2

Forgotten

"Whoa." It was the only thing that could really convey what Wilykit and Wilykat felt when stepped into the house. It was unlocked, and the door swung open with a creak, bit of rust falling down off the hinges.

The air was still. Completely and totally still, and it was dank and stale. Wilykat shivered. "Wow... It's as hot in here as outside, but...it somehow feels cold. Almost like it should be cold but isn't."

"That's the dampness," Wilykit said knowingly, but she also felt like shivering. The place felt dead. "Do...I mean...all the stuff's still here,' Wilykit said. "I wonder if someone is living here..."

Wilykat immediately shook his head. "No. There's no one here, it all feels abandoned... I mean look at this, the wood's rotting, and the carpet's eaten through in some places. I don't even hear any rats or birds or anything... no flies.. it's like it was all vacuum-sealed, airtight." He wrinkled his nose. "I sure smell must and mold though."

"Yeah..."

The twins were silent, then, as close together they began to explore the strange house. The living room was huge and dark, the wood stained darker than normal from moisture, from the strangely humid air. There were two big bookcases full of old books. Curious, Wilykat crept up to one and took it from the shelf, but frowned when he tried to open it. They were very old, and the page broke in half, it was so brittle. It looked as if it had gotten damp and dried several times.

Not that it mattered, it was in a different language that seemed somewhat familiar, but was so distorted that he couldn't tell why. Probably his imagination, he thought. as he put it back. And it was so old.

Wilykit had wandered into the next room, and Wilykat shivered and ran after her, not wanting to be alone. He felt as if the very house itself might reach out and grab him. The next room was a kitchen, and everything was put away as neat as you please, except for a few dishes in the sink and one on the counter. All had a thick covering of mold where the food had been, long ago.

Further exploration of the home did indeed reveal it to be abandoned, not that they needed the confirmation. The mold had pretty much convinced them of it.

There were three bedrooms and a toilet, and a few odd rooms here and there. No one was there, and the whole place was in a sad shape of disrepair. "But..." Wilykit said,. "Everything 's here, and we haven't found, well, a body or anything - "

"Wilykit!"

"Well we haven't! So...I mean they didn't move out. Where are the people that lived here?" She frowned, looking unnerved, and Wilykat bit his lip.

"Let's go check some of the other buildings," he said.

Wilykit nodded. "Okay."

Their exploration revealed only more of the same. The twins snuck into several of the buildings on the outskirts and found them all in similar states of disarray. Whoever had lived there had somewhat primitive technology, almost like that of the Thundera of years ago! "Look at that," Wilykat said in fascination. he was pointing to a vehicle parked outside one of the houses. "That's an airship! It hovers on air, not anti-gravity!"

"How do you know that?" Wilykit asked him,

"I read all the time, you know that...I love ships and stuff..." he inspected it and was disappointed that it was quite out of power. "These are antiques on Thundera.. .er they were."

"Weird." There were old computers that didn't work anymore, and any supplies of Thundrillium that might have been there had long since broken down and spoiled the ground or the wood it was being stored in.

They found a blacksmithing shop, which was dusty and rusty. The twins were fascinated, though, once they finally realized what it was. So different from the ones they saw in books and magazines, which were brightly lit and with the technology they had been using for metalsmithing for decades now. There was a stone floor here, for one, and everything was wood or black iron. And a fire furnace! "Look., it's got blackrock in it," Wilykit said.

"Yeah...I guess that's how they keep the fire up. Weird!"

A few of the houses were actually empty, as if the inhabitants had moved out, and for some reason this was comforting to the twins. That was normal, a rational reason for the people who might have lived there to be gone.

But now they were having a small debate.

"No way," Wilykat said stubbornly. They'd moved steadily farther towards the misty forest, and now stood facing it, debating whether to investigate some of the houses on the fringes of the forest. Some of the mist was drifting out, making the air damp and somehow stifling.

"It might tell us something..." but Wilykit did not sound so sure about it, herself.

"No...that mist isn't natural...I'm not going in it." The boy yawned. "I'm getting kinda tired and hungry, anyway, we forgot to take sandwiches... Come on, Wilykit, let's come back to it another day. Maybe bring some flashlights to help us see in there."

"Well...all right." Wilykit might have fooled someone else with her "reluctance" to leave, but Wilykat knew her better than that. She was glad of the excuse to leave the forgotten town, at least for a while. They headed back.

***

"So where did you two go today?" Lion-O asked with a boyish grin.

It was suppertime, and the twins were eating ravenously. Snarf hadn't let them have anything when they'd come back, admonishing them to next time bring lunch or be on time for it, like Tygra had told them to do. So they were a bit disgruntled at him, and now very hungry. "Huh?" Wilykat said, looking up from his bird-leg.

"I said where did you go? Tygra told me you were off exploring."

"Eh, we just checked out the hills behind the Lair, to see how far they go." This was something they'd already done, but the ThunderCats didn't know this, and it amde a good alabi of sorts.

"And?"

"And what?"

The young lord laughed. "So how far to they go?"

"Oh! We don't know. They go waaaay past where Tygra'll let us go alone, since we're just tiny little cubs, not ThunderCats or anything, and might get hurt." Wilykit had cut her brother off to say this, giving Tygra a bit of a glare.

"That's enough, Wilykit," Cheetara said firmly.

Wilykit gave her a rebellious look. but didn't say anything.

The meal continued, mostly in silence. Eventually Tygra began talking of the mission that day, but the twins both paid no heed. "Well...we're gonna go up to our room," Wilykit said, standing up as both she and her brother stood at the same time.

"All right," Lion-O said. "Make sure you're in bed by ten."

"Yeah, yeah." Wilykit grumbled and mumbled as she and her brother left the kitchen. "I hate grownups," she said, a scowl on her face as they made their way up to their room. "I mean are we ThunderCats or not? Anyone who can take that kinda responsibility of being a ThunderCat should be treated like a grown up!" She scowled and stuck her tongue out in the direction of the kitchen.

Wilykat actually laughed. "And then you stick your tongue out." He only snickered as Wilykit socked him in the shoulder. "Oh calm down, jeez. We can go again in a couple of days, maybe after lessons day after tomorrow. They're short that day, only some math and Thunderian."

Wilykit nodded as she opened the door to her room. "Okay," she said. "Maybe we'll find some answers then."

Part 3: "Campout"

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