Speck's Rise

Chapter 2

     The next two weeks went by as slow as an elderly slug. Speck either hunted for food or watched the kits while Spot got her much needed sleep. Although it was tiring, he wouldn't wish for anything else.

    Speck arrived at their alleyway after a hunting trip, a rat dangling from his jaws. He placed it in the pile of prey that filled up a little box and covered it with the lid.

   "How are you feeling?" he asked, licking his sister's forehead, "Are you feeling okay?"

   Spot nodded, her eyes seeming less exhausted than they had been, "Yeah, I'm feeling less tired anyway."

    Speck was glad to hear that she was fine. He gazed at his niece and nephews, watching as they mewed at each other playfully. The kits seemed so grown already, their eyes opened to show the true colors of them.

     Cricket had bright green eyes, Bunny and Feathers had amber eyes like their mother, and Strike and Rosette had fiery orange eyes like Speck's. A pang of sadness stabbed him in the chest as he realized that their orange eyes were painfully similar to his mother Rosetta's eyes.

    "Are you hungry?" he shook off the grief in an instant. He padded over to the prey-box, preparing to knock the lid off at Spot's command.

     She hesitated for a moment before replying, "Kind of. Could you just get me like a rat or something? I don't want something too big."

     He complied, hitting the lid off of the prey-box and searching for the perfect piece of prey. He leaned his small head down and pulled out a small mouse, perfect for the needs that his sister expressed.

     "Here you go." Speck meowed, walking back over to Spot and dropping the mouse at her paws. She dipped her head in a sign of extreme gratitude before eating the mouse.

     Spot swallowed the last of the mouse and mewed, "You know, I've been thinking, once the kits are old enough, we must move to a safer alleyway."

     Speck nodded, looking out towards the street. Bustling workfolk riddled the sidewalk, posing a potential threat to him and Spot.

     "For now," he started, "maybe I should build something like a barrier between the workfolk and us. It would be much safer that way, don't you agree?"

     "You know how to build?"

     Speck chuckled, "No, but maybe I could look for a cat at the Beam Hub that can!"

     The Beam Hub, as the name suggested, was a place for cats to come together as a community and talk. The beams of a supposed unfinished structure held this hub, allowing for cats to sit upon them. If anything that was out of a cat's skill set was needed, they could ask a cat that had the ability to do said skill in exchange for a couple pieces of prey. The Beam Hub was very useful for strays that just moved onto the streets, or a house cat that escaped their home and had no experience with the nuances of the city.

     "You could," doubt edged at Spot's voice, "but who knows if anyone there would know how? That skill seems kind of niche."

     Speck stood up, his long tail erect like a building, "It's worth a try!" He turned to the exit of the alleyway, dipping his head in a polite farewell, and left for the Beam Hub.

     Boredom tingled at his paws as he swerved around the familiar sidewalk, the sounds of the busy crowds not phasing him anymore. Deep down, he longed for something new an challenging. He walked down this sidewalk every single day, he wanted a change to occur!

     After a bit of walking, Speck reached the corner of which the road went four ways. He knew that he needed to cross the street and go down a corridor to reach the Beam Hub. He paused for a moment before shooting out onto the road, bounding across the black concrete.