Meeting the Wilderness || A Smudge AU

ii.

this one is a bit longer than the last chapter at 1667 words compared to 704, so get comfy!

After spending the majority of the morning with his housefolk giving them an unusual amount of extra love, Smudge decided it was finally time to prepare to leave.

Not before grabbing a mouthful of kibble his housefolk supplied him with earlier, Smudge eagerly bounced up and down from the fence that separated himself from the woods that held Rusty.

Squeezing through the tight-knit, scratchy brambles that constantly tugged at his fur, he stared at the forest. His mind raced with all the possibilities of danger, and he almost decided to turn back, but he had to find Rusty.

I have to keep going, he told himself even if he wasn't quite sure if it was with his whole heart.

Examining the trees thoroughly, he remembered what Princess told him. "Thick, tall, low-set branches," he murmured to himself through his mouthful of kibble.

Reluctantly padding cautiously through thick patches of heather, he saw a tree just as Princess had described to him.

Grimacing slightly at what he was about to do, he set his mouthful of kibble down on the wet earth and picked out four leaves. He quickly realized that they wouldn't stick together enough to make a carrier.

The black-and-white tom's eyes lit up as he saw a sticky, yellow-tinted substance that held a bundle of leaves together on the forest floor. Hesitantly, he stuck a claw in the tree sap and put it in a glob in the middle of the leaves before pressing down on the bundle with his nose.

Seeing that this trick worked, he picked up most of the kibble he'd set on the ground and put in in the center between the leaves. He curled up the sides of his new pouch before taking it up in his mouth.

"It's working!" He exclaimed, half-muffled due to the pouch.

Happy with his newfound discovery, he pranced along, forgetting the vow of silence Princess told him the forest would make him have.

A heartbeat before diving nose first into a patch of heather, his ears pricked and swiveled to the side as he heard heavy rustling.

His eyes turned to slits as he lowered himself to where his belly grazed the earth.

His small whimpers of fright must have given him away as something knocked him off his paws and his head was forced to the ground. Black enveloped his sight.

The black-and-white tom's eyes opened bit-by-bit as the thick stench of decay flooded his nostrils.

Rising rather unsteadily, he blinked around with foggy vision before hearing a rather concerned sounding meow belonging to a she-cat. "Oh, deary me, are you alright darling?"

Another heavier voice claimed by a tom spoke, "don't treat him as a kit," he snarled. "He's an outsider, our newfound prisoner, no less." Smudge could almost hear a smile at the end of his sentence.

"Mmnh..." Smudge groaned, trying to blink back his vision.

Another she-cat began to speak, "Slate, don't be such a prick." She hissed. "Ivy is just doing what Ivy would do, it's not such a big deal. This fat kitty couldn't do anything to us if he wanted to, he's a housecat." she clearly couldn't help but let out a guffaw. "I can't believe kittypets threaten you."

Smudge looked around, his vision clearing. The black-and-white tom took a few intimidated steps back before he bumped into a large figure.

Gulping before looking over his shoulder, he made out a burly gray tom with a gnarly scar on his ear. "H-hi there," Smudge stuttered, stumbling forward so his flank wasn't pressed against the tom.