Feathers

Chapter 11

"Ayy! Ayy! Ayy! It's your girl Talons in the house!" Talons exclaimed as she jumped around and landed on a trashcan. "I'm back from my hunt and I have caught three pigeons! Yes sir, and yes in fact it's a new record!" She exclaimed with her eyes closed before she opened her eyes and sighed sadly as she looked at the not alive cats that she had constructed from her prey bones to try and keep her less lonely. "I miss my old home."

"Don't we all?" A pretty female cat suddenly asked. "I mean, I can say for a fact that I hate being the guest of a cat who wants to take over an entire city's cat population," the new cat added flatly.

Talons sighed before looking at her catch, "And there's nothing better to do here than try and catch prey- and then I still usually don't have much to do with it. There's no more soft grass to roll around on, there's nowhere to playfight where you won't actually get hurt because the ground is bare and everywhere the streets are full of danger!"

"Are you guys seriously complaining again?" A white cat named Hurricane asked in a completely annoyed tone of voice. "You're lucky we're keeping you alive!" He growled, lashing his dirty ungroomed white tail.

Talons suddenly jumped right up to his face and hissed as loud as she could before talking loud enough for any cat within the one fourth mile radius to hear. "WE DON'T WANT TO BE KEPT ALIVE! I'D RATHER DIE THAN BE YOUR PRISONER FOR ANY LONGER!"

Hurricane's ears twitched slightly before he explained, "You're not our prisoners, you're our guests and we're so glad that you are able to witness us take over the city."

"And Talons will be so glad to witness you in pain." The pretty female cat said moments before there was a gray flash and Hurricane meowed in pain.

"Cloudy! Stop it! I'll tell your mother!" Hurricane exclaimed in fury.

The molly jumped away from her victim and asked, "And what are you going to tell her? Let me remind you, I am five years old now. I'm not a tiny cat that you can tell around and make me do things."

Hurricane spat on the ground before limping away, keeping his front left paw off of the ground.

"I could've clawed him up myself you know, maybe if I did it would've taught him not to mess with me and not that my sister will stand up for me every single time I try and stand up for myself and become more independent," Talons said before sighing and beginning to groom her brown pelt that was littered with old scars that told the story of part of her past.

Cloudy sighed before saying, "Last time you stood up for yourself without any help you almost died let me remind you."

"That wasn't standing up for myself! That was me fighting a hawk when I was six months old without any help. And don't forget, in the end I still won!" She replied.

"But now you're scarred for life." She said gesturing to all of the claw marks with her well groomed fluffy gray tail.

The brown cat sighed before closing her eyes and walking away leaving her juicy well caught prey and cats made of bones behind. "Just go away, I don't need your help. I don't want your help."

"Talons, don't leave me. You know how dangerous the streets are! Plus we shouldn't be out here right now! If Lightning or his other close companions see you out here they'll severely punish you!" Cloudy yelled before she started to run after her sister.

*My sister may think she's better at fighting, she may be. She may always stand up for me when I don't need it, and she may be the pretty first born and mother's favorite, but she's not better at me in one thing. Speed.* Talons thought to herself before she ran off as quickly as she could thinking to herself. *Left paw, right paw, left paw, right paw.*

The brown cat continued to run until she encountered the small place on top of a building that Lightning gave them to stay. She slid under the large sheet of metal and sighed as she drank some of the water from the moss that covered the ground which made it the only soft place that she had left anymore. There was some rustling outside and then her mother walked into the scene and saw her daughter and curled up around her. "Hi Feathers, you look upset... What happened?" She asked with concern in her voice.

"My name is not Feather! My name is Talons! Get it right mom!" She hissed.

Misty started mumbling things under her breath that she could barely hear. She was shocked. "Feathers was your birth name, me and your father came up with it before you got attacked by a hawk and your stupid father went off to conquer a city."

As she processed what her mother said she became furious. "Wait! You kept this secret from me the entire time?" She exclaimed.

"I forgot you were there! Look, it was better that you never knew that! I hid the secret from you for your own good!" She exclaimed desperately trying to stay calm.

Talons continued yowling as loud as she could. "FIRST YOU FAVORITE MY SISTER ME JUST BECAUSE I DON'T LOOK PERFECT AND NOW YOU'RE KEEPING SECRETS FROM ME! YOU MAY JUST BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT ME, MISTY!" She then turned around and walked away. She walked away from the den, and she was going to walk away from the city and find a family who truly loved her for who she was. "Good riddance." She said.

The scarred female cat jumped off of the building ledge and landed gracefully on her feet before she walked south of the city trying to find the lush meadows where she used to call home, the places where the sun was shining and the trees were inviting. The home that she knew where she remembered hearing the song birds chirping.

*Not this place where large cities loom over everyone's head and the place where the birds no longer sing. This freakin' city that I'm stuck in. The place where cats die every day on the street and the place where prey is scarce. The place where humans rule over all and show no mercy to the cats in need of a safe place, a place safe from death.*

As she continued to walk she closed her eyes and just imagined what her life was going to be like soon. Soon the wind would whip through her fur and she would have a safe place where she could lounge in the sun peacefully. "I just have to make it there without getting caught along the way. It's that simple Talons. It's that simple." She told herself.

"Or is it?" A growl sounded behind her. She turned around and then gasped as she saw the face of a cat that she recognized all too well.

"Lightning. What are you doing here? Don't you have like an entire huge gang of cats to lead so you can beat up some little tiny kittens and dream about taking over a city?" Talons asked boldly.

"If I were you I'd watch your mouth." Lightning replied as he walked closer to Talons and looked down at her. "I could always tell your mother there was an unfortunate accident on the streets."

The smaller scarred molly lashed her tail before speaking again, "Wouldn't that be classic, a father killing their own daughter." Talons had never seen Lightning look very shocked or scared until that moment. He was probably wondering how she figured out the secret. She decided that she was going to keep that a closely guarded secret. "Let me leave and I won't tell anyone else that you had kittens with my mother."

"Or I can kill you now and I don't have to worry about you having my secret any longer." Lightning said back. "And then I also will never have to worry about you spreading any of my secrets."

"Fine Lighting. But first you're going to have to catch me." Talons said moments before she turned around and started to sprint away as quickly as she could. *I have to get away. I have to get out of this place and never come back. Why? Because I ruined my life and now I have enemies with the most dangerous cat in the entire city.*

*I also don't want to end up like Monsoon did. Lightning killed him after he found out that he had a mate... who knows what happened to her?* She thought to herself.

After a while she had gotten to the outskirts of the city and she had lost Lightning. She was relieved that he had given up the chase but she was worried what he would do to her sister and mother. *I hope they'll be fine... should I go back? No.. I can't.*