Chapter 2
Home Sweet Home
The others won't be happy when I come back without food, Shell thought as she hesitantly padded up to a large wooden fence. On each side of the fence sat an upwalker nest. In the one to her right there lived no upwalkers. It had been abandoned a few moons ago, left with only a tall, weird-looking, wooden stick in the middle of the yard. In the one to the left lived an old upwalker who hardly ever left its nest, along with a small yappy dog. On each side of those nests there were many more that sat along the Thunderpath. She and the others were rarely bothered by upwalkers, yet sometimes the dog got loose and tried to get inside the small alleyway where they lived. Behind the alleyway there was another Thunderpath, another row of upwalker nests and then finally, the forest.
She and the others never ventured too far from the alleyway and, if they did, it was only to look for food or water. Shell leapt up on to a metal tin, one that upwalkers put things in that they didn't use, then hopped up on to the fence. She peered down into the alleyway. It was nothing special but it was home. There were three metal tins up against the fence and two more against the upwalker nest to Shell's left. In the far left corner of the alleyway there was a small puddle of water, the cat's water supply, which dripped off the upwalkers nest when it rained. Luckily the water didn't dry up easily because the alleyway was mostly always blanketed with shade from the upwalker nests.
In the far right corner of the alleyway there were a few over-turned boxes that all the cats slept in when they felt like it. Most of the time they just slept at random places throughout the small alleyway, but when it rained or when it was cold they would all curl up inside the multiple boxes. Scattered about the alleyway were pieces of upwalker rubbish. Shell noticed that one of the metal tins was turned on its side and the big black thing inside it was ripped open, most likely the actions of her fellow cats.
There were also bones of various small animals lying about. Shell had to admit that they were all a bit sloppy, but who cares? No one else came into the alleyway except them. Well, on occasion a stray cat would wander in, probably because of the smell of fresh kill, but they were quickly chased out.
Shell turned her head to see Yowler and Scar heading home as well so she gracefully leapt off the fence and landed gently on the ground, looking around to see who was already there.