Dawn cracked her eyes open, yawning and stretching her tiny paws as she woke up. The house was silent at 8:00 in the morning, with the father, mother, and baby twolegs asleep still. Last night's smoke haze had mostly cleared away, and Dawn decided to search for scraps.
She bounced out of her tiny rag bed, padding into the Food Den, where all the twolegs' food was kept. A bread crust under the table furnished as a good meal for the white and black kitten.
Dawn licked up a few crumbs from cheese that she found on the table, having climbed up the table legs. A half-empty bowl of water sat by the door. She ran over and lapped up a mouthful to sooth her smoke-roughed throat.
The light, weary foot-steps of the mother twoleg alerted Dawn to the soon-to-be waking of the angry father twoleg. Dawn rubbed against the mother's legs, purring. "Feed me again, please?" Dawn meowed, sitting down expectantly.
The mother ignored Dawn, pulling out a box of twoleg food and milk.
"Fine. Be that way. I'll just go get baby twolegs. She'll feed me!" Dawn huffed, stomping out of the kitchen with her tail in the air.
She prowled down the hallway, stopping at the baby's room. Dawn crept closer... closer... then pounced! She leaped up onto the bed and batted the baby's hair this way and that, tangling it. The baby made a irritated noise and swatted the air.
Dawn froze.
The baby sat up. She made a questioning noise. Then she spotted Dawn. She reached for Dawn, picking her up and petting her. Dawn purred.
The angry father's yelling broke the moment in two. He stopped into the room and grabbed the baby, yanking her out of the bed and onto the floor. The baby began to wail. The father kicked her and yelled at her, then suddenly turned on Dawn.
He smacked Dawn off the bed with his big paw, bruising her tiny ribs. The little girl screamed and grabbed Dawn, running from the room, nearly smacking into the crying mom that stood in the doorway.
The father pursued the pair, but stopped when the mom tearfully offered him a fire-water bottle and some smoking sticks.
As he drank and smoked, the little pair shared breakfast, then went outside to play.
- A year later -
The now-grown Dawn waited beside the dirt-den doorway that the baby currently presided in. Something was wrong with Baby. She was throwing up, and it smelled really bad.
The father was extremely angry and drunk, throwing things and yelling. It only made Baby's condition worse. A teacup shattered beside Dawn, and she fled the house. "Smudge!" She called, leaping onto the fence.
The black and white tom leaped onto the fence beside her. "Yeah, Dawn?"
"Will you tell me more stories about the warrior cats?" She asked, settling down. "Sure!" Smudge said eagerly. "You know Rusty? The orange cat that left a year ago?" Smudge asked, cocking his head. "Yeah.." Dawn said. "Well, I met him again! He actually jumped me, and was gonna attack me, but I fought him off!"
Dawn sighed. "Smudge, you couldn't fight off a nap. What really happened?"
Smudge lowered his head shamefully. "He recognised me. THen he let me go." He meowed.
Dawn laughed. "I knew it!" A scream from her house made her gasp. "That's Baby!"
She leaped off the fence, and dashed inside. The father was standing over the mother with a bang-stick, one that had been stuck away for years. Now blood was spilling from the mother's head, and he was pointing the bang-stick at Baby!
Dawn leaped for Baby, but the bang-stick boomed, and blood erupted from Baby's head, silencing her screams. Dawn yowled angrily, leaping at the man. She clawed his legs, and then a boom right above her head made her freeze. Was she dead?
No. THe father was. Blood was spilling rapidly from a large hole in his head. Her family... all dead...
Dawn yowled, racing from the house as white monster with flashing lights on it's head pulled up. The sky thundered, and rain poured, but Dawn still ran.