged together into a sound she could not describe. But she could definitely make out the sloppy wet noise the tom's body made as it was knocked back onto the edge of the thunderpath and into the snow. One of his legs seemed to twitch as it stuck up in the air at such a weird angle, but besides that… there was no cry. No sound from the bloody mess that now lay before her eyes.
Her mouth hung out in horror, her voice escaped her throat. He was dead. The monster killed him.
"W-wh…" Greykit started but her voice seemed to get swallowed into the pit of her stomach. Her eyes were frozen on the mess of the cat that had only wanted something to eat, who meant no harm.
Campion released Greykit from his pin and stood up next to her. His fur blew in the light breeze. He himself seemed unphased by what had just unfolded in front of the pair.
"We do what we must." he spoke out clearly and softly. He didn't look at her. His ears just flicked once before he started down the slope and over to the mangled body of his winter prey.