Destiny of the Alley Cats || A Destiny Series || Book 1

- CHAPTER EIGHT: What Happens Now? -

Sometime the next day. . .

Darkness. An Alley Clowder without an Alley. Difference hurts. Unconscious. Mixed emotions.

Gasp!

Heartily awoke, her heart beating so fast she could barely believe it. Where was she? Washed away? Where? This was definitely not a city. Instead of thousands of tall buildings, long roads, millions of humans and dozens of cars, many allies, strays, and houses lined up, there were grassy hills, and she guessed they were washed away on a landscape, with a looming forest sighted quite nearby. 

She felt dizzy, and her vision was slightly blurry. She at once sprang to her paws with a bolt of dread. She glanced around, questions flying in and out of her head. Where was the trolley they had been on when the water had washed them away? The driver had disappeared, and by the looks of it, the water had washed them out, and no sign of Perry which made her almost stop breathing. But her clowder, the whole clowder, was there, most of them unconscious along rocks, while a few lay sprawled on the grassy lands. 

How long had they been unconscious for? She felt sore, stiff, and wondered how they had survived. Suddenly cats around her started to awake, and hushed murmurs of fear of their sudden new surroundings broke out, questions such as where the city was, was everyone okay, and is everybody here, soon being tossed around helplessly. 

Chief Ticker, limping, weaved in between the crowd, and looking around with wild eyes and ears flat back against his head. And when he saw Heartily, his eyes relaxed with relief, and he came bounding up to her. She cried happily, burying her nose in his soft ginger fur and her body racked with anguish.

"Where's Skyler? Panda?" Fang yowled, dragging himself forward.

"Lost." Kayla cried, throwing her head back, and wincing as blood prickled down from her ear. It must've nagged on something sharp. Then something suddenly tumbled into her, making her grunt with pain, and that something  was a happy Scout, curling himself around her. He licked her cheek so much, it made the fur rather a little too damp. 

Suddenly a groan of anguish came from Lily, who sat with her back to them. Everyone gathered around, and saw Blossom laying limply in front of them, the piece of glass gone from her shoulder, but some blood dried and some sticky around her.

"She's dead!" Lily's body gave a violent jerk. Heartily saw sorrow gather in her father's eyes. Heartily walked over, pushing her nose into her sister's neck fur, ready to say her prayer. Then suddenly she felt a pulse.

"She's alive!" Heartily yowled, staggering to her paws. Everyone around her gasped with shock.

"How?!" Many murmured.

"Don't just stand there, get something to wipe away the wet blood!" As the cats went to go look for something to stop the blood, Heartily sat beside her grieving mother, who stilled believed her daughter was dead. It was impossible to see the cats chest rising and falling.

 Heartily asked a question she wanted to know from the very beginning.

"How did we survive the tsunami? How did we all survive it?" She thought of Panda and Skyler, who were out lost, dumped out of the transporter and probably laying dead somewhere. 

"Despite the massive number of human casualties, many animals seem to survive tsunamis unscathed. Or it was just Garo who was protecting us." Lily said matter of factly without looking at Heartily. Kayla swiftly brushed passed the two, and pressed ferns and large clumps of dirt-shaken moss onto Blossom's shoulder wound. It would take several minutes or even hours before Heartily's sister awoke.

But what surprised Heartily was when Blossom instantly opened her eyes, gasping for air and then exhaling roughly which made water splutter out of her nose. Lily snivelled with astonishment. She hugged her offspring closely, and scuttled Echo away when the kitten tried to get nearer and nearer to Blossom. 

Many cats heaved relieved sighs and thanked Garo for her safety. Heartily licked her sister's ear, and the young colleen flinched away, curling herself deeper into the curve of her mother's soft belly.

"Skyler?" She whispered, glancing around anxiously. "I need you." She said slowly and quietly, and Heartily felt injured, when she heard her asking for the other instead of her.

"She is not here at the moment. During the tsunami, she and Panda tumbled out of the transporter, as far as we know." Lily soothed her kitten with swift strokes of her tongue. Heartily felt once again another stab of hurt, seeing her mother comfort Blossom the way she had never comforted Heartily before. Blossom looked horrified, and she broke out in a fit of bawling which made Heartily's heart twist with sympathy.

Chief Tickers whiskers quivered ever so slightly.

"Blossom, cats have a superior sense of smell compared to humans. We can detect smells from up to four miles away and have a sense of smell fourteen times stronger than theirs. I bet they'll find their way to us if we all stay put." He started washing his chest fur, others glancing at each other anxiously. An abrupt hiss came from Tony, and every cat turned toward him, following his gaze.

"The city! Look!" He pointed a nose at the faint outline of tall, unfamiliar buildings.

"Who says that's our city? It could be different." Spotty pointed out, wincing as a lurch came from her belly. Chief Ticker stood beside his most faithful Sharp-Eye, nodding. 

"I don't know how far we've gone, but Tony is right. I'm sure of it. I don't think we'd of been washed out that  far to be at a different city. Yes, washed out far," he added as he caught Kayla's look, "but just out of the city. We lived in the heart of it." He finished quietly, and then with a swish of his tail, he led everyone to the top of the hill underneath the shade of a large linden tree with giant, curling leaves. He sat on the base of one of the huge roots, and cleared his throat.

"We seem to be about a few hours travel until we reach the city, but who knows if it is still an existing home? Or if the allies are still standing? As far as we saw, from the time being, buildings, towers, houses and people came clashing together. I bet the flood'll still be there, the city engulfed in water, and who knows who is still alive?" At his words, Heartily's heart seemed to miss a beat, knowing the image of Perry still remained in her mind, and she tried as hard as she could to shoo it away. He was no importance to her. He was nothing. Just a stupid loner with a stupid friend.

"And," Chief continued, "we'll have to live here for a while, at least until we think it is safe enough to travel back to the city."

He was about to leap down, had a brief moment of thoughts, and then sat back up again, curling his tail around his paws. 

"Kayla, I want you to send out as many hunting parties as you can, but before we go, my friends, my family, my value, just remember this;" he cleared his throat. "We may be feeble with hunger, but that doesn't make us weak. We may be far from home, but that doesn't make us lost. We may be feeling discouraged, but that doesn't make us fools. We may be feeling the urge to give up, but we won't. Until it is suitable to go back, we are not Alley Cat's at this point. At least not on the outside, forever on the inside. My loves, We are the Intrepid Clowder!"