Bagels are live savers
Reveiw replies:
Nova: Yep! This is a Warriors fanfic after all. xD I hope you like it!
Anonymoose: First off, I love your username, it's hilarious. And thanks so much! That really does mean a lot to me. Like, really, that was very encouraging. Thank you! I hope you enjoy!
Enjoy!
When Perky woke up, he immediately knew something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
First of all, he was in dry ground. Last the cat remembered, he was wet. Like, really, bone-chillingly wet. Was that a dream? Probably not. Perky never dreamed about water.
Secondly, and most alarmingly, the stench of dog was close- much too close. Where ever he was, it reeked of dog.
The mottled cat forced his eyes open to look around, but as soon as his eyelids parted, he was on his paws, arching his spine and hissing.
There, less than 3 feet in front of him, was a big, smelly dog, sleeping. It started awake at the sound of Perky's hissing, and slowly climbed to its paws with a yawn.
"Good morning, cat. Well, if it is morning. It looks like it's still night. But I can't really say 'Goodnight, cat', because-"
"Who are you?" Perky interrupted the dog's ramble with a snarl. "Where am I?"
The dog smiled. "I am Sam, and this is my den. I found you in a river- I think you were drowning. Not really sure though. But it looked like you were, so I pulled you out and brought you here. It looked like it was about to rain- and it is, if you listen- and I couldn't just leave you-"
"What?"
Sam looked at his guest. "What? It rains pretty frequently, it's not-"
"No, not-it's just- you're a dog." The tom spat out the last word.
"So?" Sam looked genuinely confused. "You're a cat."
"Dogs don't save cats!" Perky cried. "They murder them and enslave them! They- they take away their families and slaughter their friends!"
Sam frowned. "Clearly not. I saved you. We're all alive, anyway, so really nothing would- nothing could- do that to another living being, right? I'm sure-"
"Listen, dog," Perky hissed, stepping towards the brown-and-black canine. "I've seen it happen. Felt it happen. I don't know where you've been, but that's what's been going on. Now outta my way- I gotta find my friends."
Sam's brown eyes looked confused, and sad, but his voice was as before, bright, happy, and youthful. "No, cat, it's raining. You can't go out, you'll die, and I only just saved you. Can't go dying again. Nope, dying's no good, so I'm not gonna let you leave 'til it stops."
Perky frowned, glaring at the dog- he believed it was a Border Collie. "Don't make me hurt you, dog."
"That's quite a threat to be coming from such a small creature. You are pretty small, huh? Even for a cat? Maybe you're young. Maybe I just haven't seen very many cats. Or maybe both. Both sounds about right, eh, cat?" Sam looked at the smaller animal expectantly.
Perky's green eyes narrowed even more as he thought of the best way to escape. Just them, a flash of lightning lit up the sky, and a clap of thunder followed, making Perky involuntarily shudder.
Sam saw this and chuckled a bit. "See? Bad weather. Bad, bad, stormy weather, so just stay here a bit, alright? Just wait until the storm ends. I could use some company anyway- I'm lonely."
The dog continued to drone on and on- he sure did talk a lot- but Perky wasn't paying attention. He was wondering if trying to brave the storm was worth it, or if he could trust the dog and stay. The dog. How the stars had he ended up in such a predicament where he'd be considering trusting a dog?
"So, cat," Perky heard Sam say, settling back down causally. "I don't think I caught your name. What is it?"
"Perky," The feline rumbled, deciding that he would stay, just not fall asleep. Not around a dog.
"Perky? Really?" Sam giggled-which was really quite a creepy sound to the cat. "Why'd your mom name you that? Did she think you'd be, like, super happy? Or is she just the funny type? I'll bet-"
"Shut up," Perky growled. Surprisingly, the talkative dog complied, and for a long while, nothing more was said. Finally, Sam broke the heavy silence that's settled between them.
"My mom left," He said softly. "Just after my litter and I were born. She joined some dog's army, I think. My dad- oh, my wonderful dad- tried to raise me and my siblings. And he did a fine job, too, until the winter came and they all feel ill. I didn't, somehow, but they all did. And they...they all..." Sam's eyes filled with tears, and he could not continue.
Perky stared warily at him. "My mother- and father, and brothers- were all slaughtered by dogs."
"Oh," Sam whispered. "I'm-I'm sorry. My-my condolences, Perky, deepest heartfelt sorrow. I-I wish I could do something, but...I can't. Sorry."
"Whatever," Perky huffed. "I don't need your sympathy, dog."
"Sam," The Border Collie said quietly. "It's Sam."
"I didn't ask!" Perky snapped, walking stiffly to a corner in Sam's den- which appeared to be some abandoned human building- and laid down.
As time wore on, Perky's resolve not to sleep grew weaker and weaker, until he just couldn't keep his eyes open.
oOoOoOo
Spark's eyes flew open as she instinctively hissed, knowing something was off. The silver feline leaped to her paws, only to be slammed to the ground by a huge paw a split second later.
"Down, scum," A deep, canine voice growled. "Or I'll rip your throat out."
What? Who is that? Where am I? What's happening? Spark's mind was racing as she tried to piece things together. She remembered a cat she and Perky had saved- female, a bit older than them, orange and striped- and a loud wolfhound...a fight and...
Oh yeah, I was caught by a dog. Joy.
"Listen, filthy cat," The dog- which Spark couldn't see, as she was still lying on her side- slowly growled. "You don't struggle, you don't get killed. It's simple, even for such a stupid creature as yourself."
And, without waiting for a reply, the dog picked up Spark by her scruff and began walking again. It sounded like they were near a stream, so the dog had likely stopped for a drink when she woke up.
But that didn't really matter to the feline. The only thing on her mind was how to escape the dog, who was clearly taking her somewhere. Spark didn't know where, or why. Dogs didn't take prisoners. They just killed. Right?
oOo
When the silver tabby awoke again, it was night. Her head was much clearer, and the cat silently took in her surroundings.
She was on the ground, laying in some wet grass- had it just rained? It smelled like it- and there was a large dog, presumably the one that carried her, sleeping about a foot away. Just. Sleeping, with no care that his prisoner could just get up and run away. Which was exactly what Spark did.
She heard the dog wake up and snarl in rage before giving chase. It was probably a light sleeper, slightly justifying its decision to just sleep like that.
The dog was fast, but, thankfully, Spark was much stronger now than she was before, and she was able to loose the dog in a park.
Panting, weary, and a bit disoriented, the silver tabby wandered around for a bit, trying to figure out where she was. She's never been here before, that was for certain.
The cat came upon a strange setup of human buildings, they were all in a line, with concrete going in front of them. Wasn't that called sidewalk? Probably not.
Just as she was about to start searching for her friends- whom she was very worried about- Spark saw a clearly abandoned building. The windows were boarded up, and so was the door, but there was a small flap on the bottom of the door that wasn't.
Curiosity overtaking her, the silver tabTby pawed at it. To her surprise, it opened slightly with the movement. Even more intrigued, she pushed it open with her head and stepped inside.
Immediately, a scent that Spark hadn't known for so, so long flooded her, and she whispered into the dark.
"Dad."
oOoOoOo
To say that Venus just 'woke up' would be a lie. She couldn't just 'wake up' because she hasn't truly ever been unconscious. She vaughly remembered collapsing. She vaughly remembered laying there in the pouring rain, wanting to get up but not being able. She even vaughly remembered a cat coming across her and dragging her somewhere dry.
But, still, when she fully came to, Venus decided to say she'd woken up. And it was rather unpleasant. She had a pounding headache, and all her muscles ached.
"Hey, your awake."
Venus jerked at the voice, surprised. It wasn't unwelcomeing or hard, but it most certainly wasn't friendly, either.
The bengal slowly rose to her paws to see a bulky dark brown tom with bright blue eyes. He was larger than Venus, as he was quite muscular, but he looked younger.
"Wh-who are you?" Venus asked, wondering if she could trust him.
"My name's Bubbles. Who's askin'?"
"I'm Venus."
Bubbles looked her over. "I saw you collapse. Once it started raining, I figured I'd bring you here, until it stopped. It was raining pretty hard."
'Here' was a small covered alley that looked like no humans frequented. It didn't appear to be this cat's den, but Venus wasn't sure.
"Oh. Well, um, thank you. I should probably get going, now, though, because I need to find my friends."
Bubbles looked at her with an unwavering stare. "If you want to, I won't stop you. Just know that it's still storming, and there are dogs all over this place."
Venus squinted at him. "Then why are you here?"
The tom shrugged. "I was just passing through when I found you. I don't intend to stay for long. I'm looking for my sister."
"Ah, I see. As mentioned, I'm looking for my friends."
When the brown cat didn't say anything for a while, Venus looked at him. "So...tell me about yourself."
Bubbles narrowed his eyes. "No."
"Why not?"
"Because your just some random cat I found!" The tom snapped, glaring at Venus.
"Fine then. Be that way." The bengal huffed, setting her head on her paws and shutting her eyes. If Bubbles was bad company, she might as well sleep until the rain stopped.
oOo
"Hey, Venus, wake up."
With a groan, the she-cat opened her eyes.
"What?" She croaked.
"The rain stopped. You can go now."
The orange feline slowly climbed to her paws, yawning. "So...you're kicking me out?"
She meant it as a joke, but the tom obviously didn't take it as one. "Yes."
Venus frowned. Bubbles just stared at her.
"Well," She said stiffly. "Thank you for helping me. I'll be on my way now."
And she turned and marched out of the alley, wondering which way to go next.
"Wait," Bubbles called, but not very loudly. "What's on your neck?"
"What?" Venus looked down, trying to look at her neck. It obviously didn't work, but she remembered what it was. "Oh! You mean my collar. My housefolk gave it to me."
The tom stared at her with a mix of disgust and pity. "You're a kittypet?"
"Yeah. And?"
"You can't go out around here. You'll die." It was a statement, not a question.
Venus glared at him. "Are you saying I can't take care of myself?"
"Well, not directly, but it did seem to me that you collapsed in the middle of dog territory right before a bad storm, so, yes."
"I-you- that's taken entirely out of context!" Venus yelled, a bit flustered.
"And see? You're yelling. Never yell around here- the dogs don't like it, and when they don't like something cats are doing, it doesn't end well for the cat." The brown tom stretched out a bit. "So, since you're clearly incompetent-"
"Hey!"
"-then I cannot, in good conscience, let you go blundering about, clueless."
"Well, too bad, 'cuz I'm going! My friends are in trouble!" Venus wasn't entirely sure about the last part, they could be completely fine, but it sounded better that way.
"I'm not saying you can't go," Bubbles said, exasperated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm saying that I'm coming with you."
Well, there ya go. I meant for this to be done on Monday, but there wasn't enough time. All of my free time goes into writing this, but I'm super busy, so...heh. Yeah. Next update'll be on Friday or Saturday.
Please review! I could really use extra encouragement this week. And, more importantly, have a wonderful day/night!
Milk has calcium,
~KitKat