Warriors: Falling Petals [Discontinued]

Chapter Twelve - The Band

Chapter Twelve
The Band

Flowerkit's fur bristled along his shoulders as he crouched at the edge of the stone monster-path, and he cringed back warily as two huge metal beasts sped past, buffeting him with hot air. On either side of him, his guides Romeo and Ham Sandwich barely blinked. They were at ease in this terrifying, unnatural, maze-like environment, and Flowerkit couldn't help but envy them.

Romeo's ears twitched, and a moment later his tail flickered, gesturing for them to cross. The now-familiar dread and apprehension of crossing gripped Flowerkit's chest, but he had no choice other than to trust Romeo's orders, so he followed as the pair of toms sprinted across the dangerous path. He always closed his eyes as he ran, certain that a monster would bear down on him at any moment, but only heartbeats later the ground under his paws changed and they were safe once again. Stepping onto a swathe of grass in front of a twoleg house, the kitten flopped over to try and catch his breath.

"It's not long now," Romeo told him encouragingly. "And I promise there are no more roads between here and the band."

Flowerkit just twitched his ears in acknowledgement. After a few minutes he got back to his paws and the three resumed their journey through the twolegplace.

They made their way past countless twoleg structures, navigating the twisting streets and shadowed alleyways with barely a pause. Flowerkit had a feeling that there was some sort of pattern to the area's layout, but he was unable to understand it.

"Hey Ham, Romeo," an unfamiliar voice called from above them as they turned down yet another alleyway. "What's with the kitten?"

Flowerkit looked up to see a short, pudgy she-cat resting at the top of the stone wall beside them. Her short fur was mostly white with small patches of ginger, and she had clear blue eyes that showed little to no interest in knowing the answer to her question. Her tail dangled over the edge of the wall, twitching lazily.

"Hello, Munchie," Romeo greeted cheerfully. He gestured to Flowerkit. "This young tom is lost. We were hoping someone in the band could help him."

The she-cat, Munchie, didn't seem impressed. She narrowed her eyes at Flowerkit. "He's kind of a squirt. M.C. might attack him."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Romeo said with his ever-constant appeasing smile. He didn't seem at all fazed by the thought of his little protege being attacked. Flowerkit, on the other paw, was bristling.

"Suit yourself," Munchie meowed with a dismissive flick of her tail.

The three continued on, leaving the apathetic she-cat to her perch. Romeo seemed to notice Flowerkit's uneasiness and gave him an encouraging look. "Don't worry, my young friend. Everything will turn out just fine." Flowerkit couldn't decide if the blue tom was fearless or simply too stupid to care about danger. He was thinking probably the latter.

They took one more turn around the corner and were faced with a gaping hole in the side of a building. A whole section of the wall had crumbled away, giving way to a foreboding tunnel of darkness. The bricks on either side of the gap stuck out slightly, looking like the fangs of some nameless monster, waiting to gobble Flowerkit up. The kitten's fur rose along his spine. Though he could see nothing through the hole, he could sense movement inside, and it smelled of cats.

"Well, come on," Romeo prompted, and Flowerkit blinked in surprise to realize that his two guides had already slipped through the hole and Romeo had poked his head back out to check if the kitten was coming. Shaking off the shivers that had been sneaking up his spine, Flowerkit cautiously followed. He picked his way over the crumbling stone and mortar. The cat-scent was growing stronger. Finally they emerged into a large, dim room, lit only by weak sunlight filtering through dirty window panes. Boxes were piled precariously up against the walls, most of them blanketed in a thick layer of dust. And everywhere, in the middle of various activities, were cats.