Chapter 2:
Several sunrises had passed since the unknown cat had arrived next door to Feliciano. And no matter how hard the brown tom tried, the cat next door never left the den. Each day he tried, and each day his hopes were crushed as no cat emerged from the flap when he called out across the lawn.
"Leave it alone." Ludwig stated from below the fence. "He'll come out when he's ready."
"But who knows when that will be! I wanna play noooooow!" Feliciano whined in despair.
"Cut that caterwauling. You sound like a kit." The blonde tabby cuffed his friend over the ear with a paw as Feliciano dropped down beside him. But despite Ludwig's teasing, the brown cat continued to sit with a sad look adorning his features. Giving a sigh, Ludwig stood up. He hated dropping to this level, but his friend since kit hood needed some cheering up. He bounded back towards the bush in Feliciano's yard and scooped his favorite toy out from under the branches; a fake mouse with a squeaker inside. Giving it a toss, he allowed it to fall right at Feliciano's paws. This caught his attention. The tom looked towards his best friend, who crouched low with his tail held high in a play position Feliciano had hardly ever seen him in.
"Come on!" he goaded his friend. "It'll get away if you just sit there like that!"
Feliciano's face brightened, and he chuckled as he took a swing at the toy, sending the tiny gray body towards his friend with a squeak. Ludwig batted it away with a grunt, and it rolled and squeaked across the lawn.
"It's escaping!" Ludwig cried as he dashed after it.
"Oh no!" Feliciano shouted with a meow of laughter as he chased his friend.
This was the pattern they settled into. Up early in the morning, playing with toys in Feliciano's yard until night fell and the Nofurs called them inside. Feliciano never gave up trying to coax out the cat next door. He tried every morning, but he never succeeded. But sometimes, when he and Ludwig were playing with toys in the yard, Feliciano would see movement in the window. He would look over, and the shadow of a black cat would be there, gazing towards them and watching with curious eyes. Feliciano would drop the toy and bound towards the fence to great him again, but the shadow would always disappear from the window before he could speak. This was the pattern that the passing days of summer took up, and the cats were content with their lot. But life often has other plans, and as they soon discovered, peace and harmony can be ripped from under their paws at any moment.
It was in the dead of night one day, when the entire world was so cool and dark that even the crickets had retired to sleep, leaving complete silence in their wake. Ludwig was snoozing on his back, spread at the foot of his Nofur's bed, when a disturbance shifted the air. The tabby felt a chill run down his spine, and his hackles lifted uncontrollably as he jerked away from his dreams. With pupils widened to take advantage of what light there was, he scanned the room searching for danger but found none. The tom rolled to his stomach, the fur still ruffled around his shoulders. Something wasn't right. Then, the slightest trembling shook the room, unnoticeable at first, but steadily growing in strength until Ludwig could feel the entire house swaying like a leaf in the breeze. Fear shot through him from nose to tail. The earth was growling! A splintering sound reached his ears, and he heard groaning from the wooden floor below. Cracks had begun to appear circling his Nofur's nest.
Oh no. Was the only thought Ludwig had time for as the floor broke away, sending him and his Nofur tumbling and screaming to the ground below.
The earth tremors had flung Feliciano from his comfy nest, and his entire body stiffened out of fear as he absorbed the destruction around him. Everything was shaking to the point the cat could barely stay on is paws. Pieces of the den were falling from above and the entire structure felt like it was shifting. Suddenly, huge planks of wood collapsed from above, crashing into the floor with a thunderous sound as the den was ripped apart at the seams. One of the planks shifted and fell with frightening speed towards him, and survival instinct gained control of Feliciano's body. The tom raced out of the beam's path, moving with incredible grace and speed through the piles of rubble. He finally reached an open space where not much debris had fallen. The only issue, this was the back opening! There was no cat flap cut into the bottom he could use to escape. Planning to turn and run to the den's front, Feliciano was stopped short by an avalanche of dust, dirt, and wood which blocked his return path. Fear shifted to absolute terror as the brown tom considered the fact he could die here tonight.
No! No, I won't die now! Turning with a mixture of determination and panic, Feliciano scratched at the wooden covering with as much force as his claws could muster. The flimsy tools made little dents while the den disintegrated around him. Despite the hopeless effort this was, Feliciano continued his efforts, begging some cat, any cat, alive or some kind of dead spirit, to give him a way out. As if in response, another piece of wood fell in Feliciano's direction. He ducked out of the way as it made contact with the wood opening. There was a sickening splintering noise as the barrier was crushed in half. Breathing his thanks to whatever beings were watching from above, Feliciano jumped out of the new exit as the den finally gave way behind him. Feliciano cleared the debris cloud with his powerful leap, hauling himself farther through the backyard, the feline stopped to rest. The tom wheezed as his lungs choked on poison dust, and he turned his vision to the dens nearby. The ground still shook, though less violently, and other dens rumbled and caved in nearby. One on the worst was the one next door, to the right of his fence which was now a pile of splintered wood, the house he had seen every day but now could now believe it was gone. Such worry and despair flooded his senses that it drove Feliciano to run towards the debris, despite his muscles screaming for rest. The once proud building now piles of rubble on the yard, all he could think to do was desperately call out his friend's name.
"LUUUUUUUUUUDWIIIIIIIIIG!"
Ludwig's ears were ringing. That was the first thing he was aware of as his mind drifted back into consciousness. The next thing to reach him was the smell. The air smelled of dust and death, a horrible sent that almost caused him to choke on his breath. The cat's eye sight returned. Blinking them open, the entire world started out blurry and spinning, until eventually, all came into focus again. He was lying in a clear spot on what used to be the first floor tiles, surprisingly unhurt and surrounded by rubble. Checking his body, he counted for all limbs parts and senses. Nothing was missing or broken.
If only I could stop myself from shaking. He thought. Then he noticed, it wasn't just him. The earth was still rumbling and growling beneath his paws. The danger had not passed. Now's no time to rest. He must escape. Shakily rising to his paws, the tabby struggled to walk through the towering heaps of dirt. The entire roof had collapsed on top of the destroyed den bottom, covering the entire thing and keeping him locked inside. This was no good. Turning to observe the area around him, Ludwig found a most horrid sight. Something that chilled his bones and fluffed his fur to twice his size.
"Oh no…" He whispered solemnly. At the center of the clear spot was his Nofur's nest, crushed beneath a pile of wood from one of the walls. Leaking from underneath, were copious amounts of blood, trickling like steams from underneath. Only one thing could be under there.
"Nofur…"he whispered again, voice cracking with grief. The only creature who had been kind enough to take him off the street. Who fed him, played with him, and included him in all aspects of his life, dead under the weight of the heavy branches he called home. A piece if his life had been ripped out with jagged claws, leaving a hole in Ludwig's heart that brought the cat to the verge of tears.
It's over. He thought. If Nofurs, the most unstoppable creatures I've ever seen can't survive this, how can I possibly hope to get out? The blonde tabby sank to the floor, curling into a ball, and resigned to wait for death with his Nofur.
Breaking through Ludwig's grief stricken silence, a quiet call leaked through the ruined walls. It sounded suspiciously like his name. Ludwig's ears pricked at the sound. But that couldn't be. Who would call him? The voice broke through the walls again, louder this time.
"LUUUUUUUUDWIIIIIIIIIIG!"
Feliciano! Ludwig rose with a jolt. Feliciano was alive, and outside! The tabby dashed towards the nearest wall that enclosed him, sniffing for a way out. How could he be so stupid? Of course Ludwig's den wasn't the only one affected. Feliciano was in danger too. He needed Ludwig to protect him. And Ludwig needed him to say alive. He followed the sound of his friend's voice, searching for any weak spot that he could push through. Then, the voice dropped in volume, as if the caller was walking away.
No no no!
"Feliciano!" Ludwig cried in his booming voice. "Feliciano! I'm here! Keep calling!"
"Ludwig?" the muffled voice sounded with disbelief. "You're in there?" The cat's voice seemed to be breaking with emotion.
"I'm here, Feliciano! Keep talking! I'll follow your voice out!"
"O-okay, Ludwig!" Feliciano almost cried with relief. His friend was still here. He didn't have to face this new world alone. Feliciano continued to call out.
"I'm here, Ludwig! I'm here!" He continued on like that, shouting at the collapsed wall that separated him from his kit friend. Finally, he saw a piece of the wall heave and shudder. Ludwig was behind it, pushing at the weak boards with all his might. Running up towards him, Feliciano grabbed and edge, and pulled towards himself. With a satisfying splinter and a sickening crack, the blonde tabby he knew so well tumbled out onto the grass before him, gasping for breath.
"LUDWIG!" Feliciano screamed as he flung himself onto his friend, licking his ears and face clean of dust.
"Are you okay?" he questioned between licks.
"I'm… I'm alright." Ludwig breathed as his body relaxed.
"Here, let me help you up." Feliciano braced his shoulder against Ludwig and allowed the tabby to lean on him as he stood trembling to his paws. Just as the cats had caught their balance, another huge ripple shook the earth bellow, and more things crashed to the ground in the distance. The den to the left of Feliciano's, which had stood up better than the rest, creaked and shuddered as a beam of wood fell from the center of the slightly collapsed building, and hit a gas tank that fueled the Nofur cooking machine. A thunderous explosion echoed through the denning place as flames sprung to life in the ruined den, crackling and licking around the fallen wood and debris. From one of the few seeing holes that were still standing, Feliciano saw that black cat from before, pressed against the clear material and screaming and pawing in fear. He was trapped in a collapsed part of the house with a fire creeping towards this currently safe spot. Feliciano gasped in shock.
"Ludwig, he needs our help!" With a nod of conformation from his friend, the felines dashed into their unknown neighbor's yard.
The cat stopped screaming as they approached the clear opening, pleading with his eyes at the strangers who had come to help him.
"Don't worry," Feliciano called reassuringly. "We'll get you out!"
The cat nodded with understanding as the other two searched for an escape method. Feliciano cursed the strange material that kept the cat trapped inside. Why couldn't the Nofurs just leave a few holes in their dens? It'd keep incidents like this from happening. The black cat pressed farther to the clear opening as flames continued to march along the wood towards him.
"Ludwig!" Feliciano called with worry.
"I'm thinking!" The tabby called with frustration bellow.
Feliciano's gaze caught on a small latch halfway up the clear hole. He'd seen the male Nofur use that to open it many times before. That could be a way out. Grabbing the white latch in his jaws, the cat pulled and tugged on the opening device. From below, Ludwig could see the material that covered the opening wiggle, shake, and shift as Feliciano continued. A small gap opened at the bottom. Ludwig gasped.
"Feliciano!"
"Hm?" The cat called, breaking from his work.
"No, no! Keep doing that! It's opening at the bottom! Hold on! I've got an idea!"
With new determination, Feliciano kept at it while Ludwig examined the debris around them. Locating a solid stick, the tabby dragged it back to where Feliciano continued to struggle with the latch. The gap had widened enough to a point that Ludwig could shove the end of the branch through. With a heavy grunt, he lifted the splintered stick and wedged it in between the bottom of the hole covering and the wall.
"Feliciano, help me!"
Time was against them. The fire crept closer and now the black cat had pressed most of his body against the clear material. Ludwig wrenched downward, throwing all of his weight towards the ground in an effort to lift the stick. Feliciano assisted by pressing down with all his might from above. The branch creaked and the window shifted enough for the cat to stick his paw out. Farther and farther it shifted, until he could fit his head through. Relief spread through Feliciano. It was working!
As the cat wiggled himself halfway under the gap, a snapping sound brought the trio's attention to the stick. The tip was beginning to buckle under the pressure. At this rate it was bound to snap off and release the covering back into its last position, crushing the cat underneath. With frantic urgency, Ludwig summoned strength he didn't know he had and pressed down on the branch harder, freeing the gap up so the strange cat could fly out from underneath. Just as his back paws cleared the sill, the stick broke, and the cover snapped shut with a slam that caused both other cats to flinch at the thought of being caught under it.
"Come on! We can't stay here!" Ludwig urged the cats onward as they ran past the sides of the now collapsed dens and onto the stretch of open grass by the Black Path. As they slowed to a stop, all three felines collapsed to the ground, panting and shaking out of fear and weariness. Feliciano's eyes began to droop.
Can't… sleep… now… He struggled to focus his mind. Not… safe… So… many… questions… But sleep won his mind, as it did with the others, and all three drifted off as the world burned around them.