MerleClan

Chapter One

Cars rumbled on the roads, and humans as well as their animals could be heard making their usual variety of sounds. The brick road that sat right in front of an abandoned supply yard made way for the humans, and occasionally dogs, that walked along them. Taking cover underneath a pile of wood palettes that lay hidden by a cover of brush was a stray cat. He was covered with an interesting coat of light grey, tan, and white, and light yellow-green eyes that stood out from it. He had been sheltering in the stock yard for what felt to be two whole moons, after being chased out of his home of his two-legged family. He had been called Speckles, and everything in that life came easy, even meals. Mice and squirrels that roamed the small cluttered field, as well as nearby containers that humans dumped uneaten food in kept him well fed throughout his new stay. He rose from his resting place, stepped onto the dry patch of exposed earth, and stretched out into the sunlight.
Speckles spent the day unsuccessfully hunting before heading into the small town to go rummaging through humans' discarded meals. He walked from the stockyard to the back alleys of downtown. He hopped onto a building staircase and looked around for any recently filled bins. He jumped down and headed towards a large bin filled with torn bags, and most were filled with food. He jumped over the side of the container and began pulling out chicken bones and fat. After picking apart what he could of the bird carcass, he hopped back out of the bin.
Speckles was no longer alone. After a second to process, Speckles hunkered down and backed towards the bin. A tall but average sized, brown tabby tom cat stood over him. Speckles froze in fear, he'd never met a cat that lived in the outside world like he now did, and the tom's appearance showed he hadn't been cared for by two-legs like he had been. The world stopped for a second around the two for a moment, two cats in a dark alley.
Then the tom threw himself at Speckles. Speckles hit the ground, the air in his body leaving for a moment. Too shocked to feel it, his shoulder was torn open by the raggedy tom cat's claws. Speckles had never been harmed like this, never been injured, never bled before. The tom rose a paw at his face, and he wriggled to escape it, swiping at the tom's chest. Pulling himself from underneath the strange cat, he rolled up and sprung on his feet. Speckles began to run down the alley back towards the staircase. He wanted to head back to downtown, back to his den, but he simply wasn't going to get away. The tom jumped onto him, throwing him back down to the concrete once again, hissing.
Speckles stay laying on his side on the ground, looking ahead of him, to the buildings, the other bins, the sidewalk, the road. He expected to be torn apart that moment, to have his dull life come to a closing, but nothing came. The tabby cat softly walked a circle around him and stopped back again to look him in the eyes. The silence was cut as soon as the tom opened his mouth.
"I don't appreciate thieves, and even less do I respect kittypets". The dirty tabby cat seemed to stare into his soul with shining, light hazel eyes. before a moment passed of no answer, he spoke again, "what would bring you here? What exactly would it be?"
Speckles had to keep himself from breaking eye contact to look down while he pulled himself up, "I found a bird...and...I just want to eat. I just want to survive." The tom seemed to be puzzled. Speckles looked at him while he seemed to think.
"Very well then, you don't know how the world works, do you?", the stranger sarcastically spat the question at him.
Speckles couldn't find the words to reply for a long moment, the energy between the two seemed to notably change. "I guess not, I tried hunting this morning..."
The tom's eyes widened in realization. "You're not a kitty pet after all, huh? Perhaps I should regret what I've done, you're like a kitten, 'didn't know any better then?"
Speckles nodded to him in agreement.
"Very well then", the tom paused before continuing. "say, where have you been staying?"
"Outside of the town, there's a field with all kinds of torn up trees. There."
"Well, I must say you've made a bit of a journey to have food today. Help yourself to the cattle legs over here" the tom nodded towards a small bin around the corner. "There's always cow or bird flesh to be found here, the humans make their kills in that building", the stranger nodded to the building across from where they stood, "You're welcome back anytime you're hungry" the tom said with a smile. Speckles smiled back, perhaps he and this strange tabby had just gotten off on the wrong foot.
•••
Two rainy nightfalls had passed since Speckles had been able to make it back to the alley where the tabby had been. The rain was heavy, and left the supply yard muddy, and water running around the town. Speckles was walking a different way around downtown to stay dry. The brick paths along the road were still wet, and cars splashed the cold water from the puddles across anyone who was walking along them at the wrong time. He walked around the corner of the building where the two-legs hunted their prey, and peered around the corner before he would walk into the alley. He was glad he did, as there he found the tabby was not alone this time either.
Two other cats who seemed just as scroungy as the tom sat with him; a heavy-set red ticked tabby and an average sized but short calico also dined on the carcass. Speckles immediately feared this to be a set up; If the tom was only playing nice the last time and had made a quick plan to kill him the next. But it didn't sound right, if this strange cat had wanted to kill him, he easily could've then. Besides, these cats could just be in the same situation he was.
He walked around the corner and approached on the side the tom sat. He walked closer before anyone noticed. The calico looked up first, their eyes widened and looked at the tom and the other stranger in fear. The tom lifted his head up from what appeared to be a lamb's ribs, and looked happy to see Speckles.
"Come on over, 'plenty to go 'round"
Speckles felt the wave of relief go though his body, and bound over to them.
"Peaches, Creek, this is the cat from the other day I had told you about."
The two nodded to greet him. The calico she-cat was Peaches, the other male tabby, Creek.
"Uh, I'm Speckles, or, at least that's what I'm called" he then looked over at the tom and giggled, "and you are?"
The tom cat looked rose his head up with a smile, "ah, my bad! Pine."
Speckles smiled and scooted closer to Pine before leaning down to eat. What was it that made these strangers feel closer to him than his old two-leg family?
The four finished picking the more tender meat off the lamb before speaking again.
"As long as you aren't hurt by it", Peaches started, "what happened to you? You weren't always wild, I can tell. Is there a story to it?"
Creek and Pine both gazed up at him.
He sighed before eating a few second to speak, "Well..." Speckles began to tell the story, "I was born to my mother during winter I believe, I don't really remember my siblings or my father. I remember being a kit when I last seen my mother, then I was in a new den, there was when I first remember my two-legs", he felt like he may have been over sharing, but the three all listened, interested. "They were like we are now, we ate together. But we also spent our days together, and all slept near each other. They were like my mother cat and littermates. One day I just– I guess I did something to get banished for" He paused, Peaches looked at him sympathetically. "One of the older littermates pawed at me, and chased me out of the den, then yowled at me until I ran out of our territory. Since then I've been in the field outside of the town."
A couple of silent, empty moments passed before Peaches looked at him, frowning. "I am sorry. I deeply am."
Creek looked over at Pine, they all seemed to convey that they had never had to go without a family, or at least not without being by each other's side.
Speckles sincerely hoped he could become family with them. He hadn't missed his mother, siblings, or humans while sheltering in the supply yard, but he did now. Strongly.