Chapter 5:

Farther in the denning place than the spread out Nofur dens, were the Nofur dens that were all put in tight little rows, and set so close to each other that their sides pressed against each other. They had no front yards of their own, but the back yards were open, spacious, and all surrounded by brick walls on each side. It was in the back of one of these smushed dens that a ginger tom lay upon the grass, rhythmically stroking his fur, oblivious to the sounds around him; especially the rustling from the rose bush behind him.

Sky blue eyes gleamed from beneath the branches, and long furred haunches wiggled and bunched in preparation. The feline under the bush twitched and shivered with laughter, letting a few giggles slip past his mouth that the ginger tom would have heard had he been paying any attention. With a final creep forward, the rose bush exploded with leaves and petals as the cat flung itself high into the sky above its prey.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the bush cat cried.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the tom below yowled in surprise as the giggling ball of fur rammed into his side and bowled him over. The two cats rolled in the grass for a bit before the ginger tom stopped on his back. A long furred young cream tom with ginger spots on his fur stood triumphantly with both forepaws planted firmly on his stomach.

"Alfred!" the ginger groaned in exasperation as the younger cat continued to giggle uncontrollably.

"Hehehe! Gotcha Arthur!" the tom continued to gloat above him.

"Get. Off, you git!" Arthur growled as he heaved Alfred off of him. For a cat who was smaller than him, all that long fur added a few extra pounds to his weight. "And do something about the kibble weight, would you?" Arthur teased his brother as he got back up.

"Hey!" The tom rebuttled. "It's not fat, it's fur!" But Alfred was in a good mood today, so the insult slipped from his mind and he was back to pawing at his older brother's tail. "C'mon, Arthur! Let's play!"

"No."

"Whaaaaat?" he whined. "You say that every day! Why are you such a stick in the mud?"

"I'm not being a stick in the mud, I'm being an adult."

"Adult? You're only one season cycle older than us!"

"But that's one more than you or Matthew have experienced." Arthur shot back. "That makes me your adult, and adults don't play." Arthur jabbed the last bit at Alfred with a sharp tone, and the tom gave up, padding away while Arthur settled back into his grooming.

As Alfred trudged to the other end of the yard, he spotted his other brother, Matthew. The small cream tom was laying on one of the Nofur sitting platforms next to the spot where they ate dinner outside. He was cuddling a huge stuffed white bear, a toy he had kept since the Nofurs gave it to him as a kit. That bear was very special to him, and if Matthew was around, no one else got to play with it. Alfred's playful desire came back, and he dropped into a sloppy hunting crouch, stalking through the short grass to his brother and giggling all the way. Alfred stopped in the shadow of the sitting platform. Matthew was snoring soundly, mussel snuggled into the teddy's stomach fur. Alfred giggled some more as he slowly reached up towards the bear's arm. With a grunt, Alfred ripped the stuffed toy off the spot and onto the ground. Matthew woke with a start, letting out a yelp as he was thrown onto his side. Alfred was strait up laughing now, mumbling around the fluffy bear's fur as he started to run in laps around the yard.

"Matthew, Matthew!" Alfred shouted. "C'mon! You want the bear? Gotta catch me! HAHAHAH!"

Matthew continued to sit on the platform, curled into a small ball with an anxious look on his face. He wasn't much for playing with others, even if it was his own brother. And when Alfred pulled tricks like this on him, Matthew always took it seriously and thought he was being bullied.

"Arthur!" Matthew cried. "Alfred took my bear again!"

Arthur just turned his head and continued cleaning his fur, leaving Matthew looking very upset. Arthur didn't like to see his brother cry, but Matthew seriously needed to grow a back bone!

Gathering courage, Matthew leapt uncertainly to the ground and bounded after Alfred, who had been standing in the middle of the yard. Seeing Matthew trotting up with a nervous look on his face, Alfred raced away in the opposite direction. Huffing in annoyance, Matthew increased his speed, racing harder after his brother. Alfred continued to bounce ahead of him, dancing across the grass and tossing teases back at him.

"C'mon, Alfred!" Matthew whined. "That's enough! Give him back!"

"Hahaha! No way, kitteh! I said you gotta catch me, so you gotta catch me!"

"But I'm tired and he's mine!" Matthew sounded on the verge of tears.

After their third lap around, Matthew's paw hit a rock, sending the young tom face first into the ground. Alfred skidded to a stop just ahead, bear dangling from his jaws. Matthew lifted his mussel from the ground, dirt and mud smeared across his cheeks. His lavender eyes began to water, and Alfred gulped knowing what was coming next.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The cream tom wailed lowed and high, echoing across the yard and hurting his brother's ears. He continued to cry and wail profusely, until he felt something soft tap his cheek. Still sniffling, Matthew saw his bear's faced pressed right into his. Squealing with joy, he grabbed the toy and hugged it close. Alfred was standing above him, a sorry expression on his features. Matthew nodded in forgiveness and pushed the white bear back towards him in an invitation to play. Smiling with happiness, Alfred jumped on the chew toy wrestling with its front paw while Matthew bounced on its stomach, both toms giggling with laughter.

Arthur smiled as he watched from his spot in the yard. The bond the two had was amazingly strong, which was exactly what they both needed with the life they had been given. Arthur had been part of their mom's first litter, while Alfred and Matthew had come along later. Arthur had been chosen to stay, instead of going off with another family, so he could be around to raise and breed litters of his own with a female. Alfred and Matthew, however, had been forced to stay here. Alfred was too rambunctious to keep, and though he kept getting picked, he was always returned in the next two days. Matthew was the runt, the cat no one wanted. He was kicked out of the nest as a kit; their mom had seen runts before and knew he would not survive the night. But the Nofurs never submitted to nature. They removed Matthew and nursed him themselves until he reached and appropriate weight.

The Nofurs had given up on giving either of them away, and Arthur, out of compassion and sense of duty to his kin, had placed his plans of breeding to the side to care for his brothers. This is why he had no intention of joining them in play fights or yard races, he had to act as their father. And fathers don't play. The young cats wrestled and fought well into the evening. Arthur had moved to sitting at the top of the brick wall, keeping watch for danger. Not that any existed, but it's what fathers do, right? Eventually, the Nofurs called them inside just as the stars began to appear over the horizon.

Within the Nofur den, near the end of the sitting room, there was a cat house on the top of a pole, with several fuzzy platforms arranged like steps to the top. Climbing the stairs, the three brothers climbed in and settled within the shelter. Alfred and Matthew curled around each other in the center, pushing and shoving playfully until Arthur thwaped them both with his tail to get them to stop. As the young cats finally settled, Arthur encircled them until both were pressed against his side. The lights beyond flickered off as the Nofurs retired to their nest. Arthur looked back towards his younger brothers. It was easy to tell they were related. Though Alfred had uncharacteristic orange spots, both had cream tones to their long, shaggy fur. Matthew almost seem to blend into Alfred, making the tom look twice his size. While Arthur, well, no one knew where his colors came from. No one in his family or litter had ginger fur, or these strange brown stripped above his eyes that the Nofurs called his "big bushy eyebrows," whatever those are. He had always been teased for the odd fur colors by his kin, and though he knew they meant well, it always made him feel like he belonged outside the group.

It wasn't too bad. After all, if Arthur had elected to go with his littermates, he wouldn't have been here. Then who would have taken care of Matthew or kept their eyes on Alfred.

I've got a good lot in life. With that reformation, Arthur lowered his head, wrapping his tail closer around the brothers, and drifted off to sleep.

Arthur felt something pushing against his shoulder. In the midst of his sleep, he lazily pawed the thing away with a groan, rolling onto his back and trying to get back to sleep. The shoving came again, and Arthur growled in annoyance as he started to wake. A muted voice echoed in his ear next to him. As he finally struggled into full awareness, he realized it was Alfred. The young tom was pushing against his side, whispering urgently into his ear.

"Arthur. Arthur! Arthur, wake up! It's urgent!"

At this, Arthur jolted upwards, gazing quickly around at the cat house.

"What's wrong?" He spoke quietly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, we're both okay." Alfred mewed, his eyes shifted to Matthew for a moment. "At least, we are right now." The cream tom was huddled in the corner, fur fluffed to its full extent in fear, making him appear twice as large.

"What's up, Matthew?" Arthur asked with a soft voice.

"Matthew says his tail fur's got the shivers again." Alfred mentioned worriedly.

Arthur froze as he turned back to Alfred.

"Tail shakes? You sure?" Matthew nodded his head from the corner.

"W- we have to get out. We're not safe here." His lavender eyes were wide and his whole body shook.

Arthur and Alfred found out about a season ago that Matthew had some kind of special gift. As the male Nofur was climbing a leader by the den one day, Matthew's tail fur started to twitch and shake, and he said something was really wrong. A few moments later, the Nofur fell, and hit his arm hard against the ground. He was in so much pain, that a white Metal Beast was called in to take him to the Nofur healer. Ever since then, Matthew got tail shakes whenever he felt danger was near, and all of them proved to be right. This was the worst Arthur had ever seen him. His entire body was vibrating like a shaking leaf, and he kept muttering, "something wrong… something bad…" Arthur felt the fur along his spine lift. Was something really bad coming? Arthur shrugged it off. Matthew was still practically a kit, and kits made mistakes, good intuition or no.

I gotta calm him down. Arthur stretched his body out, keeping his voice and demeanor calm as he spoke.

"Matthew, Alfred, come on, we're going to take a walk outside." With some coaxing from his tail, both young toms tumbled down the stairs and towards the door. Taking the cat flap out, Arthur led them to the brick wall at the far side. As they approached, Alfred and Matthew saw the wall as a mountain, and looked towards Arthur in disbelief as he told them to climb up. He rolled his eyes at them.

"I'll help you." Arthur lowered his head to the ground and allowed Alfred to place his paws on his head. With a grunt, Alfred grabbed the edge of the bricks and pulled himself to the top. Matthew took a bit longer with his shaken legs, but soon enough, all three were perched above the wall.

The night was quiet, the stars were bright, and the moon looked to Alfred as if someone had scratched a claw across the sky. The den they lived at was positioned on a hill, higher up than most others, giving them a good vantage point of the rest of the neighborhood. All other dens were dark that night, every Nofur in the area was in bed. The only sound was the trickling stream of water that ran along the side of the Black Path and into the rain grates. The air was cool, and the night was calm, with no disturbance in sight.

"See?" Arthur murmured soothingly as he ran his tail down Matthew's back in comfort. "There's nothing wrong here."

The world loves when people say that. With a sudden roar, the ground moved and shook, bricks along the wall shifted out of place and toppled out of their spots and down the hill. Dens all over wobbled and teetered, several coming down within a few minutes of the shaking. Noise broke though the past silence, and all hell broke loose in the form of screaming, barking, and crying as souls were shaken from bed in the chaos. The wall fell forward, and the three brothers went tumbling down the hillside.

Alfred and Matthew were screaming in terror, but Arthur reacted quickly. Striking a paw against the ground, the ginger tom righted himself and dove towards his brothers. Wrapping both front paws around them, Arthur took the ground's impact with his shoulder, tucking into a roll while clutching both toms to his chest. They rolled for a good few minutes before a sturdy obstacle blocked their path and brought Arthur to a stop. He released the two and turned to lick his aching shoulder, the area was sore and it hurt Arthur immensely to try and stand. Alfred and Matthew gave him worried looks from where they crouched near the Metal Beast paw that had ceased their tumbling.

"I'm okay." He assured them. Though he was still pretty shaken himself. That earth shake had come completely out of nowhere, and suddenly the entire landscape had changed.

A thick layer of smoke and dust obscured most of the scenery, creating vague shadows and leaving the rest to imagination. Dens leaned deformed and seemingly frozen in the mists of falling over, the sound of occasional rubble hitting the ground echoed through the streets. Nofurs screamed and ran in a total panic, grabbing items and loved ones as they bolted from dens and flooded across the Black Paths. Arthur lashed out his tail to sweep Alfred and Matthew from under the feet of a rushing Nofur. Arthur growled and almost considered lunging towards him as the male ran past.

Does no one see that there are kits in the street? Arthur nosed the two to their feet.

"Come, we need to find a way out of here." The brothers pelted down the chaotic path, weaving and dodging around the towering figures that thudded past. Matthew stumbled as they ran, and fell in the path of a baby mover. Turning on a dime, Arthur lunged and snagged Matthew by his scruff, dragging him out of the way. Arthur carried the terrified tom, though he was so big now most of his tail dragged the ground, as Alfred made quick strides next to him in an effort to keep up.

Gah. We have to find somewhere for shelter. A loud groaning that over powered every other sound ground all movement on the Black Path to a halt. One of the larger dens, which had been standing mostly intact above them, was now leaning dangerously close towards the street. Metal beams began to buckle and bricks tumbled to the hard packed ground below. Someone from the crowd screamed, and the hypnotic trance the clustered group was in broke as chaos erupted once more. Arthur, Alfred, and Matthew found themselves trapped between the Black Path and the curb, the forest of fleeing legs closing any escape route they found. The den was leaning closer, gravity beginning to pull at the structure. Alfred turned to Arthur with frightened eyes.

"Arthur, what do we do?" he wailed above the sound of panic.

I… I don't know! Hopelessness grew in Arthur's chest as the bricks descended closer; faster. A paw jab brought him to the present. Matthew was pointing rapidly to the curb.

"Arthur!" He had seen one of the grates; the many openings along the Black Path that take extra rain water underground.

Brilliant! The ginger tom shouted to himself. Arthur flung himself at Alfred, scooping the tom under him as they fell into the pipes below. Above, the building finally crashed to the ground, rubble spreading everywhere, bricks knocking down all buildings and creatures in their path. A pile descended upon the grate, and blocked out all light from the world above.

Grrrrr. My head. Arthur moaned as he struggled to stand. His muscles ached in protest to his actions.

"Ah! Oh, my poor shoulders can't take much more of this abuse…" Arthur rubbed a paw across the sore spot.

"Alfred? Matthew?" he called out nervously. "Are you there? Are you alright? Say something!"

Arthur was worried now.

No answer came for a few tense minutes, until some rubble shifted next to him, and the sound of small paws skittered towards him.

"We're here, Arthur! We're here!" The young cats rushed to their older brother, and Arthur swept them close into a warm embrace.

"Oh, thank stars!" He breathed. "You're okay. You're okay." He repeated this to himself quietly a few times before letting them go. The toms stood around unsure of where to put their paws as Arthur surveyed the area.

He knew they were in the pipe system that ran below the denning place. He had never seen it before himself, but Arthur knew many other stray cats had used them in the past. Apparently, the tunnel systems sprawled out underneath the entire place, from the densest denning area to the most spread out cottage. The pipe they were in now was a dark green color with strange moss and grime covering the sides.

Looks slippery. Arthur thought. Must remember to watch our paw steps. A shallow, murky river ran through the center of the pipe, sprawling onward into the distance where the path curved out of sight.

"Arthur?" The quiet, spooked voice of Matthew spoke up from behind.

"What is it, Matthew?" He asked in a gentle voice, trying to calm the tom.

"It's blocked." As Arthur followed Matthew's gaze, he saw a huge chunk of brick and stone clogging the entrance they had used to get in. Arthur sighed in disbelief.

I was only expecting to use this place to hide until the dust had settled…

Alfred tugged on his fur.

"What do we do now?" the spotted tom inquired.

Arthur gazed into the dim light ahead and took a breath.

"I guess we start walking."

And so ends a rather intense chapter. Fanfic Factoid: Alfred and Matthew are the youngest in the group, at only one year old. All of the other cats range from 2-5 years, or season cycles, of age; though it's not outright stated for all of them.