Chapter 18 - Viscious

Brown, orange, red, grey, but the fur that stood out the most was the gold and black fur of the queen Demeter. Her fur seemed to shine compared to the other's, as she always kept it nice and clean. These cats hardly seemed to car about hygiene. They hardly seemed to care about manners, as it was. And they certainly didn't care to worry of their new "tribe member".

A cat hissed on Demeter's right and took a swipe at her, causing the clumsy-footed queen to stagger to the left. Then a piercing pain came from her head as another cat had smacked her with his claws, right where the lump on her head was. Demeter cried in pain, and quickly backed away, but another cat came out of nowhere and lunged at her. Pulling her tail out of the way, Demeter did her best to keep any tears from falling from her eyes and struggled to walk straight and away from any of the cats that wanted to attack her.

Demeter raced forward, her stomach barely off the ground as she was crouched low to make herself smaller, as though that would stop the others from attacking her. But that only fueled their behavior, as they began to chase after her and claw at her. Only when one sunk its claws into her side did she hiss and turned to take a swipe at the cat that did it.

But when she realized she had scratched a young queen right across the face, she knew she was done for. The queen was very pretty, even for being one with a dull coat like the rest of them, and shrieked in horror at the fact that her pretty little face had been scratched.

"I-I'm so sorry!" Demeter said, but that was drowned out by the low growling of the queen's friends nearby. That, on top of the cats that were already harassing her (and the cats who just didn't like the way she looked) meant she was in big trouble.

The unfamiliar felines all stared at her with their eyes wide open, hackles raised, and hissing lowly. Demeter sunk down very low, moving back, trying to keep her whimpers to herself. But the second that one of the cats made a move to lunge at her, Demeter took off like a bolt of lightning, racing across the warehouse as fast as she could, dodging anything she could, jumping over cats, nearly tripping over cats who strategically placed their paws out, and tried her best to get away from the ones who were swarming in on her.

But there was no way out! In the junkyard, there was escape anywhere. She knew it like the back of her paw, and every exit was open to her whim. But here, she could see no possible escape, and everything was against her.

When she finally found herself at a dead-end, she had no time to think as the other cats pummeled her and held her to the ground. The queens smiled sadistically and stared down at the trembling Jellicle. Demeter tried to scream for help, but couldn't get the word out. Then the toms came, and seemed very interested in the situation.

As all the cats rounded on her, things looked bleak. Demeter thought she would surely be hurt bad…and she prayed fiercely to the Everlasting Cat that she wouldn't have to go through whatever plan the others had for her. She only screamed when she felt a paw touch down on her leg. "HELP!" she screamed, tears beginning to stream down her face.

There seemed to be no oxygen around her. But she needed fresh air! Her heart was beating so fast, and she needed to breathe, but the air was replaced by the stale breath of the cats that had surrounded her, had pinned her down, and were almost piled on top of her, surely to teach her a lesson about taking a swipe at one of their prettier queens. The pain in Demeter's head increased and she knew she would pass out soon, which was probably her only salvation.

"Leave 'er alone!" A queen's voice rang out over the rest of the cats. A few moments later, some the cats had scattered and she could breathe again. When all the cats had gotten off of her, Demeter curled up and gasped raggedy breaths, her face wet with the tears she had shed. "You've frightened 'er to death! Get away from 'ere before I claw the eyes out of each an' every one a ya!" The gold queen peered up at her savior from her place on the floor.

Demeter was sure she was hallucinating, because the cat looked exactly like Mungojerrie, yet at the same time, was obviously a female. (Well, she didn't look exactly like him then, but very similar.) The queen somehow seemed to be holding off the ten-odd cats that had piled on top of Demeter. She wasn't sure how one cat, a queen at that, had held off all the other cats! It was absolutely ridiculous…like something that would happen to the Rumpus Cat, if you just replace the cats with Pollicles.

"You're a'ight, love." Demeter's eyes shot up and she smiled to see a friendly face. Sure, she had only seen him once, but he was the kindest thing she had ever seen at that point. He put down a paw and helped the poor queen up. She was trembling all over, and Mungojerrie patted her on the back before the queen let all her weight fall against him.

"She scratched my face," said the pretty queen to the young tabby.

"It's an improvement," said the female tabby. The pretty queen and her friends hissed lowly at her, but the toms had already lost interest and walked off. With the backing of the toms gone, Mungojerrie growled at the other queens. That together with the female tabby, the queens didn't seem to think it was worth the trouble anymore and walked off, not before kicking dirt and garbage in Demeter's general vicinity. When they were finally out of sight, the gold Jellicle began to sob.

"Aw, don' cry," Mungojerrie said hesitantly, looking over to the other tabby. "Teazah, she's cryin'!"

"Well, I don' blame 'er," she said, carefully patting Demeter on the back. "The poor thing 'as no place in the tribe, an' they don' like new blood. Don' worry, love." Demeter couldn't help but start gasping for air, crying, unable to hold anything back. The two tabbies looked at each other and led her away gently. The queen felt she could trust these two…the last time she would be feeling that about any of the cats in this tribe.

Demeter was resting in the cat burglars' make-shift den. It was an old barrel made comfy with fancy little pillows and blankets, and a make-shift door made from a thick blanket covering the entrance. Demeter lay in the blankets and did her best to clean her fresh wounds. She tried not to think of how they could have been a lot worse.

Mungojerrie was sitting across from her, humming a tune to himself. The one named Rumpleteazer had gone, and the silence between the two cats had started immediately. The only sounds that could be heard were the incessant licking of the gold and black queen and the humming of the tabby tom.

After Demeter was bored with cleaning her wounds, she looked sheepishly to the tom. He kept looking at her, before looking away. Demeter sighed. Mungojerrie sighed. The two stared off into space. Then Demeter glanced at the tom at the same time he glanced at her. When their eyes met, they quickly looked away. It was odd being in the den of a tom that wasn't from the Jellicle Tribe… (Needless to say, he must have thought her presence odd as well.)

"T-thank you," Demeter said finally, breaking the silence. "I never got a chance to thank you for everything."

"No, no, it's nothin'," the tom assured her, waving a paw at the queen. "You're a'ight though, aren'tcha?"

"I will be," she assured him, taking a moment to look her injuries over. "I've never been in a fight before. I've never even scratched another cat before, actually."

"Really?" the tom seemed truly intrigued. "My sistah and I 'ave been in more fights than I can remembah."

"Really?" the queen seemed intrigued as well. "That's…kind of…sad."

"Well…We've been on our own for a while," he said, touching his collar with his paw. But before Demeter could ask him about it, the one named Rumpleteazer came in, carrying something that made Demeter's mouth water.

"I've got food!" Rumpleteazer announce, placing down a tasty smelling dish. "Fresh out the oven! Argentine joints…you won't get any thinnah, now, so eat up!" Demeter hardly needed any prompting. She immediately dug into the food as though she would never have another meal again. The two watched her for a while, sad looks on their face, as though they were staring into their past, before they shook their heads and came back to reality.

"Jerrie, I've been looking for that candlestick and those jewels we took this mornin'. Have you seen them?" Rumpleteazer went to a corner of their barrel, taking her share of the food and eating. By this point, Demeter had all but inhaled the food and looked up at the two, licking the trace fragments of meat and juice from her lips.

"Uh," Mungojerrie was at a loss for words. "Ya see….I kinda…sorta….lost them."

"Lost them?" Rumpleteazer asked, bewildered. Then the look of comprehension dawned on her face, before it was replaced with anger. "You were bettin' with Griddlebone again, weren'tcha?"

"I thought I could beat 'er this time!" Mungojerrie said.

"No one can beat 'er, Jerrie!" Rumpleteazer said. It wasn't until this point, in which Demeter had bearings on her situation and food in her stomach, that she could appreciate their matching accents. Sure, she had a little trouble understanding them at times, but if the cockney accents were the voices of her heroes, she hardly minded.

"I thought I could win our things back!" Mungojerrie defended. "And it wasn't so bad. I met the sweet lil' queen here because of Griddlebone. Ain't that right, uh….you?" Demeter tried not to be too insulted that Mungojerrie forgot her name as she reminded him what it was. "Yeah, I would'na met Demetah 'ere if it wasn't for my--"

"Gamblin' problem?" Rumpleteazer interrupted. "We need those things for Macavity to think we're USEFUL, Jerrie! Don't evah go back to that queen again!"

Demeter couldn't help herself and laughed at the two. The two matching tabbies stared at Demeter's inappropriate laughter. "I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head before she remembered why she was trying to avoid all movement all together. "I just think you two are so funny. You sound like either a mated couple or a mother and her kitten."

"Ya 'ear that, MUM?" Mungojerrie said to his sister. "That's 'er way of tellin' you to stop naggin' at me!"

"Why, I oughtta," Rumpleteazer mumbled at Mungojerrie before turning to the other queen. "We should be quiet. She needs 'er sleep." It was odd being told by a cat younger than her (probably still a kitten) that she needs to go to sleep. But now that she was fed and somewhat safe, she did feel sleep overtaking her. The tabby queen must have noticed as well. Demeter could feel her eyes shutting in protest to lack of sleep. So with a grateful smile, she laid her head down.

"Thank you," she said to them as she felt her mind fall into a deep sleep.

In her dream, she was walking across a thin bridge, bracing herself on all fours as she could feel the bridge giving weigh. Down under was a black pit that was waiting to consume her. There were sounds of torture and crying coming from the pit, though she could see nothing.

Then she looked to her destination. That's where she longed to be. It was a veritable Eden, where she knew she would be safe, and could almost see the open arms of those she loved waiting for her. As she crossed the bridge, daring to take each step, she knew she could not turn back now. Eden…she yearned to be back in paradise!

But suddenly, the earth was trembling, and bridge began to buckle and break beneath her. She did her best to hold on fast, but the shaking became more and more, and she thought she would let go at any moment. If only she could hold one for one more second!

Demeter woke with a start, not knowing whether she fell or not. Mungojerrie was shaking her very hard, and Demeter had to pull herself away to make him stop. "I'm awake!" she said, her fur on end, and her eyes wide. Her headache was better today, but still there. Why couldn't she have dreamed it away?

Realizing where she was, she took a moment to regain her composure. She was still in the two tabby's den. Why couldn't she have dreamed that away as well?

"Get your tail movin'," Mungojerrie said. Rumpleteazer was rustling through her things, trying to find something. "We 'ave work to do, and you're bettah off if your awake than if your asleep." Rumpleteazer gave a triumphant yell as she found the two bags she was looking for before handing one to Mungojerrie. The two seemed in a rush to leave. Rumpleteazer smiled at Demeter, and before the gold queen could say anything, the two were off out the door, only their tail flick saying goodbye to her.

Demeter jumped up and gasped at the thought of being alone again in the tribe. She contemplated staying in the thieves' den all day, but once one cat took notice of her through a small opening to the entrance, she knew she couldn't do that. They began whispering to one another, and if she didn't want to be trapped, she had to turn her tail and run.

Her agility was hardly as good as the other cats in the tribe, and even the process of exiting a den was an adventure, as they took swipes at her. Having escaped with a few scratches, the gold queen decided it was probably best if she try and find a way out of this warehouse and back to the Jellicles. After all, she was a cat, and should be able to use her sense of direction or something…

Demeter found a place where she could try climbing to a window without being attacked by the other cats. While it took her a few attempts to climb the pile of garbage that acted almost like a staircase, she eventually reached the top and stared out the window to see what she could find.

Her hopes fell as she realized she had no idea where she was, not even remotely. What's more, it seemed the only way out of the warehouse was through the front yard, which was enclosed in a fence. Cats were swarming outside, a teeming community of murderers and villains who had no qualms about attacking a defenseless queen who was out of her element.

After staring outside with a feeling of hopelessness, she sighed and turned to climb down. There was only one problem…A few cats had found her and stared up at her, waiting for the moment she would climb down. And she had so much trouble climbing up, Demeter could almost foresee herself falling and crashing down into the group of cats ready to hurt her.

She began to think Griddlebone was right…She wouldn't last long.

Tired, hurt, lonely, and homesick, the ill-treated queen found her way back to Macavity's general area (as it wasn't really a den, because it was so huge). The entire way there, as she looked around for deserted places to run across and prayed that she wouldn't get more hurt, she kept thinking of who wasn't there with her. The protectiveness of her sister and Munkustrap…the warm smile of Old Deuteronomy…the healing ways of Jennyanydots (that's what she missed most at the moment.) Her thoughts kept on this as she made her way in Macavity's "den". She was surprised at how happy she was to see him. She hoped he would do something about the cats in his control before they destroyed her.

"Oh," Macavity said with some amazement in his voice as he looked over the queen in his presence. After a moment of silence in which he was surely thinking of ways to punish the cats who had done this to her, Demeter felt her hopes rise slightly. "You're finally building some character. Walk with your tail high. They'll be less likely to bother you if they think you can take on a fight."

Demeter felt the sting of tears forming in her eyes, but she wasn't about to cry in front of this despicable ginger cat. So she took on an angry face as she watched the cat turn and walk past her, signaling her to follow. Having no where else to go, she did as she was told.

Walking a while, tail held high in anger and frustration, and glaring at any cat that would dare attack her just then, she thought she had what it took to survive in this tribe, if she could just keep this anger up. When Macavity led her to a open window that looked out over the yard, she jumped up and bravely sat along side him, hardly close enough to touch him, but not far enough away to show that she was scared of him. She then took notice of why she was brought here.

The members of the tribe looked up intently at Macavity, who seemed to be enjoying the attention. The crowd of cats was in a half circle, only a small aisle was made between them all to allow two large cats to drag one brown and black cat, unknown to Demeter and probably nameless to Macavity. Demeter realized they all were nameless to him; pawns in his games of thievery and destruction.

She suddenly lost her nerve to be so near to this former Jellicle that so easily lived among such horrible cats. And not only lived, but supposedly ruled over them. Looking over to Macavity, he had an odd look in his eyes she couldn't place. "A traitor," he said simply as Demeter took another glimpse down at the cat who was struggling to get free, tears streaming down his face, yelling out words she couldn't quite hear. What could he have done in this tribe that would have made him a traitor?

Out of the side of her eye, Demeter saw Macavity give the slightest of nods to the cats below. The biggest cats, what looked to be the strongest in his tribe, all jumped onto the struggling, crying cat.

And in front of her eyes, they quite literally tore him to shreds.

Demeter placed her paws over her mouth, gasping in horror at the scene in front of her, trying to turn her eyes away from the sight, but unable to avoid hearing the screams of torment.

After what seemed like an eternity, a life was ended by the simple nodding of a head. And viciously, at that. She had never seen anything like it in here life, and prayed to the Everlasting Cat she would never have to see it again. 'No,' she thought. 'No…no…no…"

When Macavity spoke again, Demeter startled, looking at the cat in horror. "That'll teach him to turn on me," he said softly. Then loudly, he said to the cats down below, "You have seen what happens to a traitor. Anyone of you turn against the tribe again, and you have seen your future."

The ginger cat turned to go back inside. The gold queen didn't have the courage to follow, but when she saw the still blood-thirsty cats in the crowd looking around for something more to attack, she thought it best to stay with the ginger cat, for her own safety. A choice between the devil and his minions, it seemed the one with power was the safest to follow.

But then Macavity looked over to Demeter, a look in his eyes she had never seen before. Without being asked, he explained, "Sometimes, we're all just better off dead." There was no malicious tone in his voice. Demeter could only think it to be a strange form of sympathy…like a cat that had seen his own future, and saw nothing to live for.

The gold queen knew Macavity had never been a normal cat. His judgment was far off. His heart was hardly warm. When the shock of the blood-bath was over, and she was safe again with the twins who calmed her hysteric ranting, she began to realize that perhaps Macavity wished he was the cat who had been killed back then.

Sorry it took me so long to update. I felt bad, heh. I asked my friend for help with trying to get my point across with one part of the storyline, and she gave me an idea I was very greatful for. Then I had to actually put it into the story, while most of it is alredy planned out. So then I had to figure out where to put it in, and I have been trying to make it flow, which is why I took forever and a day to get this chapter up. Sorry! But hey, better than giving out bad chapters, right? ((hopes they don't turn out bad anyways))

By the way, I just realized I could enable anonymous reviews...so if you want to review, feel free! Lol

Demo: ((comfort)) it's ok, he's just a story character, he can't hurt you, hehe. (Unless you call him a kitten)
Enkeli-kitsu: Well, no, he's not a fat house cat, and frankly I felt bad calling him that, but I meant to say SEEMED rather than LOOKED, which makes it sound better. Instead, I just mushed it, lol. And thanks for feeling for Demeter ((smile))
Satin: LOL, while I know the bit your doing, I can't answer your review at all, haha! You have to tune in...next update time...next updated chapter! OH! And you were my 50th review! Thank you so much! I feel like you should win a door prize or something...

Thanks to all my reviewers who brought me to 50 reviews! My True Love one shot also reached 10 reviews, and I'm very happy!